OHIO EXPRESS mercy MAILORDER ONLY DUTCH LP 1969 BUDDAH Bubblegum Psych Prog Pop

	£		19
	$		25

This is the original Dutch pressing of this classic bubblegum album by the Ohio express. The Dutch pressing is extremely rare as here in the Netherlands it was only released as a mailorder only book club issue.  The record is in VG+ condition and the laminated sleeve is in near mint condition. 


Here is a review:
By the time 1969's "Mercy" was released the original Ohio Express line up was already a piece of history.  That fact clearly didn't stop the band's management team (Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz), or record label from continuing to mine the band's still lucrative bubblegum audience.  So how did they do it?   Well, when you had a talented  secret weapon in the form of singer/songwriter Joey Levine it became relatively easy.  The ultimate creative 'hired gun', Levine and his collection of New York-based studio players had already worked with The Ohio Express, recording several of their earlier 'hits' with little or no participation from the band.  Accordingly the absence of a band wasn't much of a problem to Levine who apparently wasted little time churning out what proved to be final The Ohio Express studio album.  With Levine responsible for writing or co-writing eight of the eleven tracks, the results weren't a major change in direction; tracks like 'Mercy', 'Sha La La' and 'Gimme Gimme' offering up a glistening, if occasionally diabetic coma inducing set of bubblegum pop that remained highly commercial, but was clearly beginning to lose some of the buying and listening audience that had powered earlier sales..   - Penned by Levine the title track offered up a classic slice of bubblegum complete with a top-40 melody and one of those insidiously catchy nursery rhyme hooks Levine so effortlessly churned out.  Easy to see why this one was tapped as a single.  My only complaint was  the fact Levine employed his most nasal voice on this one.   rating: *** stars  - Kicked along by a great barrelhouse piano, 'Lucky' was another exceptionally commercial track with top-40 written all over it.  Perhaps because it didn't sound quite as manufactured as some of the other tunes, this one's been a longstanding favorite.   rating: **** stars  - 'Sha La La' was a perfect example of Levine's talent for crafting catchy tunes; in this case the title refrain made up about 75% of the track.   rating: ** stars     - 'Nighttime' was interesting given it found Levine taking a stab at writing and performing a slice of blue-eyes soul.  Great track with a nice Young Rascals vibe to it.   rating: **** stars    - I'm a gigantic bubblegum fan, but 'Peanuts' was simply too cutesy even for my tastes ...  this one basically sounded like a commercial that had been reutilized as album filler.   rating: ** stars    - On the heels of one of the album's weakest tracks, 'Up Against the Wall' offered up a totally unexpected slice of political and social commentary.  One of the hardest rockers ever credited to the band, this one simply took no prisoners.  Hard to imagine that the tune was even allowed on the album !!!   rating: **** stars   - Side two opened up with another throwaway bubblegum number in 'Sweeter Than Sugar'.  Catchy, but insipid, this was another one that would have been better utilized as a commercial for laundry detergent or some other disposable product.   rating: ** stars    - In spite of the nasal vocal, 'Jacksonville Station' was one of the better performances on the album.  Another slice of blue-eyed soul, this one was actually mildly funky.  Nice guitar.   rating: **** stars   - Lyrically there wasn't a great deal to 'Ooh La-La' but it had a nifty garage vibe that made it stand out from the rest of the collection.   rating: *** stars   - Opening up with a bit of electric guitar 'Come On Down Maryann' was one of the album's more rock oriented efforts.  The were results were still very pop oriented, but not quite as bubble gummy as most of the set.   rating: *** stars  - 'Gimme Gimme' actually sounded like something off of one of the earlier albums.  It was clearly a slice of bubblegum, but retained a semblance of the band's earlier garage roots.  Very nice and the horn charts were great.   rating: **** stars   Buddah and Super K tapped the album for a series of singles in the form of: 
- 1969's 'Sweeter Than Sugar' b/w 'Bitter Lemon'  (Buddah catalog number BDA-92)  # 96 pop  - 1969's 'Mercy' b/w 'Roll It Up' (Buddah catalog number BDA-102)  # 30 pop  - 1969's 'Pinch Me (Baby Convince Me)' b/w 'Peanuts' (Buddah catalog number BDA-117)  # 99 pop   For his part Levine grew increasingly dissatisfied with the pressure to churn out material and the lack of fair compensation and together with songwriting partner Artie Resnick ended their business partnership with Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, signing a deal with Mike Curb.  Ironically the deal with Curb proved even more disastrous ultimately barring Levine from releasing any new material for a number of years.    In case anyone cared, the track listing order shown on the back cover was wrong.  The correct sequence is shown below.   Levine's departure didn't spell the end to The Ohio Express.  More than willing to wring whatever commercial viability the band still had Kasenetz and  Katz found another hired gun in English singer/songwriter Graham Gouldman.   With backing from a precursor version of 10cc, Gouldman wrote and sang lead on the first of five non-LP singles:   - 1969's 'Sausalito (Is the Place to Go)' b/w 'Make Love Not War' (Buddah catalog number BDA-129)  pop #86  - 1969's 'Cowboy Convention' b/w 'The Race (That Took Place)' (Buddah catalog number BDA 147)  # 101 pop  - 1970's 'Love Equals Love' b/w 'Peanuts' (Buddah catalog number BDA 160)  didn't chart in the States  - 1970's 'Hot Dog' b/w 'Ooh La-La' (Super K catalog number SK 14)  didn't chart in the States   There's also a hard to find mid-1970s single credited to Ohio Ltd. 
- 1973's 'Wham Bam' b/w 'Slow and Steady' (Buddah catalog number BDA 386)  didn't chart in the States
For anyone interested, original drummer Tim Corwin apparently owns the band name and continues to perform under the moniker.  
Dean Kastran still lives in Ohio and plays bass in the country and bluegrass band Faces Made for Radio.   Jim Pfayler died in March 2003. 

NOTE! Postage indicated in the auction is not the actual postage as ebay doesn't allow a higher postage then 4 GBP in this category. Postage for this item is 8 GBP to most countries within Europe and 16 GBP for the rest of the world. This is up to 2kg, so you can add up to 6 more LP's for the same postage. Postage for 7 LP´s is the same as for 1 LP, so buy more to save on postage!

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POSTAGE COSTS FOR THE BUYER:
Postage for 1 LP is the same as for 7 LP's (<2kg), so please order more LP's to save on shipping!
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