SECOND HAND Death May Be Your Santa Claus LP/1971 UK Prog

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SECOND HAND 'Death May Be Your Santa Claus' LP (UK, Sunbeam, Catalogue #SBRLP5069) Brand new/unplayed copy of superior Sunbeam label 180-gram vinyl LP edition of top level 1971 UK psych/progressive masterwork by Second Hand.

'Second Hand's debut album, Reality, is widely acclaimed as one of the best psychedelic albums to have emerged from the UK in the late 1960s. The follow-up, Death May Be Your Santa Claus, originally issued in April 1971, is a similar milestone in the progressive genre. Originally recorded as the soundtrack to an obscure underground movie, it's a dark, dense and challenging masterwork combining uniquely experimental compositions with wild organ playing and complex rhythms. This is its definitive edition, remastered from original tapes and complete with rare photographs, detailed liner notes and an introduction from its producer, the legendary Vic Keary.'

'Three years later, a revamped line-up returned with an album that takes Reality's prog elements and expands them. A newfound fondness for strange time signatures, freaky keyboard sounds, almost complete removal of guitar, and songs that don't really follow any pattern make this even more difficult than the debut. The vocals are still shaky, but that problem is dispensed with on side two by omitting them altogether. The result is an all-instrumental side of prog filled with thrilling stereo experiments, whacked-out keyboard solos, sound effects, heavy Mellotron, bits that seem to anticipate industrial noise, and electronics that predate Kraftwerk and Eno. When the organ melody appears from nowhere on 'Cyclops', it is truly a magic moment. Side one is song-oriented, but just as creative and uncompromising. This album goes by in a rush. It's 35 minutes, but you'll swear it's about 15. Once again, they have created a timeless and unique album that stands up to, and sounds completely different from, the very best of the genre. If they had only found a real singer, they could have ruled the world.' -  Aaron Milenski/Galactic Ramble

High-quality 180-gram vinyl pressing.

Tracks on this LP are as follows:

• Death May Be Your Santa Claus
• Hangin' On An Eyelid
• Lucifer And The Egg
• Somethin' You Got
• Cyclops
• Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
• Revelations Ch. 16 Vs. 9-21
• Take To The Skies
• Death May Be Your Santa Claus (reprise)
• Funeral

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