SHADRACK CHAMELEON - S/T 1973 IOWA TEEN BASEMENT PSYCH ROCK SEALED OUT-SIDER LP

$

32

SHADRACK CHAMELEON – Shadrack Chameleon. Outsider Music OSR 062. Spanish release. FACTORY SEALED NEW VINYL RECORD ALBUM. Originally released in 1973 as a private pressing. This edition issued in 2017. Newly remastered and includes a linter note insert. MUSICIANS:  Steve Fox (guitar, bass, vocals), Randy Berka (guitar, vocal), Dan Dodger (drums), Jon Porter (organ), Artie Strutzenberg (drums), and John Bradsgard (guitar, piano.

 

TRACKS: 

 

SIDE 1: 

 

01)    Chameleon (I Love You) (6:55)

02)    Long Road To Ole’ Miss (4:25)

03)    Granite Feast (3:35)

 

SIDE 2:

 

04)    That’s The Way It’s Gotta Be (5:50)

05)    Don’t Let It Get You Down (4:38)

06)    Beyond Eternity (4:13)

 

DESCRIPTION:  Teen basement psych-rock from Iowa with great distorted guitars, organ, melancholic vocals, raw homemade vibe, inventive songs, and some cool Neil Young / Crazy Horse influences. File next to Rayne!

 

“A personal fave of mine that seems to sound better with each passing year” - Patrick Lundborg (Acid Archives) 

 

For your further reading enjoyment and enlightenment I offer some additional information on the band:

 

Shadrack Chameleon was not so much a band as it was a collective of musicians from a couple popular late-'60s Iowa rock bands. Steve Fox and Randy Berka were close friends growing up in Fort Dodge, Iowa in the early '60s where they were inspired to pick up guitars after hearing the Beatles. Fox's family moved to Illinois in 1964 but returned three years later to Humboldt, near Fort Dodge. By this time, Berka had started a band with organist Jon Porter, drummer Tom Northup, and guitarist John Callahan, which evolved into Lazy River. With Artie Strutzenberg taking over drum chores from Northup and with the addition of Mark Flanagan on bass, Lazy River became a popular band, playing gigs throughout the region. Steve Fox started his own band, Crosstown Traffic, with mates Dan Dodgen (drums), John Brandsgard (guitar) and Doug Sandvig (bss). By the outset of the '70s, internal conflicts ran high in both bands, and Callahan, Strutzenberg, and Flanagan formed Goo, taking Brandsgard with them. Berka and Porter asked Fox to join them, and Shadrack was born. In the summer of 1972, the owners of IGL Records in Iowa had heard Shadrack play and were impressed enought to record a single with the band, but by 1973, Shadrack was all but over, with members going off to college and other pursuits. At the end of 1973, various personnel from Lazy Smoke, Crosstown Traffic, and Shadrack recorded Shadrack Chameleon on a reel-to-reel tape machine in a studio they had built from an old storage shed. Only 300 LPs were released by IGL under the name Shadrack Chameleon, the 'Chameleon' added as an afterthought. Generally speaking the album has a more laid back rural rock sound. Steve Fox was the only constant on each of the eight songs on the album, and, in a way, could be considered Shadrack Chameleon since his guitar, bass, songwriting, and vocal talents come to the forefront. Fox's thinnish vocals can be an acquired taste, but he is a strong, instinctive writer. A Jimmy Page influence (almost inevitable during the period) is discernible in the interesting, mystical chords and changes on the album. The band is certainly not a Zeppelin soundalike, though, because the changes that Fox and sometime-partner Randy Berka conceived are countered by a gentle acoustic feel and a languid rather than dynamic pulse. The band can employ a beautiful, stomping country-rock style, as on the opening cut I Wonder Why, with its ensemble vocal hook (reminiscent of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Lucky Man) and organ, or it can be a heavier progressive rock outfit, as on Long Road To Ole' Miss and Granite Feast. Mostly, though, Shadrack Chameleon might be termed progressive folk, and songs like That's The Way It's Gotta Be and Don't Let It Get You Down reveal strummed chording that comes out sounding almost claustrophobic and is a good match for each song's subject matter. The members of Shadrack didn't lack ambition, either; Chameleon (I Love You) is an epic ballad with seemingly two songs combined into one, while the album ends on the spare acoustic-to-electric drone of Beyond Eternity. A true relic of the era with deep college dorm lyrics not easily penetrated, and strong songwriting from this very young group; sounds better with each successive play.

THIS ITEM IS NEW AND UNPLAYED. Used items will include condition details for the cover, disc, inserts, etc.

 

NOTE TO POTENTIAL BUYERS:  If the jacket or disc (unless sealed) is punched, marked, or cut in any manner, denoting a promotional/review copy, I will state that as part of the item description. Also if an issue is a "music club" edition, that will be noted in the item description. (The below information last updated 7/09/23)

 

If you have any questions or if you have additional information, especially corrections, to the description, please e-mail me. I particularly enjoy when an artist, band member, or someone who has personal background knowledge of a particular album/artist and offers their insight/information of that recording, which I will include with the description for future listings of that release. As a collector of many years, part of the hobby side for me is to learn about the background of the artists and music that I collect. Hopefully, sharing some of this information in my descriptions will help educate and enhance your listening experience.     

All LPs are removed from their jackets and placed outside of the jacket for shipping. If an album comes sealed (and will be noted as such in the above description), it will be shipped whole unless you request that I open it up to place the disc outside of the jacket for shipping. Both jacket and disc are placed inside of an outer plastic sleeve before packing for shipping. I use professional corrugated record mailers with inside packing.

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TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS:

 

SS or SLD:  Still Sealed or Sealed (or some variation of sealed depending on how many characters I have left in the title line). This item is new and unplayed. Also appears in the listing description as Sealed LP or Factory Sealed LP.

 

NEW LP:  This item is new and unplayed, but was received from a supplier without being shrink wrapped or cellophane wrapped; more common on imports but also many of the smaller independent US labels do not seal their LPs. These items are placed inside of a clear poly outer sleeve upon their receipt by me

 

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