SPOOKY TOOTH PINK ISLAND UK LP NEAR MINT

	£		64
	$		85

This is the Mega Rare Original 1968 Very First Spooky Tooth UK First Press Stereo Album titled “It’s All About” on PINK ISLAND ILPS – 9080. The matrix numbers are as follows Side1 ILP – ST – SC – A & Side2 B. The tracks are as follows Side1 1) Society’s Child 2) Love Really Changed Me 3) Here I Lived So Well 4) Too Much Of Nothing 5) Sunshine Help Me Side2 1) It’s All About A Roundabout 2) Tobacco Road 3) It Hurts You So 4) Forget It, I Got It 5) Bubbles.      

Good stuff! It's no AC/DC, sure, but Britain definitely hadn't seen a similar band at the time even if it already was 1968. Spooky Tooth begin on a humble note, stuffing about half of their debut album with covers, but then again, so did the Beatles. The Spooksters always followed their own style, not somebody else's, but at the same time were careful enough to look around, and It's All About is, as stupid as it sounds, actually a transitional album, even if it's their first. The album cover greets us with a typically psychedelic hazy blurry foreground, the band name is written in typically psychedelic shiny blossomy fashion, and the band members are walking through the field in typically psychedelic outfits, as if Pete Townshend had offered them his last year wardrobe for the photo sessions.

Yet the music is not really psychedelic, not much of it, at least. Okay, so the best song on the album, the one with the best riff and the most catchiness, 'Sunshine Help Me', a true classic of British art-pop, definitely recalls psychedelic experiences, what with the druggy harpsichord and everything. The Move liked the song so much they even made it their own live staple (you can find their version among the bonus tracks to the current CD edition of Shazam, formerly an independent live EP called Something Else). And the album closer 'Bubbles' is certainly one hundred percent psychedelic, in a way you'd recognize from hearing Cream's 'Anyone For Tennis' - a kiddie diddie with goofy, but charming vocal harmonies and actual BUBBLES. So I guess you can call the album a BUBBLE GUM product.

Everything else is hardly psychedelic, though. It's more like the band intentionally went for a very concise and definite version of R'n'B: heavier than usual, with gruff guitar riffs and fat organ lines backing it up, and also heavily dependent upon the unusual interaction of the two lead vocals. In the end, I guess your appreciation of the album will depend a lot upon whether you like the approach that Mike Harrison and Gary Wright have chosen for themselves. Occasionally, the guys may go overboard, and somewhere in the distant future I can already see a bloody battle between Spooky Tooth adepts and Spooky Tooth haters over the tricky issue called "How sincere is Mike Harrison and will Gary Wright be condemned to fifty thousand years of being slave to James Brown in hell, together with Joe Cocker?" But thank God, those times aren't around the corner as of yet, and I'll say this: I love the dueting of the guys. It's interesting, innovative, and definitely a positive improvement over monotonous harmonizing of some bands that try adding more power to the song but in the end render it more boring.

So I like pretty much every song on here; the problem is that not many of them are particularly memorable. I can memorize various little tidbits and snippets, but the only riff that really sticks in my head is that of 'Sunshine Help Me', and the vocal melodies, as pretty as they seem, strike you more in the emotional part of your brain than in the catchiness department. You know what I'm talking about. I love their cover of Janis Ian's 'Society's Child' dearly, for instance, but if you'd ask me to hum it, I'd only mumble 'I can't see you any more baby'. That's about it. You the unhappy reader who probably hasn't heard the album at all, do you understand that 'Society's Child' conveys a tragic heart-grippin' soul-bleedin' mind-devastatin' atmosphere? Okay then, this next paragraph is for you the happy reader who already heard this album and wants me to help you verbally formulate the particular reason for the attractive power of these songs. 'Love Really Changed Me': cool funny organ line (hook), Harrison's ascending vocal lines (mini-climax), the strange pompous riff in between the verses (I can't seem to get what instrument that is - organ? guitar? harp?). 'Here I Lived So Well': can be very boring if you don't prepare yourself mentally for something very boring, after which the subtle vocal melody reveals itself. The chorus is beautiful in its humbleness. Definitely likeable, anyway, if you can tolerate the early slow Byrdsey stuff. 'Too Much Of Nothing': average Dylan song from Basement Tapes => average cover, but at least it's pretty energetic. Worst track on the album anyway. 'Itr's All About A Roundabout': one more psychedelic leftover I forgot, nice, if a bit generic, music-hall influenced melody. Not a highlight, but also pretty short. 'Tobacco Road': MONSTER version, a definite highlight and one of the best ever examples of Harrison-Wright interaction, second only maybe to 'Evil Woman'. 'It Hurts You So': my organism battles with itself about whether the plaintive cries 'it hurts you so, it HURTS you SOOOOO' are cheesy or not., they aren't cheesy, they're beautiful. Say, doesn't the song actually remind you of some George Harrison complaints on Living In The Material World? You may be dang sure George learned a thing or two about wailing from Gary Wright. 'Forget It I Got It': pretty catchy pop song.

The record labels are in stunning condition (see pictures) with no wear, writing & barely any spindle marks at all. This superb Spooky Tooth album is pressed on thick heavy duty 60’s vinyl and still retains it’s just pressed look with a very shinny lustre. There are no visual defects and plays superb crisp & clean with no pops, crackles or jumps there is also no groove wear or distortion & is graded NEAR MINT / MINT Simply Stunning & only looks to have been played a couple of times if at all. The laminated sleeve is in a strong VG+ Condition with all writing visible on the seem, and a small amount of corner wear to one corner, NO writing, NO ring wear & just a small amount of creasing, & a small tear on the opening front cover which has been professionally repaired.                

The Greatest attention to packaging with all Albums housed in aluminium framed box to ensure safe delivery.

Buyer pays £5.50 airmail to the USA or Japan, £3.50 Europe or £2.80 in the UK.

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