VELVET HUSH / BROKEN HEART / RARE OAK RECORDS 99 ONLY
£
171
$
227
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Description
VELVET HUSH
BROKEN HEART / LOVER PLEASE
UK release on Oak Records from 1968/69 (cat. no. RGJ 648)
This is an incredibly rare and good sounding original 7" single on the legendary OAK label and dates from the late 60's
The A side is 'Broken Heart' - it starts with a piano intro, some nice spacey vocals and then kicks in with some good rolling guitar blues
The B side is probably the better of the two, it's much heavier and begins with some Hendrix - style guitar work similar to the start of 'Are You Experienced' - very tasty
Think along the lines of The Zombies, The Yardbirds and The Pretty Things and you'll get the idea
These were pressed in tiny batches of 99 copies to avoid purchase tax and are now highly collectable and virtually impossible to find
The vinyl itself has a lot of surface marks but both sides still play well with a bit of surface noise
The A side label has had a sticker peeled off it but that hasn't affected any of the text - the B side label is fine - the record comes in a plain sleeve
For collectors of late sixties psych freakbeat this is possibly your only opportunity to purchase this fabulous single on such an important label
A bit of info courtesy of Mike Stax....
The Story Of Oak Records
RG Jones' Recording Studio in Morden, Surrey would probably qualify as a historic landmark today, if it hadn't been long ago demolished by the local council. The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds laid down their earliest demo recordings there, in 1962 and '63 respectively, and over the course of the ensuing decade Jones had a steady stream of clients, mostly young unknowns who left the premises with a handful of acetate demos made on the studio's in-house disc-cutter. The studio's own Oak label went a step further, issuing limited run vinyl pressings (usually just 99 copies, to avoid Purchase Tax) which were manufactured at Pye's nearby pressing plant. These records have become some of the most sought-after `60s artifacts, not only for their scarcity but because they contain some of the deadliest R&B and freakbeat ever made, as The Story of Oak Records amply demonstrates
A 2LP vinyl issue appeared on Tenth Planet in 1994 (see UT#14) but is now out of print. This CD version is a somewhat curtailed version of that set, omitting several of the weaker tracks and making some key substitutions, including the addition of several killers not on the vinyl edition.
Getting to those first, The Four Degrees provide a raving version of "Too Much Monkey Business", modeled after The Yardbirds, but with more teen energy and some bangin' Jerry Lee-style piano work; I love how the harmony vocal drowns out the lead on the chorus. Also new here, The Exiles' "Love In the Making" is an excellent charging beat number and The Phoenix's "You Are The Moon And The Stars And The Sun" is an upbeat pop-psych winner. However, the pick of the new bunch are The Gremlins, who give some freakbeat aggro to the Spencer Davis Group's "High Time Baby" with slashing amped-up guitar and an aggressive vocal from future Fleur de Lys member Chris (later Tim) Andrews.
These Solskjaer-style `super subs' enhance an already stellar line-up that includes R&Beat gems by the likes of The Bo Street Runners and The Betterdays, freakbeat essentials by The Kingpins and The Game, and superb psychedelia by Amber and Mike Stuart Span, and not to forget the delectably mysterioso Velvet Frogs.
Unless you can prove to me you already own every one of these horrifically rare recordings (stand up, Dr Andy Few?), you are commanded to buy this.
- Mike Stax (Originally published in Ugly Things #18, 2000)
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