The Whim of Arrow - 1800LBS of Grey / The Day Noah's Ark Sank. 1966-67 USA

A very bizarre 45. The first side is a mix of novelty folk and hard rock. There's a pretty heavy guitar lick about half way through. It's not psychedelic fuzz either. Like 70s hard rock. 45cat has confirmed the date of this song to be 1966, so way ahead of its time. Seems like it was made for children maybe? The second side is an instrumental organ driven number like Booker T and the MG's (confirmed to be from 1967). Absolutely one of the weirdest 45s I've heard. They were "Rollem" them that's for sure! A certain keeper.

No idea where they're from.

Own. Found at the Austin Record Show (2023).

5/25/23 (first listen / review); 1/1/25 (new entry)

The Rubber Band - Bubble Tree / Agnes Ries. 1967 USA-California

I'll get to the group's details below. For the music, this is the kind of garage folks are turning every stone over for. Side A has a dreamy melodic structure. The B side has a folky underpinning, with a punk attitude, and an excellent guitar solo. 

We do know from a YouTube comment from the band member's sister some details: It was recorded in Los Angeles in 1967. The group were from Bishop, California, which is way out in the eastern part of the state near Nevada.

Ownership: SP: 1967 Harlow. Obtained from a local shop for a $1 weeee (2024). 

We'll start with the rarity - it has never sold on Discogs, and the one and only copy that sold on ebay was 11 years ago for $350. You can only guess what it would go for now in a Carolina Soul auction. According to Discogs, the label has 6 releases (probably more) every one of them obscure.

Now we'll talk about the mistakes. The label shows The Bubber Bands on one side and The Rubber Bands on the other. My copy - and the submitter to Discogs copy (shown here) - has the final "S" rubbed out on each side. Above sister stated they were called The Rubber Band. What a mess.

7/14/24 (first listen / review / new entry)

The Mergers - Loving You / Unworthy American. 1967 USA-Detroit

The Mergers were a band from the Detroit area who released this one 45 before disappearing. The a) side is a low key drifty psych pop track with dual male and female vocals, picked guitar, and ancient organ. Very nice melody even though the vocals are a bit out of tune. The b) has a great bass riff followed by more haunting organ. Vocals are more like Eric Burden here. Man, the organ against the rhythmic breaks are killer here. Really like this one.

Ownership: SP: 1967 Cass. Online acquisition (2021)

7/24/21 (first listen); 1/27/22 (review / new entry)

Royal Teens - Tears In My Eyes / Chicanery. 1967 USA-Los Angeles

Odd discovery here. Royal Teens were like many southern Californian bands from the late 60s. There was music to be made, and off they went for a go. It's psychedelic but not overtly so. The songwriting is a bit disorienting. The b) side blends in a trippy sequence from The Beach Boys, as an example. I'm not sure of the date to be honest. The last 2 digits of the catalog number on some of the Rev 45s seem to indicate the year, but it could be coincidence. 1967 is about right, though 1966 seems even more realistic. There's some residue from the garage still left in here. Overall, a good one worth seeking out.

Ownership: SP: 1967 Rev. Online acquisition (2020)

Well I was quite pleased with my new unknown purchase at the time. And it still seems that way. However, one ebay reseller recently unloaded 50 new ones onto the marketplace, as a lot sale. Well, so much for that rarity, unless the buyer is keeping it under wraps. But if you start seeing mint ones creep out, then you'll know the source. And that same seller is still listing new copies sporadically. There is supply, that's for sure. Fortunately I'm not selling. 

My copy was part of this fantastic release: Heroes and Villains: The Sound of Los Angeles 1965-1968. We learn from this compilation that the 45 was released in May of 1967, so the label was informative on that front.

11/16/20 (first listen); 5/16/21 (review / new entry); 9/24/22 (update)

The Beautiful Daze - City Jungle Prt. 1 / City Jungle Prt. 2. 1967 USA-Los Angeles

From Los Angeles, The Beautiful Daze gives us exactly the sound every collector wants from a psych single. A good tune wrapped in massive amounts of fuzz. It's one song stretched to two sides. I have a bunch of heavy psych comps, and these tracks missed them all.

4/19/21

The Union - Love?? / Good Things. 1967 USA-Houston

One more completely obscure 45, this time from Houston, that proves the 60s were loaded with great talent, and not enough outlets for them all. 'Love??' is really great and has that tranced out psychedelic sound with doomy fuzz organ. Think of a post-Animals song mixed with the Group 1850 singles. Awesome. 'Good Things' is more groovy, also featuring organ (not fuzzed though) and jangly guitars with a great hummable tune. Definitely these guys should have made it past the minor leagues.

Ownership: SP: 1967 Radel. Online acquisition (2020).

6/7/20 (first listen); 3/7/21 (review / new entry)

The Raindear Army ‎- Subterranean Sunset / Aviator. 1967 USA-Illinois

The Raindear Army were a band from Springfield, Illinois who released only this one 45 (on Ledger Records of Peoria) before breaking up. 'Subterranean Sunset' is a beast, with fuzz chords right up front and haunting organ in the background. Great snotty vocals followed by the expected amped up guitar solo. Then the slayer here is the introduction of flute towards the end, something right out of the 1973 Italian prog playbook. This is my kind of freaky underground psych. This track was appropriately anthologized on the Illinois Psychedelic States release. The flip is a fast paced garage rocker with similar vocals, but with (way) toned down guitars, and what sounds like a kazoo (?!) solo. Not bad on the whole - but it's the a) side that's killer here.

Ownership: SP: 1967 Ledger. Another big surprise from the RT collection. 

12/20/20 (first listen / review / new entry)

King Midas and the Muflers - Sadim (Beaver Shot '69) / Get Down With It. 1967 USA-Kansas

Full name of Side 1 from the 1967 release is 'Sadim (Beaver Shot '69)'. Sooo... what's that supposed to mean? Ha... it looks like it may have been a title of a book. Anyway, this track is a solid instrumental funk number - the type of music that The Budos Band brought back to life in the 2000s. The other side 'Get Down With It' is a bit more typical funk / RnB with vocals. Despite the title, the general consensus is this 45 is from 1967.

King Midas and the Muflers (great name!) were from McPherson (been there many a time as it turns out). 

Ownership: SP: 1967 Chrome. From an estate sale. Thinking the homeowner must have lived in the area once as there was little else like it in the collection.

6/14/20 (first listen / review / new entry)

Herb Schoenbohm's Quintet Ipanema (featuring Manfredo Fest). 1967 Brazil

 

Herb Schoenbaum was primarily known as a Minneapolis radio personality and also played piano. He is responsible for bringing organist Manfredo Fest over from Brazil. Fest was a blind jazz musician who enjoyed relative success in the 70s. This recording features both some musicians flown in from Brazil and locals from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Look closely at the title of the first track (wow!). Excellent bossa nova. 

Ownership: SP: 1967 Brazilian Music Inc. 

As I reflect, this is the SP that started the Unknown Vinyl Blog. It was in a box of free records (2019), and this was the treasure of the lot. For whatever reason, free records were a reality before the pandemic - now that seems impossible. In any case, I added this to Discogs, and it's now very much sought after, which is what my instincts were telling me. The label is also something of a mystery. It looks like it may have been a publishing house in New York City. The date would likely be from the height of the Bossa Nova craze in 1966 / 67 (someone on Discogs confirmed 1967). Given my own history with it, I now consider it a special treasure. 

4.0

8/26/19 (first listen); 3/28/20 (review / new entry)

Adam's Recital - There's No Place For Lonely People / New York City. 1967 Belgium

'There's No Place for Lonely People' is a killer track with great energy, fuzz guitar, and a good tune to boot. Haven't heard the flip, but this will get 4 stars no matter what.  This appears to be the total output from this fine Belgian group. This title does exist on a couple of legal comps, but not 'New York City'.

9/8/19