ORIGINALLY RELEASED IN SMALL QUANTITY in 1980, THIS IS THE 90s(?) US REPRESSING on SHADOW Records. The single cover is in VG(+) condition, normal wear BUT with some creases on corners/edges, slightly wear on corners, surface ringwear/edgewear to clean; for details see photos. The vinyl is in EX condition and plays wonderfully.

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AMULET

Founded in Evansville, IN, in the autumn of 1978, Amulet were a hard rock four-piece comprised of singer Cliff Hill, guitarist Bob Becker, bassist Paul Skelton, and drummer John Becker, whose short existence went largely unchronicled beyond Midwestern borders, and underground ones at that. After cutting their teeth in local clubs as a covers band, Amulet began composing their own material, and by mid-1980 had developed a repertoire they felt was worthy of recording for what would become their eponymous, self-produced debut album. This contained some impressive blue-collar Midwestern hard rock (as well as a few less astute detours into latent psychedelia and clumsy white-boy funk), and managed to drum up some interest from record labels -- especially hard rock-friendly Atlantic Records. But the bandmembers were already on the outs with each other by then, and ultimately confirmed their not-ready-for-prime-time condition by breaking up just as their hard work was starting to bear fruit. Nevertheless, Amulet's increasingly rare vinyl LP gradually grew in legend among serious hard rock collectors, prompting its eventual reissue 20 years later by Texas-based Monster Records.

<reissue, originally published in 1980>

LP     SHADOW RECORDS

PRINTED IN USA    90s(?) REPRESSING

SINGLE SLEEVE

THICK CARDBOARD COVER [cover is one glued on a plain white cover]

Barcode: none

LABEL: SHADOW - BLACK LABEL - SILVER TEXT

Catalog on cover: none   

Catalog on labels: none

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): AMULET / A  [signature]  L-44679

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): AMULET / A  [signature]  L-44679X

On labels: Copyright 1980

On back cover: none

tracklisting: please, for tracklist see label images

grading

RECORD EX but (please, read above description)

SLEEVE VG(+) but (please, see pictures and read above description)

Getting the word out about your band was no easy task before the Internet and file sharing came around -- especially for bands living outside the major music industry hubs. Such was certainly the predicament facing Evansville, IN, natives Amulet, who, after going unnoticed for two years by record company scouts, decided it was time to take matters into their own hands. Pooling together $3,000, they recorded and released this self-titled debut in the summer of 1980, and though it ultimately wasn't enough to get them out of Indy, its hybrid and low-budget approach to the hard rock of '70s giants like Aerosmith, Montrose, and UFO possessed an alluring charm all its own. Their musicianship, too, was frankly beyond reproach, and guitarist Bob Becker, in particular, immediately proved his mettle on the album's opening track, "Just Like a Woman" (also the band's most frequently played song at local radio), which came across like a slightly less bombastic take on the era's newest hard rock stars, Van Halen. Second cut "Sea of Fear" was arguably even better, boasting a more aggressive escalating and descending guitar lick to go with a very memorable layered gang chorus. And so it went, as Amulet intermingled subsequent sharp-toothed rockers like "Kings & Queens" (built on a nifty off-kilter time signature), "Gemini" (like Heart with a male lead singer), and the album's dirty-riffed finale, "New Day," with a few more surprising stylistic departures. Among these, the acoustic guitar-sweetened "Do You Live Again" served up some solid, if belated, post-psych mind tripping, while the unfathomable "Life Is Living" offered some intriguing mid-'70s doom vibes, but mostly came off circular of riff, redundant of title, and largely ridiculous of lyric. And a pair of funk-infused numbers also split the jury, with the hard-driving "Person to Person" getting by on sheer adrenalin and an awesome percussive performance from drummer John Becker, while the album's only dud, "Funk 'n' Punk," just fell flat with its unconvincing swing and an irksomely repetitive chorus. Even so, the total balance of Amulet's only album was overwhelmingly positive, and that is precisely why it slowly transformed what was once a limited vinyl release into a collector's favorite...(AllMusic)