DO IT NOW FOUNDATION Realistic Drug Album 2 LP psych

$

142

Making anti-drug PSAs in the late 60’s must have been a real thankless job. The Do It Now Foundation issued a series of ‘em, appealing in what they considered a “hip” way by hiring some of the counterculture’s biggest voices – Frank Zappa, Grace Slick, Roger McGuinn, Peter Tork – all people who surely must’ve dabbled themselves, and maybe that’s the point. I mean, take one look at the career paths of Roger McGuinn and Peter Tork by 1970, and you might swear off drugs too. This very, VERY RARE double album is an audio masterpiece of anti-drug public service, never preachy or condescending. Instead, it relies on an endless audio collage of pot and drug users’ stoned conversations, hippies rapping with each other, only occasionally making sense, interspersed with tobacco ads, prescription drug ads, and some of those original 30 and 60 second PSAs from their radio campaign. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention – some KILLER acid psychedelic songs, presented in their entirety, all dealing in one way or another with the topic at hand (drugs). For example, Side 1 features the Byrds “Artificial Energy”, along with Frank Zappa’s public service announcement, a true classic. Over a bed of sped-up chipmunk voices, Frank deadpans “Do not use speed. Here’s why…it’s gonna mess up your heart, mess up your liver, your kidneys, rot out your mind. In general, this drug will make you just like your mother and father.” Now THAT had to scare more teens than a dozen showings of “Reefer Madness”. But as priceless as Side 1 is, Side 2 is even better, featuring a (supposedly) candid conversation between three young hippies (2 guys, 1 girl), discussing the way society perceives drugs and the way they use them. They meander for a while, deftly sidestepping meaningful thoughts, until the girl reaches a sudden, surprising epiphany. And it goes like this: GUY 1: “Don’t eat plastic foods, care for your body, loving it…I think THAT gets the gold star for the best high. But it’s hard to do. Hard to do for me.” GUY 2: “Nobody’s rapping about the pleasant times.” GUY 1: “WHAT pleasant times?” GUY 2: “Like getting very stoned and sitting around the table, and there’s this beautiful food orgy and the interaction that’s all part of that high, that STONE.” GUY 1: “Oh, cuz I look at that as ‘Oh wow, those drug-crazed hippies…’” GUY 2 (excitedly): “Yeah, but that’s because we LIVE it! We live it and we’re close to it.” GIRL: “Like the three of us sitting here too.” GUY 2: “Having a stoned rap.” GIRL: “Expressing ourselves to each other and I don’t think we all know exactly what we’re telling each other.” (They all laugh, because she’s right) This is followed by an odd acoustic version of “The Pusher”, probably the original by Hoyt Axton, and then we’re off to Album 2. Now so far, Do It Now’s used humor to make their point, and we’ve even eavesdropped on a trio of future acid casualties. Now Side 3 brings the hammer down HARD, right away. With Jimi Hendrix’s death. The ultimate ending point for all serious speed freaks. The audio collage begins with several news reports – my favorite one is a masterpiece of the seamless segueway: “Jimi Hendrix...his albums sold in the millions…he should have been a millionaire. It is not known whether he saved his money. But it IS known that he is DEAD!” Another reporter shows his hipness quota by simply stating “the Experience is over.” Good thing this album was released before the ugly demise of Jim Morrison. Or Elvis, for that matter. A strange Country Joe and the Fish type singalong song follows, but the real freakout musical bit comes near the end, the most psychedelic CHURCH hymnal you’ll EVER hear! Someone recites all the synonyms for marijuana…”Hashish…henna…hemp…cannibis…cannibis sativa…ganja…” over top a church choir that is actually…unbelievably…SINGING “Mar…ee…ju…ah…nah…ah!” And it sounds like a REAL church choir too! Just think of how many confused teens started going to church on Sunday after hearing this turned-on congregation perform, and then got all bummed out when they didn’t hear the Marijuana Recital. Thankfully, the Foundation backs off a bit on the final side, and rewards patient hippies who’ve made it this far with an album side that features TWO KILLER psychedelic ACID JAMS! Now WHY you’d include 2 killer songs obviously replicating the psychedelic drug experience on an anti-drug album…well, that escapes me entirely…but I’m sure glad they did! The first one sounds like the kind of demented lysergic head trips that Circus 2000 was good for…massive wah wah guitar overload, crazed female vocals, and so much phasing and distortion that the whole song seems to shimmer, vibrate and pulsate with an alternate state of reality. Unfortunately, the LP lists no artists or song titles – doesn’t list ANYTHING, as a matter of fact – so I don’t know who is responsible for this mammoth acid trip, but it’s clearly got anti-drug lyrics – something about a “man of good fortune” who becomes a slave to the evil needle and now lives in the gutter. And his tragic tale is bathed in more wah wah pedal FX than a hundred of the hallucinations he probably had living it. It’s a KILLER tune – pure FIVE-STAR psychedelia – undoubtedly released elsewhere but I can’t figure out who’s behind it (surely someone out there does, though, right?). Side 4 ends with another great song, this time the raw-throated Steppenwolf biker rock sounds of Canned Heat’s “Amphetamine Annie”, again driving home the point that “speed kills” (it’s right there in the lyrics this time). And see how far we’ve come from the beginning? “Speed kills” is a much more sobering finality and realization than Frank Zappa’s claim that it’ll “make you just like your mother and father” back on Side 1. It’s almost as if the Do It Now Foundation realizes that, if you’re still listening by Side 4, you’re still not getting the message, and now it’s time to bring out the heavy guns. Sure, FOUR sides of this stuff is a heavy trip indeed, guaranteed to put Pammie on a major bummer. An hour-and-a-half audio collage of anti-drug information, like “Revolution 9” gone cold turkey. But there’s nothing else like it – a mix of hallucinogen warnings interspersed with hallucinogenic music. Beyond that, there’s the more down-to-earth matter of just how RARE this thing is. Even the Do It Now Foundation’s website doesn’t acknowledge its existence (the much more common “First Vibrations” LP is described in detail, however). Over my twenty years of collecting, I’ve only seen this album offered for sale TWICE – the first time, I admired it but couldn’t afford it – the second time, I bought it. Moreover, just who was this album intended for? With no cover but a stamp that reads “A REALISTIC DRUG EDUCATION ALBUM” (now THERE’S a catchy title!), a completely plain white gatefold jacket, and no song info on the labels except for the Foundation’s mailing address, it doesn’t seem at all likely this was ever intended for sale. Was it sent to radio stations? To news departments? To ex-junkies fresh out of rehab? Who knows? Its purpose, as well as much of its content, seems to be forever shrouded in a haze of hallucinogenic smoke. The ultimate audio trip ironically turns out to be a warning against itself. Original early 70’s pressing. Gatefold jacket’s in VG+ shape with some frayed edges along the top, split seams in spots, especially on corners, but surprisingly little ringwear. The vinyl is of the extra-flimsy low-budget quality, but all four sides play EXCELLENT with nearly no surface noise. Winning bidder pays $4.50 for media mail shipping with tracking in the US, $10 to Canada for air mail, $16 everywhere else. Paypal, Bidpay, cash, checks and money orders accepted. Please be sure to check out my other auctions for more vinyl obscurities, and I will be happy to combine shipping costs on multiple wins.