DRUIDS OF STONEHENGE Creation '68 garage psych ORIG LP

$

119

RARE ORIGINAL MONO pressing of this raw garage punk psycher from New York 1968 - the Druids of Stonehenge "Creation" on the UNI label.  Another one of those one-album-and-done bands from the late days of psychedelia - didn't sell a lick at the time but is NOW regarded as one of the pinnacles of raw garage psychedelia, and for once the critics are correct.  NOT an album for fans of ornate, intricate, baroque psychedelia, this album REEKS snotty punk attitude and raw primal R&B grooves like the finest moments of the Yardbirds, the Animals and the Chocolate Watchband - this is the Nuggets philosophy personified.  That primal R&B blooz blast is never more evident than on their nearly 7-minute "Bring it on Home (Can't Get By Alone)", a wicked blues jam that opens with an ear-piercing Jaggeresque scream.  This has as much grace as a walrus in a liquor store, with sneering vocals oozing teen aggression like vintage Mick or the lead singer of the Chocolate Watchband.  Add to that great swaths of BLISTERING FUZZ guitar that drench both speakers, and you've got yourself one of the most exciting blues-based rave-ups this side of the Amboy Dukes "Baby Please Don't Go."  The opening track "Six Feet Down" lumbers along on a slow bluesy guitar riff similar to the one Love used in "Signed DC" (a track the band actually covers later), only a choir of monklike vocal incantations takes this to a whole new level, alongside the Yardbirds "Turn To Earth" for trippy garage psychedelia.  A nice heavy church organ solo brings to mind vintage Procol Harum.  "Pale Dream" offers another dose of Nuggets garage punk abandon, a punky jangly garage beast with snotty vocals and some great slashing, cutting and unhinged guitar work with the same reckless intensity that Syd Barrett brought to the early Floyd.  It's like a punk psych locomotive that's dangerously close to derailing but never does, and all the vocalist can do at the end is just scream over and over.  And I fear he meant it.  The band trips out on the thoroughly psychedelic "Forgot to be Begot", if you didn't already guess by the title, this is a magic carpet ride with an Eastern bend.  The band tone down their primal screams on this one, instead opting for some lovely lush harmony vocals, backed by some great sitar-ish guitar plucked fast like the Kaleidoscope's "Egyptian Dream" with echoed-out trippy vocals and a real lost-in-the-ether floaty drifty feel.  Fans of the Strawberry Alarm Clock's second album, or stuff like the Orient Express, Kak and the Fallen Angels will already be adding this track to their next psychedelic mix tape.  Only in 1968 could an album this great be totally ignored, and sadly the band broke up after the album tanked.  Only now do we realize that these guys were the real deal, and if you put the Druids in a room with the White Stripes, the Hives and the kids from Linkin Park, threw in a few baseball bats and brass knuckles, these guys would be playing a victory concert later that night.  Original 1968 pressing on the UNI label, in glorious raw teenage MONO, baby!  Cover's in VG+ shape due to some light peeling between the words "stonehenge" and "creation" (see pic), some ringwear on the front and a small cutout hole.  All seams intact and pretty solid.  Vinyl plays solid VG+ with some light crackle.  Winning bidder pays $3.00 media mail shipping in the US, $6 air mail to Canada, $12 air mail everywhere else.  Paypal, Bidpay, cash, checks and money orders accepted.  Please check out my other auctions for more obscure pop, psych and garage goodies!