LORD SITAR SAME-TITLED RARE ORIG'67 BEATLES-ERA SITAR PSYCH CAPITOL STEREO LP NM

$

20

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  NEARLY 500  LISTED ITEMS

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·       LORD SITAR – THE SENSATIONAL SOUNDS OF LORD SITAR (ALSO KNOWN, SIMPLY, AS ‘LORD SITAR’) – ORIGINAL 1967 CAPITOL RECORDS STEREO LP ST-2576

·       ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

·       ORIGINAL BLACK CAPITOL LABEL WITH MULTICOLORED SPECTRUM (“RAINBOW) BAND ALONG THE LABEL’S EDGE

·       ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE, STRIKINGLY VIVID, AUDIOPHILE-GRADE RECORDING WITH DYNAMIC AND FREQUENCY RANGE THAT WILL KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF AND INCINERATE YOUR TWEETERS, PLUS A (FAIR AND) BALANCED CHANNEL SEPARATION FROM HEAVEN; IN FACT, THIS RECORD SOUNDS MUCH BETTER THAN MOST OF THE MASTERINGS AND PRESSINGS MARKETED AS ‘AUDIOPHILE’ THESE DAYS. THIS ALBUM MERITS OUR ENTRY IN THE LIST OF TOP-30 GREATEST RECORDINGS (TECHNICALLY SPEAKING) OF ALL TIME. IT IS TRULY – LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY – A JOY TO LISTEN TO, SOMEWHAT SLIGHLY CHEESY SELECTION OF MATERIAL NOTWITHSTANDING.

·       CAPITOL RECORDS, SCRANTON, PA  PRESSING

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       THICK CARDBOARD COVER, AMERICAN STYLE.

·       CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

·       THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

·       MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) ENDS WITH '-A1/-B2'.  ON SOME LABELS,  SUFFIX '–1' DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING)

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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Lord Sitar was the alias for renowned session musician and guitar virtuoso Big Jim Sullivan  who, in 1966/67, found himself in the enviable position of being the only established session guitarist in England to own a sitar. By 1967, that attribute had turned him into a valuable commodity, mostly because of the instrument's being popularized by George Harrison of the Beatles and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones on various of their respective groups' recordings. Sullivan had already recorded a whole album of sitar-based music entitled Sitar Beat  for Mercury Records (released in 1968) when someone at Regal Zonophone -- an imprint of EMI, which already owned the real article in raga rock in the form of George Harrison's Beatles recordings -- decided that they needed an album to cash in on the boom for the Hindustani instrument's sound. Thus was born "Lord Sitar," as he was billed, with Sullivan working under producer John Hawkins. In subsequent interviews, including one with Kieron Tyler accompanying the R.P.M. reissue of Sitar Beat, Sullivan has described those sessions as unsatisfying and unmemorable, especially when compared to those for Sitar Beat. The Lord Sitar  album, however, managed to get reviewed even in the pages of Rolling Stone (then the Bible of rock music) -- thanks to the mystery surrounding "Lord Sitar" and the fact that the album appeared on Capitol Records in America, some people suspected (encouraged by Hawkins' sleeve notes) that there was some direct connection between Lord Sitar and George Harrison. There was, indeed, but only in the crassest commercial way, and only from one side, and not even involving the musicians. The presence of "If I Were A Rich Man" on the album's song list quickly dispelled any rumors, and "Lord Sitar" was added to a list of peripheral Beatles ephemera (and how much more ephemeral could one possibly get, than to be peripheral ephemera?) that came to include Klaatu  and other supposed/alleged/rumored Beatles projects. Ironically, the ruse might've worked -- at least for a few seconds -- if only Hawkins hadn't selected such bizarre material (not just "If I Were A Rich Man", but also "Daydream Believer" and Kim Fowley's "Ode To Joy" rip-off "Emerald City" and two of Hawkins' own copyrights, "Tomorrow's People" and "In A Dream") to record.

The rating of this album is a bit of a problem -- on one level, it isn't any better than one would expect from a studio pick-up band doing raga-style covers of "I Am The Walrus," "&Black Is Black," "Eleanor Rigby," "&Blue Jay Way," etc. It isn't what one would can call a terribly adventurous recording, and it's exactly the opposite of the recordings -- George Harrison's "Love You To" and "Within You, Without You" -- whose textures it seems to want to emulate. On the other, it does have its odd moments of beauty, such as the heavy sitar noodling on "Eleanor Rigby" and "I Am The Walrus," and the sitar subbing for the lead vocal line on Pete Townshend's "I Can See For Miles" is worth hearing once, at least. "Blue Jay Way" is so strange -- the Beatles' original being a raga-style number with no sitar -- that it is also worth a listen. Additionally, the album was cut with a special emphasis on the stereo separation and a very bright sound, that makes it a peculiar extension of the late '50s "bachelor's den" audiophile school of recording. And one track here, "Black Is Black," does rock out in no uncertain terms, and the sitar does a good job there of extending the song into some new territory, sub-continent Top 40 rock. The album was reissued late in 1999 on EMI's revived Zonophone label, an appropriate place for the label's in-house psychedelic vision, limited as it was.

 (REVIEW REPRINTED COURTESY OF BRUCE EDER, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

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·                               CONDITION:

·                               THE RECORD

 (IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)          WE GRADE THE VINYL AS EXCELLENT. This is one of those albums that are somewhat difficult to grade. It is somewhere between VG++ and NEAR MINT, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions ARE visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial  and only moderately visually distracting (nothing significant).For the most part, the vinyl looks impeccable without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)          The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(c)           Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·                               THE COVER

THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT VERY GOOD++ (VG++).

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-        Cover has some writing on its back side (name of the previous owner written in blue ballpoint pen, about ½ x 3 inches in size)

-         Cover has some light ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 2  (front side) and 4 (back side)

-         Back cover has circular tarnish (grayish, dust-covered sections, which closely follow the contour of the record),  probably caused by friction or by rubbing against other covers during the storage. The tarnish is similar in appearance to a common ring wear, but, UNLIKE ring wear, these grayish areas may be possible to clean up with a minor effort and with a right cleansing solution.

-         Cover shows some light yellowing on back side, apparently from aging  (nothing significant).

-         Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the spine  (BARELY VISIBLE)  (VISIBLE ON BACK SIDE ONLY)

-         Minor shelf wear noted on the spine (nothing significant)

-         Cover has one corner slightly dinged (nothing significant)

-         Back cover has a few yellowish dust speckles scattered here and there (these tiny spots are not overly obtrusive or distracting)

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

We offer THREE postage rates for both Domestic and International Mail: Media Mail, Priority Mail and Express Mail for domestic, and First Class, Priority International Mail, and Express International Mail for international orders. INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND that you pay for USPS International Priority Mail OR International Express mail when making a payment in order to obtain tracking information, which is NOT available for First Class International shipments.

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