Peter Wyngarde LP Signed Jason King
£
120
$
159
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Description
The original & infamous vinyl album by Peter Wyngarde. Autographed by the man himself. This has recently been re-released on CD as Peter Wyngarde - 'Sex Leers its Inquisitive Head'; for sale here is the original & very rare LP. Some wear to the sleeve, the record is in very good condition (see pics) & I've had it professionally cleaned by a vinyl store. A rare and unique gem.
Peter Wyngarde's one and only recording venture - an album steeped in myth and controversy, withdrawn within weeks after it first appeared back in 1970, and mired in contractural complications ever since.
Peter Wyngarde's masterful portrayal of Jason King, the TV sleuth masquerading as a crime- writing shag-monster, was so rooted to its rakish era that a revival seemed as likely as the return of the classic Bentley Continental he drove.
Wyngarde, whose Jason King character was first created for ITC's Department S show in 1968, epitomised Easy culture - a decorative hirsute look comprising sideburns, a matching collar-and-tie of raw silk, and a suit that made heads turn right round. For women, most of whom still remained chained to the sink, Jason King was the Romeo who'd come to liberate them from suburban domesticity. For a time in the UK Wyngarde was the countries number one male pin-up, and his fame spread abroad wherever the show was screened - he found himself mobbed in Australia by thousands of females when he arrived there to do some personal appearances.
All of which makes Peter Wyngarde's vinyl love-letter, originally released on RCA Records in 1970 when the actor was at the peak of his prowess, even more bizarre. A collection of contemporary standards it was not. The album included songs which exploded into rampant rages of male sexuality, couched in an aesthetic abandon that set off alarm bells even in those permissive climes.
Labels had long been sniffing round hoping to get Wyngarde into a studio; getting a top TV personality to cut an album was a sure-fire way to make a quick buck, regardless of their musical abilities (cf. Patrick McNee trying to sing "Kinky Boots"!). RCA came up with an offer. They told me I could do what I liked. That's what really appealed to me! I saw the record as an entertainment in its own right to be enjoyed tongue-in-cheek.
The central idea was to string the songs together into one long suite and none were more interesting than the opening quartet of "Come In", "You Wonder How These Things Begin" and "Rape". Truly the album's centrepiece, it's this suite which has given the record such cult notoriety that collectors happily shell out up to £400 for a copy. Wyngarde defends the piece on which his musical infamy is based. Is it politically incorrect? I've really no idea. It's about all kinds of rape. There is so much rape going on rape within bureaucracy, rape at so many government levels, rape of countries. You know, even attempting to explain it totally defeats its purpose.
The record's outrageousness often overwhelms what would still be one of the more bizarre episodes in popular music. The listener is unlikely to forget "Hippie And The Skinhead", where Wyngarde reads out a letter written to "The Times" by two Home Counties skinhead girls, or the tale of "Billy the Queer, Pilly Sexy Hippie", sung over an incongruous, Nashville backing. And there's even something for discerning lovers of late Sixties English rock as he takes on the Attack's "Neville Thumbcatch", written by Vic Smith.
Until now, "Peter Wyngarde" has largely circulated on enthusiastically-copied cassettes. That's because the record was quickly snuffed out when RCA realised just what it had on its hands. Over a quarter of a century later, perhaps the rest of the world has finally caught up with Wyngarde's postmodernist bent.
