TARANTULA- s/t RARE 1969 ORIGINAL WHITE LABEL PROMO HARD ACID PSYCH ROCK MINTY

$

100

RARE 1969 ORIGINAL PROMO PRESSING IN TOP CONDITION!

"TARANTULA- s/t"

1969 A & M Records SP 4202 label

The condition of the cover is M- still in the shrink wrap!  The condition of the disc is also a beautiful M-!

Tarantula consisted of Tom Grasso (keyboards, vocals), Mike Edelman (electric flute, vocals), Steve Swirn (drums), Oz Bach (bass, vocals), Thad Maxwell (guitar, vocals).

Formed by ex-Wings member Oz Bach, and produced by Chad Stuart of Chad and Jeremy fame, this album slithers all over the place like a divinely mad snake on the trip of a lifetime. Eastern influences, military drumming and pieces of pastoral delight combine to intoxicate and alienate in equal measure. This spider has been out in the sun too long, is both scary and mad, but wishes to infiltrate the eardrums and share the madness. Joining Bach on bass, were Steve Zwirm, drums, Tom Grasso, organ, Thad Maxwell, electric guitar, and Mike Edelman on vocals and  flute.

Inspired perversity stripped much of Tarantula’s efforts of its commerciality, which is a good thing for underground rock collectors. The opening track “You” has successful single a la “Spirit in the Sky” written all over it, whilst “Electric Guru” is an adept exercise in bottling the mysticism and ideals of the era. “T. V. Repairman” sounds like Frank Zappa auditioning for the hippie play "Hair." His diversity is referenced on much of the proceedings, but a bunch of also-ran Franks these boys were not. They possessed a strangely spiritual inclination, as betrayed in “Love Is for Peace, ” their only single. It’s a mantra-like chant for psych-heads & space cadets of any era, right down to the Scottish reel they mange to rope into this diligent tapestry of insanity before abandoning it a few seconds later.

Perhaps the beautifully melancholic “Thoughts for Anne” betrayed too much of “Eleanor Rigby” to impress the purists of the day, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a finer song. Rarely have Americans managed to sound so chamber-gloomily English and haunted. The divinely titled  “Peach Fuzz and Peppermints” sounds like something a stripper might have shaken her moneymaker to, in a 1930s sin bin, before descending into the kind of fuzzed-out intensity only PLASTIC CLOUD was generating.

”Red Herring, ” as the name suggests, goes all over the shops, but somehow manages to never topple into the abyss it so perilously skirts, whilst “Billie the Birdman” begins as pure Beatles in “Strawberry Fields” mode, but ends as a whimsical Blur at their most Parklife. The brief, sad smattering of applause at the track’s demise, and that of the album, portended the meager portion of appreciation shown Tarantula. Things didn’t translate into wider recognition and success, and they didn’t cross the line from 1969 to ’70.

It is easy to see why they never hit anything resembling the big time. They probably weren’t even attempting to, and may not have managed the consequences of success too well. Albums like this don’t get made because of good sense and rational behavior, but they do betray impeccable timing and taste. As Mr. Wilde once opined, “All things in moderation, especially moderation. ” Tarantula thankfully gave free rein to their notions, albeit briefly, and left us a box of tricks worthy of Pandora. More Peach Fuzz everyone?

Top PROMO COPY!!!  NEAR MINT COVER AND DISC!!

Posted with eBay Mobile

Posted with eBay Mobile