Gram Parsons - International Submarine Band Safe At Home LP + 45 1st press Byrds

$

180

International Submarine Band - Safe At Home LHIS 12001 LP   Original 1968 USA pressing + the bands debut 1967 LHI 45 pairing Luxury Liner b/w Blue Eyes LHI 1205, both in superb, supremely clean condition.

I've included numerous scans that should reveal the the condition of both the cover & labels.  Be assured the vinyl is in brilliantly clean, shiny, glossy condition.  Viewed in daylight it could pass for MINT UNPLAYED.  Viewed under direct bright light only the wispiest paper lines show up.  These are keeper condition copies, that is for certain.

On Offer here are two of the grailiest Gram grails of 'em all.  Super clean soclosetomint original pressings of his LHI label recordings with the ISB.  Both the instantly deleted Luxury Liner / Blue Eyes 45 & the Safe At Home LP are in stunning near mint condition. If you've read this far you must know the background to these releases. Anyway, for those interested in a bit more background here's a bit of information shamelessly copped from Wickipedia:


The International Submarine Band (ISB) was formed by country rock pioneer Gram Parsons while a theology student at Harvard University and John Nuese, a guitar player for local rock group, The Trolls. Nuese is largely credited with having persuaded Parsons to pursue the country-rock sound he would later be remembered for when the two first started the ISB.

In 1965, Parsons enrolled at Harvard University to study theology. Never a serious student, Parsons immediately set about establishing himself as a presence on the local folk music scene.[1] Parsons' first band, which he named The Like, featured only Parsons and students from the Berklee College of Music. Given that Parsons was interested in pursuing a career as a folksinger at this time, his bandmates' jazz training proved incompatible with Parsons's musical aspirations.[1] The group disbanded late in 1965, when Parsons met John Nuese, a guitarist with another local group called the Trolls, who convinced the singer to pursue an explicit country rock sound.


In early 1967  Lee Hazlewood, owner of LHI Records signed the post-breakup Parsons and Nuese to an exclusive contract as the "ISB". Immediately, Parsons and Nuese began their search for musicians to complete the band. Jon Corneal, a drummer from an earlier Parsons band, answered the call, though he was making a good living playing as a session musician in Nashville.[1] Three session musicians were hired to augment the threesome: Joe Osborn on bass, Earl Ball on piano and Jay Dee Maness on pedal steel.

The newly re-formed "International Submarine Band" recorded their first single in July 1967, under the watchful gaze of producer Hokom: two Parsons compositions, "Luxury Liner" and "Blue Eyes".[1] Four months later, in November 1967, the same group, plus newcomer Chris Ethridge on bass, entered the studio to record what would become the band's only full length release, Safe at Home. Two more Parsons originals made the album: "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome" and "Strong Boy".

Parsons becomes a Byrd: the ISB's demise, 1968

Though Safe at Home was finished by December 1967, the ISB's debut LP went unreleased for several months. Parsons left the group in February 1968, to join The Byrds to record their Sweetheart of the Rodeo album. Lee Hazlewood was unhappy with Parsons' decision and retained ownership of the name "International Submarine Band". Hazlewood attempted to prevent Parsons' vocal tracks from appearing on the Sweetheart of the Rodeo album.[2] While these legal issues were addressed by the time of the album's release, Parsons vocals were removed from several songs and replaced by vocals by Roger McGuinn; ultimately Parsons' lead vocals graced three songs on the album: "You're Still on My Mind", "Life in Prison" and "Hickory Wind".[2] The ISB's only full length release, Safe at Home, was not released by LHI until the spring of 1968, when the group had officially ceased to exist. Nonetheless, ISB's only album, Safe at Home, is now regarded a groundbreaking album of the country rock genre.[citation needed]

Safe at Home was the 1968 album by The International Submarine Band, led by the 21-year-old Gram Parsons. Featuring four of Parsons' originals surrounded by six covers of classic country and rock and roll music, it helped to forge the country rock movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Recording began in July 1967 for Lee Hazlewood's LHI Records, with the actual group consisting solely of Parsons and lead guitarist John Nuese. Rounding out the duo were session drummer Jon Corneal (a friend of Parsons soon promoted to full member), bassist Joe Osborn, pedal steel guitarist Jay Dee Maness and pianist Earl "Les" Ball, with Hazlewood's girlfriend Suzi Jane Hokom producing. Recorded at the time were the Parsons originals "Blue Eyes" and "Luxury Liner", soon issued on a 45 single. The group gigged with the additions of guitarist Bob Buchanan and bassist Chris Ethridge over the next few months.

Four months later, with the group's line-up consisting of Parsons, Nuese, Corneal and Buchanan (augmented by Ball, Maness and Ethridge) the group ran through two new originals, "Strong Boy" and "Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome" and seven covers, six of which ended up on the original album. By early December, the album was finished and given a target release date of late January or early February 1968, in order to avoid the Christmas rush.

Parsons jumped ship before the album's release and it lay dormant for months. After months of legal wrangling, with Parsons a member of The Byrds and the remainder of the group unable to find a suitable replacement for him, the album came out in July (complete with rave reviews from Glen Campbell and Don Everly—leading some to speculate they had played and/or sang on the album), with any hope of Parsons' returning to the fold, and any hope of the album's success lost. As a condition for The Byrds releasing their next album, the Parsons-dominated Sweetheart of the Rodeo, however, was the deletion of Parsons' vocals from most of the tracks he had sung lead on that album. This would be one of Parsons' many gripes about his tenure in the group, which was over by the time of the release of Sweetheart of the Rodeo in August, 1968.

For several decades now this LP (& 45) have been regarded as the FIRST true "Country Rock" recordings. Here's a chance to score  superb condition copies of two extremely rare, especially in this condition, records that present some of the earliest recordings by the legendary Gram Parsons.