MARSUPILAMI - Transatlantic 1st UK Press VERTIGO swirl Gracious YES VDGG EX+

	£		160
	$		212

Marsupilami -

TRA 213

Transatlantic

UK 1st PRESS 1970 

Machined matrices:  A1  B1      

Rarest and best UK major label acid psych folk LP

absolutely unique and quintessentially British progfolk

easily one of the hardest UK albums to find in top shape, rarest Transatlantic album.

MARSUPILAMI were an English proto-prog outfit who relocated to the Netherlands. The complexity of their music is quite unusual for the times - we're talking 1970 here, when the big guns such as YES, GENESIS and CRIMSON were barely coming out of the woodwork. A mixture of blues, experimental jazz and hints of folk, their music is often dark and foreboding, favouring perilously complex structures. Try to imagine a mixture of KING CRIMSON, JETHRO TULL, the STRAWBS and EAST OF EDEN.

Their two albums feature weird/oblique melodies and harmonies, lots of heavy keyboards, electric guitar and flute (at times purposely off key), with the drummer pounding on his skins as if his life depended on it. This is very early prog and you particularly feel this in the organ work, which has a typical early 70's psych feel. Their second album, which features an additional member on flute and sax as well as the appearance of the Mellotron, is an ambitious concept album about the brutal culture of ancien Rome - quite a sordid affair, really, but well done. It has a slightly better sound than the first album although most progsters generally favour the first.

ONE OF THE VERY BEST AND MOST MEMORABLE ALBUMS EVER ISSUED FROM THE TINY AND TOTALLY UNDERGROUND PROG FOLK GENRE WITH MASSIVE PSYCHEDELIC INFLUENCES

With influences ranging from the classical greats such as Messian to jazz gurus such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner and Pharaoh Sanders with a little contemporary folk via Fairport Convention as well as the most innovative thinkers in rock via Zappa, Soft Machine, MARSUPILAMI carefully crafted through the painstaking alchemical amalgamations coupled with the ceaseless practice sessions and created some of the most daring and out of the box musical structures within the rock paradigm of the era. While having been released in April 1970, the album was recorded all the way back in June 1969 before King Crimson shocked the world with their progressive bomb "In The Court Of The Crimson King," so that means that MARSUPILAMI developed their simultaneous approach of more demanding strains of rock music completely independently ushering in a completely unique sound unlike any of the other artists of the day. In fact the debut album was actually much more daring and unpredictable as any of the better known early prog albums released by King Crimson, East Of Eden, Amon Düül II, The Nice, Pink Floyd or Soft Machine.

MARSUPILAMI was somewhat of a hit on the live circuit as they played at a number of festivals at a rather relentless pace and even opened for Deep Purple in their Mark I phase. They played the famous 1969 Isle Of Wight Festival and even won the Exeter based South West Regional leg of Melody Maker Best Band Competition. They were also gaining quite the reputation as formidable stage presence on the mainland in Europe and after finding the perfect manager in Julian Palmer-Hill, they were approached by MCA for a record contract but opted instead to sign with the independent Transatlantic Records which was looking to diversify into the greater rock world beyond their avant-garde and folk based acts of The Humblebums, John Fahey, John Cage and even Zappa's "Uncle Meat," just to name a few.

This eponymous debut album is the essence of what would become the norm in adventurous prog that coming to fruition the following year thus in effect jump starting the arms race of pomp and awe that meant each band would attempt to outdo the other with ever increasing albums of complexity. Laced with psychedelic trips, instrumental workouts twisted into complex labyrinthine compositional constructs with jazz-tinged chord progressions with long extended passages to allow flute drenched motifs, heavy rock guitar and avant-garde meanderings, the eponymously titled debut from MARSUPILAMI is one of progressive rock's earliest crowning achievements, however due to a rather limited shelf life of band members cohesively sharing the same vision, the band was short lived and their existence has woefully fallen off the radar throughout the ensuing decades. All five tracks were recorded in relatively few takes and basically done completely live displaying the extreme dexterity and commitment to detail that MARUPILAMI so gracefully mastered. (Review From: progarchives.com)

The absolute rarity of this album is not to be underestimated. It hardly ever surfaces nowadays. This is an absolutely gorgeous slab of early quality TRANSATLANTIC vinyl which is in great EX+ condition!! This has a lovely deep glossy sheen!! Hauntingly beautiful songcraft!!! Immense quality prog folk album that ticks all the right boxes and incredibly hard to find. I have twenty five years experience in grading. It doesn't get much better than this!!

FIRST ALBUM OF THIS SUPERBAND THAT HARDLY SOLD AT ALL BUT IS NOW VERY SOUGHT AFTER BY PROG CONNOISEURS

A CLASSIC FOLK/PROGRESSIVE LP THAT SHOULD BE IN EVERY QUALITY PROG/FOLK COLLECTION - if you cannot buy this you should at least try and get a re-issue and enjoy!

Please, also have a look at my other prog, psych and metal albums on sale this week.

!!!!AN IMPOSSIBLE FIND!! A few hundred of the LP were ever sold!!! This is SOOOOOOOOOOO very rare!!!!!

BACK IN 1970 WHEN THIS LP WAS FIRST RELEASED, IT ONLY EVER SOLD IN ABSOLUTELY TINY AMOUNTS - AS A RESULT IT IS SERIOUSLY RARE AND INCREDIBLY HARD TO LOCATE TODAY!!!! 

****ELUSIVE PROGMONSTER!!!****PERPLEXING SONGCRAFT!!!***AN INSPIRATION TO MANY SUBSEQUENT TOPACTS!!!***

!!!!A VERY HARD FIND!!! Most have been bought up by collectors!! This is hardly offered these days!!

In all my years this is only the second time I have come across this PROGMONSTER. Immensely scarce and probably the hardest album to find on Island!! Sensational sound quality, I have played this through in its entirety and it was a great joy!!! NO skips or jumps. NO clicks or crackle, this is really a stunning heavy glossy jet black vinyl .The audio is impeccable. Inspected under an intense lightsource and angled.

Vinyl: EX+  A great vinyl!!! I have played this in FULL twice over> The replay is ASTOUNDING!!! I first played for a general listen and a second time for a more detailed observation. Barely played as attested by the vinyl debris still visible inside the spindle hole. Fantastic songcraft!! A personal favourite of mine and I am very glad to be able to report that this is a fine slab of vinyl without any problems at all and as such worthy of inclusion of any great psych folk collection. A little bag rash which does nothing to the immaculate sound. This has a French library sticker on one label which is totally of the time. It is , just to reiterate, an official UK press.  Of course NO jumps/clicks/skips etc.

Sleeve: VG+/EX.  A very thin matt textured sleeve that is very vulnerable indeed, it will deteriorate by just even looking at it. This one is a great example without any smudges and no writing. A couple of small thumb creases near the opening but just very light. Verylight edge storage wear. Straight edges. It will be very hard to better this one. 

***This is a unique prime investment opportunity!!! Finding this album in any condition at all is nearly impossible!!! This is  a great and seriously collectable super album!!  You will buy into a piece of  psych/prog core history.*** 

             This is a unique investment opportunity!!! The next psych album to go completely through the roof. Finding this album in any condition at all is nearly impossible so late in the day. Get this while you still can. This value of the album is only going to go one way ... up and up ... until it will be totally unavailable at all for a reasonable price.

Important : International postage will be registered and insured if over GBP 30.00.  Please wait for my invoice before paying. Postage will be according to Royal Mail rates. Postage is NOT a money spinning exercise for me.

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.