The Common People

Of The People/By The People/For The People

VG++/VG++

US 1987 (original US 1969) 

Mr. G Records - ST-266

The Common People hailed from Baldwin Park, California just east of UCLA and Pasadena. Denny Robinett and John Bartley were both guitar players and were practicing in the garage of Denny’s parents. Neither had played in a band before but were fascinated by the Battle of the Bands contests that were happening at the high schools around town. They hired some friends and they were pretty raw at first. The band consisted of Denny Robinett (vocals), John Bartley (guitars), William Fausto (organ), Mike McCarty (bass) and brother Gerald Robinett (drums).

The garage was lined with egg cartons and a stage was built in the back corner. Black lights were put up and friends could come into the garage and make designs with phlorescent paint on the egg cartons. They called the garage "Common Land" and practiced on weekends with friends and neighbors from all around coming over on Friday nights to watch the rehearsals.

The local cops never gave them any trouble. Denny had a Harley Davidson motorcycle and knew some of the Hells Angels who would show up at the practices without any hassle. Denny was not a member of motorcycle club, they just showed up for the entertainment.

Denny wrote most of the songs and when they felt good enough, they entered the Battle of the Bands contests going on around the San Gabriel Valley. A local DJ, named Dave Polk, took a liking to the band and became their manager. He also owned a record label and recorded a couple early singles of the band that got airplay by Wolfman Jack.

They started playing the bigger venues like The Moon Fire Temple up in the mountains in Topanga, Devonshire Downs in Northridge, which was the horse racing track and The Pasadena Civic Auditorium backing the likes of Iron Butterfly, The Stone Poneys and The Seeds. Tim Hudson managed The Seeds and really liked their sound, so he got them a three-album $75,000 up front deal with Capitol records. They were due to record at Gold Star Studios and even got David Axelrod involved. But before the sessions started his wife was in a serious car accident and David had to back out.

The recordings happened without him and the sessions were produced by the band itself with orchestrations by Sid Sharp. The promise of a masterful recording, with David Axelrod, dried up and the label lost interest in a hurry without his involvement. The band laid down about forty songs and Tim picked out eleven of those for their first album release. There were studio musicians and LA Symphony players involved. Tim’s thought was to give them a Moody Blues sound with the orchestral tracks.  

There was never a set release date for the album, it was not promoted and was shelved. However, each band member received ten copies for their effort and a few more were left with Tim Hudson. It was never put out to the public or in the stores to sell. Shortly after the recording sessions Gerald Robinett died trying to save his father-in-law from drowning in an ocean riptide. They both went down. The band was shattered and with no promotional tour, the band gave up and split apart.

Because of its rarity this is one of the more difficult Capitol label albums to locate. Denny Robinett stayed in California, he began a construction business and continued to write songs. His son Joel was a well-known Christian artist who released one album Endless Story. William 'Bill' Fausto worked for the Mobile Oil Refinery in Torrence, California. He was injured in a major explosion and wound up moving to and living his life in Hawaii.

Musically the album is full of dreamy sounds with special effects and that identifiable psychedelic guitar. It has a real underground sound that reminds me of the band Ford Theatre. 

This was their only LP. A 1987 Mr. G label repress. Unofficial release.

Cover shows signs of wear but it's part of the actual illustration. The cover is actually very clean with NO imperfections. Record looks and plays like new with NO visible flaws and NO unusual noises or ticks. Generic inner sleeve.

Originals can be found but they are scarce and pricey. I sold my original last year. This one is very clean.

Long time buyer from E-bay and other record websites since the 90's.

Please bear with me. I'm selling off my entire record collection (about 40,000 LPs) listing them one at a time.

A long and arduous task. Lots of gems and rare stuff.

Check out the book I wrote called "THE PSYCHEDELIC DIGEST" only found at Amazon.com.

GRADING DETAILS - SHIPPING DETAILS - RETURNS - FEEDBACK - ETC.

Auctions are listed for 7 days.  

ITEMS PULLED FROM THE AUCTION LIST - Keep in mind that if I continue to relist auction items that have been sitting for weeks with NO ACTION and several watchers with NO BIDS, I may pull the record and sell it to my local buyer. This can occur before the auction ends. LPs will typically be discounted before this happens. So, please bid if you are at all interested. Bids can always be retracted for no reason.

All records are Graded to the best of my ability and are rated VINYL FIRST / THEN COVER. For Double LPs Vinyl / Vinyl / Cover. 

GRADING DETAILS – Everything I list will be at least VG+ or better, both visually and audibly, unless I state otherwise. 95% of what is offered and up for bid is very clean with maybe 1 or 2 minor flaws. If it’s very rare, it may be offered with obvious visual marks, scratches, warps and might make some low-level noise. But this would be a rare instance. I’ll describe any flaws as best I can. I ASK THAT YOU READ THE FULL DETAILS AS DESCRIBED BY ME ABOUT THE LOOKS AND SOUND OF THE RECORD. Don’t base everything on a simple grading rate M, EX, VG++, etc. I’m not that good at it.

AUDIBLE GRADING – All vinyl records are played before they are listed. Some records look bad and play good. Others look perfect but play badly. Any visual flaws that I see will be described and I will let you know if they make an audible noise. 95% of the records up for bid are very clean sounding. You may hear a minor tick or click as its spinning but typically light hairline scratches and sleeve marks Do Not Affect Play (DNAP) and should not detract from your overall listening pleasure.

VISUAL GRADING - PLEASE READ THIS!!!

COVERS - I'm a 73-year-old guy with Strabismus (an eye disorder). I try to visually describe every flaw that I can see, but sometimes I miss a small tear or a tiny seam split.

SHELF WEAR generally means that the cellophane was removed when the LP was new and it sat on a shelf or in a box without a plastic sleeve, before they were available, for several years, so there can be some rub blemishes, sticker residue if it was purchased used, tiny tears, slight seam splits and other defects.

EDGE WEAR usually means the picture wrap around the edge has been worn, sometimes into the cardboard itself. This usually happens on the top or bottom edge.

SPLITS are usually caused by heavy edge wear when the picture wrap is worn through severely and the seams split.

CORNER WEAR is the same as edge wear but sometimes there will be a dent or ding at the corner. All 4 sides are suspect for this occurrence.

RING WEAR occurs when a record was not stored in a protective sleeve for a very long time. Back in the day, plastic sleeves were not easily available. Most of us as teenagers, ripped off the cellophane and didn’t consider how the record cover was being stored. Most of the record covers laid on the floor or were stored in the closet or on a shelf for easy access. If they sat for a long time, earth movement, that nobody feels, caused vibration and the record sleeves would rub together and wear on the cover picture or illustration causing the ring wear and other flaws. How bad the sleeve wear became was determined on darkness of the cover illustration and quality of the cover picture. The big record companies usually had a very durable illustration that could take a lot of rubbing without too much damage. But the small record labels usually tried to save on costs with cheap packaging and ink and were more susceptible to ring wear and cover damage due to rubbing if the record was not stored properly in the plastic cover sleeve.

THE VINYL RECORD ITSELF - I will try to visually grade both sides of the vinyl record. There might be some sleeve rubs or marks on some of these. All of my records were played more than once, unless they are sealed. If I mention ticks and or clicks in the description, that means that you can visually see and sometimes hear the imperfection. Most of these Do Not Affect the Play (DNAP). I try my best to see any flaws but understand I don’t Inspect these LPs with a High Lumens Tactical Light and a Magnifying Glass. If the visual flaws are obvious or severe, I try and describe these as best as I can. If there are a lot of visual scratches, it won’t be listed. The exception is if the LP is very rare. I will list a rare record that looks bad but plays pretty good without skips.

SPINDLE MARKS can be obvious if a record was popular and played a lot. The record label material and finish will determine if marks are visible. Most of the big labels don't have this problem because the finish is unusually pretty solid and durable. It's the small and private labels or a matted finish where most spindle marks will be noticed. I don't mention these for any of my listings but if that is a concern to you, ask me before you make a bid.

INNER SLEEVES - Most of the inner sleeves are simple paper sleeves and have slight splits, bends and tears on older LPs. If they’re really bad or split in half, I replace them with a newer paper or plastic sleeve. Sometimes I'll tape a small tear. GENERIC means a blank paper sleeve.

WARPED RECORDS normally occur when they are stored near high heat. I will never send a warped record unless it is very slight and doesn't affect play. If you live somewhere in the world that has high temperatures that could affect package delivery. Insurance is a must to guarantee no loss on the item you bought. You are responsible for this request and there is an additional charge for insurance. Let me know. There is NO REFUND for a record that was sent not warped when packed but was delivered as warped and unplayable. I cannot put records on ice for delivery to high heat areas of the world. Buy package insurance so there won't be any $$$$$ loss in case this happens.

HIGH END RECORDS - There will be a few more pictures for any records that are high end items. I will give a more critical inspection and description of both cover and vinyl. Ask for more pictures if you need them and I can send them to you.

PACKAGING - LPs will be packaged in the proper corrugated cardboard box, we all know about, with extra cardboard pads. Each LP will have a clear plastic sleeve. The record itself will be removed and shipped within the inner sleeve, outside the cover or inside the fold of a gatefold cover all within a plastic outer sleeve to prevent any seam splits. All of the boxes I package records in are new and there are typically no problems. I can also ship in a Whiplash Box which protects the edges and corners. But I will only do this if you request it. 

SEALED RECORDS - The vinyl record will NOT be removed from a sealed LP purchase for shipping. I would advise you to add additional insurance for all sealed LPs that are being shipped to high heat areas due to possible heat warping. No obligation, but it safeguards against some potential problems.

PAYMENT - Payment is good only through E-Bay options, either PayPal or Credit Card, and is due within 7 days unless you let me know. I will send you at least three invoices with reminders to pay during the 7-day period. If payment has NOT been received within that 7-day payment period and you have NOT contacted me, the order will be canceled and the record will be offered to the second place bidder or will be relisted. 

I WILL SHIP WORLDWIDE, BUT INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING IS DETERMINED BY THE WEIGHT OF THE PACKAGE. DO NOT MAKE A PAYMENT UNTIL I SEND YOU AN INVOICE.

INVOICES - E-Bay will always send you an invoice for each item ordered. If you ordered one item, there is no problem. Go ahead and make the payment. But, they DO NOT combine the shipping cost for multiple purchase orders. So, when they invoice you, the minimum shipping cost will multiply times that of however many items you won. Example: 5 items won will appear as 5 times the minimum postage rate. DO NOT PAY the separate E-Bay invoices you receive for multiple orders. Only I can discount the postage rate for two or more items ordered. So, wait for me to invoice you if you've won two or more items. I package them all together and send you an invoice with discounted postage costs.

PAYMENT EXTENTION - If you have won an auction and see another item that ends beyond the 7-day maximum payment period, let me know and I will hold your item until that bid period ends. This would be a special circumstance that would not typically extend beyond 10 days. I will invoice you for the full amount and expect payment at that point.

POSTAGE COST - Typically, the minimum cost for USPS Media mail in the USA would be 1-2 LPs $5.50 USD. Canada 1-2 LPs around $24.00 USD. Europe, Japan and other countries around the world, $33.00 USD for 1-2 LPs. Denmark postage cost is about $41 USD for 1-2 LPs. Additional LPs as per total weight. I will send an invoice with the total postage cost. Everything is shipped via USPS. I don't use the E-Bay International shipping unless you request that service. 

TRACKING - Each package will be assigned a USPS tracking number. Tracking for International shipping only covers destinations within the USA and only gives Dates of Arrival for all countries outside of the USA. Customs delays can and do occur. Your package may have arrived in your country and/or city, but it is probably sitting at your customs depot. (Sometimes for weeks) It would be up to you to call them and provide the tracking number for details about your package.

POSTAGE DISCOUNT - I combine the shipping for multiple record purchases but will only send a maximum of 10-12 records per package. Additional postage will be determined by the total weight of the package. An invoice will be sent to you by me.

ADDITIONAL COSTS - Priority Mail, Insurance, etc. is available at additional costs. Let me know and I will send an invoice.

REFUNDS - I will Refund for any item purchased and received that was not fully as described. Grading is difficult and is the usual cause of concern. We're talking used and 30-60 years old. THERE ARE NO PERFECT RECORDS. Even sealed records can have visual and audible flaws, ticks, clicks, skips and heat warps. IF YOU OPEN A SEALED RECORD AND IT IS WARPED SO BADLY THAT IT DOESN'T PLAY, that usually means it was stored near or shipped in high heat. I have no way of knowing. All sealed records should be insured, just in case that happens. But with regard to a warped record that was sealed and is unplayable, contact me anyway, I will make it right. Any other flaws found on a sealed record that was opened by you, deems the LP non-refundable. If there is a concern, please contact me. We can always work things out.

DAMAGES DURING DELIVERY CAUSED BY THE POSTAL SERVICE - Any damages that are caused due to unfortunate circumstances during the delivery process, broken records, scrapes, heavy package dents caused by something heavy set on the box, warpage caused by excessive heat during delivery, etc. should be handled through E-Bay. They guarantee that packages arrive in the condition as described when sent. If there are obvious damages to the package and the record is unplayable, email me with pictures of the record and the package as delivered and let me know. I mark all packages with "Fragile. Do Not Bend" notices marked in RED, so they should be careful. But $&#t happens. I will not be responsible for damages that were not incurred by me. But E-Bay can and does refund the transaction with proof. Pictures speak a thousand words.

Please message me through E-Bay to discuss any problems or concerns. ANY OBVIOUS MISTAKES I MADE IN THE DESCRIPTION OF AN ITEM PURCHASED WILL BE HONORED AND PARTIALLY OR FULLY REFUNDED. But email me through E-Bay to discuss the situation first. I'm always happy to work things out. Every customer is cherished.

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