The Haunted Top drawer vintage foundation garage rock. For serious collectors

$

951

Forget Louie Louie. The track 1-2-5 by The Haunted is THE quintessential 60’s garage rock party song. There is a reason this track was featured as the closer on Side 1 of Volume 1 of Pebbles, the utterly explosive LP compilation that introduced garage rock to much of the world ca. 1978. The Pebbles series, and this track in particular, spawned a massive interest in garage rock. Here you have an original copy of the LP by a Montreal band purchased from THE underground record store in Montreal in the 1960’s, then called “Record Cave”. When I lived in Montreal in the late 1980’s the same shop, then called Dutchy’s Record Cave, still existed but had evolved to specialize in mainly UK and other European imports. The album is bristling with dance-floor classics, such as Otis Redding’s Shake, the band’s own original Searching for my baby, and the unbeatable, stomping 1-2-5, also an original by the band. Couple with this with their haunting cover of Love’s A Message to Pretty and the album is a monster of garage rock. Note that the 45 version of 1-2-5 (Quality 1814X) is a totally different mix with different lyrics and even a slower tempo. This LP version is THE definitive cut of 1-2-5, as featured on Pebbles Vol. 1. Notice in the photos that the top-right quarter of the brittle shrink wrap (60 years old!) featuring the front cover price sticker from Record Cave detached when I removed it from storage to take the photos for this listing. I moved that section of the shrink wrap inside the LP cover for safe keeping and shipping. No hint of ringwear and the cover is in stellar condition, as can be seen in the photos. There are a couple of dozen spindle marks on Side 2 and just the beginnings of spindle hole wear and tear, which indicates Side 1 was played more often, as is normal with these vintage LPs. Side 1 has literally 2-3 spindle marks, which I have tried to show clearly in the photos. The vinyl itself has full shine yet some hairlines seemingly from the dust and some very light thumbprints along the edge that did not come out even with Moth-II cleaning. Still, there is almost zero crackle within and between songs. An absolutely superb and stupidly rare copy. YOU WILL NOT FIND ANY BETTER. For the sound file I chose album opener 1-2-5. The lousy ION turntable and the equally lousy MacBook external speakers used in the video do not do justice to the utterly immaculate sound of this record on a high quality system.

I am planning to list some ultra-rarities from my personal trove of vinyl LPs and 45s over the coming months. These have been painstakingly collected since the late 1970’s. Included are the absolute crown jewels of psychedelia, garage, prog, acid folk and folk-rock, all ranked 3-6 stars in Hans Pokora’s books. Artists like Vashti Bunyan, The Haunted, Fresh Maggots, Kaleidoscope, Plastic Cloud, Loudest Whisper, Reign Ghost, Synanthesia, Blues Section, Jormas, Mighty Baby, Sunforest, Trees, The Folklords, Anne Briggs, Kak, Moving Sidewalks and countless others. Most are stupidly rare, especially in such jaw-dropping condition. All have been extremely well cared-for across 4+ decades, and some are nearly un-played. In many cases, I also have the accompanying 45s for sale, including insanely rare non-LP tracks for e.g. Vashti Bunyan, Reign Ghost, Kak, Kaleidoscope, etc. I am selling these only very reluctantly, and if the first few samples do not attract an appropriate level of interest, I will simply return the rest of them to storage. All records have been dust vacuumed on a Moth-MKII Pro Record Cleaning Machine. 

My vinyl rankings are only slightly modified from Goldmine Standard for grading Please read them (below) carefully. I will describe every LP and 45 in detail and include photos as well as sound files. If you pay close attention to the cover/vinyl condition descriptions, check the photos in high-resolution and listen to the sound files, then you should know exactly what you are aiming for before you start bidding. However, I have 100% positive feedback on eBay and want to keep it that way. If there is ANY issue after receiving a shipment, please let me know immediately so we can resolve it. Buyer pays packaging and insured shipping from Finland. Vinyl will be packed extremely securely to avoid any damage in transit. LP comes in a VRP rice paper-style inner sleeve. Note that the USPS Media Mail is not an option from Finland so please ignore that shipping rate. UPS and DHL Global Express Shipping from Finland are both available.  

I do not use Mint (M) unless the album is sealed. Near Mint (NM) means I literally unsealed the record myself and played it once or twice to record it to cassette. Any surface noise is therefore a function of the pressing and not due to wear and tear. I do not use EX. 

Very Good Plus Plus (VG++) will show only very minor – if any – wear, has been extremely well taken care of and plays with top-notch sound. The cover is crisp with minimal defects, and the record label shows very few spindle marks or other signs of wear or damage. The vinyl retains full gloss and for 45s the picture sleeve is mostly intact. This is as close to NM as it going to get for 99% of rare vintage vinyl for sale anywhere. 

Very Good Plus (VG+) will show minor yet visible cover wear, has been well taken care of and still plays with generally excellent sound. Spindle marks on the label may be more pronounced, yet vinyl gloss and sonic clarity both remain solid and surface noise minimal. For 45s the picture sleeve is intact but has significant defects, such as seam splits, wrinkling or visible rubbing.

Very Good (VG) will show visible wear and tear on the cover, have significant spindle marks on the label and the vinyl will have lost some of its gloss and/or sonic clarity. Surface noise in evident. I will offer almost no LPs or 45s rated VG as I simply do not own them, except a very few that are exceptionally rare in any condition.