STARK NAKED LSP 4592 (-71) US

A band and LP I discovered recently and don't know a lot about yet. Apparently they were a group of childhood friends originating from Long Island, New York. With members still in their teens or early twenties they were signed by RCA and recorded this debute which also became thier last. As the tale goes - while doing promotion tours and already preparing for a follow-up the manager disappeared with all their money leaving them without founds. Disappointment and lack of monetary backing led to the band split and the members went in different directions. Keybordist Paul Venier and drummer John Fragos to hard rock band Salty Dog and guitarist Richard Belsky went on to be a glass designer, don't know what happened to the rest. It's such a sad story. This has to be one of the most mature, well played and at the same time catchiest debutes ever. Fantastic blend of hard rock, psych and prog - dark and elaborate with brilliant guitars and attractive vocals. Sometimes reminding of Black Sabbath or Black Widow, sometimes Jefferson Airplane but with a unique agenda. Favorite tracks - the 8:50 "All Of Them Witches" starts with a partly Debussy inspired piano/drum piece, moves over to heavy hard rock and ends with a howling guitar solo to uptempo backing, the wild outspoken "Sins" so rude it makes most other "hard" rock from then on sound mellow and the eleven minute "Look Again" with its theme and rythm changes crowned by a long cheeky guitar solo. To my ears it's all good and I can't believe the album isn't mentioned or hailed more today. Highly recommended to all psych, prog and hard rock lovers. To my knowledge this US was the only original issue. 2006 CD on Fallout (FOCD 2012) came with two 45 mono mixes as bonus. First had label as shown here, thin vinyl, glossy cover and "dynaflex" inner. (YZÄ*) (FÄV*)