CHRIS LUCEY "Songs of Anti-Protest" orig MINT

$

66

Chris Lucey -- Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest LP

Original 1965 release on Surrey Records (S 1027 / 65-1064, purple labels).

This is a MINT copy of this extremely rare folk psych rock album -- I purchased it still sealed (though with water damage to the back cover -- see below), have opened it and played it once. Guaranteed gem MINT vinyl.

AMG Biography for Chris Lucey:
Something of a mystery man of mid-'60s folk-rock, Chris Lucey made just one rare album, Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest, whose value has soared among collectors due to its resemblance to early Love. There aren't many albums of the time that bear an unmistakable Love similarity, but Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest is one of them. Both the vocals and songwriting bear strong recollections of early Arthur Lee, with the melodic but wistful folk-rock chord changes, occasional Latin jazz tempos, occasional gruff folk-blues downbeat atmosphere, probing yet vague lyrics, and oddball production (by Marshall Lieb, who in the late '50s was in the Teddy Bears with a young Phil Spector). The songwriting isn't as consistent as early Love, the production emphasizes vibraphones whereas Forever Changes stressed horns and strings, and in fact some of the songs don't sound too close to vintage Love. But it got close enough to make this an above-average obscurity in the folk-psych-rock tributary.

Chris Lucey was actually Bobby Jameson, a singer of murky origins who is most well-known for a 1965 single on which he covered a Mick Jagger-Keith Richards composition, "All I Want Is My Baby," that the Rolling Stones never released. There's particular confusion among collectors because the Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest album was issued in the U.K., but with the artist billing changed to Bobby Jameson, and the title changed to Too Many Mornings.

It's been hard to piece together the Lucey/Jameson story, but basically Jameson was a well-known character and folk singer on Sunset Strip in the mid-1960s. Like many marginal young folk singers, he quickly went into rock music after the Beatles, starring with a pair of rare 1964 singles for Talamo. He somehow got to England for a bit, which is how he came to record "All I Want Is My Baby." He was also featured prominently in the mid-1960s documentary film Mondo Hollywood. It's not known why he did Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest under a pseudonym, though there's speculation that perhaps he did so if he was under contract to another publisher or label. Whatever the case, he reverted to his name Bobby Jameson for subsequent releases, including several singles and two albums.

AMG Review for Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest:
Several decades after its release, this extremely rare album got some attention in inner-'60s collecting circles, some listeners characterizing it as a sort of alternate version of the folk-rock sound of Love and early Arthur Lee. There certainly are resemblances to the 1966-1967 Love in the delicate, moody Californian folk-rock vibe of Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest. There are strong echoes of vintage Arthur Lee in the soft jazz-pop vocal stylings, doses of both bossa nova and urgent garage folk rhythms, and the hazy, sometimes inscrutable acid folk sheen of some of the lyrics. Actually, though, the Love comparison has been somewhat overplayed. It's not as good as Love's Forever Changes -- not a knock, not much is -- and some of the filler is more like average Southern Californian pop/folk-rock than the incandescent brilliance of the best of Love. Still, it's an interesting, at times gorgeously spooky record, though an inconsistent one. It's most distinguished from Love (and for that matter almost any rock record of the time) by the frequent use of blurry sun-setting-over-the-ocean vibraphones for its dreamiest effects. Lucey, or his doppelgänger, Bobby Jameson, mimics Lee's Latin jazz lilt effectively on "That's the Way This World Has Got to Be (I)," and digs into near-superb melancholy folk-rock on "I'll Remember Them" and "Girl From Mount Vernon." Those are the first three songs, and much of the rest of the album is a letdown in comparison, particularly the cover of the Leaves' "Girl From the East" and "You Came, You Saw but You Didn't Conquer Me," which sounds a bit like Gary Lewis with more ambitious lyrics. Still, some of the remaining songs are cool, like "That's the Way the World Has Got to Be (II)," which has a downbeat, bluesy feeling similar to (again) Love's "Signed D.C." -- Richie Unterberger

Tracks:

1. That's the Way the World Has Got to Be (Pt I) (Jameson) - 2:11 2. I'll Remember Them (Jameson) - 3:59 3. Girl from Vernon Mountain (Jameson) - 3:09 4. I Got the Blues (Jameson) - 2:31 5. Saline (Jameson) - 1:37 6. That's the Way the World Has Got to Be (Pt II) (Jameson) - 3:02 7. With Pity, But It's Too Late (Jameson) - 1:55 8. You Came, You Saw, But You Didn't Conquer Me (Jameson) - 1:26 9. Girl from the East (Jameson) - 3:50 10. Don't Come Looking (Jameson) - 2:50

G+/MINT condition -- cover is still in shrinkwrap, which has peeled away a lot across the front (see scan), has a little bit of edgewear and significant water stains on the back cover under the shrinkwrap (which is sort of stuck to the back cover in parts); vinyl is gem MINT, absolutely pristine. Note: Below is a scan of most of the back cover -- the scan makes it look in worse condition than it is... some of the discoloration is from water-stains on the cover, some is just dirt/soiling on the inside of the shrinkwrap, not the cover:

Graded conservatively using Goldmine standards [G/G+/VG/VG+/NM/MINT] -- MINT grade only used if record is stone brand new.
Bid with confidence -- over 1000 positive feedbacks selling vinyl on eBay, 100% positive.

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