Catapilla S/T on Vertigo Records Swirl White Label PROG

$

51

here is your chance to own an extremely rare white label promo copy of an amazing prog record from 1971.

this is a US pressing on vertigo records, catalog number VEL 1006. it has the swirl label as well as the swirl inner sleeve (which has browned a bit due to age). a recent UK copy ended at over $400. the UK copy seems to be rare, but can't be rarer than a white label promo. there have to be less than 100 copies of this in existence.

as far as condition goes, the record is beautiful and glossy. it looks to have been played only a few times, with no markings on the label and no scratches or scuffs on the vinyl. it sounds great as well. i would give it a very strong VG+. the jacket shows minor signs of wear, with a little bit of ringwear, and some slightly rough edges. there are no split seams. there is a promo sticker with selected cuts spelled out for radio stations. the inner gatefold is beautiful and clean with highlighting on the selected track titles. all pictures are scans of the actual jacket/ label, so there won't be any surprises.

don't miss out on this opportunity. white labels are scarce as it is. especially with a record like this. bid with confidence. here's what allmusic has to say:

The debut album by one of the most dramatic and certainly the most visionary of all the British prog bands saddled with the epithet jazz-rock opens with little care for any of that. Taking a deep draught from the King Crimson/Van Der Graaf Generator book of sonic brutality, the opening "Naked Death" is a hard-riffing, thunderous clatter of apocalyptic imagery which -- if Crimson hadn't already dropped the same bomb with "21st Century Schizoid Man" -- might have proved as lethal as the weaponry it discusses. The same taste for Armageddon permeates the remainder of the album. Some spectacular moments drift through the carnage; Robert Calvert's sax and Graham Wilson's guitar might be most comfortable in full bludgeoning mode, but they can show restraint as well. Unfortunately, vocalist Anna Meek is allowed no such luxury, coming across in places like an extremely bad-tempered Sonja Kristina and in others like a dehumanized version of Lydia Lunch. But if the first three tracks, clocking in at 15, four, and six minutes, respectively, leave you feeling battered, bruised, and maybe not inclined to walk this way again, 24 minutes of the closing "Embryonic Fusion" place Catapilla firmly back on course. A solid, sax-driven suite, of course it has its share of death, doom, and destruction-type lyrics and enough moments of spine-chilling chaos to remind you that Van Der Graaf's similarly side-long "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" was fresh on the racks as this album came together. Unfortunately, such comparisons -- though valid -- are also unhelpful. No matter how influenced one band might be by another, it takes a lot more than a Xerox mind to pull off a piece of music this long this successfully. The fact is, Catapilla not only completes the marathon, they also leave you wondering how 24 minutes passed so quickly.