DEL SHANNON Charles Westover '68 Fading Yellow psych LP

$

51

MEGA RARE original 1968 album by Del Shannnon, “The Further Adventures of Charles Westover” on the Liberty label.  While I admit the thought of early 60’s falsetto teen idol Del Shannon dropping acid and turning on is probably somewhere around the same entertainment value as watching Fabian shoot heroin backstage at a Butthole Surfers concert, surprisingly a turned-on and tuned-in Del Shannon makes for one excellent album!  And why not?  Chubby Checker pulled off a Hendrix-inspired heavy funk psych album late in HIS career, the Four Seasons dropped their trademark falsetto for one full-length attempt at creating a Sergeant Pepper for housewives, and tame pop acts like Chad and Jeremy and Peter & Gordon all went kaftans and hookah pipes for at least one late 60’s album.  Heck, if an 80-year-old iguana-skinned Mae West under 6 feet of makeup could hold her own for a full album with garage band Somebodys Chyldren, then why the heck not a paisley pop psych album by Del Shannon?  So don’t expect “Runaway ‘68” here – right from the start, you KNOW something’s different about “The Further Adventures of Charles Westover.”  Opener “Be My Friend” creeps in with Del’s newfound breathy echoed-out vocal delivery, while some faroff harmonica wails and moans, and the production is that wonderfully DRASTIC stereo separation popular when stereo sound was first introduced into rock music.  Del’s going for a real Haight/Ashbury sound on this one, a pleasant combination of the Charlatans and Country Joe.  Things get much better when “Silver Birch” kicks in, and suddenly our formerly widow-peaked teen idol is dreading waist-deep in Curt Boettcher territory – dark, incredibly lush baroque orchestrated popsike with marching band drums and Sergeant Pepper horns.  It floats along beautifully, ethereally, like Mark Wirtz producing the Left Banke Too, until the whole trip collapses in a psychedelic barrage of discordant sounds, instruments playing random noise, leaving Del huddled in the corner of the studio, losing himself in yet another hallucination involving 8-foot-tall rabbits and paisley-vested purple walruses.  The song shudders to a close, then fades back in again – you’d think Del was listening to Syd Barett’s “Jugband Blues” a lot back then.  This leads straight into “I Think I Love You”,  Del Shannon’s first foray into Indian-influenced raga pop.  Bearing no relation to the Partridge Family song of the same name, Del’s “I Think I Love You” is all sitar and sawing strings, a mystical moody Indian raga number that finds him rubbing shoulders with George Harrison and the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and hitting on an unimpressed Mia Farrow.  “Gemini” brings our hero back to the baroque British Beatles sounds of “Silver Birch”, the trippy opening strings reminiscent of the intro to “I Am the Walrus”.  Del’s brooding ethereal vocals sound either half asleep or 100 percent stoned, and the moody minor keys and  Rubble style marching beat give this a very strong British flavor, particularly John Lennon’s work with the Beatles.  “A Del in the Life” perhaps?  But as finely as Mr. Westover has so far crafted his own personal Magical Mystery Tour, none of it prepares you for the grand finale – a little thing called “New Orleans” – perhaps one of the most insane songs every recorded by a man who once sang about the “little town flirt.”  Now he’s totally immersed himself in the psychedelic world of Cajun girls and voodoo mamas, the little town flirt now replaced by a full gospel choir of creole ladies, his trademark rockabilly guitar now replaced by some swampy black magic FUZZ!  Sounds like someone put a little goofer dust into Del’s Ovaltine, as he churns out a spooky and brooding little minor key slice of Cajun gris gris, the gospel girl choir lending it an air of authenticity.  Then all heck breaks loose when someone summons up a very nasty fuzz guitar, which scrapes and buzzes its way through the long coda, while Del whispers some strange subliminal messages just underneath the audio carnage.  Then there’s a second coda, this time a sound effects collage of Mardi Gras revelers, calliope organ and voodoo drums, until finally that TOO fades out, the needle lifts, and the Further Adventures of Charles Westover come to a close, leaving just a lingering puff of purple smoke above your turntable and a small dab of Brylcreem on your hookah pipe.  If THIS is the sound that fading 60’s teen idols make when they finally turn on and drop out, then Del, PLEASE do us all a favor and pass on some of those brownies to Ricky Nelson sometime.  Original 1968 US pressing on the Liberty label.  Cover’s in EXCELLENT shape with very little wear at all.  Vinyl also looks new, with no marks, and plays EXCELLENT.  A VERY strong record/cover! 

Winning bidder pays $4.50 for media mail shipping plus tracking in the US, $8 air mail to Canada, $14 everywhere else.  Paypal, Bidpay, cash, checks and money orders accepted.  And please be sure to check out my other auctions for more vinyl obscurities, and I will combine shipping costs on multiple wins.

NOTE:  CASH IS NO LONGER ACCEPTED AS A FORM OF PAYMENT.