FREEDOM Nerosubianco 1968 freakbeat psych LP Japan HEAR

$

52

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS…

Freedom "NEROSUBIANCO SOUNDTRACK"

Japanese REISSUE on the MGR label, STEREO MGR 0001

Cover:  NEAR MINT, breathtaking!  All inserts, obi, etc. included - BIG THICK HEAVY GF COVER (will weigh as 2 LP for overseas shipping)

Vinyl:  Like new, plays EXCELLENT

Besides the downright BEAUTIFUL packaging, this 1968 soundtrack album just might be the single greatest slice of British heavy psych yet to be canonized.  Freedom was formed in 1967 by two ex-Procol Harum members, who were almost immediately commissioned by director Tinto Brass (whose dysfunctional family films include Salon Kitty, Paprika: Life in a Brothel, and Caligula My Son) to provide the score for his film Nerosubianco, long before they had a chance to sit down and record their own music.  Well, turns out they pretty much recorded what sounds like a debut album anyway, film be damned.  Because this is hardly the stuff of soundtracks.  What you get are 13 full-fledged British psych freakouts, all with vocals, and every bit as solid and mindbending as Shine on Brightly, Mr. Fantasy or whatever other big-name English rock album from 1968 you’d care to stack it up against.  I mean, if S.F. Sorrow was first used in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, that wouldn’t make it any less great an album, would it?  And if Claudia Cardinale sang “Baron Saturday,” well then, we’d have a masterpiece on our hands.

Because of the Procol Harum connections, much of Freedom’s Nerosubianco sounds very much like the old gang.  Heavier, though, with more fuzz guitar and a more generous use of acid in the studio, it would seem.  The prevalent organ may remind you of Procol, but this is freakier stuff.  There are also hints of early Traffic, especially “Black on White.”  While the chants of “yeah yeah yeah” on the ensuing track “With You” sound an awful lot like the Yardbirds’ “Hot House of Omagararshid,” if anyone besides me remembers that song.  To put it simply, no matter where you put the needle down on Nerosubianco, out comes this monster heavy English acid psych SOUND – whether it’s the Chocolate Soup stomp of “Decidedly Man” or the phased-beyond-redemption synapse-frying beast called “Born Again.”  You want big fuzzy power chords?  Check out “Seeing is Believing,” a big ol’ slab of mind-melting guitar psych that could hold its own alongside the Pretties and Cream in their prime.  Yeah, Nerosubianco IS that good.  And it looks beautiful on a coffee table.  So does Claudia Cardinale, or any one of the leads in a Tinto Brass film.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got half a dozen old Italian films to rent…

 TO HEAR SOUNDCLIPS FROM THIS ALBUM, PLEASE VISIT MY HOMEPAGE AT WWW.KATHLEENTURNEROVERDRIVE.WIKISPACES.COM - YOU CAN ALSO HEAR SOUND CLIPS FROM ALL THE ALBUMS I HAVE UP FOR AUCTION ON THIS PAGE TOO.

The less exciting stuff

Media mail shipping with delivery confirmation starts at $5.00 in the US, with each additional record only $1 additional shipping.  Air mail shipping to Canada starts at $10 US, each additional record $2 shipping.  Air mail shipping everywhere else in the world starts at $16 US, with each additional record only $3 shipping.  I accept payments through Paypal, or you can send checks and money orders made out in US dollars.  Items paid by check are held 14 days for the check to clear.

I try to grade as best as I can, and I list as many blemishes/imperfections I can find (writing, ringwear, scuff marks, etc.) – Also, please note that I DO listen to these albums – I may not listen to every track, but my grades are based on LISTENING, not just looking at it, since chances are you’ll be listening to the record you buy, not just looking at it.  Most of the albums I sell are the ones I’ve enjoyed for years – and I treat my records with kid gloves.  But sounds speak louder than words, so check out the sound clips below – they’re from the actual record you’re bidding on. 

SHIPPING AND PACKAGING

Listen, I buy a bunch of records too (when I’m not getting outbid at the last second, which is more often than not) – and I know what it’s like to get a rare, one-of-a-kind album packaged dangerously in a flimsy bubblewrap package.  I hate that too.  So rest assured, I ALWAYS package albums with stiff cardboard reinforcements, same for 45s.  And yes, the records are removed from the sleeves (for albums).  I ship out once a week, every Friday, because I have a regular day job.  But I’d be willing to give that up if you’d all be so kind as to bid my items up to stupidly high amounts. 

And finally, I include delivery confirmation on all shipments inside the US.  This is my proof of shipment, and also helps us to track your package if it doesn’t arrive when it should.  I will email you within 2 days of shipment and give you the confirmation number at that time.  Insurance is always optional, but for larger orders, it’s highly recommended.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a cost-effective way of tracking parcels to foreign countries yet, and shipping times vary depending on your country’s postal system.  Italy in particular seems to be really bad at delivering packages quickly, or delivering packages at all, now that you mention it.  I will always email you when your package ships, but once it’s on its way, please don’t ask me when it will arrive because I don’t know.  If the world’s postal systems can ever agree on a universal tracking system that’s affordable, I’ll be the first to use it.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…

I will always leave positive feedback for successful transactions, and would appreciate the same in return.  All I ask of you is the following – please pay for your items within 14 days of the close of auction.  Compared to other sellers, that’s a generous amount of time, so if you don’t pay within 2 weeks, then I have to assume something’s wrong.  You’ll get an Ebay payment reminder at that point, and possibly a decapitated horse head in your bed.  If, after 30 days, you still haven’t forked up the cash, I’ll relist the item and yell at you if I ever see you in town.