M- 1970 PROMO GINGER BAKER AIR FORCE 2nd Prog Psych

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1970 Original WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL          

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\                                          USA - WHITE LABEL PROMO ~ ATCO SD 33 343

RARE...1971 ORIGINAL FIRST PRESSING WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL of the second and last AIR FORCE...VERY rare as a White Label PROMO... harder to find 2nd album wasn't around long and therefore turns up much less ...here the TOP collectible copy...it's a long known fact that white label promotionals have been sought and collected by music specialists for years as the pressings were limited productions designed for *best sound* promotion by record labels sending their product out to selected radio stations & media for review -- the white label issues were the first to be pressed off of the freshly cut masters - thus retaining the *best* sound quality.

As good as the debut live album was some collectors feel the second album feature  a superior collection of songs. There are only seven tracks but they feel like a hundred. Performed by a legendary crew of musicians you've got reeds, strings, various drums, flutes, keyboards, guitars and haunting vocals. Despite all this it never feels contrived or pretentious. Influences range from rock to jazz to gospel to African rhythms, yet it all works, and to top it all off it sounds as if the performers are having a great time throughout. Highlight tracks include: "Let Me Ride", "Do U No Hu Yor Phrenz R?", "Toady", and "Twelve gates of the City", fact is all are strong and of the best workever done by a Ginger Baker incarnation.

On a purely musical level, Ginger Baker's Air Force was arguably the pinnacle of the legendary drummer's achievements of the 1960's. Even allowing for the many and varied virtues of the Graham Bond Organisation, Cream, and Blind Faith, they didn't approach the breadth or ambition that characterized Air Force's sound. The biggest problem facing the group, however, was that three key members, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech, and Chris Wood, left--as Baker knew they had to--in early 1970. Graham Bond took over on organ and vocals for Air Force, and new members Steve Gregory and Bud Beadle joined on reed, while Colin Gibson took over on bass. Neemoi Acquaye came in on African percussion, and Catherine James, Aliki Ashman and Diane Stewart sang. The problem was that keeping a large band going was a difficult and expensive proposition under the best of circumstances, and without a hit single or a hugely successful album to their credit, it proved impossible for Baker and Air Force. Baker had only a tiny smattering of songs to his credit, none of them very successful on their own terms except to the degree that the Cream and Blind Faith catalogs kept selling. And then there was the American tour. The assumption, based on the media blitz out of England, was the Ginger Baker's Air Force would be another Blind Faith, an arena act whose tickets would disappear as fast as they were put on sale. In point of fact, the new group was two or three times more complex musically than Blind Faith and a lot more surprising. Without Eric Clapton, or at least Steve Winwood in the line-up with Baker, however, and without a single that clicked as a popular track on the radio, it was discovered that Air Force was a phenomenon that many potential ticket-buyers would pass up. The tour was in trouble from the start, and it got worse as advance ticket sales to vast halls were far below what anyone anticipated. The whole thing collapsed just about the time that the group was completing their second and final album. By the end of 1970, after a short tour and little interest then in Air Force 2--which conmtained plenty of rewarding moments -- the second album disappeared without a trace, as did Air Force

• "Let Me Ride"  –4:22
• "Sweet Wine" –3:34
• "Do U No Hu Yor Phrenz R?" –5:40
• "We Free Kings"  –4:22
• "I Don't Want to go on Without You" –3:56
• "Toady" (Ginger Baker) –8:21
• "12 Gates of the City" –4:05

CONDITION: The gatefold cover is very strong, "EX" excellent to M- with no seam splits, no bends and no writing ...has a promotional sticker at bottom right of front cover as well as the track listing sticker that was only on the outer cellophane wrapper, very rare since folks tore off the wrapper and there went the rare track listings sticker ...

The vinyl with white promo labels is all clean and glossy M-

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record