THE BLACKBIRDS NO DESTINATION ULTRA-RARE ORIG '68 SAGA (UK) BRITISH FREAKBEAT LP

$

33

WE CURRENTLY HAVE  NEARLY 500  LISTED ITEMS

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·       THE BLACKBIRDS (THE GERMAN '60s FREAKBEAT GROUP) – NO DESTINATION – THE GROUP’S ULTRA-RARE SECOND ALBUM, INITIALLY RELEASED ONLY IN GREAT BRITAIN  -  ORIGINAL BRITISH PRESSING  - ORIGINAL 1968 SAGA RECORDS (UK) STEREO LP STFID-2113

·       ORIGINAL U.K. PRESSING

·       ORIGINAL BLACK AND WHITE/SILVER SAGA (UK) LABEL WITH THE "FRENCH HORN" LOGO

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.K. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       ORIGINAL, THIN CARDBOARD COVER (EUROPEAN STYLE)

·       ORIGINAL LAMINATED COVER

·       THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.K. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

·       THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

·       CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

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Boy, talk about a band surrounded by misinformation ...  I've seen these guys described as being Belgian, Dutch, French, German, and even English (the latter being funny given the heavily accented English vocals).  Adding to the confusion, they somehow managed to get their two studio LPs released by a budget British label.  To be honest, I can understand some of the confusion since their home stomping ground was the Saarland.  Located in the Southwest region of Germany, following World War II the region spent a couple of years as an autonomous 'state' with France controlling internal and external affairs.  It wasn't until 1957 that the Saar was reunited with what was then known as West Germany.  Full economic reunion with Germany didn't take place until 1959.   Yeah, I know - who cares ...

Sharing a common interest in rock and roll, in 1965 friends Klaus Altmeyer (rhythm guitar), Werner Breinig (vocals/lead guitar), Siggi Burda (bass), and Helmut Vigneron (drums) decided to form a band.  They began rehearsing at a local school and within a couple of months were playing cover tunes at local dances and clubs.  They also expanded the band to include keyboardist Hubert Koop.  The following year saw the band gain a wider audience via extensive touring, including some regional concert appearances, and local television appearances.  They also underwent a pair of personnel changes with the departure of guitarist Althmeyer and bassist Burda.  Having opted for a more conventional job, Burda was replaced by Heinz-Peter Koop.

Even though they weren't signed by a record company, in early 1968 the band were given an opportunity to record some material at Horst Jankowski's Stuttgart-based studio.  The songs that would appear as 1968's "No Destination" were recorded in a marathon one day session; a feat made even more impressive by the fact about half of the material was written the night before, or simply improvised on-the-spot in the recording studio.  Largely penned by Breining, the album made it clear these guys had been listening to more than their share of British R&B groups like The Animals, The Artwoods, The Spencer Davis Group, and maybe even a touch of Procol Harum.  That also gave the album a slightly dated feel - more 1966 than 1968.  That wasn't meant as a criticism since the writing and performances (all ten songs were performed in English), were uniformly strong and quite different from most of their German contemporaries.  

- Kicked along by a tasty bass and organ pattern, 'Golden Summer' was a wonderful Mersybeat-styled ballad that would have made The Hollies, or The Searchers quite happy.

- Spotlighting Koop's organ and Breining's lead guitar, the instrumental 'Space' offered up a bizarre mash-up of B movie sci-fi sound effects and Stax moves.  Extremely weird and perhaps worth the price of admission on its own.

- Opening up with a Matthew Fisher-styled organ break (think funeral procession), 'No Destination' had a lyric that would make any Gen-X member proud ... "I stay in my bed all of the day because a job is no destination."  (I'm almost embarrassed to admit the first time I heard the lyric I mistook it for 'I stained the bed.')

- Thanks to Breining's operatic shriek (he should not have tried to hit those high notes), 'Long Tall Dorthe' had the distinction of being the most irritating track on the set. 

- Apparently one of the songs written on the fly in the studio, 'Sandman's Bound' seemed to be a pissed off rant in response to having to come up with an album's worth of material on short notice.  Nice guitar solo from Breining.

- Perhaps because it was a rather pedestrian ballad and found Breining again stretching for the high notes, 'That's My Love' was a pedestrian ballad, though Koop turned in some nice Alan Price-styled organ moves.

- A fantastic dark and brooding rocker, 'Girl I'm Wondering' sounded like a Teutonic Zombies track, complete with Rod Argent-styled organ solo.  Nice ! 

- 'Show Me That You Love Me' ... nice rocker, but once again it's marred by Breining's stratospheric falsetto.

- Bland MOR instrumental that sounded like the soundtrack for a laxative commercial - reminds me of something the T-Bones might have recorded.

- Redemption ...  'She' had it all; disillusionment, heartbreak, tasty jazzy guitar, killer organ ...  perfect proto-punk.  Easily the standout performance.

In a strange turn of events the album was picked up for release by the British Saga budget label.  Saga clearly had no idea what to do with the collection doing virtually nothing to promote the LP.  Needless to say it quickly vanished into cutout bins. 

Curiously Saga elected to tap the album for a single:

- 1968's 'No Destination' b/w 'Space' (Saga catalog number Opp 3)

No, it's not quite a lost classic, but it is a fascinating slice of mid-1960s German rock and for the most part it's as good if not better than anything their British, or continental competitors were churning out.  Well worth tracking down before it gets tagged by collectors ... 

"No Destination" track listing:

(side 1)

1.) Golden Sun   (Werner Breining) -

2.) Space (instrumental)   (Werner Breining) -

3.) No Destination   (Werner Breining) -

4.) Long Tall Dorthe   (Werner Breining) -

5.) Sandman's Bound   (Werner Breining) -

(side 2)

1.) That's My Love   (Werner Breining) -

2.) Girl I'm Wondering   (Werner Breining) -

3.) Show Me That You Love Me   (Werner Breining) -

4.) Something Different (instrumental)   (Werner Breining) -

5.) She   (Werner Breining) -

The Blackbirds are apparently still a performing entity, but it doesn't look like any of the original members are involved.  The band has a small website (in German) at:

www.theblackbirds.de

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ANONYMOUS ONLINE REVIEW AT RATEYOURMUSIC.COM)

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·       CONDITION:

·       RECORD

 (IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

(a)          WE GRADE THE VINYL AS STRONG VG++, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions (probably just sleeve scuffs inflicted in storage over the years) ARE VISIBLE, but they appear fairly  insignificant relative to the overall condition of the vinyl, and are only moderately visually distracting. For most part, the vinyl looks impeccable, without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.

(b)          The record comes in the original Saga stock inner sleeve.

(c)           The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

(d)          Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

·       COVER (THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, LAMINATED, GLOSSY COVER):

THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT VERY GOOD++ (VG++).

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

-         Cover has some light ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 1  (front side) and 3 (back side)

-         Cover shows some light yellowing on back side, apparently from aging  (nothing significant).

-         Cover has a tiny, barely visible cutout hole in one of the corners

-         Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the seams

-         Cover has a visible wrinkle (crease) in the cardboard base on the front panel

-         Minor shelf wear noted on the seams (nothing significant)

-         Cover has two corners slightly worn / dinged (nothing significant)

NO OTHER IMPERFECTIONS ON THE COVER:

-        No split seams

-        No cut-out corners

-        No saw-marks or indents

-        No dirt/dust rubbing stains (friction marks caused by rubbing against other covers)

-        No writing

-        No stamps

-        No peel-off marks

-        No stains

-        No mold or mildew spots

-        No stickers or labels

-        No water damage

-        No razor marks, scratches, pressure marks, lines, streaks, or  cuts.

-        No warping

-        No wax, glue, paint or liquid drops on the cover

-        No glue traces or wax residue.

-        No bar codes

-        No RIAA stamps or stickers. 

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