The Mystery Meat - Profiles LP #DR - 7303 reissue by Shadoks Music Germany

$

45

Opened copy of LP recorded at Blackburn College, Carlinville, IL.  Band members all students at Blackburn College in the 1960s.
From a review on www.last.fm ........... "Extremely rare garage/folkrock LP whose existence was long doubted, until a few copies were unearthed some years back. The band came out of Blackburn College in Carlinville and existed mainly to record this LP. Great originals all through reminiscent of the Bachs and UK group Complex, chock full of organ-led teen atmosphere, tremendous melancholy vocals, and tunes that grow with each play. My current faves include the Dovers-like "Put me down" and "Girl named Sue", but it's really a wide selection of great sounds, enhanced further by the basement ambience. One of the best garage-era albums you can find, to me better than All Of Thus, Summer Sounds, etc. Primitive sleeve design shows a piece of "mystery meat". According to the band, the pressing was very small, maybe 25-100 copies. Due to the lo-fi nature of the original, substantial sound processing has been applied for the German reissues, with mixed results.

If there is a Great Lost Garage Album out there, this 1968 artefact by Illinois band MYSTERY MEAT could be it. Like most garage LPs it is a primitive recording, featuring an inexperienced, enthusiastic band. Unlike most garage LPs, however, it has no cover versions but a string of originals ranging from good to unbelievable, and the decision to bring in a skilled, versatile vocalist adds a depth unusual for these teenbeat concoctions. Before moving onto the "meat", here's some background on the band and the LP courtesy of Dick Leighninger:

"…We were all students at Blackburn College, located in Carlinville, Illinois. I was a Senior and the other members were Juniors. I had been singing with a local barbershop quartet, the college choir, and a trio that did original folk songs. Wayne Joplin and Ron O'Dell had been writing songs, and were looking for a singer to help them, and they recruited me. (Blackburn is a small school… we only had about 500 students at the time, so everyone knew everyone). We recorded the album in the basement of our college's administration building… a building that the students had just finished building, but the basement had not yet been divided into offices. So, it was a big space, where we would not disturb anyone at night, when we practiced and recorded. I don't remember exactly how many albums we made; my memory is that we went around the room, and said… "well, how many do YOU want, how many do YOU want?" We then added them up, and made that many. We also may have had a minimum order to fill, but it couldn't have been more than about 25, I think. The record was made in St. Louis, Missouri with a custom label company for RCA Records. We only performed once, and that was at the college. We did not have typical posters for the event, nor do I know of any pictures that were taken. We were pretty much hermits in the basement…"