Unknown Garage Fuzz Custom Fidelity DSS Girl Pokora LP

$ 108

$ 108 Sold For

Apr 4, 2009 Sold Date

Mar 25, 2009 Start Date

$ 10 Start price

10 Number Of Bids

USA Country Of Seller

eBay Auctioned at

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Description

Desert Sun High School record featuring an unknown, undiscovered garage band called the "The No-Tones". The No-Tones do three songs on the lp including a cover of "House of the Rising Sun". DSS was a prep school in California for rich kids. Listen to a short clip of each of the three songs. The album features a folk band as well. NO RESERVE AUCTION! MEGA RARE UNDISCOVERED GARAGE!

The LP is on the Custom Fidelity label. Custom Fidelity is one of the labels discussed in Patrick "the Lama" Lundborg's, "Custom Label Rock" article printed in Ugly Things #28. Lundborg states, "After plumbing the furthest depths of American do-it-yourself ingenuity via RPC, we move on to the slightly more professional CUSTOM FIDELITY imprint. Based in Chicago but with a pressing plan and studio connections in Los Angeles, Custom Fidelity's known catalog is smaller than the two preceding outfits, yet they managed to see several interesting albums pass through their hands. LA session guitarist, Steve Mann, who influenced Jorma Kaukonen among others, put out a solo album via Custom Fidelity that is highly rated by some. Further famous San Francisco connections are to be found on Goodbye Blues, a pre-Fish acoustic folk album recorded by Country Joe McDonald in 1965. A small number of copies were pressed up via Custom Fidelity and given away to friends (later reissued and withdrawn as The Early Years."

More typical custom house collectibles from this imprint include the Piranhas' Something Fishy, a mid-60s frat and surf combo with a three man horn section and a funny fish cover. In 1969, pressed up their two most highly rated titles, the powerful and talented downer folk duo Kusudo & Worth, and a high school pothead classic by Mary Butterworth. The latter has been on the radar screens since the mid-1980s, and somehow snunk its way into the hands of Sofia Coppola, who used it in her acclaimed Lost in Translation movie. Armed with the most stoned drum sound this side of King Tubby, Mary Butterworth have a couple of outstanding organ-led tracks that perfectly capture the non-hippie, non-aggressive, suburban teenage vibe of the late '60s.

Even among custom labels, Custom Fidelity seems to harbor an unusually high proportion of high school and college albums from across the US. They may have found a successful marketing angle on that particular niche. In any event, Hoi' Polloi from the liberal arts Earlham College in Indiana chose Custom Fidelity to press up 500 copies of their ambitious, Abbey Road-influenced 1972 album, which I've written about at length elsewhere. Also from '70s Indiana came Vindication, whose humorless Christian prog-rock is probably too tough a pill to swallow for UT readers; many hardened album collectors also seem unimpressed by it, despite the high dollar going rate.

Like Century, Custom Fidelity put out a sales pitch LP to promote their own business, which included pressing up best-of and oldies compilations for radio stations. And again like Century, many artists passed through their studio and plant without actually using the "Custom Fidelity" imprint, although their still identifiable via a "CF" prefix. One such is a good garage 45 by the Disillusioned Younger Generation, which used the band's own label design, but was recorded at Custom Fidelity studios in Pasadena. The company, which began operations around 1960, seems to have closed its doors for young hopefuls in the mid-70s."

Add to the Lama's story with the No-Tones, an unknown (until now!) high school garage band pressed up on the Custom Fidelity label.

See detailed pictures. No reserve auction! I ship worldwide! I combine shipping!

Grading: Vinyl and cover are both VG. The bottom seam on the cover is about 3/4 split and the vinyl has light hairline scratches and scuffs. See pictures.

Cleaned on a VPI 16.5 record cleaning machine.

Shipping: Records will be sent promptly in the proper boxes with padding via USPS. U.S. shipping is noted below. International buyers e-mail for a shipping estimate.

Insurance: I recommend insurance. I'm not responsible for items lost or damaged during shipping. For international buyers, I recommend USPS Registered First Class International Mail or USPS Priority Mail International with insurance.

Customs Declaration: Actual value will be stated on the Customs Declaration form - no exceptions. International buyers are responsible for all taxes and fees.

Thanks for looking! E-mail with questions.

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