WILDFIRE-SMOKIN' LP-70 ORIG-PSYCH/HARD ROCK-
$
2,000
$ 2000
Sold For
Sep 26, 2010
Sold Date
Sep 19, 2010
Start Date
$ 10
Start price
16
Number Of Bids
USA
Country Of Seller
eBay
Auctioned at
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Description
- Record is in condition of: Cover = VG++ & Record = Low VG++ to High VG+. Plain white stock cover has minor brownish staining on both sides (This could be professionally cleaned/fixed by a restorer but I have chosen to leave it alone). Record has two very clean labels on both sides. Record has two minor surface scratches on Side 1 & three minor surface scratches on Side 2 in addition to minor surface scuffs on both sides. This record has been professionally cleaned on a VPI machine & none of the aforementioned affects its play.
- This record was originally limited to a press of 500 to 1,000 copies although anywhere from 2 to 3 originals have “openly” been sold in recent history. In addition there is no history of original copies of this record being sold on EBay, Popsike, or Collectors Frenzy.
- Payment must be received by seller within seven days of auction close.
- Accepted forms of payment are PayPal or cashiers check payable in US dollars.
- Shipping is included in final sale price of record-please disregard shipping costs listed below. Buyer is responsible for extra costs attached to this such as insurance, registered mail, or delivery confirmation.
- From Austin, Texas, and Laguna Beach, California, Wildfire was "Randy Love" (guitar and vocals), "Danny Jamison" (bass guitar and lead vocals), and "Donny Martin" (drums).
"Randy Love" and "Danny Jamison" had previously been members of "Phil Pearlman"'s band that recorded the rare surf 45 as "Phil and The Flakes".
From 1969 until 1972, when Wildfire broke up, the band made Austin its home three quarters of the year, during the University of Texas' fall and spring semesters, and returned to Southern California during the summers.
Wildfire created such a stir with their loud amplification (thanks to their POWERFUL "Quilter Amplifiers") and high-energy original songs that other more established bands were in awe of their musical power.
When Wildfire determined it was time to cut a demo album, they began in California at the Beach Boys' studio, putting down the bass and guitar tracks. Wildfire guitarist "Randy Love" is Beach Boy "Mike Love"'s cousin. A Texas promoter convinced Wildfire that Texas was the place they wanted to be and the place they wanted to record, and the boys returned to Austin, eventually ending up at the "Sonobeat Records"' Josey Studio (the same place and almost same time as "Vince Mariani" and "Cold Sun"/"Dark Shadows"!) toward the end of the year.
Sonobeat owner "Bill Josey Sr." produced and engineered Wildfire's 8-song album in what was almost certainly the first of Sonobeat's "work for hire" sessions -- those in which Sonobeat simply provided studio and engineering time in exchange for hourly fees.
Since Wildfire paid for the sessions, it owned its master tapes and self-released the resulting album, which has come to be known as Smokin'. The album, following the style of Sonobeat's classic demo LPs, was released in a plain white jacket bearing hand numbered stickers.
The album's initial pressing (band members recollect variously from 100 to 1,000 copies) rapidly sold out, and today an ultra rare copy of one of those original vinyl pressings has become a "must have" for devoted collectors.
According to "Pat Quilter", 'to my knowledge, this was the only recording of Quilter amps used at full power'.
Sadly, the master tapes were lost years ago and there isn't a protection dub in the Sonobeat archives.
Happily, in 2006, the band released a CD of the album re-mastered from an open reel copy of the master tape that Barbara Light Lacy, the band's long-time friend and present producer, had held onto for 35 years.
The Wildfire's LP Smokin', is an EXCELLENT guitar Psychedelic/Hard-Rock, one of the very best in the style from anywhere.
From the opening echoed growl guitar intro "Stars In The Sky" with dual vocals, and great stereo effects through the ten-minutes-plus "Quicksand" at the end of Side Two, this record sits at the top of the pile of US West Coast Hard-Rock privately pressed albums.
