1976 MAJOR ARCANA Rare Folk Psych Private 33 LP + Poster Jim Spencer MINT SEALED

$

205

  MAJOR ARCANA LP ALBUM with DENIS KITCHEN cover. (1976)

MINT / Still Sealed in Shrinkwrap     RARE Alternative Underground Record

Jim Spencer     Psychedelic Hippie Folk Rock     Original Private Label Pressing (limited release)

Artist/publisher Denis Kitchen's brother Jim was in a Milwaukee-based band called Major Arcana with the late Jim Spencer in the mid-1970s. This is the only album cover Kitchen ever created, but his psychedelic image became a minor hippie cult classic (it also inspired a surrealistic follow-up "story" in the underground comic Mondo Snarfo). He remembers spending "ninety hours" on the intricate cover ("and it wasn't a cash job!"). The music holds up well too. Had Spencer not died at a very early age, he and his group would likely have been commercially successful. But the group achieved only regional and brief fame.

Collectors have long known about Milwaukee's Major Arcana, but I'm surprised it hasn't attracted more mainstream attention. 
 
Jim Spencer originally made his name as a writer/publisher, responsible for a series of early-1970s underground magazines, including Freek.  He also found time to record a pair of mid-1970s solo LPs that attracted local attention, but did little on the national scene.

In 1974 he decided to form a band, recruiting the talents of bassist Michael Burdecki, lead guitarist Randall Dubis, and percussionist Jim Kitchen.  Released on Spencer's own A Major Label (which also released the highly sought after Anonymous album), "Major Arcana" served as a showcase for Spencer who handled all of the vocals and was credited with writing, or co-writing nine of the ten songs (the one exception being a cover of the traditional 'Greensleeves'). 

Propelled by Spencer's likeable voice (for some reason every time I listen to the LP I think of Jack Black in 'High Fidelity'), musically the album was hard to describe since it bounced all over the horizon including stabs at conventional blues, commercial ballads, folk-rock, Dr. John-styled funk ('Papa Doc') and even jazzy interludes. Curiously lots of reviews have slapped a 'psych' label on the LP.  Frankly that's the one genre I just don't hear much of - maybe a little in side two's 'Down Under Blues' and the closing 'Greensleeves'.  Maybe I'm simply going deaf ...   In spite of some cheesy synthesizers, co-written with Milwaukee poet Charles Dynzof (aka Chuck Simmons), 'Western Wind' started the album off with a stunning ballad, with 'Shake Me' and 'Steal Your Love Back Home' turning in equally engaging mid-tempo pop pieces. 

It wasn't perfect.   'Deanna Durbin Blues' and 'Fran's Blues' were okay, if unexceptional blues numbers.  Interestingly guitarist Dubis went on to pursue the genre in his post-Major Arcana career (see below).  Elsewhere, courtesy of buddy Sigmund Snopek III, the flute interludes quickly became an irritant.  Still, the album's loose, low tech feel more than compensated for the somewhat fragmented musical lineup, making it a perfect LP to play on one of those cold, rainy or snowy Sunday mornings when you can't get much energy going. 

                                Speed:    33 RPM                Genre:    Rock - Psych
                                Record Size:    12"              Sub-Genre:    Psychedelic Rock
                                Duration:    LP                    Tracks:  10
                                Condition:                           MINT, never opened or played