BOSTON Hair Dance Selections '70 psych LP nude cvr HEAR

$

41

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS…

The Boston "HAIR DANCE SELECTIONS"

Original 1970 LP on the German Cornet Special label, STEREO CS16039

Cover:  EXCELLENT

Vinyl:  No marks at all, super clean, plays NEAR MINT

While the thought of incorporating “More Than a Feeling” into the musical HAIR is intriguing (I’d put it right between “Sodomy” and “Colored Spade” myself), this is most definitely NOT Tom Schulz’s BOSTON we’re talking about here on this obscure 1970 rendition of the classic tribal love rock musical.  This particular Boston (they’re actually called THE Boston for some reason) was quite a worldly group – featuring three musicians from England, two from Ireland, and one born in Egypt, Hair Dance Selections was released in Germany, Ireland and France, with a rather risqué cover featuring a topless girl named Eva from Sweden – but amazingly, there’s not a single connection to Massachusetts.  What’s next?  Finding out the pop band America wasn’t really from America?

The band’s global heritage helps give their Hair renditions some unique perspectives, like the Caribbean vibe permeating their soft pop cover of “Good Morning Starshine.”  Or the shakin’ go-go strobe light rhythms behind “Be-In,” which sound like the kind of beats a bunch of mini-skirted dolly birds would be shaking to at some groovy Swinging London underground discoteque in 1967.  Likewise the Carnaby Street toytown sensibilities of “What A Piece of Work is Man,” which is closer in spirit to English popsike than anything the Cowsill family ever cranked out.  And perhaps the band’s earlier days recording catchy European bubblegum pop singles (“Hayride” b/w “Bang Bang Lulu” anyone?) helps them reinvent “Walking in Space” as a bouncy proto-glam gum stomper somewhere halfway in between Tommy Roe’s “Dizzy” and anything off the first Sweet album.  Heck, if the original soundtrack of Hair had been this much fun, I might’ve been able to overlook the fact that Ted Lange and Keith Carradine were onstage.

Best of all, the Boston tackle the obligatory “Aquarius”  - but instead of riding the already Grammy-winning Top Ten treatment by the Fifth Dimension to the chart success of whatever country they happened to be concentrating on that month, the band instead opts to take it way out into DEEP space, with stunning results.   This “Aquarius” is very nearly a krautrock odyssey, drifting along on a bed of rumbling interstellar bass and bathed in a hazy sheen of good quality galactic acid.  Especially during the breaks, when some echoed-out space-traveling guitar comes rushing in from somewhere just past Uranus.  The planet, that is.  Now I know where that guitar-shaped spaceship on all their album covers comes from.   

 TO HEAR SOUNDCLIPS FROM THIS ALBUM, PLEASE VISIT MY HOMEPAGE AT WWW.KATHLEENTURNEROVERDRIVE.WIKISPACES.COM - YOU CAN ALSO HEAR SOUND CLIPS FROM ALL THE ALBUMS I HAVE UP FOR AUCTION ON THIS PAGE TOO.

The less exciting stuff

Media mail shipping with delivery confirmation starts at $5.00 in the US, with each additional record only $1 additional shipping.  Air mail shipping to Canada starts at $10 US, each additional record $2 shipping.  Air mail shipping everywhere else in the world starts at $16 US, with each additional record only $3 shipping.  I accept payments through Paypal, or you can send checks and money orders made out in US dollars.  Items paid by check are held 14 days for the check to clear.

I try to grade as best as I can, and I list as many blemishes/imperfections I can find (writing, ringwear, scuff marks, etc.) – Also, please note that I DO listen to these albums – I may not listen to every track, but my grades are based on LISTENING, not just looking at it, since chances are you’ll be listening to the record you buy, not just looking at it.  Most of the albums I sell are the ones I’ve enjoyed for years – and I treat my records with kid gloves.  But sounds speak louder than words, so check out the sound clips below – they’re from the actual record you’re bidding on. 

SHIPPING AND PACKAGING

Listen, I buy a bunch of records too (when I’m not getting outbid at the last second, which is more often than not) – and I know what it’s like to get a rare, one-of-a-kind album packaged dangerously in a flimsy bubblewrap package.  I hate that too.  So rest assured, I ALWAYS package albums with stiff cardboard reinforcements, same for 45s.  And yes, the records are removed from the sleeves (for albums).  I ship out once a week, every Friday, because I have a regular day job.  But I’d be willing to give that up if you’d all be so kind as to bid my items up to stupidly high amounts. 

And finally, I include delivery confirmation on all shipments inside the US.  This is my proof of shipment, and also helps us to track your package if it doesn’t arrive when it should.  I will email you within 2 days of shipment and give you the confirmation number at that time.  Insurance is always optional, but for larger orders, it’s highly recommended.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a cost-effective way of tracking parcels to foreign countries yet, and shipping times vary depending on your country’s postal system.  Italy in particular seems to be really bad at delivering packages quickly, or delivering packages at all, now that you mention it.  I will always email you when your package ships, but once it’s on its way, please don’t ask me when it will arrive because I don’t know.  If the world’s postal systems can ever agree on a universal tracking system that’s affordable, I’ll be the first to use it.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…

I will always leave positive feedback for successful transactions, and would appreciate the same in return.  All I ask of you is the following – please pay for your items within 14 days of the close of auction.  Compared to other sellers, that’s a generous amount of time, so if you don’t pay within 2 weeks, then I have to assume something’s wrong.  You’ll get an Ebay payment reminder at that point, and possibly a decapitated horse head in your bed.  If, after 30 days, you still haven’t forked up the cash, I’ll relist the item and yell at you if I ever see you in town.