Loving Awareness Band Loving Awareness Rare 12” vinyl LP 1976 Radio Caroline

	£		35
	$		46

Loving Awareness Band Loving Awareness Rare 12” vinyl album LP 1976 Radio Caroline

Good condition vinyl and inner sleeve and outer.

Light marking on vinyl with only very low level noticeable noise on a couple of tracks. This album is a rare and original 1976 Dutch first pressing in it's original black sleeve, the later pressings were in white sleeves.

1976 More Love Records ML001.

Please see photographs for more info.

Free UK postage.

Some more information on the Loving Awareness / Radio caroline connection.

Founded in 1964 by the late Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford, the concept behind Radio Caroline was to establish a radio station free of the BBC's monopoly on English airways. Since the could not get a license from the English government the pair created a "pirate station" locating it on a ship floating outside of British jurisdiction in the North Sea. Over the next twelve years the station went through a wide array of owners, financial issues, programming formats and ships. By the mid- '70s the station was operating off the ship Mi Amigo which was originally built in 1921 as a three masted German cargo ship. The station had also migrated to what was billed as the Loving Awareness format which was best described as a bizarre mixture of FM album play lists, mixed with a philosophy of love and peace - their advertising logo was the inspirational "love and good music - Radio Caroline".

To promote the radio station's new format, owner O'Rahilly decided to hire a band - The Loving Awareness Band. Featuring a collection of journeymen English musicians, they started out recording radio station jingles. By the time the group got around to recording an album the line-up featured drummer Charley Charles, keyboard player Micky Gallagher, singer/guitarist John Turnbull and bassist Norman Watt-Roy. True journeymen, you can look at the list of bands these guys were affiliated. By an incomplete count I come up with over 25 bands (before and after Loving Awareness).

1976's "Loving Awareness" was recorded over a two-month period in Southern California. Curiously the liner notes didn't provide any information on where the sessions took place, or who the producer and engineers were. Released on O'Rahilly's Holland-based More Love label and distributed by Phonogram. The album featured fourteen original tracks; all credited to the four band members, though O'Rahilly seems to have been the driving force behind the overarching "peace and love" concept. You didn't have to do much more than look at song titles such as 'Free Your Soul', 'Inside Voice Of Love ' and 'Let Yourself Go' to get a feel for the concept and doctrine. Here's a sample of the oh-so-'70s lyrics "Time of right to find one another; There is love in all to discover; Don't you ever wonder what you're really here for ..." Luckily t couple of things that made this one interesting and distinguish it from the wave of "self-potential" album releases. First off, the songs were surprisingly good. As mentioned earlier, for the most part The Beatles comparison seemed inaccurate. The acoustic ballad 'Inside Voice Of Love' sounded like a subpar George Harrison solo effort. The ballad 'The Vibes' also featured a Harrison flavor. In comparison tracks like the opener 'Let Us Get To Know You' and 'Be In Touch' reminded me of '70s funk bands like The Average White Band and Rufus (without Chaka Khan). Among the best performance were the Curtis Mayfield-styled 'No Other High', the top-40 pop ready 'In a Movie' and the infectious rocker 'Let Yourself Go'. Also interesting was the brazen marketing scheme that accompanied the album. The original package included a sticker on the album sleeve that read "The Beatles". It was quickly removed by the record label. The whole effort was cloaked in Beatles mystique, leaving the impression the project included participation from a couple of Beatles - it didn't, though urban legend holds the band rehearsed in Ringo Starr's home and George Harrison produced much of the album - they didn't. You can check out some of the Beatles' links on the album's inner sleeve. Radio Caroline played the album (and single) frequently. Nobody else did.

The gatefold inner sleeve pictures which includes photos of the band: left to right: John Turnbull (with his hand raise), Norman Watt-Roy, Charley Charles and Micky Gallagher. The guy in the back on the telephone is the late Ronan O'Rahilly. Hard to see, but the whiteboard on the left reflects "The Beatles?" while the bulletin board reflects "White Album" photos of The Beatles with the band member photos beneath them.

For hardcore fans, there were actually two variants of the album - the first version featured black packaging with the second release opting for a white cover. All told, rough 10,000 copies were pressed and sold (mostly to Radio Caroline listeners).

The band actually toured a little in support of the album, opening for the likes of Curved Air. When the album failed to sell they called it quits. Charles and Watt-Roy joined the eclectic Ian Dury in time to play on his "New Boots and Panties" album. They were quickly joined by Gallagher and Turnbill and toured with Drury as The Blockheads.