MIKE STUART SPAN Children of Tomorrow ORIGINAL Jewel 7"

	£		415
	$		550

MIKE STUART SPAN "Children Of Tomorrow" b/w "Concerto Of Thoughts", Jewel, 1968, 7" single. Condition: VG+

>>As featured on the classic Rubble and Chocolate Soup compilation series

>>Two sides of super heavy British acid guitar action

>>Only 500 originally pressed - far fewer survive

>>Very rarely appears for sale

Chances are, if you are looking at this item and considering placing a serious bid, this record will need no introduction. In fact, it's more than likely that you know more about this record than I do. I know nothing about psyche stuff. Up until about 3 months ago this 7" was in my box of rejected 'blind' purchases from car boot sales and charity shops waiting to be given back to charity. I think I bought it in a village hall sale in Norfolk last summer whilst looking for obscure party tunes for DJing purposes. After a quick listen I looked it up in the Price Guide under S for Span and Stuart, found nothing, so put it in the junk box and forgot about it. Roughly six months later I'm about to give the box to charity to clear space, but decide to have a quick check through online and gradually I realise i have something a bit special. I went back to the Price Guide and this time I looked under M for Mike and found it listed at £250. And it still had the 25p price sticker on it! Since then i have found out that it could actually go for more even though it's not mint. I've also read (on the band's own site) that there have been some bootlegs/fakes flying around, but fortunately for me they have juke box centres and my copy has the 3-point push-out centre intact. The only reason I'm telling you all this is because I'm not an established, reputable dealer, I'm just someone who got lucky - and quite understandably anyone paying a lot of money to own this will have a lot of questions they'll want answered before they commit.

I have listed it as VG+ because although it plays fine with no jumps or scratches, there are a few visible marks and a certain amount of base level hiss - it is 37 years old after all! However as you can see, both labels are in absolutely pristine condition.

For those that don't know about this record or want a quick reminder, here's a review i found online... "Top drawer UK psychedelic beat is what we're talking about here, The Mike Stuart Span had released a couple of routine 45's for Columbia before moving over to the small Jewel label in 1968 where they released this psychedelic skull-crusher. I first heard this song back in 1981 when I got the Chocolate Soup For Diabetics Volume 1 sampler when I finally tracked down the single a few years later I was surprised to find that the original recording was a bit slower than the one on Chocolate Soup, I thought perhaps it was an alternate take but then I found some other Chocolate Soup #2 45's by Wimple Winch, The Tickle, Winston's Fumbs and The Craig and these were also slower, so I finally figured out the Soup LP was mastered too fast or something. Either way "Children Of Tomorrow" is a real keeper which opens at breakneck speed and goes right for the throat with a menacing guitar riff, full tilt drums and typically gruff British vocals not to mention large doses of panning and phasing ( just the way I like it! ). A great performance all the way!, the flipside "Concerto Of Thoughts" is also a worthy listen, this one is a bit slower and more reflective. Stuart's "Mob" then relocated once again this time to Fontana for a 45 later in 1968. By late 1968 I guess the group got tired of their somewhat Merseybeat sounding band name and like Zoot Money's Big Roll Band decided a more psychedelic sounding name was in order, so they changed names to Leviathan and jumped labels once again to Elektra where they issued the devastating "The War Machine" 45 and a couple of other worthwhile efforts before disappearing into obscurity land."

Reviewed by Dave Furgess, 21/03/2001