PETER & GORDON Hot Cold & Custard 1968 BAROQUE PSYCH MASTERPIECE LP NMINT HEAR

$

58

PETER & GORDON "HOT COLD & CUSTARD" LP

ORIGINAL 1968 LP on the US CAPITOL label, STEREO ST 2882

COVER IN VG+ shape, some moisture damage on lower corners, spine has a 3" split

VINYL plays NEAR MINT, super quiet keeper copy!

With Peter Asher and Gordon Waller, you know you’re getting classy pop music – that’s a given.  But you also know – at least you might EXPECT – that, after sixteen albums between 1964 and 1967 (let’s see today’s groups produce like that) and hit singles like “A World Without Love” and “I Go to Pieces”, you’ll be getting squeaky clean, early British Invasion sounding pop music, and that’s that.  So by 1968, the Peter and Gordon sound would seem to be rather outdated, at least among the Carnaby Street and Haight/Ashbury crowds.  So what’s a couple of clean-cut nice young boys with a knack for pop to do?  Does the world expect them to drop a couple tabs of acid in their English tea and try their hands at this new “psychedelic” sound? 

Well, that’s pretty much exactly what they did on THIS, their final 60’s album, “Hot Cold and Custard”.  Now don’t go expecting Peter and Gordon’s “Saucerful of Secrets” – but with all the backwards instruments, George Martinesque orchestration and whimsical Carnaby Street arrangements, this really DOES sound right in line with the Hollies “Butterfly” and “Evolution”, the Kinks “Something Else” and “Village Green Preservation Society”, and any of the much-revered 1967-1968 Beatles long players.  Popsike fans shouldn’t be shocked that the SONGS here are so great – Asher/Waller have ALWAYS been the Lennon/McCartney of the pure pop hook – it’s just that here, FINALLY, they’ve managed to trip out their pop sensibilities with a little bit of the “hip”, psychedelic flavorings. 

Case in point – “I Feel Like Going Out” – which, at its core, is superbly catchy pop with all the sumptuous harmonies you’d expect.  Now, however, Peter and Gordon throw in some backwards drums, so the song shuffles along on a trippy “Are You Experienced” rhythm.  Add in some subtle orchestration ala the Beatles “Sergeant Pepper” and go for some SEVERE stereo separation in the mix, and now you’ve got not only a song you can sing along to on the radio, but also one mesmerizing little mind trip when you’re cranking it up on your new Koss stereo headphones. 

Likewise songs like “Greener Days’, “She Needs Love” and “Uncle Hartington” all bounce along like the finest English popsike – easy matches for anything the Kinks, Hollies or even the Beatles were recording around the same time – but now, for the first time on a Peter and Gordon album, they came spiked with some psychedelic sonic surprises.  Like the 50 seconds of dissonant sawing cello that breaks up an otherwise beautiful Ray Davies-like toytown popsike song with the ungainly title “The Magic Story of the Park Keeper and His Fairy Godmother” (and you thought the Fire’s “Magic Shoemaker” was iffy).  Or the creepy backwards calliope poking through the Hollies on a Magical Mystery Tour homage “Uncle Hartington”. 

Of course, the Beatles had been doing this sort of thing since 1966, spiking their pop with backward tapes and loops, off-kilter orchestras and trippy sound effects.  But the world wasn’t ready for Peter and Gordon to do the same, and so this masterpiece of an album didn’t sell a lick, and sank without trace, as did Messrs. Asher and Waller for a long, long time.  Which makes “Hot Cold and Custard” EASILY their hardest original album to track down, and even more valuable when you realize that it STILL hasn’t come out on CD!  Which means a LOT of potential HUGE fans of this album aren’t getting to hear it, and that’s a BIG shame.

But if you’re a fan of the late 60’s Beatles, Hollies and Kinks sound, or the complex orchestrated pop sounds of the Left Banke, Sagittarius, Jan and Dean’s “Save for a Rainy Day” or Del Shannon’s “Further Adventures of Charles Westover” to name a few.  If those names mean a lot to you, then you owe it to yourself to discover this buried treasure – Peter and Gordon’s one and only TRUE psychedelic pop album – “Hot Cold and Custard”, from the fall of 1968.  

HEAR IT!

PLEASE NOTE I NO LONGER SHIP TO ITALY DUE TO A CORRUPT POSTAL SYSTEM (THERE, NOT HERE).  BUYERS FROM ITALY AGREE TO PAY FOR GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL INSURED ONLY!

The less exciting stuff

Media mail shipping with delivery confirmation starts at $4.00 in the US, with each additional record only $1 additional shipping.  Overseas shipping has, unfortunately, gone way up in the fast few months, which translates to $15 for the first LP to Canada ($3 each one thereafter) and $24 for the first LP everywhere else in the world, with each add'l LP an extra $5 (so it pays to buy more, nudge nudge wink wink).   I accept payments through Paypal. 

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. 

 For more security and international tracking, you may request GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL - but bear in mind the cost of this service is upwards of $30.  For expensive items, however, it may be well worth it.  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.