PRIVATE press COUNTERWEIGHT RECORD obscure NYC psych 73

$

50

whatcheerrecords Store


nyc
unknown Private Press
Psychedelic Folk
Lp

< listen to the sound clip above >

~ the Counterweight Record ~

a very obscure privately pressed vinyl lp record
that is a communal hippie college project effort done
in nyc with a revolving group of singers & players
and we found no mention of this anywhere
and consider it to be undiscovered

release # SZ333 (no label stated) privately pressed lp
that was produced & engineered by Ed Strnad and George Zarr

cover features awesome psychedelic color sun rays
beaming up from a record & there's also unique original
cartoon drawings for each song on the back

great moody dark loner naive acid cool minor key folk
with layered acoustic tracks and stacked spooky background vocals
and occasional use of odd instrumentation and there is even a song
that is done in an awesome Jug Music style, with another that
is a heavy full-band electric rocker with bashing drums
and an awesome GUITAR SOLO and breakdowns
and a very cool outro that reminds us of the
Velvet Underground

there's also interesting use of reverb and cool
distortion on some of the record's vocals

this record is very similar in style and substance to the
Rhode Island private press released by the collective / communal
Perspective group and also reminds me of stuff by groups
like the FUGS and HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS


~ odd blurb from the liner notes ~


"what is this album about?  i'm glad i asked that question. 
THE COUNTERWEIGHT RECORD is the end result of the gathering
of various unknown--but--talented--musicians, singers and
songwriters  ages ranging from a mere 16 to an equally mere 23.

serving as ringmasters, quasi-producers, and pseudo-recording engineers
are an artist and cartoonist who like jiggling knobs and switches.

the purpose??  well, in answer to my question, to stuff under one
record jacket the silly and the serious, the sappy and the sad, the simple
and the semi-symphonic the clog dancer and the tree surgeon.

recorded in conditions that are varied from studios to the back
of panel trucks, the results are certainly a soothing balm to the
bleeding eardrum. so anyway, me and my old lady like it..."

< winning bidder gets a free clean digital copy of this lp >


~ songs ~


NICHOLL'S ROAD
YOU'RE THE SHOEHORN  (for my triple-D sized love)
SIMPLE SHADE OF TRUTH
SEWER-SIDE
AFTERMATH
RUBBER BABY BUGGY BOOGIE-WOOGIE
WHEN YOU ARE GONE
HITCH-HIKER'S SONG
LITTLE CHILDREN
KING DAVID
ANGEL CAKE
BOOBA-LANG  (after jim kweskin)
LOOK INSIDE OF ME
MORGAN
HAPPY

COUNTERWEIGHT


~ players ~


THE HEARTBREAK KIDS
- ANGEL COLON
- TOM KASSAWARA
- NICK RAMOUNDOS
- GEORGE ZARR
- TOMMY REGA
- ED STRNAD
- MAX HIRSHKOWITZ
- SAM GOLDSTEIN
- KENYA HEARSUMPIN / KENYA DWORKIN
- JOE ECCLES
- MIKE SILVERMAN
- NEW YORK CENTRAL
- DANA ROMBERG
- MICHELE SCAVRON
- MJARG "FEET" BLUMPTK
- HY JINKS
- ED LISCIANDRO
- BOB HAMILTON
- MIKE NEVILLE
- FRANK FORZIANO
- GWEN ZARR
- HARPO MARX


~ names mentioned / songwriters credited ~


UGNO BARAZOONI jimi aliperti CHARLIE LUSSO
jim krowka JOE BIVONA  jay stollack W.I.N.O. RADIO
TIN TONE microphone co PHIL HARMONIC mike a. phone
VICK TROLA max l. tape & bob motley as GROUCHO


~ instruments ~


guitars ELECTRIC GUITAR acoustic guitar
12-STRING GUITAR bass guitar SLIDE GUITAR shoe box effect
PIANO vocals EFFECTS autoharp MEANDERING FLUTE
harp GONG banjo TAP DANCING background hijinks
DRUMS organ DOG WHISTLES
and RADIO WAVES


~ additional info ~


we could find no reference of this record, but several of the
singers & players seem to have been involved in other stuff later on
(although we cannot confirm any of this stuff) but our google searches
turned up Ed Strnad as a humorist satire writer and George Zarr
appears to be a big name in Internet and Radio Theater including
lots of stuff with the SCI FI CHANNEL and a program called
Seeing Ear Theatre and he created the first ever internet musical ever
The First (and Last) Musical on Mars & singer Kenya Dworkin
appears to be doing some sort of mambi / rap stuff in a group called
OBSESION and also ED LISCIANDRO appears to have been part of
the NYC experimental rock group New York Central
after being part of the CRYSTALS which
was a Phil Spector group

now, we may have the wrong people here but
we thought we'd see what we could dig up on these people
since this record is so obscure


~ condition ~


record is in Very Good + Condition with vinyl is extremely
shiny & clean but with just some light marks & has labels that
are clean & bright with no writing or markings & has been
Fully Play Tested and sounds Very Good with just slight crackle
in spots & also has occasional stray soft pops/tics and there
one song that sounds like it has a little more crackle to it
but we're pretty sure this was done intentionally (the song has
an 'old-time' radio spoken intro & crackle seems to have been
added to the master to make it sound like an old record
which gets slid across the grooves at the end as well
(proving that the sounds here were intentional)

the cover is in Very Good Condition with bright bold colors
but does have some light wear around the edges & has good
tight seams, but does have a small clear tape repair at the top
opening edge & otherwise there's no writing or markings except
for a faded number written in marker on the front cover which
can barely be seen because of it being so faded at this point


~ privately pressed ~


there was a time
when vinyl was the preferred format
for releasing records & many musicians would release and
distribute their own recordings when they couldn't find a
label to release their recordings & these types of DIY records
are referred to as "privately pressed" by today's collectors
and are now hard-to-find & sought after because they were
almost always made in extremely small quantities as artistic
or craft-based endeavors rather than purely commercial
ventures with no attempt at cashing it in commercially often
making for interesting & innovative DIY recordings that are
more honest, experimental and unusual than commercial
releases & many "private press" records have never been
'discovered' by today's listeners making them important
to collectors of many different recorded genres


__
_____



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