One woman's search for a Keggs 45

chuckd

Ikon Class
Joined
Nov 9, 2018
Location
Boston Area
Only 75 copies were pressed. Bootleg copies of this 45 exist in vast quantities, they have "ORBIT-A" and "ORBIT-B" scratched in the deadwax area. According to Tim Warren (Crypt Records) :

"A band so hated in Detroit, they had to change their name after every show they played! The guitarist met with an evil demise: on his way to practice on his motorbike, he got hit by a truck and knocked into a metal rail which lopped his head off 'n' ended the Keggs' wicked career."

One Susan Bowman of Geneva, Illinois wanted this rare record so badly that she advertised in the records collector magazine DISCoveries and she paid probably as much as $ 129.50, advertising rate for a quarter page -5"x 6"- in the mag at the time.

Update: Feb. 15, 2014 : Quote the From extinct White Swirl forum

The Keggs:

“inept garage band from Westland, Michigan record two outta tune blasts at Be A Star Studios in a shady neighborhood in Detroit in the summer of '67. They come back two weeks later to pick up their records and find that the studio burned down in the riots. Yolanda Owens (listed as "producer" on the record but really she just lent the name of her label, Orbit, to the 7") had made a safety master and was still able to press the record. According to liner notes for the "Back From the Grave" compilation only 75 copies were made, but research indicates that 100 were made with the missing 25 supplied by Yolanda Owens to local radio DJ's for promotion. "Discovered" by compiler Tim Warren in 1984 (I believe in Los Angeles) he treks to Detroit and spends 2 days parked in front of the house of a former band member in hopes of turning up more copies. He gets two more copies, one of which is sold at the Paris Record show in 1986 to an Italian collector who I buy my copy off of in 2005. Total number of copies known to still exist is somewhere around 12. I paid $2561 for my copy in 2005 and a barely playable, cracked copy sold for $373 in 2009. This is, by far, the pinnacle of Detroit garage music.”



orbit Keggs discoveries ad July 1996.jpg
This is the flyer she posted around Detroit asking to buy a copy.
 
I used to know her back then, but I never heard if she did. She was hot after a Mogen David & The Grapes Of Wrath for the longest time, also.

I have just never been as lustful after that Keggs record as a lot of collectors are. I think if I found one I'd sell it and spend the money on something I like better. I can appreciate the rawness and the appeal because of it, but it's just not something I would spend a ton of money on or play more than once or twice. I'll stick with my ten dollar bootleg.
 
Before Tim cancelled his personal FB account he told me about the massive amount of trouble he went through tracking the members down so he could hand them a royalty check.
 
I actually doubt if there's as many as 12 copies still out there. I mean, 12 copies is just a guess really. I would be certain of about 6, but the other 6, I dunno where they might be.
 
I remember one was offered online that had a chunk of wax missing or some serious defect. Another one sold on the Facebook record groups (not sure which one) quite a while ago where somebody took something sharp and scratched it across "To Find Out" several times so that playback caused repeated pops from the deep damage to the groove. Still brought decent money!
 
I remember one was offered online that had a chunk of wax missing or some serious defect. Another one sold on the Facebook record groups (not sure which one) quite a while ago where somebody took something sharp and scratched it across "To Find Out" several times so that playback caused repeated pops from the deep damage to the groove. Still brought decent money!

The description says "Record is in very poor- condition. Broken all the way through, with a chip missing.
Plays well, with a constant 'thud' on a Technics 1200 turntable, with no extra tonearm weight. Might not fare so well on a lesser deck. Doesn't skip or jump on either side, as easily removable price stickers keep the record lined up to track correctly. Still..."

Got $373.

I thought I read somewhere that a near mint copy has yet to surface and the closest one to it is VG range.

The record seems to have been met with considerable hostility by it's intended audience in 1966.


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