Phantoms on Graves and Ridon

[chas_kit]

I realized I haven't heard either side of the Phantoms 45 on Graves, "Sixty Minutes to Nine" / "Hallucinogenic Odyssey" or "Our Great Society" - the flip to their Ridon 45 "Story of a Rich Man".

These songs get decent ratings in TBM - 4 or 5 - how are they? How rare is the Graves 45 compared to others on the label?

 

[Rich Strauss]

I give "Our Great Society" a 5 and the rest a 4 on the garage-o-meter. I can't really comment on the rarity since I got both 45s over thirty years ago. I suspect that the Phantoms are in less demand than most of the other Graves 45s.

-- Rich

 

[Mr.Segment]

I´m really into how the Graves 45s sounds and have not heard the Phantoms either. I have the Dominions 45 but need all the others. Strange how sometimes a certain 45 eludes bootleggers, YouTube & blogs.

 

[bosshoss]

Relative rarities of the Graves label 45s, according to my experience, out of 10 :

Ethics - 4
Phantoms - 5
Dominions - 7
Sires - 8
Fifth Row Bac - 11

 

[chas_kit]

Relative rarities of the Graves label 45s, according to my experience, out of 10 :
Ethics - 4
Phantoms - 5
Dominions - 7
Sires - 8
Fifth Row Bac - 11

One of the Sires contacted me and said the single actually sold very well in local stores because of their win at Battle of the Bands. Of course we know how few of those copies seem to turn up nowadays.

I had a copy of the Sires, bought not too expensively from BW. I didn't love it though - I think it was the shouted group vocals through the verses of "Come To Me Baby" that turned me off. I brought it to a record fair to trade. Ray was taking a look at it and noticed it has a crack, which shocked me as it was otherwise M-. So I gave it away for relatively little and kinda regretted it.

Alan Graves' numbering system shows the Moguls Tork 45 and the Barber Green could also be considered Graves records, plus there are some missing #s:

Graves 1091: Dominions – I Need Her / Spanish Harlem
Graves 1094: Sires – Don’t Look Now / Come to Me Baby
Tork 1095: Moguls – Another Day / Round Randy (Dec. 1966)
Graves 1099: Ethics – She’s a Deceiver / O.K. (March 1967)
Graves 1100: Fifth Row Bac – Please Don’t Go / Destination Train
Graves 1103: Phantoms – Hallucinogenic Odyssey / Sixty Minutes To Nine (1967)
F-Empire 1106: The Barber Green – Gliding Ride / Life (August 1968)

 

[chas_kit]

"Please Don't Go" gets an 8 in TBM while the Dominions "I Need Her" rates a 7 - that sax break must have really hurt the Dominions' rating!

 

[buckeyebeat]

One of the Sires contacted me and said the single actually sold very well in local stores because of their win at Battle of the Bands. Of course we know how few of those copies seem to turn up nowadays.

I had a copy of the Sires, bought not too expensively from BW. I didn't love it though - I think it was the shouted group vocals through the verses of "Come To Me Baby" that turned me off. I brought it to a record fair to trade. Ray was taking a look at it and noticed it has a crack, which shocked me as it was otherwise M-. So I gave it away for relatively little and kinda regretted it.

Alan Graves' numbering system shows the Moguls Tork 45 and the Barber Green could also be considered Graves records, plus there are some missing #s:

Graves 1091: Dominions – I Need Her / Spanish Harlem
Graves 1094: Sires – Don’t Look Now / Come to Me Baby
Tork 1095: Moguls – Another Day / Round Randy (Dec. 1966)
Graves 1099: Ethics – She’s a Deceiver / O.K. (March 1967)
Graves 1100: Fifth Row Bac – Please Don’t Go / Destination Train
Graves 1103: Phantoms – Hallucinogenic Odyssey / Sixty Minutes To Nine (1967)
F-Empire 1106: The Barber Green – Gliding Ride / Life (August 1968)

I have a lot of the missing numbers. Just bought one off ebay recently, 1097. Nothing that anyone here would want to hear. There are also LPs in the series. Alan did not keep any paper logs of these so there's probably no way to ID them all. There are some Graves acetates and tapes of unreleased stuff in private collections and band members possession.

When Dave Gibson got the remainders of Alan Graves' records (c. 1985) there were a stack of the Phantoms, Ethics, and Barber Green records, and a couple Moguls. For some reason he had none of the Dominions, Sires, Fifth Row Bac. None of the bands, except for the Moguls, had copies of their records. The Dominions said they sold them all in short order.

In terms of rarity, the most common are the Dominions and Phantoms, followed by the Ethics. The Moguls and Sires are rarer. Barber Green is not that rare, I really don't pay much attention to the record myself, never really did much for me. I think the Sires is kinda boring. The only record I've never found multiples of is the Fifth Row Bac.

 

[buckeyebeat]

Oh yeah, I remembered that Alan told me that the F-Empire label was his attempt to have a real label name. The only records I know are the BG 45 and the Beauregarde LP. Like a lot of these people, asking them to remember other records you don't know and can't prompt them about is pretty futile.

 

[chas_kit]

A song I hadn't heard til I went searching for it is the b-side to the Fifth Row Bac's "Please Don't Go".

"Destination Train" - really a very good song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfRAfgIgx7w

Here's an idea for someone - record the audio from this video, put it on a vinyl LP and then claim that you were the first to comp it!

 

[MopTopMike]

I rated the Ethics a and b sides as both being a 7. A better record, and songs,to my ears, than the Sires and Dominions. Rates #2 behind the fifth Row Bac.

Now, how about Orlyn? Joey D will agree with me - my top track is "Short Time" by the Noblemen
Orlyn faves

1 - Short Time - Noblemen
2 - You're in My mind - Graf Zepplin
3- Girl With the Long Black Hair - Other Half
4 - Orphan Boy - Half Pint & Fifths
5 - Shadow Of Fear - Last Night
6 - Go - Lastime Around
7 - Cry Myself To Sleep - Monteras ( I like it much more than "You're A Tease")
8 - Poppies - Heard
9 - Not Right Now - Outspoken Blues
10 - Wind Blowing Through The Trees - Patrick & The shamrocks

 

[Frantic]

I rated the Ethics a and b sides as both being a 7. A better record, and songs,to my ears, than the Sires and Dominions. Rates #2 behind the fifth Row Bac.

Now, how about Orlyn? Joey D will agree with me - my top track is "Short Time" by the Noblemen
Orlyn faves

1 - Short Time - Noblemen
2 - You're in My mind - Graf Zepplin
3- Girl With the Long Black Hair - Other Half
4 - Orphan Boy - Half Pint & Fifths
5 - Shadow Of Fear - Last Night
6 - Go - Lastime Around
7 - Cry Myself To Sleep - Monteras ( I like it much more than "You're A Tease")
8 - Poppies - Heard
9 - Not Right Now - Outspoken Blues
10 - Wind Blowing Through The Trees - Patrick & The shamrocks

Doesn't get any better than that Mikey