The Radical Five

C

capedcrusader

Mark VII Class
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Location
smack dab in the middle of the u.s. of a.
Together from 1966-'68, they were students at Montana State in Bozeman when the band formed. They beat out the Initial Shock
in a battle of the bands, and opened for the Tracers, the Surfaris, Them (post-Van) and Sonny & Cher, while gigging in their home state. In
August of '66 they recorded 2 original tracks in a small studio in Butte. Released in October, 1966, a very small pressing (nobody
recalls the exact amount for certain, either 50 or 100), it was never available for sale, only distributed to clubs, radio, etc. The soft ballad
A-side (which will be of little to no interest to this group) did chart on the AM station in Butte, going top 10.
Sound file for the cool B-side (should rate 6-7 by TBM standards, I believe) will be forthcoming here, in the near future...100_0138.JPG
 
capedcrusader said:
Together from 1966-'68, they were students at Montana State in Bozeman when the band formed. They beat out the Initial Shock
in a battle of the bands, and opened for the Tracers, the Surfaris, Them (post-Van) and Sonny & Cher, while gigging in their home state. In
August of '66 they recorded 2 original tracks in a small studio in Butte. Released in October, 1966, a very small pressing (nobody
recalls the exact amount for certain, either 50 or 100), it was never available for sale, only distributed to clubs, radio, etc. The soft ballad
A-side (which will be of little to no interest to this group) did chart on the AM station in Butte, going top 10.
Sound file for the cool B-side (should rate 6-7 by TBM standards, I believe) will be forthcoming here, in the near future...View attachment 3329
Click to expand...
Thanks for clarifying.
 
Update/clarification (sort of):

The 1966 recording/release date is now in question - it's more likely a 1967 release. The KXLF October survey
sheet where their record is slotted at #10 (up from #22 the previous week; compared to the Doors People
Are Strange at #11, up from #23), while not dated by year, obviously dates from '67, based on the other listings
on the chart (Young Rascals How Can I Be Sure at #1, the Box Tops The Letter #7, etc).
The 45 first came to notice 20 years ago, when a collector obtained 4 copies in Arizona. In 2018 it was finally
introduced on the internet - however, no band name was mentioned because his copies do not have the band
name listed on the label. I have purchased 2 copies from former members and both have the group's name
stamped on the labels. To the best of my knowledge, these are the only 6 copies known 'in the wild.' How
many were stamped or unstamped with their moniker is totally unknown.
 
I wrote him about trading that copy, told him I had big dollar LPs for offer - he replied
that he was 'disinclined to do trades, but he'd be happy to receive my list and consider;'
sent him the list 4 days back, no response. No surprise there...
Don't believe he is a collector of any sort, simply a 'flipper'...
 
A Cali based G45 member with a Mildly Monstrous (but seemingly shortlived) garage appetite hipped me to this in late 2018. He said he sold a VG one for 800 and was getting a better copy - that intimidated me, as I only knew of this sale of a NM copy for barely 250 a few years earlier. Is the guy who found them Tim B from CO?
 
I give it a 6 on the good side. On the positive side, it's very catchy, and on the negative, it's slightly monotonous.

I ran it thru the G45 Oracle based on the following: Song Quality 6/1 : Rarity 9.5 : Legend 4.
After much deliberation, The Oracle spoke. It said $1034 for a mint copy, and $766 for a vg+. I believe it because it never lies. Therefore the discogs copy is double the price it should be.

Still, a great discovery, and new to me. Great band name too, almost as good as the Bedlam Four, but a pity it's not shown on the label.
 
gregk25 said:
A Cali based G45 member with a Mildly Monstrous (but seemingly shortlived) garage appetite hipped me to this in late 2018. He said he sold a VG one for 800 and was getting a better copy - that intimidated me, as I only knew of this sale of a NM copy for barely 250 a few years earlier. Is the guy who found them Tim B from CO?
Click to expand...

Yes, Tim (a/k/a worldwidewax) is the one who found the copies. He now has his final copy up for sale on discogs - for double the actual value
according to bosshoss/The Oracle. Tho he did recently drop his price - from $1,999.99 to $1,998.99.
 
bosshoss said:
I give it a 6 on the good side. On the positive side, it's very catchy, and on the negative, it's slightly monotonous.

I ran it thru the G45 Oracle based on the following: Song Quality 6/1 : Rarity 9.5 : Legend 4.
After much deliberation, The Oracle spoke. It said $1034 for a mint copy, and $766 for a vg+. I believe it because it never lies. Therefore the discogs copy is double the price it should be.

Still, a great discovery, and new to me. Great band name too, almost as good as the Bedlam Four, but a pity it's not shown on the label.
Click to expand...


Ah, but it is shown on the label (well, at least on 2 copies).

In regards their fine name, sad to report that it was not inspired by rebellious social/political beliefs, underground music or anything out of the
'mainstream' norm . It was chosen by the lads from the mathematical term ('expression that uses a root...'); and all the former members I spoke
with were quick to point that out, almost as if they never wanted to be associated with anything controversial. They were 'sophisticated' college
students, mind you, not delinquent high school punks.

And speaking of values - all it takes is 2 or more 'desperate crazies' to throw everything value-wise out of kilter,100_0144.JPG as witnessed by recent ebay 45 auctions of the Groupies, the Bad Roads, and several others...
 
Frantic said:
Their name Radical Five on both 45 looks like they were added after the fact.
Click to expand...

They were indeed added after the pressing (see Update/clarification post here, from yesterday). Nobody could explain the
oversight of their name being omitted at the pressing plant. All living former members are in their early to mid-70s now and their
memories were very shaky. (Hence the 1966/1967 confusion, as mentioned previous.) Plus, this was the first time they had even
thought about those days in 50+ years. One ex-member couldn't even remember the first names of 2 of his former bandmates.
 
does the band know when the names were added? maybe the guy who found those copies added the names to add to their value?
 
Frantic said:
does the band know when the names were added? maybe the guy who found those copies added the names to add to it's value?
Click to expand...

Those 2 pictured were purchased by me directly from the ex-members, their sole copies. My suspicion is they stamped their name on the labels
shortly after receiving them from the pressing plant. No explanation why some got out without their name added.
 
gregk25 said:
Here's another lable w/o name. So together with the one on discogs and the popsike registered sale from 2014, there's 5 of the 6 copies.

View attachment 3333
Click to expand...
If you look at the discogs page, you will see 3 members show it in their 'have' list - one is Tim, one is me, the 3rd is drboom, a
fellow Coloradoan who obtained his copy from Tim a couple of years back. (drboom is a vinyl swap buddy of mine and he's
the one who hipped me to the disc.) So it sounds like all 6 copies are now accounted for.
But wait - I just received an email from the ex-guitarist who went back to his family members and, lo & behold, they dug
out another copy and offered it to me to purchase. It appears the list will soon be up to 7 (excluding those still in the
ex-members and/or families possession, of which I know of at least 2 copies, one supposedly warped so bad it won't play).
Which means as of right this moment there are 9 known copies on the face of this planet.
 
capedcrusader said:
Ah, but it is shown on the label (well, at least on 2 copies).

In regards their fine name, sad to report that it was not inspired by rebellious social/political beliefs, underground music or anything out of the
'mainstream' norm . It was chosen by the lads from the mathematical term ('expression that uses a root...'); and all the former members I spoke
with were quick to point that out, almost as if they never wanted to be associated with anything controversial. They were 'sophisticated' college
students, mind you, not delinquent high school punks.

And speaking of values - all it takes is 2 or more 'desperate crazies' to throw everything value-wise out of kilter,View attachment 3332 as witnessed by recent ebay 45 auctions of the Groupies, the Bad Roads, and several others...
Click to expand...

Oh, and am in total agreement on your musical evaluation, bosshoss. An experienced songwriter would have included a bridge to
offset the repetition. Or a producer/arranger who knew what they were doing could have enhanced it with additional percussion,
another guitar part or some sort of build up at the end. All hindsight of course - it is what it is.
 
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