Artist:  Jim Sullivan

Title:  U.F.O.
 
Format:  Vinyl LP

Label: Light In The Attic

Catalogue Number:  hs 88020

Genre:  Psyche Rock / Folk

Release Date:  2000

Origin:  USA

Notes:  Outstanding and obscure Psyche Folk Rock from the mysterious Jim Sullivan. LITA 200 Repress. Ultra rare 1969 private press psych-folk-rock masterpiece – featuring the legendary Wrecking Crew.  In March 1975, Jim Sullivan mysteriously disappeared outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His VW bug was found abandoned, his motel room untouched. Some think he got lost in the desert. Some think he fell foul of a local family with alleged mafia ties. Some think he was abducted by aliens.

By coincidence – or perhaps not – Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost, until Seattle’s Light In The Attic Records begun a years-long quest to give it the full release it deserves – and to solve the mystery of Sullivan’s disappearance. Only one of those things happened.

For record collectors, some albums are considered impossible to get hold of, records so rare you could sit on eBay for years and not get a sniff of a copy. U.F.O. is one of those albums. A seventh son, Jim Sullivan was a West Coast should-have-been, an Irish-American former high school quarterback whose gift for storytelling earned him cult status in the Malibu bar where he performed nightly. Sullivan was always on the edge of fame; hanging out with movie stars like Harry Dean Stanton, performing on the Jose Feliciano show, even stealing a cameo in the ultimate hippie movie, Easy Rider.

Friend and actor Al Dobbs thought he could change all that, and founded a label – Monnie Records – to release Jim’s album, enlisting the assistance of Phil Spector’s legendary sessioneers The Wrecking Crew to do so. That’s Don Randi, Earl Palmer and Jimmy Bond you can hear, the latter also acting as producer and arranger.

U.F.O. was a different beast to the one-man-and-his-guitar stuff Jim had been doing on stage; instead, it was a fully realised album of scope and imagination, a folk-rock record with its head in the stratosphere. Sullivan’s voice is deep and expressive like Fred Neil with a weathered and worldly Americana sound like Joe South, pop songs that aren’t happy – but with filled with despair. The album is punctuated with a string section (that recalls David Axelrod), other times a Wurlitzer piano provides the driving groove (as if Memphis great Jim Dickinson was running the show). U.F.O. is a slice of American pop music filtered from the murky depths of Los Angeles, by way of the deep south.

With no music industry contacts, the record went largely unnoticed, and Jim simply moved on, releasing a further album on the Playboy label in 1972. But by 1975, his marriage breaking up, Jim left, for Nashville and the promise of a new life as a sessioneer in the home of C&W. That’s where it gets hazy.

We know he was stopped by cops for swerving on the highway in Santa Rosa, some 15 hours after setting off. We know he was taken to a local police station, found to be sober, and told to go to the local La Mesa Motel to get some rest, which he did. Some time later, his car was spotted on a ranch belonging to the local Genetti family, who confronted him about his business there. The next day his car was found 26 miles down the road, abandoned. His car and his hotel room contained, among other things, his twelve-string guitar, his wallet, his clothes and several copies of his second album, but no note, and no Jim. It was as if he had simply vanished into thin air.

Jim’s family travelled out to join search parties looking for him, the local papers printed missing person stories, but the search proved fruitless. Around the same time, the local sheriff retired and the Genettis moved to Hawaii. Jim’s manager Robert “Buster” Ginter later stated that during the early morning hours of a long evening Jim and Buster were talking about what would you do if they had to disappear. Jim said he’d walk into the desert and never come back.

Tracking down the truth behind Jim’s mystery became an obsession of Light In The Attic’s Matt Sullivan (no relation) when he happened upon a copy of the album and fell in love. He took on a cross country pilgrimage in search of master tapes and truth, and came back with neither, despite hundreds of phone calls, e-mails, letters, faxes, private detectives, telepathy, palm readings and meetings with Jim’s wife, son and producer. Thanks to superb digital mastering techniques, Light In The Attic is still able to present a clean, near perfect copy of Jim’s masterpiece for general consumption for the first time. Enjoy. And remember, beyond the mystery, there’s the music.

Condition:  [ Please see “Grading Guide”  below ]

Vinyl Condition:  New - Sealed

Sleeve Condition:  New - Sealed

Tracklist:

A1

Jerome

A2

Plain As Your Eyes Can See

A3

Roll Back The Tide

A4

Whistle Stop

A5

Rosey

B1

Highways

B2

U.F.O.

B3

So Natural

B4

Johnny

B5

Sandman

Any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Thanks for looking.

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Shipping: 

All items will be shipped the same working day that he order is received if before 3 PM or the morning of the next working day if after 3 PM.Records will be sent in professional mailer with stiffeners.

Grading Guide:   [ Please note – Our grading categories and descriptions differ slightly to the Goldmine and VRG standards so please read carefully ]

NOTE - [ + or – symbol suffixes denote a very slight improvement or degradation to the attributed grading but not enough to raise or lower the item to the grading category above or below it ]

*Record age is immaterial to its condition.

* Promotional releases will be denoted   in the product description.

·        New  [ N ]   Manufacturer Sealed, seal may have been split to check colour variant. Never played. Note some CD’s are manufacturer issued without shrink wrap.

·        Mint [ M ]  As New.  Never played. No corner or edge dings, shrink-wrap is intact. All additional items such as inserts, lyric sheets and posters etc... will be perfect.

·        Near Mint [ NM ]  May have been played a couple of times but the record shows no signs of having ever been played. This is highest grade allowed for an opened, handled record. The vinyl is virtually flawless, bright and shiny. A very minor, barely visible scuff or two may be permitted, but no scratches. The disc should play with no audible noise. The label is bright, clean and unmarked. Sleeves will be near new condition. Virtually no wear to faces, edges or corners.

·        Excellent  [ EX ]   Record surfaces are bright and clean but may have a few light paper scuffs or superficial surface marks that do not affect play. The record has obviously been played, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light blemish. Sleeve may have some very minor wear to faces, edges or corners of covers.

·        Very Good  [ VG ]  A well cared for used record. Record surfaces may show some slight signs of wear and may have scuffs or light scratches. May have some very light surface noise or isolated crackles and pops.  Labels may be marked lightly. Sleeve may have some ring wear, moderate wear to edges and corners, light creases or stress lines, and other minor defects.

·        Good  [ G ]   Record shows visible signs of wear. Some surface noise may be audible. Groove wear may be noticeable, as will some scratches that may cause clicks or pops. Labels may be marked. Sleeve will have heavier ring wear, edge wear and corner damage and some discoloration.

·        Fair  [ F ] Likely to be lots of minor scratches and scuffs with surface noise audible. Potential label marks and damage. Sleeve will have noticeable edge and ring wear and feature some tears, marks and discolouration.

·        Poor  [ P ]   Scratched, scuffed and generally well worn with surface noise audible. Sleeve will have heavy ring and edge wear and likely tears, marks and damage. We will endeavour not to sell vinyl in this condition unless it is extremely rare and can be professionally cleaned and salvaged or where the cover is in good enough condition to warrant purchasing for the cover alone.

Common Abbreviations used in the product description. [ relating to used vinyl and CD releases ]

·        EW – Denotes sleeve edge wear

·        LM – Label Marked

·        Promo – Denotes a record label promotional release

·        PS – Denotes a full picture sleeve

·        RE – Denotes a re-issue

·        RW – Denotes sleeve ring wear

·        SPLT – Denotes split edge on sleeve

·        WL – Denotes a white label release