Imposters Of Life's Magazine

MINTY FINAL COLLECTION COPY =

45 YEARS OF AGE FIRST PRINT IN GRAINY GATEFOLD SLEEVE INCLUDES BOTH CUSTOM DESIGNED INNER SLEEVES

SCARCE ....Original 70's first pressing in thick grainy gatefold cover....released only in Canada ...and is essential UK popsike collectible 2LP SET covering all the bases in the most important phase of the glorious IDLE RACE...including rare A & B side 45's...

Includes both original custom designed inner sleeves

British band The Nightriders were kicking around in the mid 1960's not going anywhere after numerous personnel changes. Guitarist Jeff Lynne joined the lineup in 1966 and the group name changed to The Idle Race. The music press took an instant like to the band, describing their style as schizophrenic pop with acid backdrop. Thanks to elevated credentials, the band often shared the stage with bands like The Who, The Small Faces, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Status Quo, Tyrannosaurus Rex and more. The band had plenty of famous admirers, including Marc Bolan and The Beatles (Lynne would eventually work with George Harrison and later the remaining Beatle members on their "Anthology" series). Idle Race released 3 albums during their tenure: "The Birthday Party", "The Idle Race" and "Time Is". All three are compiled on this set along with numerous bonus tracks, a treasure trove for fans of mid 60's psychedelia The debut album by this unjustly overlooked band is a piece of classic British psychedelia that transcends its origins. Most British bands trying to achieve a psychedelic sound in those days simply played softly and sang in a very effete and poetic manner -- the Idle Race, by contrast, play a strange mix of cheerful psychedelic pop/rock juxtaposed with the ambience of the English music hall and a vaguely suggested dark side and don't sound effete so much as just cheerfully trippy, a lot like the Beatles of "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever"; indeed, "End of the Road" from this album sounds like a rewrite of "Penny Lane." Jeff Lynne is the dominant personality here, as composer, guitarist, and singer, and, as one might expect given his presence, the music all has a Beatles-like quality of playfulness amid the musical invention. The single "Skeleton and the Roundabout" is totally innocent in its zaniness, and the softer middle section anticipates the structure of Lynne's later work. Much more indicative of his future direction are "Morning Sunshine," one of the prettiest songs to come out of the entire Birmingham music scene and displaying a languid guitar flourish, and "The Lady Who Said She Could Fly," a Beatlesque jewel that sounds like a lost Beatles track. Yet another highlight, "Hurry Up John" with it's spiraling guitar is one of the great popsike tunes of the British sixties.... This album is steeped in beautiful melodies and even prettier singing and playing....

A:

 The Skeleton and the Roundabout

Going Home

Reminds Me of You

Imposters of Life's Magazine

I Like My Toys

B:

Hurry Up John

Come With Me

Girl at the Window

My Father's Son

Here We Go Round the Lemon Tree

C:

On With the Show

(Don't Put Your Boys in the Army) Mrs. Ward

Please, No More Sad Songs

Follow Me, Follow

Sitting in My Tree

D: 

Happy Birthday

The Birthday

Days of Broken Arrows

Sea of Dreams

Pie in the Sky

The End of the Road

CONDITION: The cover: The thick grainy gatefold cover is TOP copy M- having an a really hard to see micro bb delete drill at lower left. Otherwise mint, there are no bends, no writing and no split seams.... one of the nicest copies seen in awhile...

The vinyl: both records, all 4 sides are M- top copy looking fresh and clean and playing beautiful...clean labels...collection ready