Sold Date: December 2, 2017
Start Date: November 27, 2017
Final Price: $89.10 (USD)
Bid Count: 1
Seller Feedback: 10702
Buyer Feedback: 3784

This item is not for sale. Gripsweat is an archive of past sales and auctions, none of the items are available for purchase.

Please listen carefully here because what we're offering here is possibly the ultimate Holy Grail in terms of early "garage" bands. And by "early", I mean 1958, which was probably before the term "garage" had even been thought up.  And rare? I can't find this album anywhere on Discogs or Allmusic or any of those sites. Just sayin'. And I've written myself a memo that this is a keeper if no one's smart enough to bid on it.
The album - Transradio 12" 33 rpm LP # TR 855 - is "The 1958 Hermon Knights" by the Hermon Knights, a group of students at the classy Mount Hermon prep school in Gill, Massachusetts. In 1958, of course, Mount Hermon was an all boys' school, but it went co-ed in 1972 and is now known as Northfield Mount Hermon.
It's hard to place the music in any particular genre, although "1950's" would cover it - there's some doowop, some blues, jump blues, light jazz and a little bit of rock 'n roll. Most of the tracks are instrumental, and there's a noticeable use of horns as the lead instruments (including the instrumental version of "Peggy Sue"), but all the tracks contain that amateur virtuosity that is the hallmark of garage beat.
So, let's go through the personnel and the track list. First, the vocalists are listed on the label as Harlow Huckabee, Dave Peterson and Bill Lathrop, and the band members are Greg Pond (trombone), Kevin Cramer (saxophone), Dave Winchester (piano), Dave Angel (guitar), Russ Pekrul (drums), and Doug Wilson (bass).
The track list (with my own uneducated comments in parentheses) is as follows. All tracks are instrumental except as noted.
Side One: Sentimental Journey (vocal harmony) What Is This Thing Called Love (slow blues instrumental) On the Sunny Side of the Street (up-tempo boogie woogie piano) Harlem Nocturne (slow jazz, heavy on the sax and trombone) Peggy Sue (up-tempo, trombone and sax lead, with rhythm guitar)  Blues in the Night (slow blues instrumental) Summertime Progressive (Gershwin's classic in a jazz-blues instrumental arrangement)
Side Two: Blue Moon (great doowop vocal harmony) I'm in the Mood for Love (slow jazz) The Stroll (very interesting instrumental arrangement) Canadian Sunset (vocal solo, slow jump blues style) Gong Rock (trombone and bass of the Kai Winding tune, drum solo in the middle)

The record could use a good cleaning, but otherwise looks to be in about VG+ condition, still beautifully shiny, and not a lot of visible surface wear. It plays well on my old Bang and Olufsen turntable, with no skips or jumps, but some mostly light background noise, which is most noticeable on Side 2. (Side One plays closer to EX.) Because of variations in tracking ability, filtering technology and needle weights, I can offer no guarantees as to how well it will play on your equipment.
The cover is in functional and solid condition, with the seams all intact, but some moderate edge wear and surface rubbing, as well as some paper loss (probably due to sticker removal) in the cartoon area on the front. It comes with a clear tissue inner sleeve. 
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PAYPAL: Let us preface this by saying that Paypal has never been our preferred method of payment, but we realize it is now basically the only form of payment that eBay allows. For international orders, therefore, we now accept payment only by Paypal, unless you initiate some other form of payment that we agree to in advance. Repeat, in advance, please. For orders within the US, our understanding is that eBay doesn't allow us to request payment by check or monkey order, but our mailing address is given in the 
SALES TAX paragraph below, and we can't stop you from mailing money to us, in fact people do it all the time. Our business name is Red House Antiques.  Please note also that, due to Paypal's ridiculously over-protective "Confirmed Address" policy, we no longer honor requests for shipment to third party addresses, and we reserve the right to refuse to ship to unconfirmed addresses, especially overseas. If you have any questions about this, please contact us prior to bidding so we can review your options. If you are paying for multiple purchases through Paypal, please make the payment as a single lump sum payment, rather than trying to pay for each item separately. 
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SALES TAX: Maine residents, please also include sales tax in the amount of 5.5 percent of the winning bid amount. The only way to avoid this is to send us a copy of a current Maine Resale Certificate, either by fax to 207-222-2478, or by mail to Red House Antiques, 52 Day Road, Gorham, ME 04038. Or as an e-mail attachment - our aol e-mail address, once again, is Redhouse31. Good luck, bidders! 
Oh, and two more things. First, a reminder that, because we sometimes lose track of who's paid for what, you must agree that we may self-insure if we require insurance and omit to purchase it at the Post Office. Second, because of abuses we have experienced, we have given up on the eBay feedback system, so we neither give nor expect feedback. Third, our terms and shipping methods, etc., may be negotiable on a case-by-case basis, so please contact us prior to bidding if you have any questions or requests. And finally, click here to check out our other items!