Back in the early 1970s, the U.S. Army sponsored a talent contest for servicemen stationed overseas in Germany, the "Original Magnificent Special Services Entertainment Showband Contest."
The winner and runner-up during the first year, in 1971, ended up recording an album in Frankfurt, using some exceptionally good studio equipment since this album has surprisingly great fidelity (the reissue was mastered off of vinyl, not master tapes). Then it promptly vanished from popular consciousness for the next three or so decades until Dante Carfagna dug up a copy and made its existence known in high-end collector circles. I'm not exactly sure how many copies of this are "known" to exist at this point (at least a few) but it's the type of LP whose obscurity explains why it commands so high a price.
JEM is proud to present this short documentary film on that very U.S. Army band, East of Underground.
Produced by Wax Poetics and Scion. Directed by David Hollander.
East of Underground from Wax Poetics on Vimeo.
Purchase the album on iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/album/east-of-underground/id319703194
No comments:
Post a Comment