TCCDM Pulls One Out..."The Ark" - Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde (1968)

 "The Ark" - Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde (1968)

I recently added another early psych album to my collection a few weeks ago.  The 1968 Chad & Jeremy offering…"The Ark"…was hiding in the used bins of The Record Ship, and I was extremely excited to find it.  I have “Of Cabbages And Kings" (1967), which was the duo's first dive in the psych pool, and it was pretty good.  “The Ark" is better.

It was produced by Gary Usher, who went so beaucoup over budget he was fired.  Critics dug it, but the album went absolutely nowhere in the market.  "The Ark" might have lost money, but it's a fine square to spin.  The songs are all psych-dusted, and very much a snapshot of the times.  Baroque-ish and dreamy in nature.  Of course, a sitar sometimes raises its hand.  There is some speaker bouncing and other effects going on.  And the vocals are notch.  The spin has an overall heady vibe that's quite beautiful and the kind of psych I can easily gravitate to.  "The Ark" doesn't jaw-drop, but one can certainly appreciate the endeavor. 

Early on, Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde may have looked like a couple of non-trendy goofs as predictable as gravity.  But here, the duo tried to slip into the slide zone...and to my ears and eyes, I say they succeeded.  

"The Ark" - Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde (back)

Favorites include:
"Painted Dayglow Smile"
"The Ark"
"Pipe Dream"
"The Emancipation of Mr. X"

Apart from the ugly timestamp stickered on the front of the album (could that thing be any larger), the vinyl was clean and close to vg+.  I'm guessing the timestamp lowered the price because this copy was only $10 and played fine.  My copy is a Pitman Pressing from the Columbia plant out of New Jersey.  There is a peace sign on the back corner with the initial RFK (Robert F. Kennedy), who had been assassinated earlier that same year.  This record is not terribly hard to come by, online anyway, but it is the first one I've ever seen in person.  A nice find for my psych shelf. 

Columbia two-eye label

Cat #
CS 9699
SIDE A  DEADWAX
XSM137371-2D  2  A3
SIDE B  DEADWAX
o XSM-137372-1C  SIDE Two  P  A3

"Pipe Dream" - Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde / "The Ark" (1968)

TRACKS:
A1  "The Emancipation of Mr. X" 2:19
A2  "Sunstroke" 4:12
A3  "The Ark" 4:52
A4  "The Raven" 1:30
A5  "Imagination" 2:45
A6  "Painted Dayglow Smile" 3:36
B1  "Pipe Dream" 3:35
B2  "Transatlantic Trauma 1966" 3:22
B3  "Sidewalk Requiem, Los Angeles, June 5th and 6th" 3:04
B4  "Pantheistic Study For Guitar And Large Bird" 3:37
B5  "Paxton Quigley's Had The Course" 3:21
B6  "You Need Feet" 4:34

PERSONNEL:
Chad Stuart - vocals, guitar
Jeremy Clyde - vocals, guitar
Stephens La Fever - bass
Mike Rubini - keyboards
Lincoln Mayorga - keyboards
Jim Horn - reeds, woodwind
Bill Fritz - reeds, woodwind
Teressa Adams - cello
Jim Gordon - drums
Victor Feldman - percussion
Dennis Faust - percussion

Good stuff.

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