Month: March 2015

Here is a rare Vulcan LP recently consigned to us:

This is the enigmatic Vulcan album, originally titled Hard As Rock, then renamed by the artist as Wedding Album, and later renamed by the artist Meet Your Ghost.  Originally attributed to Lyle Steece of Vulcan in its original incarnation as Hard As Rock, the album has been variously altered over history by Mr. Steece.  The recording itself, no matter which iteration, is always the same (except for a later 2LP reissue).  Authentic covers are white, usually with a paste-over photograph of a “ghost” and a woman, while easily-found bootlegs feature the same black and white photo in a litho version.

From there it gets a little confusing.  Straight out of the pressing plant, the album had a silver professionally printed label, and the title Hard As Rock.  Some time thereafter, Mr. Steece found it necessary to paste photocopier labels over that silver one.  Many of those paste-over labels bear a 1985 date, although as you can see in the inclusions presented here, there was a 1975 date also produced, although it is unknown to this author whether it was ever used.

Vulcan himself distributed some copies of the album, number unknown.  The rest were distributed by Merrie Melodie, a retail store in Spencer Iowa, and Rainy Day Music, a later retail store at the same location.  Number of copies sold by Merrie Melodie is unknown, number of copies sold by Rainy Day Music known to be under 15.  This seller has also sold three copies at this venue (eBay) over the years.

As Lyle replenished the supply at either store, he made various alterations to the label, the paste-over cover photo, or both, and sometimes visited either store to add inclusions, or subtract inclusions, or to make white-out changes to various notes.

This copy is interesting in that it has more inclusions than other copies this author has seen or traded.  The record itself is unplayed, easily established by the fact that there is no spindle hole.  That is not unusual.  The record could use a little cleaning, it is presented here as-found, which includes some dust.  This particular copy was NOT sold at either Spencer store, which spared it some of the alterations that most other copies present.  It is not uncommon to find “Wedding” in the title whited-out, and the line “Produced By” is usually whited-out to exclude Teresa Steece.

We have seen (or own) other copies of this album which sometimes include the “letter from Jesus”, the Lyle And Janet piece, the marriage certificate, but not all, and this is the only copy we’ve seen with a template for the label with the mysterious 1975 date which was perhaps the actual recording date.

We are unable to determine who Patricia Ann York (on the license) was or what the role of either woman was in the actual production of the recording, if any.

Many copies of this album featured a front and back cover wrap-around paper black and white photo of a woman with a missing figure, presumably the “ghost” of Meet Your Ghost as the album was finally known.  Our item for sale here is an earlier example of its evolution, and could probably be referred to as “second state”, and is plain white as we believe it came from the pressing plant.  The paste-over label has been slightly peeled at one edge, revealing the original silver label underneath.

Before you could find the occasional listing at eBay Meet Your Ghost was extensively boot-legged by German boot-leggers.  The value of these originals, no matter how few they really are, as masters for counterfeits is gone.  The album was also professionally re-issued in 2010 as a 2 LP gatefold copy with expanded content, so the originals are also no longer the only way to obtain the record for listening purposes.  But if you’re interested in the enigmatic history of the record, this is a very early copy in a state just one step off of the original one.  It includes no white-out alterations, no rubber stamps and no hand-written notes, but DOES include various associated documents in relatively pristine condition.

Artist/Title: Vulcan / Meet Your Ghost

Label: North Star Productions ST 38456

Tracks:

* Prelude
* High C’
* Lightning
* Noname
* Count On Us Next Time
* One Nighter
* Untitled Instrumental (2.b. Continued)
* Title Track
* The End

Buy with confidence, check the feedback, questions welcome-we’re the original source for this record and have placed more copies world wide than anyone else.

Realized $49.97 6/10/15