a few faverave albums of the cut-out era

Estimated reading time is 10 minutes.

THIS ARTICLE addresses the first few years in which deleted record albums flooded retail stores across the country. Stores that had never contemplated a bargain bin in their record department started one and record-buying was never the same. But these records should have had a huge impact on the early record collectors price guides, but did not.

This was written as an explanatory page (on WordPress, a page is different from a post) on my Elvis – A Touch Of Gold site. I am republishing it here as a post (the search engines supposedly see them differently) as it addresses issues common to all record collecting and I want it to be better seen by Google and company.

The cut-out bin was a winning situation for the record companies, for the retail store owners, and for the record buyers.

For the Touch Of Gold article, I created a gallery of thumbnail images of popular LPs that had been deleted in the late ’60s and early ’70s and found their way into every cut-out bin in every store in the country. Then I decided that I wanted to say a few words about these records, mainly because they contained such good music and I liked them.

But that detracted from the focus of the article: why and how I did what I did to the O’Sullivan Woodside (OW) line of “official record collectors price guides.” So I opted for writing a second article on cut-outs for Rather Rare Records. This article will be published simultaneously with another, “on my first price guide,” the bulk of which addresses the lack of impact of the cut-out albums on the OW price guides.

So here are a handful of once common cut-outs that remain affordable forty years later! This article will be published simultaneously with “on my first published price guide” and there will be some overlapping of text.

 

Beatles LetItBe US 800

The only Beatles albums that I ever saw find their way to the cut-out bins were their first and their last. And the only reasons copies of those titles were there was that both were counterfeits—millions of reproductions of both albums were pressed and distributed in the early ’70s. Counterfeit copies of LET IT BE are excellent and require a discerning eye.

The dawn of the Cut-Out Era

After the American record industry stopped manufacturing albums in both mono and stereo in 1968, they had tens of millions of deleted records taking up valuable space. These were dumped into stores across the country for a fraction of their normal price—wholesaling for as little as 10¢ instead of the standard $1.35. As these units had already been written off of the companies’ taxes as a loss, anything they received for them was gravy.

The stores in turn usually offered these (mostly but not exclusively) mono albums for 99¢, although I found stores like Woolworth’s and McCrory’s offering them for 3-for-$1! These were generally family-owned and operated franchises known as “5 and 10 stores” that had established bargain bins, something many retail outlets did not. Needless to say, these prices met with great success with customers. Beginning in 1968, my record collection expanded exponentially!

The Umphred album guide was very different from every other record collectors price guide out there.

It was a winning situation for the record companies, retail chains, and record buyers—and it was the birth of the cut-out bin! This gave the industry an outlet to sell millions of records a year that had no commercial viability. It would not be unkind to refer to the ’70s as the Cut-Out Era of record buying.

Because these albums were available at the same time, I have listed them alphabetically by artist. I selected a baker’s dozen and stopped, although this page could go forever . . .

 

Association InsightOut 800

The Association
Insight Out
Warner Bros. W-1696 (mono) and WS-1696 (stereo)

The group’s third long-player was released in 1967 and was the group’s most ambitious and most accomplished album. It was also the most successful: carried by Windy and Never My Love (both #1 on the Cash Box Top 100), INSIGHT OUT was a Top 10 on the LP charts and awarded an RIAA Gold Record by the end of the year.

By the end of the next year, their run of Top 40 singles was over and their albums sold less and less and all of them wound up in cut-out bins. Fine record by a fine band that rarely gets its due from historians.

Note that 1967’s Everything That Touches You, their last Top 10, has been remixed into bland ‘modern’ stereo (or what one discerning listener termed it, multi-channel mono). To hear this recording’s true beauty, find the original Sixties stereo mix.

 

EricBurdonAnimals WindsOfChange m 800

Eric Burdon & The Animals
Winds Of Change
MGM E-4484 (mono) and SE-4484 stereo)

This 1967 album featured the idiosyncratic but big hit single San Franciscan Nights with its corny but endearing spoken intro:

“This following program is dedicated to the city and people of San Francisco, who may not know it, but they are beautiful. And so is their city. This is a very personal song, so if the viewer cannot understand it—particularly those of you who are European residents—save up all your bread and fly TransWorld Airways to San Francisco USA. Then maybe you’ll understand the song. It will be worth it, if not for the sake of this song, but for the sake of your own peace of mind.”

The album also included two classic cuts: Good Times (now my theme song: “When I think of all the good times that I wasted having good times”) and Anything. Unfortunately, this album failed to ignite the imagination of psychedelic rock fans and ended up in dollar bins all over the country. Note that this album includes an interesting version of Paint It Black whose intro seems to want to sound like a Bay Area psych workout.

 

ChadJeremy Cabbages stereo 800

Chad & Jeremy
Of Cabbages And Kings
Columbia CL-6871 (mono) and CS-9471 (stereo)

Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde’s 1967 excursion into psychedelia as met with derision, much of it due to the absurdly pretentious (but fun) Progress Suite that occupies all of Side 2 of the record. Too bad, as all of the Side 1 was extremely fine pysch-pop. Thankfully, succeeding generations of collectors have sen the album in a more positive light. The follow-up album, THE ARK, was also a cut-out but was hard to find even then.

 

DaveClark5 5By5 m 800

The Dave Clark Five
5 By 5
Epic LN-24236 (mono) and BN-26236 (stereo)

The DC5 were big enough during the first year of the British Invasion (1964) that magazines devoted whole issues to “Who’s your favorite: the Beatles or the Dave Clark 5?” (Or Herman’s Hermits; the Rolling Stones did not really come into play as a major attraction to teenyboppers in the States until ’65.)

By 1967, the DC5 were through as hitmakers, and this album’s single, the bluesy Nineteen Days, failed to even reach the Top 40. Each of the last three DC5 albums reached the cut-out bins: YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES was the most common, EVERYBODY KNOWS the hardest to find.

 

HermansHermits HoldOn m 800

Herman’s Hermits
Hold On
MGM E-4342 (mono) and SE-4342 (stereo)

For years, it seemed like every ‘Ermits MGM album could be had for a buck—except the first one, which remains the hardest title to found to this day. When I started selling records via ads in Goldmine magazine in 1980 (as Pet Sounds Records), I was able to buy 25-count boxes of Hermits albums for $15—and that included shipping! This soundtrack album from 1966 was arguably the most common record for this group.

 

Hollies HeAintHeavy 800b

The Hollies
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
Epic BN-26538 (stereo)

After Graham Nash’s departure, the Hollies struggled to maintain a hip image. Without Nash, their songwriting was unpredictable and they had to rely on other writer’s material. In 1969 they scored a worldwide hit with a gorgeous reading of Bobby Scott and Bob Russell’s He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.

Alas, the album of the same name in the US was a rather weak offering of their own songs. It sold well for a time and that found its way into the dollar boxes. Of the Hollies albums that reached the cut-out bins, WORDS AND MUSIC BY BOB DYLAN was easily the most easily found.

 

LovinSpoonful EverythingPlaying s 800

The Lovin’ Spoonful
Everything Playing
Kama Sutra KLP-8061 (mono) and KLPS-8061 (stereo)

While nowhere near as common as Herman’s Hermits LPs (what was?), several Spoonful albums could be found as cut-outs throughout the ’70s. Even though this album included two hits, Six O’Clock and the magnificently Brian Wilson-ish She Is Still A Mystery (and their last single to reach Cash Box’s Top 20), it stiffed and was deleted within a year of release. This album was everywhere everywhen for years and years . . .

 

MamasPapas PapasMamas 800

The Mamas & The Papas
Papas & Mamas
Dunhill DS-50031 (stereo)

Despite their string of fabulous 45s, their importance in the public’s acceptance of “hippies,” and their prominent role in the Monterey International Pop Music Festival of 1967, by ’68 The Mamas & The Papas had passed their peak and this album sold nowhere near as well as the first three, all multi-million sellers. Consequently, it became a cut-out bin staple for years.

Note the horizontal line on the cover of this 1968 album: it was a gatefold jacket that opened with photos of John, Michelle, Cass, and Denny on the inside so that you could flip the front cover flaps and make goofy faces. A goofy idea.

 

PaulRevereRaiders HardNHeavy color 800

Paul Revere & The Raiders
Hard ‘N’ Heavy With Marshmallows
Columbia CS-9753 (stereo)

Despite a string of great 45s and some fine LPs, the Raiders clung to their teenybopper image through the ’60s. Describing your music as “hard and heavy with marshmallows” sounded like bubblegum with a stone in the center: it was hard, but it was still bubblegum. Shame, as this was a good album.

While several Raiders albums seemed to be all over the place—including REVOLUTION! and SOMETHING HAPPENING—it was GOIN’ TO MEMPHIS that I saw in the cut-out bins the most often. All are good albums, too long neglected by historians, including this 1969 release (despite its ghastly title).

 

PeterGordon LadyGodiva m 800

Peter & Gordon
Lady Godiva
Capitol T-2664 (mono) and ST-2664 (stereo)

In a perfect pop world, Peter Asher would have been Paul McCartney’s brother-in-law while he was recording with his friend Gordon Waller. Lady Godiva, their last hit on the American charts in 1966, was a smartly arranged and produced piece of novelty. Mr. Asher went on to produce and sell millions and millions of Linda Ronstadt records in the ’70s, while Mr. Gordon returned to his first love, the theater.

 

Turtles BattleOfTheBands 800

The Turtles
The Battle Of The Bands
White Whale WWS-7118 (stereo)

The multi-faceted Turtles recorded this incredible record in which they staged a “battle of the bands” by adopting a dozen nom de plumes and cut a dozen tracks in a dozen different styles. Of the five albums I used here as examples, this is the one that has accrued the most attention from ’60s rock/pop connoisseurs over the decades. This 1968 album included two hit singles: the goofily ironic Elenore (and fans of this song need to hear Billy Bob Thornton’s version) and a gorgeous reading of Gene Clark’s You Showed Me.

 

Soundtrack RiotOnSunsetStrip s 800

Movie soundtrack
Riot On Sunset Strip
Tower T-5065 (mono) and DT-5065 (stereo)

No review of ’60s cut-out is complete with some mention of the Sidewalk and Tower soundtrack albums for several handfuls of exploitation movies by Roger Corman and American International Pictures. This 1967 album is notable for having two tracks each by the Standells and Chocolate Watch Band and one by Mom’s Boys, later known as 13th Power who recorded The Shape Of Things To Come as Max Frost & The Troopers.

 

Soundtrack GloryStompers s 800

Movie soundtrack
The Glory Stompers
Sidewalk DT-5910 (stereo)

This is basically a Davie Allan and the Arrows album, as they record as themselves and as Max Frost & the Troopers while appearing as a sideman on other tracks. For more on the complications of the credits on this 1968 album, refer to “avid record collectors price guide to Wild In The Streets part 2.”

 

NU OW Rock 300 2021

The cover photo for this book is my favorite cover of any of my fourteen books. It is a staged garage sale set up at the O’Sullivan house; publisher John O’Sullivan is the customer buying a copy of Elvis’ Christmas Album. The concept was mine, as were the records used as props.

Something was not right

The thirteen albums above are all from the ’60s yet were available through most of the ’70s as cut-outs, selling for as little as 99¢ and as much as $2.99. These titles were damn near ubiquitous in most of the country and were factory sealed and therefore in unplayed mint condition. Yet each of these was listed in the price guides as being worth between $8 and $15 in played NM condition.

Something was not right with the guides and everyone knew it. 

Then came me!

 

NeptoonRecords 1200

FEATURED IMAGE: I couldn’t find a photo online of a period cut-out bin, so I just used a photo of the front of my old bud Robb Frith’s Neptoon Records at 3561 Main Street, Vancouver, BC. Not only are they Vancouver’s oldest independent record store, but they also run the longest-running record collectors swap, Vancouver Record & CD Convention, located for years at the Croatian Cultural Center. Plus they have their own record imprint, which began with four volumes of History Of Vancouver Rock & Roll, which collected single sides from the ’60s. The fourth and latest volume is pictured above.

 

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