Spooky Tooth cd's out of print?

[Enid]

I've noticed the astronomical prices recently on the Repertoire releases of the Spooky Tooth back catalog. This is usually a direct indication of any cd going out of print. Hello Enid? wake up?...But..I'm a bit confused because Esoteric released an anthology which could mean that they plan to re-release the official catalog. Unless Esoteric licensed specific tracks FOR that anthology...WHICH..I am totally unaware if a procedure such as that even exists? So ...I wonder if a label will release the back catalog in the near future? My e-mail is disfunctional..so I can't contact the band , Repertoire, or Esoteric. Would someone be so kind as to do that for me?...or if anyone is aware of what precisely is going on with the Spooky Tooth catalog, be kind enough to render some information?

[Scrotum Scissor]

Been ages since I saw one myself, and even their vinyls - which were quite abundant (except for Ceremony) during the early 90s due to the band's relative success on the continent in the 70s - have practically all disappeared from the second hand stores. Of course, mixers and DJs caught up on Spooky Two during the 2000s, but the same fate was bestowed on bands like Colosseum, Family and with John Martyn, for example - the latter of whose work never shows up on used vinyl anymore, although you could buy them in spades back in the 90s.

As for Spooky, the only title I see popping up on CD is the odd compilation.

[Mick]

I for one would love a CD of their first two albums, Better by You and Evil Woman were two of the tracks that I taped in one of my reel to reel mixes to do my synchronized Liquid light shows in dance clubs with Fantasia in 1969. Alas the reels are probably unplayable now and I don't have a working reel to reel 4-track. Would love to know if Esoteric did a compilation from Spooky1&2

[Enid]

Thank you Scrotum Scissor for your reply. Their cd's were released on Repertoire in digi-packs ...I believe in 2005...although I could be wrong? I may have to wait a very long time for a re-release...otherwise pay between eighty to a hundred dollars from sellers.

[Enid]

I for one would love a CD of their first two albums, Better by You and Evil Woman were two of the tracks that I taped in one of my reel to reel mixes to do my synchronized Liquid light shows in dance clubs with Fantasia in 1969. Alas the reels are probably unplayable now and I don't have a working reel to reel 4-track. Would love to know if Esoteric did a compilation from Spooky1&2

I don't think they did. I believe they released the anthology and Ceremony only.

[Watanabe]

I picked up an 88 A & M CD and old edsel "it's all about" for under a tenner each on amazon.uk about 3 years ago.Seemed to be a lot of cheap cd versions still doing the rounds then, or maybe i just got lucky.

The repetoire spooky tooth issues sound like shit btw.Compressed digital mess.

[JeffCarney]

I picked up an 88 A & M CD and old edsel "it's all about" for under a tenner each on amazon.uk about 3 years ago.Seemed to be a lot of cheap cd versions still doing the rounds then, or maybe i just got lucky.

The repetoire spooky tooth issues sound like shit btw.Compressed digital mess.

The A&M CD of Two is brilliant. Sounds even better than the UK Island CD to me.

I also went with Edsel for other titles where I could. I have no doubt what you say about the Reps is true. When I see a Repertoire digipack, it's an auto-no-buy as I know it will be a compressed mess and probably poorly sourced.

[JJ88]

I must say the only actual album of theirs I have is 'Spooky Two'. I've seen some of the others on Repertoire and (years and years ago) Edsel, but not for some time, now I come to think about it.

Otherwise I've only ever had 'That Was Only Yesterday- An Introduction To' which Universal put out. That's pretty good, actually, if you can find that- it has all of 'Two' except 'I've Got Enough Heartache'. It also has most of 'The Last Puff'.

'Spooky Two' should always be in print as it was released, though. Indeed, I looked on Amazon and it appears not to be. A very unfortunate state of affairs. That's as classic as any album of the era IMHO.

I never got it but I remember the Esoteric compilation coming out and assuming that the whole catalogue would follow.

[Toothyspook]

Just looked at amazon uk and there are still some reasonably priced albums on there along with several compilations

[arise_shine]

http://www.rocksbackpagesblogs.com/2...oth-birds-eye/

[Enid]

A huge thanks to everyone! I recall watching Spooky Tooth as an opening act for Frampton's Camel and Mahavishnu Orchestra in 74' at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. I thought they were the most impressive band that night. They chose the best tracks from The Mirror ...but they also performed material from Spooky Two, Last Puff, Broke My Heart, and Witness. Mike Patto was the ultimate replacement for Mike Harrison, the mix was beautiful, and they had a fantastic sarcastic dead pan humour between songs. I couldn't believe the sound of the band when they performed the song "The Mirror". A couple of years later I saw Gary Wright performing songs from The Dream Weaver album at J.F.K. Stadium and I sat there feeling depressed that Spooky Tooth had disbanded.

[syncopatico]

Just like to chime in and say that Mike Harrison has to have one of the best 'soulful' voices in rock n' roll--very underrated!
I even like the (mono) V.I.P.s stuff from the sixties.

[Enid]

Just like to chime in and say that Mike Harrison has to have one of the best 'soulful' voices in rock n' roll--very underrated!
I even like the (mono) V.I.P.s stuff from the sixties.

He is very great! "Wings On My Heart" is one beautiful vocal performance. Gary Wright and Mike Harrison sharing the vocals, the instrumentation, everything about this band I love. Mike Harrison was very unique. I wish I had those official releases instead of just a compilation. Maybe a label will one day go the distance and release them.

[grego]

I love this band, and gladly, I have almost all of their albums on Repertoire CD's(all except Mirror)
The latter I own under the name of Comic Violence..

[hwkn]

The only Spooky Tooth cd I have is the Lost In My Dream compilation which seems to have most of their good songs imho.

[mogrooves]

Caught them in '73 with King Crimson and the Strawbs. I also dug Harrison's Smokestack Lightnin' and Grovenor's Under Open Skies......

[Enid]

The only Spooky Tooth cd I have is the Lost In My Dream compilation which seems to have most of their good songs imho.

I love that compilation...but It doesn't include "Old As I Was Born".

[Enid]

Caught them in '73 with King Crimson and the Strawbs. I also dug Harrison's Smokestack Lightnin' and Grovenor's Under Open Skies......

OMG.......73? What a great concert.

[notallwhowander]

I've got a jewel-case edition of Spooky Two. It's a great album with a great open, expansive, hippie vibe. I never went further with the band, though.

[Vic2012]

I found a used copy of The Mirror years ago for one dollar. That's all I have by ST. Good band, good album.

[Enid]

There was something dark about this band , (which is not defined properly and misunderstood by yours truly)...but I can't think of another word. A person might sum up most straight ahead British Rock bands as being diverse in nature and even a bit eclectic in a sense. You could say that for everyone from John Mayall to Free or Graham Bond to Juicy Lucy, Rory Gallagher, and early Fleetwood Mac are diverse in nature, but something unexplainable to me in the Spooky Tooth sound/style was dark for it's time causing me to single them out from others. The British musicians were so influential to the American musicians in the late 60's and early 70's. I believe it was very natural for British musicians to create ideas in Rock music that surfaced as innovative musical concepts .....lyrically and as a style/approach in actual playing of an instrument that was alien to myself and many other American musicians during the late 60's/early 70's. Spooky Tooth were very responsible for attaching that to straight ahead Rock music along with a progressive twist that was daring.

[Watanabe]

Spooky Tooth were actually one of the more American influenced and sounding British rock bands of the late 60s imo.

that first album especially could basically be Vanilla Fudge so similar is the psych + soul concept and sound\playing, especially stuff like Tobacco road and society's child.

[JJ88]

Yes I dug 'That Was Only Yesterday' out of mothballs and indeed, the tracks from the debut do have that Vanilla Fudge feel. I must admit I'm not over-fond of that 'slowing down pop songs and shoehorning in falsetto vocals' thing...'Sunshine Help Me' (covered by The Move at the time) feels more like the sound they made their own on the subsequent album.

'Spooky Two' was mostly original and indeed, definitely a key album in the direction of heavy rock into metal. 'Waitin' For The Wind' and 'Better By You...' have that gothic feel that many a metal band became famed for, with Judas Priest infamously covering the latter track. But it also has a more soul-influenced feel on some of the other tracks.

[Nightingalesandbombers]

One of the best intros ever.........Waitin' for the Wind.......Play it loud today if you have it.

[Enid]

I agree with what's being said regarding the band sounding more American influenced, but their music still has that unique British vibe/sound. I hear some influence of Joe Cocker which Cocker's R&B approach is qute different from Edgar Winter's White Trash or Bloomfield's Electric Flag........and only because it is British. Spooky Tooth's "Wildfire" has a strange flow and the instruments color the song creating a presence unlike what a person would hear in a Canned Heat song. There was always something more haunting in the British sound. Peter Green and John Mayall doing "You Don't Love Me", Jeremy Spencer playing piano and singing "Hellhound on my Trail", Juicy Lucy playing "Who Do You Love" and Spooky Tooth with "Evil Woman". It has a very distinctive sound which derives from the creativity of the British msicians. Even when American musicians/writers formed bands with the British musicians, the British style of Rock seemed to dominate the overall sound. Like Paul Kossoff and Andy Frasier doing something in Rock music that many American bands had not thought of and obviously because they didn't grow up in England. I believe it was the environment there which influenced them to write differently from American musicians They may have been inspired by Blues, R&B, and Rock n' Roll in the U.S., but they added a distinctive style to it which we never thought to do. That's why bands like Free were very unique. Cream as well.