I've been searching all over

Back in 1984, I spent a lot of time listening to THE REBEL KIND. It's a great compilation of early eighties garage bands. I highly recommend you get a copy if you can. The liner notes on the back of the LP mentioned that United States of Existence was inspired to form after 17 consecutive plays of the Harumi 2 LP set. I had never heard of Harumi but I remember thinking that any LP that could be listened to 17 times in a row and inspire a bunch of high school kids to start a psychedelic band had to be worth hearing.

So I kept an eye out for the record. It wasn’t easy to find. The first time I ever saw a copy of the record was at Kurt Wood’s house one summer day in 1993. He had a copy that he had just found on one of his record hunting expeditions. Kurt wasn’t willing to part with his copy though. I told him how long I had been looking for it and that still didn’t work. I think I even went as far as offering him twenty bucks. For some reason, he still didn’t want to part with the record. Probably because even in 1993, the LP was going for up to a hundred bucks. Kurt did give me a deal on some Tom Lehrer records though. He’s a good guy.

After that close encounter with Harumi, I didn’t see another copy of the LP for another 14 years. Last month, I found a copy in Vertical House’s new arrival bin for only two bucks! And it’s in pretty good shape! 23 years after I first heard about the record, I was finally going to hear Harumi.

It’s not bad. I wouldn’t listen to it 17 times in a row but I have listened to the first disc about that many times in the last few weeks. Harumi writes good songs, the playing is good, Tom Wilson’s production (Tom liked the phase shifters) is as good as ever. The record is in pretty good shape, definitely worth the two bucks(!) I paid for it.

Coincidentally, Fallout Records just re-issued the album on CD last April. I probably would have bought a copy if I hadn’t just found the LP. It’s easier to skip the last two songs on the vinyl version.