Artist
RICHARD LAST GROUP
Unknown
Little is known about this seven-piece band that only
released an album and a single for the small Car
Juke Box label (the same that
released Ad gloriam by Le Orme).
The 12-track album included mainly covers (by the likes of Jethro Tull and
Donovan) along with some originals sung in English, showing good technical
qualities but little in creativity.
There's an evident connection between the Richard Last
Group and a Richard Coley, who only released an album in Italy, probably
slightly later than the other one.
Dedicated..., whose cover doesn't give any
information on the author or the musicians, contains the same 12 songs as Get
ready! This album was released on the unknown Alexandra label.
Judging from the title of one of the original compositions on the album, Naples in rock, it was easy to think that the group was from that city, but the information included in the insert of the Dedicated.... LP shows that the artist came almost certainly from France.
| LP | |||
| Get ready | Car Juke Box (CRJ LP 00025) | 1972 | single cover - blue/black/red label |
| Akarma (AK 062) | 1999 | different single cover | |
CD |
|||
| Get ready | Akarma (AK 062) | 1999 | reissue of 1972 album - digipack cover |
|
SINGLES (with picture cover) |
|||
| He has gone away Confusion |
Car Juke Box (CRJ NP 1085) | 1972 | blue/black/red label - both tracks from Get ready |
| RICHARD
COLEY LP |
|||
| Dedicated....... | Alexandra (A/CPM 00013) | 1973 | gatefold cover - foldout insert - same contents as the Get ready album |
|
SINGLES (with picture cover) |
|||
| Sad and deep as you Fire and rain |
Alexandra (A/CPM 001) | 1972 ? | both tracks from Dedicated.... |
| Baile tropical (radio version) Baile tropical (mix version) We'll grow together (mix version) We'll grow together (instrumental) |
RCV (MIX 001) | 198? | four-tracks 12" single |
An incredibly rare album, Get ready was almost
unknown to most Italian prog fans and collectors until the recent Akarma reissue,
that enriched the original cover design with a psychedelic splash of colours.
An ultrarare single from the album was also released.
The Richard Coley album Dedicated... is also terribly hard to find
in any condition. It had a gatefold cover with the record inserted from the
centre, and some copies contained a foldout insert.
The insert contains the discography and includes both the Car Juke Box album and
single released as Richard Last Group and the records issued on the Alexandra
label. For this reason it's likely that this album has been issued later than
the other, presumably around 1973.
This album contains the same 12 tracks as the Car Juke Box
LP, the recording is the same except for Confusion, that is slightly
different.
Coley also released a 12" disco-mix single in the 80's and one of the tracks
included, We'll grow together, is based on a song from the 1972 LP, He
has gone away, with different lyrics and arrangement.
No counterfeits exist, nor foreign issues.
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Get ready - original LP cover |
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Get ready - reissue LP cover |
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He has gone away - 7" single |
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Richard Coley / Dedicated - LP cover and insert |
Richard Coley / Baile tropical- 12" single |
Many thanks to Marc Drijver of Industrial Silence Records and Carmine Musella for scans and information
