LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

• Format: Vinyl LP, compilation
• Edition: Lion Productions exclusive, limited to 150 hand-numbered copies
• Vinyl: Transparent orange-gold vinyl
• Packaging: Includes an eight-page insert with liner notes and previously unpublished photographs

Collected Singles gathers the scarce singles and EP recordings made by Maryland underground group Badge during the 1970s. Formed by guitarist and singer Cheese Sollers, bassist and singer Jim O’Dell and drummer and singer Val Rogolino, the group developed a highly individual mixture of melodic garage rock, homemade psychedelia and raw private-press experimentation.

Most of these recordings were created with modest equipment in Rogolino’s home studio. Early sessions used two stereo tape machines and improvised PA systems for mixing, before the musicians acquired a TEAC four-track recorder. The resulting sound is deliberately rough and intimate, with fuzzy guitars, keyboards, echo effects and layered vocals giving the songs an unmistakable basement-psych atmosphere.

The collection brings together Badge’s Pilot single, two later RI singles and tracks from the Halloween and Orinj EPs. Several songs also connect directly with the cult 1974 private-press album Kath 1, recorded by Rogolino and musicians associated with Badge. Carefully remastered and presented as a coherent album, this edition includes an eight-page insert containing liner notes by Val Rogolino and photographs from his personal archive.

Side A

1. As I Look – 3:51
2. Keep Tryin’ – 2:19
3. She’s Gone – 5:15
4. The Stream – 5:42
5. I Want To Love You – 2:32
6. Haze – 3:56

Side B

1. I Want To Love You – 3:40
2. Lonely Again – 3:02
3. Just Like You – 2:15
4. It Doesn’t Mean – 4:32
5. She – 2:12
6. As I Looked – 4:03
7. Keep Tryin’ – 2:23