WELCOME TO LPCDREISSUES
USA: Vinyl records and CDs are tariff-exempt under 50 U.S.C. §1702(b). If charged in error, we’ll refund.

st. john's green: st. john's green

  • st. john's green

  • st. john's green (LP)

  • sku: COSMRO053
  • Condition: Brand New Forthcoming Release
  • 18.90€
  • $19.85
  • You cannot include this item in your order, as the next shipment from the label is expected in less than 15 days from now, or is not yet scheduled. However, you may put it in your Reserve List. In that case, we will order it for you and will notify you by email, about the next scheduled shipment

Information

  • Format: LP
  • Label: Cosmic Rock
  • Genre: Psychedelic

Originally released in 1968, the sole album by the Los Angeles group St. John Green is a strange and compelling artefact of the darker side of American psychedelia. Rather than embracing the optimism commonly associated with the flower-power era, the band created a claustrophobic mixture of garage rock, spoken-word theatre, distorted organ and unsettling lyrical imagery.

The group brought together vocalist and harmonica player Vic Sabino, keyboardist Mike Baxter, bassist and vocalist Ed Bissot, guitarist Bill Kirkland and drummer Shel Scott. Their music was shaped in collaboration with producers Kim Fowley and Michael Lloyd, whose unconventional studio approach intensified the record’s deliberately theatrical and unpredictable character.

“7th Generation Mutation” opens the album with an ominous organ-led attack, immediately establishing its atmosphere of science-fiction paranoia and countercultural unease. “Canyon Women,” “Devil and the Sea” and “Do You Believe” move between raw garage rock, psychedelic pop and eccentric narrative passages, while the brief “Help Me Close the Door” functions almost like a fragment from a disturbing radio play.

The second side ventures even further into the group’s shadowy world. “Goddess of Death,” “One Room Cemetery” and “Shivers of Pleasure” combine memorable melodies with macabre imagery, while “Spirit of Now” and the title track reflect the strange mythology surrounding the late-1960s Topanga Canyon scene. Abrupt changes, surreal voices and flashes of humour make the album feel less like a conventional collection of songs than a fragmented psychedelic performance.

St. John Green separated soon after the album’s release and left no further recordings, allowing their only LP to acquire a lasting reputation among collectors of obscure garage and psychedelic rock. This Cosmic Rock vinyl edition restores all twelve tracks from one of the most unusual West Coast albums of 1968.

Track listing:

Side A
A1. 7th Generation Mutation
A2. Canyon Women
A3. Devil and the Sea
A4. Do You Believe
A5. Help Me Close the Door
A6. Messages from the Dead

Side B
B1. Goddess of Death
B2. St. John Green
B3. Spirit of Now
B4. Love of Hate
B5. One Room Cemetery
B6. Shivers of Pleasure