YONKERS, MICHAEL - Fun Pack
"After recording the album Micro-Miniature Love at Dove Studios in the fall of 1967, Michael Yonkersretreated to his tiny basement studio. Utilizing only a couple of tube-type reel-to-reel recorders, Yonkers used methods he describes as primitive forms of sound on sound" or "sound with sound" to get multi-channel effects. In 1974, after taking out a loan and having his basement tapes mastered at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Yonkers made the bold move of simultaneously releasing four separate LPs of music from four previous years of recording: Grimwood,Michael Lee Yonkers, Goodby Sunball and Borders Of My Mind (with Jim Woehrle). These records are now legendary. Reissues have appeared on Sub Pop, Drag City, Neros Neptune, and S-S Records. The very first batch of these four LPs came back from the manufacturer with covers that had paste-on slicks which were cut in a slightly uneven fashion. Almost all of the shrink was ripped from the jackets. This provided enough irritation to cause Michael to demand the pressing plant re-do them all. He had a second pressing done, with shrink-wrapped new jackets containing new records. These records are long gone. But heres where it gets interesting. Michael kept around 100 or so of the least-off center jackets (with records, sans torn shrink) of all four titles and placed one of each in manilla envelopes. The intention was that they be sold as a set, sent out as promotional packages or simply given to friends. Michael even created a special paper bookmark (each individually initialed by hand and decorated with five Xeroxed photos of Michael) plus a separate 7" x 4" blowup insert of the Michael Yonkers logo to go with the sets. But with an additional 2000 new LPs to sell - and no distribution - a little less than half of these "fun packs" were dispensed with. The majority of these original sets ended up forgotten in Michaels various storage spaces for over 40 years. They were recently found... and here they are. In essence, these are the true original pressings. When theyre gone, theyre gone. (Note: many of the original manilla envelopes are a little ragged from being shuffled around over the many years, but the original contents and extras are as good as new.) " - Neros Neptune.