At The Wale Back

OK, so here we have one of the weirdest and most bizarre albums ever recorded. Pretty much unsurpassed in it's level of incredible strangeness, this ultra-rare album from the early sixties (1964) California coffee- house circuit is like no other. Robbie is a folksinger of the frantic variety with a fetish for monsters. This inspired some of the most bizarre songs ever committed to vinyl. It was at The Wale Back in LA one heady night in 1964, that Robbie's solo act was captured for posterity by engineer Reice Hamel, now renowned as a pioneer of live recording techniques. The patrons lapped up Robbie's act although some of the more faint-hearted may have experienced a frisson of terror as he prowled amongst them, sweat dripping from his beard, laughing maniacally, during his atmospheric 'Dracula' number. With his long red hair and matching beard, Robbie was a striking performer with a manic stage presence, acting out his songs as much as singing them. His set consisted of his original songs and uniquely reworked versions of folk standards, played on a beat-up twelve-string guitar. Robbie would later join The Brain Train in 1967 and his wife Barbara Sandi Robison would become the lead vocalist for The Peanut Butter Conspiracy (PBC). Featuring liner notes from Alan Brackett of The PBC and UK collector extraordinaire Gray Newell.