LP - Sansone & McDonald With Linda Hankee – Country Life And My Wife - Original 1977 Pressing
Still sealed. Mint, unplayed 1977 pressing.
Sansone & McDonald
This record is a recent discovery (for almost everyone I know) that makes you want to keep on digging. Proof positive that there are still undiscovered gems out there just waiting to be unearthed. This is Acid Archives material that is conspicuously absent from the Record Collector’s Bible. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe the contributors were unaware of its existence at the time of publication, or maybe they just didn’t think highly of it. I think it was the former reason because this LP is absolutely worth Acid Archives approval. It’s far better than many of the records included in its illustrious 394 pages and much rarer than most as well.
I discovered this privately pressed piece of Cosmic Americana by way of our good friend Taylor Forney. I met Taylor at the Buena Park Record Show and we became fast friends over our love of esoteric and obscure private pressings. One day (a few years ago) he shaowed me this album and I just knew I was in for something good. I bought one on the spot and went back for more after cracking the seal (something I don’t usually like to do). I sold a few in the shop and told Taylor that I would like more copies if he could secure more. Lo and behold, he came back to me recently with a small grip and a trade proposition. I pulled his requested records from my coffers and paid the piper.
Now that you know the back story, let’s get into the album. This record was self-released in 1977. The “band” is from Downey, California and Sansone & McDonald are joined by Linda Hankee. Don’t worry, you should’t already be familiar with Linda. As far as I can tell, this is the only record she ever performed on.
Each side of this LP contains four tracks of semi-psychedelic SoCal Country Rock. The A-Side of the record is listed as the “Mellow Side” and the flip is labeled the “Rockin’ Side”. Neither side is “Rockin’” per se. The “Mellow Side” is indeed mellow, as is the flip, but the B-side is decidedly more psychedelic and experimental than the A-side, especially on the last couple tracks. My favorite jam on the album is “The King”. It’s a timeless trippy number that could have been recorded anytime between 1966 and today. I personally think this track alone is worth the price of entry. The rest of the album is super vibe-y mellow DIY Cosmic American Music, most of which would be worthy of inclusion on a comp curated by The Numero Group, Light In The Attic, or Forager Records. It’s solid, enjoyable, stoney stuff, but “The King” takes the cake.
The album cover is endearingly hand-drawn and includes a note that it features “Country Wife and My Wife”, the title track so, uh, yeah, that’s good information to have, I guess. The lyrics are all printed on the back of the jacket which is fantastic, because they are awesomely sweet and I can’t wait to perform this entire album from front-to-back at Karaoke next weekend. Everyone loves hearing amateurs sing songs they’ve never heard before about how much the singer loves his wife, country life, his friends, nature (what else is there?).
Aside from owning a copy of the original LP, the only way you can hear this record is on Forney’s Finds YouTube channel with annoying intermittent advertisements. Luckily, the OG vinyl is free from the ad breaks on the YouTube rip. And avoiding ads why we all collect records anyway, right? Well, at least part of the reason.
Final note, Dante Carfagna (collector extraordinaire , Numero Group affiliate, Dogpatch podcast co-host, supreme musicologist) is listed as one of the contributors to the Discogs listing. So you know this is a primo joint, right here. - Words by Lance Barresi
