About a month ago today Sue Randall (formerly Sue Eakin/sAkins) of Hendrickson Road House e-mailed me. She asked if I would like to have the honor of announcing to the West Coast that there is an official reissue of the HRH CD coming out later this month via Wooden Hill. In fact, you can already pre-order the CD via Amazon.com. The official release date is June 27th in the UK and July 5th in the US.
According to Sue, the liner notes include a number of quotes which appeared the interview I conducted in November of 2010. I’ve also seen some artwork layouts from the CD and it looks fantastic. I asked Sue how the reissue came about and she had this to say:
“I had been e-mailing with Bob Howe in England. He had seen postings on your blog and was hoping to get a better copy of HRH than the one he had. It turns out that he had been in the reissue business at a well-known label in UK. He knew a lot about the music scene. He had a lot of valuable information and suggestions for me about what to expect and who I might approach about a reissue. Soon after, your interview was posted. I got a lot of e-mails from that. It was valuable to me in so many ways. Later, when I approached some of the people at different labels, I was able to direct them to the interview for background and they were able to hear some tracks and do more research on their own. Without that interview, I don’t know that we would be talking about this now. Towards the end of November, I was feeling a little burned out. I told my friend, Phill Stroman, and he again encouraged me to hang in there. He picked up the phone and called David Wells, someone he had had dealings with over the years. David worked for several big labels in England. Bob was not aware that one of the labels did reissues and asked him what to do. David listened to the tracks posted on youtube (one by Phill), and said he felt that a reissue would be well worth it. Soon after, he pitched it to the label. David also said, if the label declined, he would like to reissue it on his private label, Wooden Hill. At the end of March, the label declined, and David and I put together a contract. It is now in his capable hands. Denis Blackham will remaster, Andy Morten will do artwork.”
In regard to bonus tracks, Sue sys there are six. “The alternate versions of ‘Forget About You’ and ‘Tomorrow Your Sorrow'” both of which are from the 7″ 45 which was recorded prior to the HRH album. Another track called Beachbomber was taped by Phil Wilson in 1971 at a coffeehouse in Ventura, CA. Sue’s favorite bonus track, Back To Time, as well as Four And Twenty Blackbirds and Can’t Deny It were salvaged from acetates which originally belonged to Dean Thompson. The song Can’t Deny It was actually bumped from the original HRH album to make room for Yesircantoo.
Since we last spoke, Sue has been working on a book about meditation, which she says she is definitely going to need when this project is completed. And when I asked if she’d still come around to Swan Fungus and leave comments or participate in the forum even after the reissue is released, Sue said she absolutely would. So we won’t be losing her insight and humor any time soon!
Once again, the Hendrickson Road House CD is now available for pre-order via Amazon.com and you should all head over there and buy yourselves a copy. I’m so happy that my little interview played a part in renewing intreats and inspiring a reissue of one of the greatest American private-press albums out there. I’d like to wish the best of luck to Sue and David and everyone else who has put time and effort into this project. It’s going to be amazing!
Hendrickson Road House – I Wondered If You Knew [mp3]
