The Electric Eels Music > Vinyl Records Electric Eels - Spin Age Blasters 753417008915 SCAT890.1

The Electric Eels

Electric Eels - Spin Age Blasters

Sale price$34.99
SKU: SCAT890.1

Artist: The Electric Eels

Album: Spin Age Blasters

The Electric Eels were the first punk band, full stop. They may not have "started" the genre, but they were the first to tick all the boxes. The eels rejected every 1970s rock convention-professionalism, virtuosity, subject matter, image. Dave E.'s caustic vocals, complete with an aggressive lisp and a head full of snot, would become de rigeur a few years after the group disbanded. Meanwhile, the songs' focus on car crashes, suicide, neuroses, and generally hating people were as far out of the mainstream as possible. The two eels tracks that do approach the subject of romance couch it in terms of not really caring that much about it ("Jaguar Ride") or placing it in the context of a grisly murder ("Silver Daggers"). Also consider John Morton's signature guitar sound, a nails-on-chalkboard tone with brutally free soloing inspired more by Albert Ayler than the blues or aspirations to technical facility. Ditto Dave E.'s clarinet playing and affection for lawnmowers and vacuums during live performance. They were notoriously violent not only among themselves, but towards audiences, police, and anyone unfortunate enough to be around them when things went south. Then of course there are the leather jackets, the clothing festooned with rat traps or safety pins. And no bass player, why bother. There is simply no other "proto" band to have had all these pieces in place circa 1973-1975.

Yet it is a mistake to consider the eels exclusively in such a context. Yes, the eels could and did shock anyone who encountered them, but they also had great songs. While both Dave and John were visionary writers, they also had rhythm guitarist Brian McMahon, a melody and riff machine who wrote many of the band's signature songs. And they were no one-trick pony. Although much of the band's material is appropriately high-energy, there is also the downer eels-morbid, harmonically risky, and in full existential crisis. Although it's not a focus of this compilation, the eels also had a penchant for completely free improvisation.

Over the last forty plus years, there have been several electric eels compilations. Spin Age Blasters is quite simply the best one ever assembled, every single key track is here in it's best version, properly mastered by John Golden, and sequenced with an eye towards both flow between tracks as well as individation between sides. A true monster of an album.

UPC/ISBN: 753417008915

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Product Information

Due to the nature of collectible items and ever changing market demand, we are unable to cancel pre-orders on ratio variants and select other items (1 per store variants, exclusive covers, ect) for a refund.For preorders on regular open order comics (the majority of which are normally cover price), we can cancel preorders and refund with a store credit that can be used in our brick and mortar stores or at thirdeyecomics.com

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At Third Eye, we ship thousands of comics every week, and we know condition matters. Whether you're reading, collecting, or grading, we want you to feel confident when a Third Eye package arrives.

This policy outlines our standard for new release and shipped comics, and the industry-standard guidelines we follow.

OUR STANDARD

Books without a stated grade will be offered as Near Mint 9.4 or better. We do not guarantee 9.8 condition on any book unless specifically noted.

We use industry-standard grading guidelines from:

If you're new to comic grading, the resources above are a great place to start.

WHY WE DON'T GUARANTEE 9.8

Modern comic printing is an imperfect process. Books are printed in massive
runs, bound at high speed, and shipped in bulk to retailers. Even brand
new books off the truck will exhibit minor production characteristics,
and that's normal, and consistent with industry standards across every
retailer.

A 9.8 grade represents near-perfection, and the reality is that not every printed book qualifies for that grade no matter where you buy it from.

We can absolutely commit to NM 9.4 or better. We cannot commit to 9.8 on every book, because that's not how comics are made.

WHAT QUALIFIES AS NM 9.4

Per industry standards, a book may exhibit the following minor characteristics and still grade as Near Mint 9.4, as long as there's no accumulation of defects:

Bindery characteristics:

  • Minor to moderate corner tears
  • White edges along the spine (common on most modern printings)
  • Covers slightly offset from interior pages (common on cardstock covers)

Printing characteristics:

  • Slight color rub on back covers
  • Small paper wrinkles present from the paper roll prior to printing
  • Wavy paper texture from the printing process

Spine characteristics:

  • 2-3 small color-breaking spine ticks
  • Minor non-color-breaking spine dings

These are normal modern production characteristics, not damage from handling or shipping. They are present on books across the industry, regardless
of retailer.

OUR RETURN & EXCHANGE POLICY

We do not accept returns or exchanges on books that meet our NM 9.4 or better standard.

We will replace or refund:

  • Books damaged during shipping (clear shipping damage, not pre-existing print characteristics)
  • Books that fall below NM 9.4 standard (significant spine damage, major creasing, tears, etc.)
  • Wrong cover or wrong issue shipped

For premium variants (1:25, 1:50, 1:100, 1:250, 1:500 incentive covers, signed editions, exclusive variants), we apply enhanced QC during pull and packing. If a premium variant arrives outside our standard, contact us within 7 days of delivery and we will work with you on a replacement.

QUESTIONS?

If you have questions about a specific book or want to learn more about comic grading, our team is happy to help. Reach out to service@thirdeyecomics.com.

We appreciate your trust in Third Eye Comics, and we're committed to delivering books that meet the standards both you and we expect.