21st Century Sound Movement S/T Gear Fab Records 1968/2012

21st Century Sound Movement S/T Gear Fab Records 1968/2012 CAT# GF262A

This is a bootleg of a mega-rare Kansas City garage record. The original 1968 album was put out by these Kansas City kids when they booked time with Damon Records and paid for some albums to be pressed. Damon Records was a custom label, which would mean the group likely only bought 50 to 100 copies and who knows if they got them all sleeved, they likely used many of them as demo to provide to booking agents and labels.

The label, Gear Fab Records, stated no one had a clue who these kids were, but since 2012 when this was released, they've been featured on a number of high-profile Numero Group comps. Members of the group played around in this band and others, the 21st Century Sound Movement also release a couple 45s if memory serves, one of which is tacked onto this bootleg.

The bootleg is true to the original as far as the packaging, the photo is the same, the non-descriptive backside that doesn't list members, even the label smacked on the colored vinyl is authentic to the original.

The photo is interesting, the statues are actually part of the William Volker Fountain in Kansas City that you can see in Brush Creek. They moved it in the 1990's from Theis Park, which as you can see in the photo, is in front of the Nelson Atkins. Today, the Atkins is thought of as the place with the shuttle cocks out front, but at one time, it had the Volker Fountain featured in the band's photo.

In terms of gargae rock, The 21st Century Sound Movement are pretty good. Which translates to an acquired taste in everybody's else's world. They are little weak on their pop-psych, vocals aren't great and they sound wimpy, but when they break out the guitars, it's a fuzzed out trip. Their heavy versions of "The House on of the Rising Sun" and Hendrix's "Fire" are pretty fun. There's a 7 minute cover of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", which in all it's amateurishness, is another highlight. The album was all covers apparently and the only original featured here on the bootleg was on the band's 45. Overall, the rarity, as with loads of garage rock, makes the band better than they actually were. There's solid moments, but its not like we're talking about the long lost 13th Floor Elevators here, were talking about some KC kids that bashed out some interesting covers.

The Original LP