• Image of VIRGIL CAINE ~ VIRGIL CAINE aka THE GREAT LUNAR OIL STRIKE, 1976 ~ lp (TIME-LAG 054)
  • Image of VIRGIL CAINE ~ VIRGIL CAINE aka THE GREAT LUNAR OIL STRIKE, 1976 ~ lp (TIME-LAG 054)
  • Image of VIRGIL CAINE ~ VIRGIL CAINE aka THE GREAT LUNAR OIL STRIKE, 1976 ~ lp (TIME-LAG 054)

first ever reissue of this hopelessly rare & obscure 1971 rural virginia private press folk masterpiece. a true anomaly in the seemingly bottomless world of self released albums, this one charts a truly unique realm all its own... while the sound itself may draw some clear influence from classics of the day, even lifting the band name from a song by the band, the mood & vibe here is ponderously uncharted territory, seemingly birthed complete from some parallel sonic reality. crude lo-fi metaphysical basement folkrock filtered through a deeply southern gothic / appalachian / americana band aesthetic and executed in the purest, most sincere, spontaneous, vibe-thick sense possible. the atmosphere trapped in these grooves is truly as strong as it gets and is sure to engulf any open-minded listener given half a chance... the near magical power of the album seems to lay in its extreme polarization; on the one hand there is a fully developed lyrical depth and intellect that’s profoundly poetic, even novelistic, yet the music & recording is shockingly raw, unhinged, completely unselfconscious, and downright weird. it’s a dusty, creaky, ebb & flow of clackity percussion, acoustic strum, shaky low-watt electric guitar licks, occasional floorboard rattling bass, and thick southern drawl. even the recording quality has a bizarre lo-fi character of its own, with some sounds seeming to barely hit the tape at all, while others are wildly overblown, wrapping the whole deal in a gauzy tape hiss fog, with hints of garagy distortion. the album progresses with a casual but surprisingly purposeful intent, hitting an intimately mystical, visionary, dream-like arc through the entire second side of the record and ending in complete dissipation... all taken together it’s a seriously teleportive trip to a flicker in time & place that is really quite special... the scratchy textless black & white band photo cover art suites the album perfectly: striking yet vague, timeless yet ancient, simple yet mysterious...

pressed on highest quality 180gm virgin vinyl and packaged in an exact reproduction heavy old-style cover, with exact repro labels. also includes a double-sided heavy stock insert with new liner notes from main songwriter and vocalist roger mannon, as well as introductory notes from band scholar and devoted fan jack d. fleischer. one time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies.

vinyl only (out of print).

released september 2011.