THE MASKED MARAUDERS
The saga of THE MASKED MARAUDERS began when rock critic Greil Marcus (under the pseudonym of "T.M. Christian"), wrote a review of an album entitled "The Masked Marauders" for the October 18th, 1969 issue of Rolling Stone. The group "Masked Marauders", he claimed, was Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and others, all of whom had secretly gotten together and recorded a "supergroup" album, produced by Al Kooper. It couldn't be released under their real names because they were all under contract to different record companies. The joke "review" however, contained plenty of clues to indicate it was nothing more than a bit of humorous fun (e.g., the session was said to have been recorded "in a small town near the site of the original Hudson Bay Colony in Canada"), but more than a few readers didn't get the put-on, and went looking for the album at their local record stores. As demand for the mythical record grew, Marcus and fellow Rolling Stone critic/editor Langdon Winner took the gag a step further by recruiting a group of Berkeley musicians (since claimed to be the personnel who comprised The Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band) to record a batch of songs matching those described in the review, right down to imitating the voices of the famous singers putatively involved. The tape received local radio airplay and was eventually bought by Warner Bros., who issued it as an album on their Reprise label. The LP actually appeared as a Deity/Reprise record, since the faux review had listed it as a Deity release. Selections are: I Can't Get No Nookie; Duke Of Earl; Cow Pie; I Am The Japanese Sandman; The Book Of Love; Later; More Or Less Hudson's Bay Again; Season Of The Witch; and Saturday Night At The Cow Palace. The record bore no pictures of the fictitious group itself, and contained no identifying information about them on its outer sleeve, but record buyers were still taken in by the hoax. Mick Jagger singing "I Can't Get No Nookie"; John Lennon with "I'm The Japanese Sandman"; and Bob Dylan performing the 50's doo-wop classic "Duke Of Earl", as well as Donovan's "Season Of The Witch"...? Buyers should have been clued in by an inner sheet included with the record that clearly spelled out the whole thing was a put-on, nonetheless, fans swore they recognized Jagger's voice or McCartney's bass playing and couldn't possibly be mistaken. Mistaken they were, and eventually Rolling Stone itself exposed the whole thing. That the public's gullibility knew no bounds was demonstrated all over again several years later, when the 1976 debut album by a group of Canadian session players called Klaatu, similarly lacked any photographs or information about the group itself, & was widely rumored to be a new Beatles album. And oddly enough, in 1988 George Harrison formed a Marauders-like band named the Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne, all of whom were identified with pseudonyms using the surname 'Wilbury' on the album sleeve. This appears on Deity/Reprise (6378). There is some color rubbing to the cover, but no delete hole as often appears. This 1969 LP is long out-of-print & not available on any CD. The vinyl appears in beautiful near MINT condition, and comes complete with the inner sheet!
