Johnny's Uncalled Four - The Lost Album
This is a pre-order. Released 21st July.
It is our distinct pleasure to present the Lost Album from '60s teen combo, Johnny's Uncalled Four. If you're the type of person who obsessively studies the production personnel on the back of your favorite albums, chances are you're already familiar with John(ny) Golden. Since the late sixties, he has earned a reputation as an elite and prolific mastering engineer, credited with cutting thousands of masters for generations of artists, including legendary albums by The Fifth Dimension, Bill Withers, Earth Wind & Fire, Iggy Pop, Sonny Rollins, and Brian Eno. In 1982, while working as a staff engineer at K-Disc in Hollywood, John was tasked to master the TV Party single by punk luminaries Black Flag - leading to work for Sub Pop, K Records, Touch & Go, and the entire SST catalog up until 1991.
In 1994 John and his daughter, April, opened Golden Mastering, an audio haven in Ventura, California, that is run and operated by John, his wife Diane, and his son, J.J.—a top-tier master of the craft in his own right. In 2011, Daptone Records mastered our first record with the Goldens, and we have been devoted customers ever since. One serendipitous afternoon, while attending a session with J.J. for an upcoming release, Gabriel Roth overheard John listening to some old reels in the adjacent room. When J.J. explained that his dad was transferring tapes of his old band, Johnny's Uncalled Four, Roth had to hear more. Completely floored by the caliber of the tunes and the quality of the recordings, he sent transfers back to Daptone H.Q. for the Wick Records team, and a deal to issue two sides for a Wick Records 45 was quickly struck.
The success of the single was immediate and talks of releasing Johnny's Uncalled Four's long lost album were fruitful, culminating in 14 tracks of post-Elvis/pre-British Invasion, unadulterated Rock Roll. An extraordinary testament to the ingenuity, hard work and foresight of a true artist and renaissance man... Johnny Golden.