At Issue With Reissues

Albums recorded by lesser-known bands
are now being recycled by modern, boutique record labels with the sole
intent of bringing hidden gems to a demanding market. Among such
nuggets are those recorded by local artists who played Central New York
during the early days of rock.

Just ask Phil Zeppetello, 57, who was
originally from Syracuse and now resides in Vernon. Last summer he
learned that an eponymous album originally recorded in 1970 by his
band, Ol’ Paint, was reissued as a CD. That discovery led Zeppetello
and the band’s bassist, John Bujak (the latter noted that the original
vinyl edition has been listed on eBay, sometimes selling for as much as
$85) to some more Web sleuthing. They found out that Fallout Records—a
branch of Def Jam Records, in turn a further subsidiary of Universal
Music Group—had somehow released the album in CD form, a decision that
had been made apart from the band.

Phil Zeppetello: Former member of local rockers Ol’ Paint wonders how his 1970 album has been reissued without his say-so. MATT MUMAU PHOTOS

It’s no surprise that Ol’ Paint’s work,
first released by GWP Records, then a spinoff of RCA Records, would
catch on with modern audiences and hence be a good choice for Fallout,
a U.K.-based label that specializes in vintage reissues. The group’s
marginally folk-based, pop-rock sound is the exact style that modern
groups like Dr. Dog, Grizzly Bear and even local contemporary Gregg
Yeti seem to be going for. The pleasantly out-of-tune opener, “Always
In the Way,” features jangly guitars and busy bass lines that support
vocals that could pass as modern alt-rock, whereas psychedelic music
and lyrics like those of “Natural Man” (“I am a natural man/ across the
universe I span/ I know what everybody sees/ Every thing is up to me”)
would appeal to current audiophiles.

Yet Zeppetello is baffled by the series
of events. “If there was money I would be happy to take it. I’m not
going to turn it down,” Zeppetello says. “But I’m much more curious
about how the thing came to be because somebody somewhere liked that
thing enough to print the CD.”

Shortly after Zeppetello and Bujak made
their discovery, they contacted old friends David Rezak, formerly of
the local DMR Booking Agency, which was responsible for a large portion
of concert promotion at the time the album was recorded, and Rupert
Holmes, the album’s original producer. Although that discussion didn’t
reveal any solutions to the mystery, it did bring Zeppetello into
contact with Darrell Panethiere, an English barrister and chum of
Rezak’s, who agreed to look into the situation.

“Daryl had taken over the investigation
in England and in the States to try to find out how this thing came to
be: whether it was legally obtained, in which case we are due some kind
of consideration, because we’re the songwriters and the performers, or
if it was obtained illegally, then we’ve got a lawsuit,” Zeppetello
explains.

At the same time, the album was
favorably reviewed in music blogs the world around, after bloggers
obtained it from Fallout’s distributor, www.soundlinkmusic.com.
Reviewers include www.blogspot.com users and similar sites. Zeppetello
is pleased that the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, having
even compared the album to bands that followed Ol’ Paint’s career. 

“I’ve never heard of Big Sky, but
apparently we’re a couple years ahead of them stylistically and they
said we’re sort of a pre-Styx, pre-Kansas kind of rock band. When you
listen you can tell from John Bujak and Richard {Mendelson, the group’s
drummer} that we were pretty good musicians for the time,” Zeppetello
says.

Andy Mendelson, who played lead guitar
and organ in the group, has since moved to Los Angeles, where he owns a
recording studio. Lead singer Tony Caputo, sadly, died from AIDS in
1987.

However, Panethiere, acting as the
group’s attorney, secured a deal with Fallout. It accounted for one
English pound per CD to be paid to the band. “We are hoping that some
local press will spur some more sales by the curious and the old-timers
out there in Central New York,” Zeppetello reported in a recent e-mail.

Bad Luck Chuck

Zeppetello isn’t the only artist who has
recently gone through the shock of discovering that his nearly
forgotten album has been rehashed in the modern spectrum. Chuck Dean,
known locally as Dr. Killdean, recorded an eponymous album in 1979 with
his band, Chuck and the Tigers, on the independent label World Records.
Dean, too, discovered the album had been rereleased, even more
mysteriously and with even less of a trail.

Chuck Dean: Known locally as Dr.
Killdean, the artist issued an album under the name Chuck and Tigers
that has since been rereleased in vinyl.

Copies of the original vinyl album are
available on www.motorcitynorth.com, although Dean is uncertain how the
music got there in the first place, or who owns the rights to produce
and sell it anymore. However, Dean is a little more detached from the
commercial side of things and is trying to learn more on his own before
acting.

“It’s not really important to me right
now,” Dean says. “They might be just selling five records, I don’t
know. If the thing started really taking off, that would be a different
story. But I think this has happened to a few people, more people than
we probably realize.” 

Since leaving San Diego in 1993, Dean
now owns a local company called Retro King Amps, which has been
contracted by ZZ Top to supply amplifiers to supplement the band’s
recording gear. But he says that Chuck and the Tigers was, at the time,
riding the “new wave” theme, which he likens to modern groups. That, he
thinks, is the reason for the continuing success of the album.

“Chuck and the Tigers was more like
Green Day or a couple of those other bands in that vein. It has that
kind of thing to it. Totally different from what I’m doing now. It’s
nothing to do with the blues or anything like that,” Dean explains.

Surely others have gone through similar experiences, not the least of which was Ed Wool of Albany, whose album Wool
(ABC Records) was rereleased on 2005 on Delay68 Records, also an
English label. Although Wool wouldn’t comment on the experience, you
can check out his CD, now available on high-profile distributors like
amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. In the meantime, local music fans
throughout the area will likewise continue to scour the Internet,
hoping to find their favorite band’s memories rekindled.