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The first licensed reissue of Médico Dorker Vibes' mysterious Liter Thru Dorker Vibes LP from 1979 is now available. We feel privileged to have the opportunity to offer this singular recording. 500 exact repro copies were pressed at RTI with crisp, heavy, old-style tip-in jackets produced by Stoughton.
This album truly floored us and a bunch of our friends as well, and we couldn’t be happier to get this LP out there.
Turns out these seven songs are Guyanese-American artist Bill Russell’s only recordings. Bill had 100 vinyl copies pressed up in 1979 on his own Bi-Russell Records label, promoted it modestly and locally, and it went nowhere. 30-some years later, in a kind of message in a bottle-type scenario, one of those copies ended up at the Oakland Coliseum Flea Market and found its way into our hands. Suffice to say, we sat speechless, heads in our hands, amazed by this total mystery of an LP.
Through the help of master tracker Rob Sevier at Numero Records we found Russell still living in Los Angeles and he graciously and happily helped fill in some of the blanks.
Inspired by army pals who were recording and releasing music without any label backing, Russell bought a Fender Telecaster and a Korg Mini and recorded Liter Thru Dorker Vibes in a makeshift home studio in South Central L.A. in just a few short sessions. When asked about his influences he insta-mentioned Santana and then added Hendrix, Sly Stone, Jobim, along with some New Orleans jazz stuff as well. Russell was born into a musical family (it sounds like most all played an instrument) and popular artists like Nat King Cole, Elvis, and the Beatles, along with loads of Caribbbean music, made up the soundtrack to his childhood.
In explanation of the album title and cover he said he titled it with hopes that "liter" and "dorker" people could get together and groove off his new sounds. And there is no San Francisco/Bay Area connection, he simply chose the Golden Gate Bridge image because he felt the color scheme complimented his music.
**For fun we ’ll go ahead and recommend this to any fan of Suicide, Cymande, Steve Reich, Nadi Qamar, Otis G. Johnson, Lord Invader, Bruce Haack, TJ Hustler, T-Rex, Heitkotter, Edward Larry Gordon, Madrigal, or The Mind Expanders! :)
HUGE thanks to Coliseum loc Charlie Brown, Gloriette Records proprietor Jason Darrah and Rob Sevier for help in making this happen. |
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