Casey Cosby knew a sound engineer at Sunset Sound named Bill Lazerus; the idea was that they would make a demo of the Music Emporium album and then re-record it at a record label’s studio. Another of Cosby’s contacts, Jack Ames of Sentinel Records – Ames had just left Liberty Records – bought the tape and decided that the music only needed to be remixed, with the vocals re-recorded.
Jack Ames spent a lot of money on a classy, die-cut album cover, so only 300 copies of the Music Emporium LP were pressed. The remarkable album became a collector’s item and was bootlegged several times. Eventually Sundazed Records bought the master tapes and brought out a proper reissue of the Music Emporium album on CD in 2001, Music Emporium. Besides the 10 songs on the original 1969 album, instrumental versions of 5 of the songs are included as bonus tracks on the CD. These bonus tracks demonstrate how well crafted the lush musical settings are and show the classical background of most of the bandmembers.
(October 2013)
