{"product_id":"blue-gold-vinyl","title":"Blue Gold [Vinyl]","description":"\u003ch2\u003eAl Manfredi - Blue Gold [Vinyl]\u003c\/h2\u003e\nAl Manfredi is the father of hip-hop producer Exile, and Blue Gold is\nhis little-known West Coast rock masterpiece from 1973. Manfredi's\ndreams of securing a record deal with this album faded, but he spent\nthe rest of his life recording music. This version of the album was\noverseen by Exile.\nBorn into a musical family Al Manfredi started writing songs when he was child. As a teenager in 1965, he\nformed the Nuts \u0026amp; Bolts in the small beach town of San Clemente, California. Inspired by the Kinks, the\nBeatles and the Byrds, the group separated themselves from the pack by also performing original material\nwritten by Manfredi and band mate Mike Ingram. In late 1966 they changed their name to the Lost \u0026amp; Found\nand relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, where they cut a rare single, ''Don't Move Girl'' b\/w ''To Catch the Sun,''\nwhich now commands high coin from '60s garage collectors. When they returned to San Clemente in early\n1967 their music had taken a more psychedelic direction. The Lost \u0026amp; Found were riding high that year, until\ntragedy struck. Ingram was found hanged under suspicious circumstances and soon after Lost \u0026amp; Found\ndrummer Mike Ryer died of cancer at the age of 19. Heartbroken, Manfredi gave up on the band scene\ncompletely and moved to Garden Grove to teach at his family's music store. But alone, behind closed\ndoors, he kept writing songs and working on his music, recording hours of tapes, often tracking all the\ninstruments himself. In 1973 he chose six of his best songs, some of them written back in the Lost \u0026amp; Found\ndays, and had them custom-pressed as an LP. Only a handful of copies were pressed, and most of these\nwere sent out to various record companies in the hope of landing a deal. Despite the outstanding quality of\nthe music, there were no takers. But decades later, collectors discovered the Al Manfredi album and hailed\nit a West Coast rock masterpiece. In his Acid Archives book, Patrick Lundborg called its discovery a deus\nex machina and compared it to David Crosby's first solo album and Hawaii-era Merrell Fankhauser, ''not\njust the acutely captured mellowness, but the self-confidence and the talent.''This little-known West Coast\nrock masterpiece was rediscovered and celebrated by Acid Archives founder Patrick Lundborg and others\naround the time that Manfredi died in 1995. This version of the album, overseen by Manfredi's son Exile,\nand with Manfredi's story told by Ugly Things' founder Mike Stax, presents the complete package of an\nincredible lost and found artist. Contains the album, as originally issued, on side A with unreleased music\non side B.\nA1. Of The Sea\nA2. I Don't Live Today\nA3. Five Six\nA4. Blue Gold\nA5. Foggy Night\nA6. Empty Of Your Possession\nB1. What A Way To Be Laughing\nB2. Let It Alone\nB3. Never With You (Acoustic Version)\nB4. To Catch The Sun\nB5. Don't Move Girl","brand":"Al Manfredi","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48175926018265,"sku":"659457528010","price":29.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0586\/0468\/3425\/files\/659457528010.jpg?v=1773346449","url":"https:\/\/drownedworldrecords.com\/products\/blue-gold-vinyl","provider":"Drowned World Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}