Condello - Phase 1 (USA 1968) Pop Rock, Psychedelic Rock - LP album (stand-alone item) - 1st Pressing - 1968

Condello – Phase 1 (Scepter Records – SPS-542) made in USA 1968 original 1st pressing LP | vinyl: NM (near mint) | cover: excellent -->Pop Rock, Psychedelic Rock

Early life
Mike Condello was born in Brooklyn, New York May 6, 1946 and moved to Phoenix, Arizona when he was 7.

By the time he was 14, Condello was already a key player the Phoenix music scene, playing in the Stage 7 Club's house band although four years underage. Before he was 20, he had records issued by several labels using different names. In 1963, Condello was hired by The Wallace and Ladmo Show, hosted by Bill "Wallace" Thompson and Ladimir Kwiatkowski, as bandleader.

Rock and parodies
Condello formed a group called Hub Kapp and the Wheels, fronted by comedian Pat McMahon, that played garage rock, although their act was mainly a spoof of both the Beatles and Elvis Presley. The group's hits “Work, Work”, “Let’s Really Hear It For Hub Kapp” and others made them known in Hollywood and they appeared on The Steve Allen Show and the That Regis Philbin Show. Capitol Records signed them as a rock band, possibly ignoring the spoof element of the act. Hub Kapp and the Wheels were to prove an influence on teenager Vincent Furnier, who later became known as Alice Cooper.

As part of The Wallace and Ladmo Show, Condello had subsequently several more records released, many of which entered the repertoire of Dr. Demento and other comedy or parody acts, records such as “Soggy Cereal”, “Ho Ho Ha Ha Hee Hee Ha Ha” and “Pollen’s Found A Home In My Nose”. Others were parodies of Beatles music such as “A Day On The Tube”.

In 1967, Lee Hazlewood signed Condello's band, named them Last Friday's Fire, and released through his LHI Records three singles with them.

Psychedelia
In the same year as the Hazlewood singles, Condello became involved in the formation of the parody ensemble Commodore Condello's Salt River Navy Band, which released two EPs and performed on The Wallace and Ladmo Show as well. Also in 1967, Condello was invited by the psychedelic rock band Superfine Dandelion to play on their song "Ferris Wheel."

In 1968,[4] he formed a band named Condello, featuring a young Bill Spooner, later of The Tubes fame. They released only one album, titled Phase One. In 1969, the band released two singles and was dissolved. None of their record releases were a major hit, although subsequently the album was hailed as "one of the most acclaimed and influential psych albums of the late 60s"[3] and a "psychedelic masterwork."