Digging Our Own Crates: East of Underground – Self titled
The most I ever spent on an LP was a little over $1,000 for the East of Underground LP. —Cosmo Baker
Composed of seven musicians, East of Underground was an American army band formed in Germany during the Vietnam War. After winning second place in a special forces music competition, a limited run album was released by the Armed Forces Radio Network featuring covers of Curtis Mayfield tracks and a clever fusion of Funkadelic’s “I’ll Bet You” and The Mamas & The Papas’ “California Dreamin.” The album is a soulful artifact forced into obscurity by its circumstance, but thankfully, efforts by Wax Poetics to reissue the album in 2007 have cemented its place in music history.
Since the album’s rerelease, only one of the band’s members have resurfaced, guitarist Lewis Hitt. This mystery has led the original record pressings to become a well-battled for item, with previous Dust & Grooves interviewee, Cosmo Baker, admitting to spending over $1,000 for a copy. We can understand why; we are listening not only to a cultural document, but to crooners and musicians lost to time. Without confirmation of their whereabouts, it is impossible to know whether these talented veterans were able to continue playing music. But either way, we hope that they fondly remembered their corner of peace amongst a fractured and volatile war effort, even if it only existed for a moment.
About Post Author
