After more than four decades, Ozone Unlimited is releasing an extremely rare, collectible album titled “Zerfas” on compact disc and digital download. It was first released in 1973.
So, why now? David Zerfas, the band’s founder and producer of the album, says “he wants to put a stop to the countless bootlegs that are popping up over the internet, the quality is poor and it does a real injustice to the music.”
Copies of the original LP are highly valued and if people are lucky enough to find one, they could be paying a pretty sum. The album is touted as being one of the best and probably the best-known self-pressed USA albums of its genre ever to have seen the light of day.
Phil Spector described the Zerfas album as “extraordinary” in a comment he wrote on Rising Storm, a vintage music feed. Spector also noted the last time he saw the Zerfas album for sale was on eBay prior to 2010 which fetched more than $1,500. In March 2017, another album went for $1,913.
“It’s an album that tells a story about life and times through music which is why I called them chapters instead of sides,” Zerfas, says. When asked if the story will continue he said, “We’ll have to see.”
Plans are in the works to repress an official version of the original LP on vinyl in 2018 for a limited run, most likely, for the last time.
First cut with the guidance of Moe Whittemore, owner of the 700 West record label, in his studios in New Palestine, Ind. – this album was the result of a teenage band influenced by artists like The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa.
This official first CD release will include a bonus CD of never released alternate arrangements for some of the original album songs. Zerfas, who designed the original album cover, included a picture of his family’s barn in Indiana where the band rehearsed before going into the studio to cut the album as part of his design for the CD insert.
Since the original LP was cut in the wake of Vietnam, most of the sales profits will be donated to organizations that support the military, veterans, and their families.