By the time I was paying attention, the Middle Earth adventures of J.R.R. Tolkien had fully crossed over into the province of nerd culture. It was exclusively for fans of sci-fi and fantasy, including those budding poindexters who sat alone reading it on the back of the bus carrying them to middle school (that would be me). By now, over a billion dollars in box office has shifted the material into the greater public consciousness and broader respectability, even if referencing a certain overt devotion to the fictional worlds Tolkien created remains a handy way to, say, establish a television character’s nerdy bonafides. Since the stories have long had the veneer of garrulous geekdom, I find it amusing and charming that Tolkien’s creation was once used by bruising rock ‘n’ roll bands to signal that they were cool and deep. Led Zeppelin famously trafficked in Tolkien references and Jack Bruce made sure to draw from the Middle Earth mythos when he released his first solo album after Cream. These are impressive appropriations to be sure, but they lack the bold announcement of fealty to the source material that comes from actually naming a band after a central figure in the stories.

Gandalf was a U.S. psychedelic rock band whose first and only album, a self-titled effort, was released by Capitol Records in 1967. While there are all sorts of releases from that stretch of rock history that can make claims on injust obscurity, Gandalf has long been know as one of the rarest albums pressed on the Capitol label, apparently fetching major bank from collectors who stumble upon pristine vinyl copies. Even the CD reissues that came out in the late nineteen-nineties and then again right around the time of Peter Jackson’s initial Lord of the Rings film releases seem to be exceedingly rare, with sellers asking around eighty bucks for them. And I, somewhat uncharacteristically, have one of those CD rereleases.

The now defunct British label See For Miles records came out with a reissue of Gandalf in 1997, precisely the time when I was pouring through Mojo magazine acquainting myself with what I thought of as the secret history of rock ‘n’ roll. Reading the review of Gandalf made it nearly irresistible to me, and I made a point of ordering it from my favorite record store. It’s not a dazzling record, but it does scratch the itch that I occasionally get for heavy sixties music, but with songs that I haven’t been bludgeoned with repeatedly by classic rock radio over the years. The album is largely covers–perhaps representative of a band that got hauled into the studio a little too quickly–but the few originals are among the true highlights, including “Can You Travel in the Dark Alone.” Maybe not wizardly, but highly worthy.

Listen or download –> Gandalf, “Can You Travel in the Dark Alone”

(Disclaimer: Gandalf seems to be available as a digital purchase, but who knows if any of the money earned from that goes into the pockets of anyone other than music industry bigwigs. That certainly seems to be the case with most online sales. Hell, Capitol Records–or the conglomerate that now owns it–is probably still mailing out statements to the Gandalf guys explaining how much they still owe on the advance the label was kind enough to bestow on them forty-plus years ago. My point is this: I post this song in this space at this time with the belief and understanding that doing so impedes no fair commerce involving those who most deserve to get paid for this music, including your humble record-seller and the original artist. That presented, I will gladly and promptly remove the song if I’m requested to do so by any person or entity with due authority to make such a request.)