Sun City Girls' Torch of the Mystics is one of the most coveted underground-rock albums in the world. It was originally released on vinyl in 1990 by Majora, and then reissued on CD in '93 by the Tupelo Recording Company. It's an understatement to say that demand for this classic psych-rock record is strong. Torch's golden reputation among heads combined with its scarcity has driven up the price of it to astronomical levels. Discogs currently lists three vinyl copies for sale, with the lowest at $180 and the highest at $250. Even the CD goes for $40-$155 on the same site. The consensus opinion is that among SCG's vast, diverse catalog, Torch of the Mystics is their best work. It's a riveting, often conflagatory mélange of Arabic-influenced psychedelia, spaghetti Western soundtrackage à la Morricone, antic skronk, and Venusian surf rock. The mood ranges from ominous to celebratory to passages of unbearable pathos (see especially "Space Prophet Dogon").

One of Sun City Girls' former members, Alan Bishop, runs two labels: Sublime Frequencies (with Hisham Mayet) and Abduction, both of which are based in Seattle. The former primarily releases obscure music from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey and issues DVDs about arcane music and rituals from those far-flung places. The latter is mainly an outlet for Bishop's Alvarius B. solo project and his Cairo-based group the Invisible Hands.

Recently, a Seattle record label inquired about the possibility of reissuing Torch of the Mystics. Bishop's reply? “Yeah, everyone wants to reissue Torch, but I will do it eventually myself.” And that is that. Be patient and ye shall be rewarded. Or you can shell out the big bucks for a used copy. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with inferior facsimiles, like the YouTube clip below.