BACKHOUSE JAMES' BLUES BAND Backhouse James' Blues Band
(How rare is rare ? Dr Z, which had recorded retail sales of just eleven
copies ? Or maybe this ...
In 1968, a Medway blues band decided
to record their own LP of authentic 'pure' blues,much in the style of
Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, and released it themselves. They
could only afford to have the bare minimum manufactured, so just
thirty copies were pressed. The band did all the artwork for the sleeve
& labels themselves, with the sleeves being printed locally & the labels
appearing to be hand drawn onto plain white blanks! One copy of this
album now resides in John Peel's archive, another is here.
One of
the rarest albums in the world & coveted almost since its release way
back in mid 1968. Recorded in the front room of 31 Roberts Road in
Rainham, Kent in glorious mono, the band run through fourteen blues
tracks. Most of the tracks are staples of the period but the set also
includes a few self penned numbers. As a nice touch, there is a review
clipping from the Chatham Standard newspaper dated Tuesday 16 July
1968 that even then describes the newly released album as 'a rarity',
so goes on to review the album track by track as the reviewer was well
aware that only twenty nine other people would have copies! To keep
the 'feel' of the tracks, some were recorded 'live' in front of an invited
audience at the local Aurora Hotel. The sleeve on this copy appears to
be silk laminated & shows just a few light creases. Being very flimsy, it
is inevitable on this type of sleeve, but this copy remains in superb
condition, free from any writing, tears or excessive wear. The LP is
free of any track banding & is pressed onto heavyweight vinyl. The
surface of the disc does show the odd light surface scuff, but nothing
that affects play, revealing just a touch of background noise in places.
All in all a wonderful copy of one of the rarest albums in the world in
nice VG/VG+ condition. It is extremely unlikely that ANY
remain in better condition than this one, so get it while you can).
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