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ROBERT PETE WILLIAMS THOSE PRISON BLUES VERY RARE ORIGINAL 1958 SEMI-PRIVATE PRESSING RELEASED ON SMALL, LOUISIANA-BASED BATON ROUGE FOLK-LYRIC LABEL - ORIGINAL 1958 FOLK-LYRIC MONO LP FL-109
ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING
ONE OF THE RAREST ACOUSTIC PENITENTIARY BLUES / FIELD RECORDINGS IN EXISTENCE
ORIGINAL BLACK, MATTE NOT GLOSSY , CHESS MONO LABEL WITH SILVER PRINT.
INCLUDES RARELY SEEN 6-PAGE FOLK-LYRIC BOOKLET CATALOG BROCHURE
DEEP GROOVE PRESSING
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.
ORIGINAL, THICK CARDBOARD COVER AMERICAN STYLE
ORIGINAL GLOSSY, LIGHTLY LAMINATED COVER
THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING
CLEAN, WEAR-FREE LABELS
MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL DEAD WAX ENDS WITH -1/-1 . ON SOME LABELS, SUFFIX 1 DENOTES THE VERY FIRST, ORIGINAL PRESSING APPARENTLY THIS IS AN RCA VICTOR CUSTOM PRESSING.
MACHINE-STAMPED MATRIX NUMBER IN TRAIL-OFF VINYL DEAD WAX OF THE RECORD
PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW
Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a recycled image from our previous auction. What you see is what you ll get. GUARANTEED
It is an interesting type of blindfold test to play these recordings of this artist that were made when he was in prison serving a life sentence for murder, then compare them with tracks he cut after being released, supposedly for his great abilities as a blues improviser. The question might be, how would life in the prison environment affect the musical output of a performer such as this, and can a listener tell the difference between the blues of a prisoner and a free man? There are several tracks here in which the perfunctory nature of the performances simply do not compare with the majesty of later recordings Robert Pete Williams made when breathing free air again. Perhaps this is why some of these tracks were not released the first time around. However, the flaws described are not consistently true about this entire set of prison performances, and neither is the dimensionless recording sound that the listener is initially greeted with, the strings flapping as if tuning up would have brought on the guards. Things pick up with Texas Blues, in which the guitarist s fingers seem to be flying over the strings, picking out notes the way a bird might nip at a seed on the ground. The guitar sound becomes transformed on Louise, emphasizing middle tones in a way that reaches into the gut. At this juncture, one might be willing to admit the obvious intensity of a prison performance when it represents a human s only possible emotional outlet, but from the sound of this man s blues, this remained pretty much the case long after he was released from the slammer.
EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY EUGENE CHADBOURNE, ALL MUSIC GUIDE /ALLMUSIC.COM/
CONDITION:
RECORD
IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded we grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight
a WE GRADE THE VINYL AS EXCELLENT. This is one of those albums that are somewhat difficult to grade. It is somewhere between VG and NEAR MINT, just a notch below NEAR MINT. A few light abrasions ARE visible, but they are extremely shallow, superficial and only moderately visually distracting nothing significant .For the most part, the vinyl looks impeccable without any MAJOR visual flaws or imperfections. Much of the original luster is intact, and the vinyl shines and sparkles almost like new.
b The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording
c The record has a deep groove an indent in the label about 1/2-inch from the edge of the label, which on SOME labels is associated with very early or first pressings .
d The album comes with a rarely seen Folk-Lyric catalog brochure/booklet.
e Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording
COVER
THE COVER IS NICE --- ABOUT EXCELLENT OR VERY GOOD VG .
The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:
- Cover has some light ring wear nothing significant On the scale from 1 to 10 1 being the least, and 10 being the most severe , we assess the severity of ring wear as 4
- Back cover has circular tarnish grayish, dust-covered sections, which closely follow the contour of the record , probably caused by friction or by rubbing against other covers during the storage. The tarnish is similar in appearance to a common ring wear, but, UNLIKE ring wear, these grayish areas may be possible to clean up with a minor effort and with a right cleansing solution.
- Cover shows JUST A HINT of yellowing on both sides, apparently from aging.
