Item Description
PENTHOUSE PAUPER John Fogerty, 1970 Now, if I was a bricklayer, I wouldn t build just anything, And if I was a ball player, I wouldn t play no second string.
And if I were some jewelry, baby, Lord, I d have to be a diamond ring.
If I were a secret, lord, I never would be told, If I were a jug of wine, lord, my flavor would be old.
I could be most anything, But it s got to be twenty four karat solid gold.
If I were a gambler, you know I d never lose, And if I were a guitar player, Lord, I d have to play the blues.
If I was a hacksaw, my blade would be razor sharp, If I were a politician, I could prove that monkeys talk.
You can find the tallest building, Lord, I d have me the house on top.
I m the penthouse pauper, I got nothing to my name.
I m the penthouse pauper baby, I got nothing to my name.
I can be most anything, Cause when you got nothing, it s all the same.
Oh, lets move to this song Lord, look at my penthouse.
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: Bayou Country LP.
RARE FIRST UK PRESSING, 1st May, 1970.
THE LABELS HAVE A 1969 PUBLICATION DATE BUT THAT WAS IN AMERICA, WHERE IT WAS ISSUED IN JULY, 1969.
At last, I have finally located the very first pressing of Bayou Country on the blue design Liberty label, the last copy I sold on ebay was in 2004, that is how rare a Mint first pressing is.
Move into late 1970 and the blue Liberty label was discontinued in favour of a black background, so a very narrow time period for these blue label first issues and why they are so rare in this stunning once played only, Mint condition.
1970 was a rather long time ago and with only five months left for the blue labels in 1970, I m not surprised about taking twelve years to unearth this gem with the March,1970 first edition cover unique feature.
FIRST PRESSING ONLY, TEXTURED BLUE LIBERTY LABEL: LBS 83261 MAITRIX: LBS 83261 A // 1 420 1 1 / LBS 83261 B // 1 420 1 1 Polydor contractually pressed the 1969 first pressings on the blue Liberty label, the above is definitive for a Polydor very first made record.
Machine stamped in Polydor s rigid position, at 12 o clock position of the run-out grooves.
ORIGINAL 1969 LIBERTY / POLYDOR INNER SLEEVE, UNUSED AND UNSPLIT, WITH ONLY A FEW RECORD IMPRESSION RELATED LIGHT CREASES BUT HARDLY ANY AGEING, IN NEAR MINT CONDITION.
VERY FIRST EDITION FRONT BACK LAMINATED COVER, PRINTED BY MacNeill Press Ltd.
London , THAT WAS CONTINUED INTO 1970, BUT NOT THE EXCLUSIVE FEATURE.
THE 1969 SPINE HAS THE TYPICAL 60 S DESIGN, THE MAIN PART IS FLAT AND THE ENDING S TAPER INTO POINT.
UNUSED AND ONLY THE STORAGE TRAITS OF STANDING IN STORAGE FOR THE PREVIOUS 46 YEARS.
Here I go again, an unplayed major Creedence album and of course such a heavyweight 1970 record had to have some impact on the cover.
This is not the usual heavy use of a multiple played record and it all centres around the record s internal position of a very tight and compact cover.
Please see how slim this was made by viewing my close up picture of the spine s centre with the title and artist, a spine so thin the tiny lettering only just fitted, a spine with a raised ridge where it adjoins the front and back.
As I regularly write, when wrapping the lamination from the front, over the spine and onto the back in one continuous sheet, it was very difficult to smooth the laminate into the recess created by the ridges running the length of the spine s two edges where they met the far left front and the far right back edges.
Often misunderstood and named by the inexperienced, laminate lift , generally it was never stuck into the recess in the first place and certainly did not lift.
The back edge has much less than the the front far left side, adjacent to the spine s ridge, that comes with the territory, move further along and the back was not laminated.
The stunning psychedelic front and back artwork has unfaded and deeply toned colours under the deluxe thick, glossy lamination, a positive record impression accompanies all 1969 -1970 covers, nothing major but I always include natural events for covers.
So a few related laminate edge lines, mostly on the spine s side and some small, minor laminate crinkles, not too pronounced but there and absolutely minimal, anything else is directly connected to holding the unplayed record while standing in storage for all those decades, all the edges, corners and spine are in near perfect condition.
The rather long artist name and album title s lettering on the spine is in remarkable condition and can be seen in the above pictures, I tend to over fuss How do you grade a cover holding an unplayed record for those 46 years with standing in storage traits only? Something like this is my opinion THE COVER IS IN UNUSED, EXCELLENT / NEAR MINT- CONDITION.
THE PRISTINE MATT TEXTURED LABELS ONLY HAVE ONE ULTRA FAINT SPINDLE ALIGNMENT TRACE PER INDIVIDUAL SIDE, THE IMMACULATE VINYL DOES NOT HAVE ANY PLAYING TRACES, ANY FACTORY HANDLING IS NEAR INVISIBLE.
THE RECORD IS IN UNPLAYED, MINT CONDITION.
SIDE 1 Born On The Bayou Bootleg Graveyard Train SIDE 2 Good Golly Miss Molly Robert Blackwell / John Marascalco Penthouse Pauper Proud Mary Keep On Chooglin John Fogerty - lead guitar, lead vocals harmonica Tom Fogerty - rhythm guitar backing vocals Doug Clifford - drums bass Stu Cook - bass drums All Songs Written ByJohn Fogerty Except Good Golly Miss Molly Robert Blackwell / John Marascalco Recorded At RCA Studios, Los Angeles, California, 1969 Produced By John Fogerty Only selling Creedence albums in Nr.Mint / Mint has been a habit I have never broken, the only trouble with that is how rare they have become now, I mentioned Cosmos Factory was current to this first black Liberty label Bayou Country, it became a No.1 huge seller.
So where are all the top condition first pressing or original Cosmos Factory LP s today? Played excessively and long ago replaced and when the few copies come up for sale, that observation is confirmed and so their albums that sold moderately are rarer.
As I said the last time I sold a 1969 Bayou Country was 12 years ago, very frustrating, because this is my personal favourite Creedence album.
I m delighted to offer the early 1970 s pressings in Mint condition, but thrilled to now have on my turntable, an absolutely stunning blue Liberty label first pressing of the awesome, Bayou Country.
Their previous albums in 1970 were well received here, the 24th January Green River made No.20, the 28th March Willy The Poor Boys made No.10.
Overkill by the record companies or not, no less than five Creedence Clearwater singles had very healthy sales in 1970 but not even the Beatles released three albums in a four month period.
No question Creedence had the talent to write and perform at an unbelievable peak of creativity, but something had to give when only four weeks later Bayou Country was released The crazy thing this time, Willy The Poor Boys was still a current top selling and charting album By spending 24 weeks in the charts, Willy The Poor Boys was still there right up to the September,1970 release of Bayou Country.
Little wonder all that had a negative effect in May 70, the failure of Bayou Country was not a reflection on the fantastic music, it thoroughly deserved to be as successful as the two previous albums.
Just writing that and discussing releasing a third album a few weeks later was just absurd and fans were reeling with the funds needed to keep up, Bayou Country only reached No.64 in May,1970 and only lasted in the charts for seven days That lowly position was so brief, blink and you missed it, then even more amazingly, Liberty went and released a fourth album the second Willy The Poor Boys left the charts in September of the same 1970.
As mentioned, the biggest selling band on the planet could not sustain high record sales for four albums and five singles released in the same year, the Beatles also had the talent to write and record that amount but even they would have suffered failures for one of four LP s, the remarkable twist to this story has be how in September, Cosmos Factory went to No.1 and that alone is the biggest testimony to the exceptional music Creedence Clearwater recorded, the Revival part of their name was certainlly lived up to The fate of so many true great albums that sell poorly, seem to follow the same pattern because I am constantly writing about later pressings also failing to sell, regardless of the artists with a high status.
Which indeed happened, Bayou Country never made a British chart re-entry and not only are these first pressing blue Liberty extremely rare, so are the late 1970 black label pressings, and then the 1973 first UK Fantasy pressings on the initial brown label.
Providing that pair of following early 1970 s pressings are in Near Mint / Mint condition, they are absolutely stunning records and perfectly represent the Master Tapes, I am writing as a long term fan who has sampled all the pressings and my personal opinion is based on a love of the fantastic sound I first knew in May,1970.
Besides, had it charted in proportion to their other albums, it would have still been in the charts when the black labels were first introduced, that is something that cannot be ignored.
Ironically, Creedence front covers did no more than place portraits of the band on the covers in the same fashion used in the first half of the 1960 s decade, the only exception being the final album, Mardi Gras, but by then Tom Fogerty had left them as a trio.
Of all their covers, Bayou Country had a simply staggering front cover, that alone should have been a good enough reason to pick up a copy in a record shop in May,1970.
The front s truly amazing psychedelic artwork is just as stunning as any of the preceding late 60 s covers, the impact of that is there to see in my pictures.
Enough pressing and chart facts, I m itching to start my turntable and lower the stylus, I have yet to hear this superb once played Mint record, like the blue Liberty label pressing this is also 46 years old now and that s reason enought to be thrilled to offer such ultimate condition.
No way does an EMI first and only pressing of Bayou Country pass through my hands without hearing it, the matt blue Liberty labels are in superb, unblemished condition, spindle traces show up instantly on the extra textured top surface, but just the one equates with an original 1970 record shop playing the record before selling it a brand new.
A really beautiful gleaming record, so just one undetectable play with a briefish description.
Once or very low played records from any decade can potentially have pressing related static or surface sound, removed by playing through with a stylus, using any kind of washing machine with chemical or alcohol fluids is a horrific way to treat vinyl That will cause short and long term damage to the music signals, in my professional opinion and a lifetime lover of records since the advent of the Beatles in 1963, any record placed in a cleaning machine or wiped with any chemical, is no longer in original condition, records were made to be played on a turntable.
Static and vinyl go hand in hand, but unworn records can only improve with successive plays, one wash with fluids will damage the sound itself.
It is NOT professional cleaning , more like the worst possible amateur intervention I can think of for records.
Side 1 has light static in the outer run-in grooves, to be expected after one play in an amazing 46 years,now a really staggering impact and audio clarity, opening up with an enticing psychedelic drone initial intro.
Exploding with all the extremely powerful sounds of the track that inspired the album s title, Born On The Bayou , the sound quality is simply stunning Polydor pressings were indeed awesome because their mastering squeezed every decibel from the master tapes, these are canyon deep grooves, handling it with consummate ease, if worn distortion becomes painful listening.
From Mint vinyl the sound is sensational, for the the gradually faded up psychedelic drone sound, building up very slowly, absolute minimal pressing related static even during that completely exposed to noise opening section.
The heavy stinging guitars begin the fantastic melodic notes of the main intro with Tom s rhythm guitar panned entirely from the left channel with part of the percussion, from the right speaker, the lead and the bass guitar are with the rest of the percussion.
John Fogerty s blistering vocals are equally spread across both of the channels, this is the total channel separation of true stereo, 1960 s style and the very sound of a first generation Master Tape pressing.
I often write how late 60 s stereo has a uniqueness that became lost during the last decades, the music back then was mixed into purely sensory panning to have the greatest impact on the listener, this was recorded and mixed in 1969 and it s rare writing that for a UK first pressing, astounding sound Mono had set amazing audio standards, but a stereo mix still had to create that same impact, re-centralising the individual parts of the tracks lessened and diluted the music s amazing impact.
It only happened because artists no longer had control over the sound engineers remastering from the precious original Master Tapes, to hear how they intended the tracks to sound, only the original pressings represent that.
The effect with this stunning audio and colossal power, is quite an experience Creedence s music should always be heard in this fantastic mastering with the colossal level of volume cut into this record.
Even this loud, I still keep my volume set very high to check for distortion, there is none at all from the totally unworn 1970 grooves, so you can listen to John Fogerty s full bloodied vocals in perfect audio clarity.
There were no added on studio effects after that droning sound, Creedence just played their instruments with a refreshing honesty, they simply gave everything they had and held nothing back, that may well sound simple but the results are pure dynamite The driving, relentless percussion pushes the rhythm extremely hard, this has fantastic sharpness, giving a mean cutting edge to the instruments and the devastating lead vocals.
A near silent gap, so good to hear that great acoustic guitar intro for Bootleg beginning without any of the usual crackles, clicks or irritations and continuing to play without any needle, background or surface sound.
The stereo mix has Tom s acoustic rhythm guitar placed in the left channel, opposite it from the right is the lead electric guitar and it creates such a pulsating sound for my central position.
A stunning track, with an inspiredly emphatic vocal delivered at full force, a really loud bass courtesy of Stu Cook and Doug Clifford s druming is in exceptionally sharp sound.
Whenever Creedence locked together into a blues rhythm such as this they were one of the tightest bands of all time.
My most loved track now follows and the staggering Graveyard Train runs for eight and a half minutes, this really gives Creedence all the space to stretch out and play, for me, Graveyard Train remains as their definitive recording.
With such astounding musicianship and born with blues improvisational ability, this really is a truly electrifying performance A prowling, creeping, smouldering blues song with the music running on pure inspiration, right from the first seconds, you feel an intensive dramatic tension, as taut as a wire.
I m pleased to say during the first seconds the single electric guitar intro is without any accompanying surface sound or even any static, the lead guitar is panned entirely from the left, leaving the right speaker waiting for the first music signal /sound, then the drums kick in loudly and heavily.
They are the very points I check, knowing every second of a track is so vital to sound grading, the exposed nature of the opening is commonly full of loud and annoying crackles, but playing here exactly as only a Mint 1970 first pressed record can.
I cannot and will not say any record does not sound like a record, but I will examine up close anything I know not to belong on a record I am rather familiar with.
They sustain that dramatic tension, staying very tightly to the basic blues rhythm, what a vocal John Fogerty is just immense here,John s blues harmonica blowing is just as incredible as his stunning delivery of the brilliant lyrics is.
At times you would swear this was Cream circa 1966 from the Fresh Cream album, I cannot think of any bigger compliment than that.
A song with the down on the floor despair you would expect from one of the original older blues giants, once again the stereo mix here was a work of art, the vocals are in one speaker, then slowly drift over to the opposite side for a verse or so and then drifting back again to the other channel.
The sound quality from an unworn record is as sharp as a knife, an immense recording in the ultimate sound quality.
Side 2 also has wonderful smooth as silk, completely silent run-in grooves, beginning with a really red hot version of the great Little Richard s, Good Golly Miss Molly.
Few vocalists could live with the original, but this was a song custom made for John Fogerty s blues soaked voice to wrap around, he just takes the song by the scruff of the neck and makes it his The backing is a very long way from that original version, with superlative hard driving electric blues guitars and Doug Clifford demonstrating what a talented drummer he is.
In loud and extremely powerful sound with pin point definition on every part of the track, I knew this would be an audio feast and simply had to sample it, I will warn that is always providing of course the vinyl is still in this amazingly pristine condition after 46 years A rather loud track but you can push your volume as high as you can handle and there is still no distortion.
From a totally silent gap, Penthouse Pauper now drops the tempo down to slower rb / blues, with a stinging guitar solo from John.
His vocal is just as purely toned as the sound of his guitar, what a record The lyrics are above in full, I wrote them without the track blasting out, I still think they will stand up perfectly in text, with this cutting line And if I were a guitar player, Lord, I d have to play the blues , how could I choose anything else? I was really tempted by the lyrics on Graveyard Train though, back to the music, the track has parts when the other instruments drop back, leaving only the drums and the vocal, there s no needle or surface sound there, just ultra sharp audio.
This has a faded-out ending, into a completely silent gap, giving absolutely perfectly clean pure clarity for those superb guitar chords, introducing the Creedence classic of all time, the magnificent Proud Mary .
Not only good to hear in such perfect sound quality, the original spaciously wide stereo mix, has extra depth and an impact second to none.
I still can t believe how this album failed so miserably to sell in 1970, but perhaps my facts and figures go some way to understanding how normally, a well known and loved song like this on an album, was more than enough reason to buy it for.
All that did happen a rather a long time ago now.
A truly inspired and highly infectious melody with a backing that never strays too far from the same blues roots.
John Fogerty s vocals have a really magical quality that is hard to define, with so many cover versions recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley Tina Turner, I m sure it has been forgotten this song was indeed an original John Fogerty composition.
The fantastic Keep On Chooglin finishes Side 2 in a similar way to how the sheer intensity of Graveyard Train gave Side 1 such an awesome ending, it left you feeling overwhelmed and breathless.
This is as tight a performance you can find on any album, an incredible 8:40 minutes length track with some scintillating blues harmonica and doubled up electric guitars, being propelled along by the outstanding drums and bass guitar.
Once again I can only make direct comparisons to Cream, I would never usually compare any band with one of my most collected artists, but the storm Creedence created here from a purely blues base, is just as potent blues rock as Cream s music.
When John s incredible harmonica takes off, Jack Bruce certainly does come to mind The standard of their musicianship on this track is off the scale for inspiration, the guitar playing is just stunning, for the vocals, well, they just don t get any better than this staggering John Fogerty performance The stereo panning effects are as mind blowing as the sound quality, if anyone reading this yet to experienced this sensational track, do not be put off by the tame sounding title, Keep On Chooglin , this is is a band on fire, truly amazing stuff The audio on this record has been sheer perfection on every second.
Roy R M RECORDS.
My lifetime s love of music and records began at a very young age, the arrival of the Beatles and the 1960 s decade in general had a very profound effect.
It was only natural to bring all my first hand experience of collecting vinyl into becoming a professional record seller.
Nearly thirty years ago we entered into the wonderful atmosphere of record fairs with the highest possible standards set.
When the Internet became the world s new market place for vinyl, in 2001 it was time to join ebay.
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