180g 200g 45rpm Box Sets.

J. B. Lenoir - Alabama Blues - 180g LP

Product no.: PPANLR42.001

£24.93

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Available delivery methods: UK Tracked with Signature, UK Express, Airmail Tracked with Signature, UK Standard, Heavy Item

Description

AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

Pure Pleasure / L&R - PPAN LR42.001 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl AAA 100% Analogue

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering by Ray Staff at Air Studios London

Limited Edition - Pressed at Pallas Germany

J. B. Lenoir was one of the outstanding blues artists of all times. His album "Alabama Blues" is the first recorded document by any blues poet, who included and incorporated very critically the social and political situation of black people living in the U.S.A. in the year of 1965. Thus a musical document was created long before the black communities in the United States became proud of their heritage — their roots.

Jimi Hendrix was the first artist who acknowledged that J. B. Lenoir's work, preserved in this album, was a major part of his self-liberation and of finding his own identity. Though the Library of Congress has placed this album in its achives as an important part of American Musical History — comparable to Duke Ellington's "Black, Brown and Beige Suite" for example — it was never released in the United States, and even in Europe its distribution was poor. Because of this it has become one of the most searched-for collectors' items in music today. Pure Pleasure Records is happy and proud to release this masterpiece of music again.

In the early 1940s, Lenoir worked with the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson and Elmore James and was also influenced by Arthur Crudup and Lightnin' Hopkins.

During the early 1960s, Lenoir struggled to work professionally. He was rediscovered by Willie Dixon and recorded with drummer Fred Below on this 1965 album which was inspired by the Civil Rights and Free Speech movements.

J B Lenoir, born in 1929 and passed away in 1967, is relatively unknown today to acoustic blues fans, yet his legacy in writing critical social and political songs – as opposed to the more typical “been done wrong by my woman” blues lyrics – has been recognized by the Library of Congress, which has placed Alabama Blues in its archives of American Musical History. Never released in the U.S. until 1979, when Horst Lippmann brought this album out on his German label L & R., it has now been re-released by the English audiophile label, PurePleasure, after being remastered by Ray Staff at Air Mastering in London.

PurePleasure has done their typical outstanding job in putting out a quality product. Lenoir’s lyrics are presented crystal clear in his high vocal register, and his uncomplicated boogie shuffle guitar style is mixed well. With Lenoir, however, it is his lyrics which attract immediate attention. Alabama Blues outlines the trials of existing as a black man in Alabama. Mojo Boogie is more typical fare, with little political commentary. God’s Word, deals with God’s wrath and asking to be released “so I can go home.” The Whale Has Swallowed Me compares Jonah’s plight with Lenoir’s, asking to be turned loose.

Move This Rope is back to social ills – requesting the removal of this rope from his neck. Done to a boogie beat similar to an acoustic John Lee Hooker, it is a conversation between Lenoir and his “father” asking again to be set free after his prayer is heard. Closing Side 1 is a happier, I Feel So Good, done with assistance of the Chicago blues master Willie Dixon, who supervised the May 5, 1965 recording date.

Side 2 opens with more Southern tribulations on Alabama March, with some great strumming, and lyrics dealing with calling on God to lift us up. Talk to Your Daughter is a plea to a young woman’s mother to convince her to accept J B. Lenoir’s guitar is much more animated here and the beat is contagious. Mississippi Road is a simple paean to his mother. Good Advice brings his grandmother in giving instructions to “keep on going if you know you are right.”

Politics of the day are brought out in Vietnam as Uncle Sam has drafted him to go to Vietnam. He worries about being shot down and wonders when all wars will come to an end. I Want to Go ends on a shuffle about leaving the County Farm.

Less than two years later after the recording of this LP, Lenoir died – possibly from injuries sustained in an auto accident that occurred just a few weeks earlier. Listening to Alabama Blues will make you want to explore more of J B Lenoir. Jimi Hendrix was said to have cited Lenoir as an early blues artist who influenced his self-liberation. PurePleasure should be commended for releasing Alabama Blues, as Lenoir was known to have recorded only three or four other sessions, and his topical songs are a nice change from typical southern blues fare.

Musicians:

J.B. Lenoir, vocal, acoustic guitar

Willie Dixon Vocals

Freddie Below, drums

Selections:

1. Alabama Blues

2. The Mojo Boogie

3. God's Word

4. The Whale Has Swallowed Me

5. Move This Rope

6. I Feel So Good

7. Alabama March

8. Talk To Your Daughter

9. Mississippi Road

10. Good Advice

11. Vietnam

12. I Want To Go

Recorded May 5, 1965 in Chicago, IL under the supervision of Willie Dixon.

ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES

AAA 100% ANALOGUE

We use the Original Tapes and work with only the Best Mastering Studios

PALLAS

Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 gram Virgin Vinyl

Highest Quality Jackets and Inner Sleeves

LIMITED EDITION

Low Numbers per Stamper Released in Limited Quantities

Pure Pleasure Records
The Restoration of the Art of Sound
180g Vinyl Mastered From The Best Available Sources

At the beginning of the 90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the situation was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and, of course, Pure Pleasure all maintained a mutual, unwritten ethical code: we would only use analogue tapes to manufacture records. During the course of the present vinyl hype, many others have jumped on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source to master from: CDs, LPs, digital files, MP3s – or employed existent tools from the 80s and 90s for manufacturing.

A digital delay is gladly used when cutting a lacquer disc because tape machines with an analogue delay have become quite rare and are therefore expensive. When cutting the lacquer, the audio signal is delayed by one LP revolution against the signal, which controls the cutter head, and for this a digital delay is very often employed. Of course, the resultant sound signal is completely digital and thus only as good as this delay.

We should like to emphasize that Pure Pleasure Records on principle only uses the original master tape as the basis for the entirely analogue cutting of lacquer discs. In addition, the pressing tool is newly manufactured as a matter of principle. We only employ existing tools for manufacturing if an improved result is not forthcoming, e.g. the title Elvis Is Back, which was mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray, or several titles from our Philips Classics series, which in any case Willem Makkee cut from the original masters at the Emil Berliner Studios in the 90s. It goes without saying that we only used the mother and that new tools were made for our production. To put it in a nutshell: we can ensure you that our releases are free from any kind of digital effects and that the lacquer discs are newly cut.

There really is nothing quite like it. It’s the touch, the feel, you have to stop and stare, the cover, the real thing, even the smell.

Its tangible, you can feel it, see it, study it, muse/dream over it, it’s real, someone has spent hours and hours over its construction and presentation. Pure Pleasure Records is just that, Pure Pleasure and that is what it has set out to be. The music and the physical record. Something to keep, treasure, admire and above all enjoy.Of course with vinyl it’s not just a record, it’s the cover, the sleeve notes, you are holding a unique package, produced by craftsmen.

60 Years Pallas

Audiophile Vinyl - Made in Germany For over 60 years the family business in the third generation of the special personal service and quality "Made by Pallas" is known worldwide. Our custom PVC formulation produces consistently high pressing quality with the lowest surface noise in the industry. Our PVC complies with 2015 European environmental standards and does not contain toxic materials such as Lead, Cadmium or Toluene. Our vinyl is both audiophile and eco-grade!

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