Leadbelly - Huddie Ledbetter's Best (His Guitar His Voice His Piano) - 180g LP

Product no.: SM1821

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Leadbelly - Huddie Ledbetter's Best (His Guitar His Voice His Piano) - 180g LP
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Pure Pleasure / Capitol - SM1821 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering by Steve Hoffman & Kevin Grey

Pressed at Pallas in Germany - Limited Edition  

Leadbelly's last recording sessions for a commercial record label, held in the early fall of 1944, yielded a dazzling 12 songs, embracing virtuoso guitar blues ("Grasshoppers In My Pillow"), pounding piano-driven scatting ("The Eagle Rocks", with Leadbelly himself at the ivories, a talent for which he wasn't usually recognized), and familiar standards done in some startlingly different ways, including "Goodnight, Irene", "Rock Island Line", and "Ella Speed", done with the understated accompaniment of a zither (courtesy of Paul Mason Howard) as well as his own guitar. Leadbelly was in excellent voice and top form on guitar and piano — having gone to California to test the commercial waters, he met Tex Ritter, an old friend, who arranged for Leadbelly to come to his house and, with Merle Travis playing as well and Capitol executive Lee Gillette present, auditioned then and there for the label; he was energized by the experience, and Capitol's recording caught the brightest as well as the deepest tones in his playing, thus making this record one of the very best showcases for acoustic 12-string guitar of the period.
 
Sadly, only a handful of these tracks were issued during the man's own lifetime, thus convincing him that they were another career dead end — in 1956 (and again in 1962) they emerged with an impassioned annotation by Dave Dexter Jr., imploring people to buy these last commercial sides by one of the most celebrated bluesmen of the century.
 
You may ask then, what does this record have to do with high fidelity or with audiophilia? Well, the recording is surprisingly “high fidelity” and transfer to tape (the date is not made clear in the accompanying notes) is extremely well done. So well done that only occasionally can you hear a slight bit of noise in the background. If you’re thinking “hissy, tinny, primitive,” forget it. The sound is immediate, remarkably wide band and inviting. Ironically, the co-producer and one of Leadbelly’s strongest supports was the much reviled Dave Dexter, Jr, who, having decided that what George Martin and EMI delivered to Capitol was not ready for teenaged American ears, added lots of reverb and re-EQ’d The Beatles. In retrospect, some of what Dexter did to those tapes made them sound bright, shiny, fun and exciting and may have contributed in some ways to the group’s success in America. On the other hand, some of it just plain sucked.
 
This collection of a dozen Leadbelly tunes, remastered by the team of Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray (cut by Gray) sounds remarkably good, especially given the recording’s vintage.
 
Production notes: Whilst this album has been mastered and produced to the highest possible standards it is NOT upto what would be considered audiophile standards. This would be impossible bearing in mind the standards of recording and mastering at the time.
 
October 1944 in Hollywood, USA
Production: Dave Dexter Jr. und Lee Gilette
 
Ledbetter's Best contains stirring blues, ragtime piano, slave songs, ballads, reels, spirituals and chain-gang hollers. These recordings by the 60 year old Huddie Ledbetter sound as if they were recorded by a campfire.
 
Selections:
1. Goodnight, Irene
2. Grasshoppers in My Pillow
3. Eagle Rocks
4. Rock Island Line
5. Ella Speed
6. Backwater Blues
7. Take This Hammer
8. Tell Me, Baby
9. Eagle Rock Rag
10. Western Plain
11. Sweet Mary Blues
12. On a Christmas Day

Leadbelly - Huddie Ledbetter's Best (His Guitar His Voice His Piano) - 180g LP

 
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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.

Pure Pleasure  Records bring you vinyl albums of quality Jazz - Blues - R+B - Soul - Funk, remastered by some of the best engineers in the world and pressed on 180 gram audiophile vinyl at what is probably the best pressing plant in Europe 

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering
 
Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 Gram Virgin Vnyl
 
Released in Limited Quantities

 
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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