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)