Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

A.C. Reed And His Spark Plugs

Take These Blues And Shove 'Em!

1985 · Rooster Blues Records R7606 (LPR 7606 on labels) · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Rooster Blues Records
Catalogue number	R7606 (LPR 7606 on labels)
Year	1985
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Blues - Chicago Blues
Producer	Casey Jones, A.C. Reed
Musicians	A.C. Reed (vocals, tenor saxophone), Casey Jones (drums, vocal on B-2), Larry Burton (guitar), Marvin Jackson (guitar), Phil Guy (guitar, A-3), Lurrie Bell (guitar solo), William "Doug" McDonald (guitar, A-1), Johnny B. Gayden (bass), Allen Batts (piano), Carl Snyder (Fender Rhodes piano), Billy Branch (harmonica on A-2, A-4, B-2, B-4)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  PRC A-2-1-2 LP R-7606
Side B:  LPR-7606-B2 IAN

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1982 - US Ice Cube Records, original pressing, catalogue IC 1057
1985 - US Rooster Blues Records reissue, catalogue R7606, original Ice Cube front cover retained with new Rooster Blues back cover, red-to-yellow rooster-logo labels  <- this copy
1985 - Japan Atlas Record reissue, catalogue LA25-5005

This Pressing

1985 Rooster Blues reissue (stereo) of the 1982 Ice Cube original - Rooster Blues back cover states catalogue R7606 and credits the 1982 Ice Cube masters; red/yellow rooster-logo labels.

The Album

A.C. Reed spent decades as a journeyman Chicago tenor saxophonist, backing Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Albert Collins and the Icebreakers, Earl Hooker and the house bands at Chess and Vee-Jay before stepping out as a leader in his own right. Take These Blues and Shove 'Em! was his first true solo statement, self-produced with drummer Casey Jones on his own Ice Cube imprint, gathering road-tested guitarists Lurrie Bell, Phil Guy and William McDonald alongside harmonica player Billy Branch and bassist Johnny B. Gayden. The songs are almost entirely Reed's own, sardonic, self-mocking blues about a hard-luck sideman's life - the title track and its irreverent "musicians' welfare" theme became something of a calling card - alongside a nod to his old boss Howlin' Wolf on "Howlin' For My Darling." Reed's honking, jump-blues-inflected saxophone and gruff, wry vocal delivery set the record apart from the more guitar-centric Chicago blues of the era. It arrived just as the city's blues scene was being freshly documented and championed by a new generation of small independent labels, and it helped establish Reed, then in his fifties, as a bandleader worth following in his own right. The album's blend of humor and hard-times realism became a hallmark of Reed's later career, which continued through Alligator releases and international touring until his death in 2004.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Things That Get Me Off
2. I Stay Mad
3. I Got The Blues
4. I'm A Jealous Man

Side 2

1. I Am Fed Up With This Music
2. My Baby Is Fine
3. Howlin' For My Darling
4. Lotta Loving

The Label

The side labels show the red-to-yellow gradient "Blues Rooster Records" design with a yellow rooster-comb silhouette behind the spindle, side and catalogue number (LPR 7606 / 7606-A, 7606-B) at left, speed/format at right, and a retained 1982 Ice Cube Records copyright line at the bottom - no address or rim text is printed on the label itself. The back cover states plainly that this pressing is Rooster Blues LP R7606, "originally released as Ice Cube LP IC 1057," distributed by Flying Fish, which places the design as the 1985 reissue that Jim and Amy O'Neal's Chicago blues label issued after picking up the 1982 Ice Cube master. The front cover art and the Ice Cube cube logo are the original 1982 sleeve design, carried over unchanged onto the reissue jacket. Together the Rooster Blues back cover and rooster-logo labels place this copy after the 1982 Ice Cube original and identify it as the Rooster Blues reissue rather than a first pressing.

Fidelity

The album was recorded at a Chicago studio and a suburban Schaumburg studio and mixed by an outside remix engineer, giving it a fuller, more polished sound than many small-label Chicago blues sessions of the period. This reissue was pressed from a stamper etched separately from the original Ice Cube pressing, and collectors generally regard the two pressings as sonically comparable, since both derive from the same 1982 masters with no remastering noted. No audiophile reissue of this title exists, so this pressing and the 1982 original represent the full range of vinyl fidelity for the album.

Notes

This is the 1985 Rooster Blues Records pressing, catalogue R7606, of A.C. Reed's Take These Blues and Shove 'Em!, originally issued in 1982 as Ice Cube LP IC 1057. The back cover states the catalogue number, credits the earlier Ice Cube issue, and carries a 1985 copyright with Flying Fish distribution. The side labels show the red-to-yellow Rooster Blues rooster design rather than an Ice Cube label, with the runout etched separately from the original pressing's own runout. The front cover retains the original 1982 Ice Cube sleeve artwork unchanged.

Documenting collections

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