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

Alberta Hunter

Amtrak Blues

1980 · CBS SBP 237509 · Stereo · New Zealand · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	CBS
Catalogue number	SBP 237509
Year	1980
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	New Zealand
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Blues/Jazz - Vocal Blues
Producer	John Hammond
Musicians	Alberta Hunter (vocals), Gerald Cook (piano, leader), Aaron Bell (bass, contractor), Jackie Williams (drums), Billy Butler (guitar), Vic Dickenson (trombone), Doc Cheatham (trumpet), Frank Wess (tenor sax, flute), Norris Turney (tenor sax, clarinet)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  SBP237509-A 8637-700T
Side B:  SBP237509-B 8665-700T

Condition

Cover: EX
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1980 - US Columbia JC 36430, stereo (original US issue)
1980 - Australia CBS SBP 237509, stereo
1980 - New Zealand CBS SBP 237509, stereo  <- this copy
1980 - Brazil CBS 225050, stereo
undated - US Columbia CK 36430, remastered reissue

This Pressing

1980 CBS pressing (stereo) manufactured in New Zealand - orange/yellow CBS gradient label with 'Made in New Zealand' rim text distinguishes it from the US Columbia and Australian CBS issues of the same title.

The Album

Alberta Hunter had walked away from her celebrated blues and cabaret career decades earlier to train as a nurse, only re-emerging in the late 1970s in her eighties for an engagement at a small New York club that turned into a genuine comeback. Amtrak Blues, cut for Columbia and produced by John Hammond, captured that late-career resurgence, pairing newly written originals like the title track with vintage repertoire she had long been associated with, from vaudeville-era standards to Tin Pan Alley staples. Hunter's voice, weathered but still full of wit and command, gives the record its character, and the small swing-to-mainstream jazz band assembled around her - led by pianist Gerald Cook, her longtime musical partner - matches her phrasing with easy, unhurried support. The album became one of the most celebrated documents of her return, reintroducing her to a new generation of listeners and critics who had only known her by reputation from the 1920s. It stands as a capstone to an extraordinary career that stretched from the classic blues era through decades away from music and back again, and it remains a touchstone recording for her late-life renaissance, praised for the vitality and humor she brought to material both old and new.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. The Darktown Strutters' Ball
2. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
3. I'm Having a Good Time
4. Always
5. My Handy Man Ain't Handy No More

Side 2

1. Amtrak Blues
2. Old Fashioned Love
3. Sweet Georgia Brown
4. A Good Man Is Hard to Find
5. I've Got a Mind to Ramble

The Label

The label on this copy is a CBS gradient design, orange at the rim shading to yellow at the spindle, with the light-blue 'CBS' wordmark and a small square logo showing a stylised turntable/stylus above it; the perimeter carries the standard rights-reserved text and, at the base, 'MADE IN NEW ZEALAND BY A REGISTERED USER OF THE TRADE MARKS.' That rim text is the decisive marker: it identifies this as a CBS pressing manufactured under license for the New Zealand market rather than the US Columbia issue or the Australian CBS pressing that shares the same catalogue number. CBS used this orange-to-yellow label style across its international pressing plants through the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, so the design alone does not further narrow the date beyond the 1980 copyright year printed on the label. No deep-groove or plant stamp is visible on the label face itself, so nothing further about mastering source can be read from the label design.

Fidelity

The album was engineered by Frank Laico at CBS's New York studios, a straightforward, warm analog studio recording of a small acoustic jazz combo behind Hunter's voice. This New Zealand pressing was manufactured locally from parts supplied by CBS rather than cut at the New York plant, and collectors generally regard it as a routine international pressing rather than a sonic reference; the original US Columbia stereo pressing is considered the primary version for sound. No audiophile remaster or specialist reissue of this title exists.

Notes

This is the 1980 stereo CBS pressing of Amtrak Blues manufactured for the New Zealand market under catalogue number SBP 237509. The rim text reading 'Made in New Zealand by a registered user of the trade marks' is the decisive marker separating it from the US Columbia JC 36430 pressing and the same-numbered Australian CBS pressing. The label carries the (P) 1980 CBS Inc. copyright line consistent with the album's original release year, and nothing on the label or jacket points to a later reissue.

Documenting collections

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