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

Clarence Gatemouth Brown

Pressure Cooker

1985 · Alligator Records AL 4745 · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Alligator Records
Catalogue number	AL 4745
Year	1985
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Blues - Texas Blues/Swing
Producer	Disques Black and Blue
Musicians	Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (guitar, vocals), Milt Buckner (organ), Michael Silva (drums), Jay McShann (piano), Roland Lobligeois (bass), Paul Gunther (drums), Xavier Chambon (trumpet), Michael Attenoux (alto sax), Hal Singer (tenor sax), Al Grey (trombone), Claude Gousset (trombone), Stan Hunter (organ), Chris Colombo (drums), Arnett Cobb (tenor sax)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  AL4745A.1 HUB RC
Side B:  AL4745B.1 HUB RC

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

1985 - US Alligator Records AL 4745, green alligator-logo label, stereo LP  <- this copy
1985 - US Alligator Records AL 4745, Advance promo stereo pressing - no documented sale found for this variant
1985 - Australia Alligator Records AL 4745 pressing - no documented sale found for this variant
1985 - Canada Alligator Records AL 4745 / ALC 4745 pressing - no documented sale found for this variant
1991 - US Alligator Records ALCD 4745, CD repress - no documented sale found for this variant

This Pressing

1985 US Alligator pressing (stereo) - green alligator-logo label, licensed from Disques Black and Blue.

The Album

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown cut his teeth on Houston's Peacock label in the late 1940s and early '50s, forging a hard-swinging, horn-driven style that mixed blues, jazz, country and Cajun elements years before such fusions had a name. By the early 1970s he had relocated to France, where European producers gave him the studio time and veteran big-band sidemen that American labels of the day rarely offered. These sessions, cut in Paris and Toulouse with swing-era musicians including pianist Jay McShann, organist Milt Buckner and saxophonists Arnett Cobb and Hal Singer, found Gatemouth stretching out in the relaxed, horn-rich swing setting he always loved, pairing new originals with reworked older material. The material was gathered for the French Black and Blue label and later licensed to the American Alligator label, introducing American blues audiences to a side of Gatemouth's artistry - jazzier, more jump-blues than Chicago blues - that had mostly been heard overseas. It arrived as his profile in the US was rising again after years of being better known in Europe than at home, part of the late-career rediscovery that eventually brought him a Grammy and sustained recognition as one of the era's most versatile guitarists. The record's loose, swinging character and the calibre of its sidemen have made it a favorite among collectors who prize Gatemouth's jazz-inflected side over his harder blues work. It stands as a testament to an artist whose refusal to be confined to one genre finally earned him his due.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. She Winked Her Eye
2. Slow Down
3. Just Lippin'
4. My Time Is Expensive
5. Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens

Side 2

1. Pressure Cooker
2. Ain't That Just Like A Woman
3. Deep, Deep Water
4. Cold Strings

The Label

The label is Alligator's green background with the stylised 'ALLIGATOR' lettering forming the outline of the alligator and a single alligator illustration inside it, catalogue number and 'Stereo' flanking the spindle, and the Chicago Box 60234 address printed at the bottom; no deep groove is present. This is the label design Alligator used through the 1980s on its Chicago-era pressings, consistent with the album's 1985 copyright date. The pressing plant is not identified on the label itself; this stereo pressing carries the standard commercial catalogue number and runout format used across Alligator's 1985 edition of the title.

Fidelity

The album was mastered at Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs in New York from tapes recorded in France and post-produced at Streeterville Studios in Chicago, a chain typical of Alligator's early-'80s reissues and licensed foreign masters. Collectors generally regard the sound as solid if unspectacular - clean but not an audiophile cut - reflecting its origin as a tape transfer of 1973 sessions rather than a purpose-built studio production. This pressing sits as the sole vinyl edition of note, with no audiophile reissue series existing to outrank it; the later CD editions are the only alternative format.

Notes

This is the 1985 US Alligator Records stereo LP of material recorded in 1973 in France and licensed from the Disques Black and Blue label. The green alligator-logo label and Chicago Box 60234 address match Alligator's standard 1980s house design, and the runout etching recorded for this copy agrees with the catalogue number on the label. Nothing in the jacket or runout distinguishes this copy from Alligator's other 1985 stereo pressings of the same catalogue number beyond the standard commercial issue.

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