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

King Curtis

Everybody's Talkin'

1972 · Atco SD 33-385 · Stereo · US · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Atco
Catalogue number	SD 33-385
Year	1972
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	US
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Soul/Funk - R&B Instrumental
Producer	King Curtis, Jerry Wexler
Performer / Orchestra	The Memphis Horns
Musicians	King Curtis (tenor sax, vocals), Cornell Dupree (guitar), Jerry Jemmott (bass), Bernard Purdie (drums), Billy Preston (organ, piano), Jimmy Smith (organ), Paul Griffin (piano), James Booker (piano), Chuck Rainey (bass), Ray Lucas (drums), Jim O'Rourke (guitar), Billy Carter (organ), Harold Cowart (bass), Tubby Ziegler (drums), Richard Tee (piano), Ralph McDonald (congas), Trevor Lawrence (percussion), Mervin Bronson (bass), Kenneth Rice (drums), The Memphis Horns (Wayne Jackson, Andrew Love, Ed Logan, James Mitchell, Jack Hale, Roger Hopps)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  ST-C-722441 A AT1 GP PR
Side B:  ST-C-722442 A AT1 GP PR

Condition

Cover: EX IN SHRINK/EX WITH ORIGINAL AND A SLEEVE
Vinyl: NM-/NM-

Variant chronology

1972 - US Atco yellow "rainbow wheel" label, 1841 Broadway address, stereo  <- this copy
1995 - US/European reissue (later Atco/Atlantic pressing)

This Pressing

1972 first pressing (stereo) - Atco yellow rainbow-wheel label, 1841 Broadway address, standard early-1970s Atco house design.

The Album

Everybody's Talkin' is a posthumous compilation assembled by Atco/Atlantic following King Curtis's murder in August 1971, gathering studio odds and ends, cover versions, and instrumental sides recorded during his final years as house bandleader and A&R man for Aretha Franklin and the Atlantic soul roster. Curtis, born Curtis Ousley, was one of soul music's defining tenor saxophonists, whose honking, vocal-toned solos powered hits from The Coasters to Aretha Franklin and whose own instrumental hits like "Soul Serenade" and "Memphis Soul Stew" made him a star in his own right. The tracks here find him reworking contemporary pop and soul staples - King Floyd's "Groove Me," Sly Stone's "You're The One," Stephen Stills's "Love The One You're With," Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter," and the Nilsson-popularized title cut - alongside originals like "Central Park" and "Wet Funk," backed by his working band the Kingpins and the Memphis Horns. The album captures the tail end of a career that helped define the Muscle Shoals/Atlantic soul-instrumental sound, bridging 1950s R&B saxophone tradition with early-1970s funk. Critically it was received as a minor, somewhat scattershot posthumous cash-in compared to his tighter late-60s/early-70s studio LPs, but it remains valued by collectors and soul-jazz enthusiasts for its stellar session personnel and Curtis's typically muscular, soulful playing. Its lasting legacy is less as a landmark statement than as a coda to one of the era's most influential session and bandleader careers, cut short at just 37.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Groove Me
2. You're The One
3. Honky Tonk
4. Love The One You're With
5. If I Were A Carpenter
6. Everybody's Talkin'

Side 2

1. Ridin' Thumb
2. Alexander's Ragtime Band
3. Central Park
4. Wet Funk (Low Down And Dirty)
5. Ridin' Thumb - Jam

The Label

The label on this copy is the yellow Atco design with the multicolor "rainbow wheel" pinwheel logo in a black arch box at 9 o'clock, "ATCO" in white-on-black beneath it, side designation ("ONE"/"TWO") and "STEREO" flanking the spindle, and rim text reading "MFG. BY ATLANTIC RECORDING CORP., 1841 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, N.Y." with a (P) 1972 Atlantic credit - this is the standard Atco house label used from the early 1970s through the mid-1970s, consistent with a first-issue 1972 pressing rather than any later reissue design. No deep groove is present, consistent with this era's flat-profile pressings. Placement of this exact rainbow-wheel/1841 Broadway design at the top of the Atco design timeline (per bsnpubs) confirms this is the original 1972 first pressing, not a later Atlantic-era reissue with a different label design.

Fidelity

This LP was mastered and pressed by Atlantic/Atco's standard early-1970s process rather than by an audiophile boutique; no specialty audiophile reissue of this specific compilation is known to exist. Collector consensus (per general soul/funk pressing chatter on forums like Steve Hoffman) treats late Atco pressings of this vintage as solid but unremarkable, sourced from analog masters with typical early-70s Atlantic engineering. As the only significant vinyl pressing of this compilation, this 1972 first pressing represents the top of its (short) fidelity hierarchy, with the 1995 reissue and any later CD transfers ranking below it.

Notes

This is the original 1972 Atco stereo first pressing, SD 33-385. The yellow rainbow-wheel Atco label with the 1841 Broadway, New York address and (P) 1972 Atlantic credit matches the standard early-1970s Atco design, placing it at the top of the release timeline with no evidence of a later reissue label. Matrix suffixes (ST-C-722441/722442 A AT1 GP PR) are consistent with an early stamper/first pressing run. No deep groove is present, as expected for this era.

Documenting collections

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