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

Lady Blackbird

Black Acid Soul

2022 · Foundation Music / BMG 538711481 (4050538711486) · Stereo · Germany (manufactured for the European BMG release) · LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

Label	Foundation Music / BMG
Catalogue number	538711481 (4050538711486)
Year	2022
Mono / Stereo	Stereo
Country	Germany (manufactured for the European BMG release)
Format	LP
Speed	33 1/3 RPM
Genre	Soul-Jazz / Vocal Jazz
Producer	Chris Seefried
Musicians	Lady Blackbird (Marley Munroe) (vocals), Deron Johnson (Steinway grand piano, Mellotron, Casio synth), Jon Flaugher (double bass), Jimmy Paxson (drums, percussion), Chris Seefried (acoustic guitar on "Nobody's Sweetheart"), Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews (trumpet on "Nobody's Sweetheart")

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  BL54649 01 A1 ST 538711481
Side B:  BL54649 01 B1 ST 538711481

Condition

Cover: NM
Vinyl: NM

Variant chronology

2021 - UK limited-edition colour vinyl (blue "A Kind Of Blue", orange "Smoky Jazz", crystal blue), 500-copy runs
2021 - UK standard black-vinyl trade pressing, no catalogue number printed on the label - no documented sale found for this variant
2022 - Europe reissue, standard black vinyl, Foundation Music/BMG 538711481  <- this copy
2022 - Europe 2xLP Deluxe reissue with bonus remixes, 538830160/BMGLP83016
2022 - Russia, unofficial release, 538709402 - no documented sale found for this variant

This Pressing

Standard black-vinyl trade pressing - Foundation Music/BMG 538711481, manufactured in Germany; the label code dates it to the wide-release window rather than the earlier limited colour-vinyl runs of the same title.

The Album

Black Acid Soul is the debut album of Lady Blackbird, the reborn performing identity of Los Angeles singer Marley Munroe, who had spent years as a journeyman vocalist under other names before producer Chris Seefried helped her recast herself in the mold of the great jazz-soul divas. Recorded largely live with a small combo, the record strips soul, jazz and blues down to voice, piano, double bass and brushed drums, placing Munroe's huge, weathered, Nina Simone-evoking instrument at the absolute center. The set leans on daring reinterpretation: Simone's civil-rights standard "Blackbird" opens as a statement of purpose, Irma Thomas's "Ruler Of My Heart" becomes a slow-burn showcase, and Tim Hardin's "It'll Never Happen Again" closes the cycle with devastating restraint, sitting alongside originals including the title track co-written with Seefried. Trombone Shorty contributes a trumpet cameo on the gospel-tinged "Nobody's Sweetheart," underlining the record's New Orleans soul undercurrent. Critical reception was enthusiastic on both sides of the Atlantic, with writers singling out Munroe's ability to sound simultaneously ancient and new, and the album quickly established Lady Blackbird as a major jazz-club and festival draw. It taps directly into the lineage of Simone, Billie Holiday and Esther Phillips while remaining unmistakably contemporary in its stark, minimalist production.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Blackbird
2. It's Not That Easy
3. Fix It
4. Ruler Of My Heart
5. Nobody's Sweetheart

Side 2

1. Collage
2. Five Feet Tall
3. Lost And Looking
4. It'll Never Happen Again
5. Beware The Stranger
6. Black Acid Soul

The Label

The labels are flat (no deep groove) matte black discs with the stacked white wordmark - "BLACK ACID SOUL" on Side A, "LADY BLACKBIRD" on Side B - Foundation and BMG logos at the base, and rim text reading "Manufactured in Germany, GEMA/BIEM" with the label code LC19813 and the barcode printed around the perimeter. Foundation Music Productions licensed the album to BMG Rights Management (UK) for European manufacture at Optimal Media, and the label code places this pressing no earlier than 1977 - not a meaningful constraint here since the record is a 2021/2022-era release in any case. This exact catalogue-numbered, printed-runout configuration corresponds to the wide-retail black-vinyl pressing that followed the initial limited colour-vinyl runs, distinguishing it from the etched FM0008 matrix found on those Bandcamp/Rough Trade exclusives.

Fidelity

Mastered by Bernie Grundman from Seth Atkins Horan's mixes, a high-end credit for an independent soul-jazz release whose spare voice-and-piano production plays to Grundman's strengths in warmth and midrange clarity. All vinyl variants of this title, black and coloured alike, share this same master, so the sonic signature is consistent across the family; the caveat collectors raise is pressing consistency rather than mastering, with surface noise and occasional warps reported from copy to copy regardless of colourway. No audiophile-tier reissue exists for this title, so the Grundman-mastered LP, in whichever colourway, remains the top vinyl tier currently available.

Notes

Europe stereo LP, Foundation Music/BMG 538711481, standard black-vinyl trade pressing. Flat (non-deep-groove) matte black labels with the stacked wordmark, rim text reading "Manufactured in Germany, GEMA/BIEM" with label code LC19813, and a runout carrying the printed catalogue number rather than the etched FM0008 matrix found on the 500-copy limited colour editions. This configuration corresponds to the retail reissue pressing that followed the initial limited-edition colour vinyl, not an original first-run copy. No club, promo or deluxe-edition markers are present.

Documenting collections

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