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

Carey Bell's Blues Harp Band / Magic Slim And The Teardrops / Johnny "Big Moose" Walker

Living Chicago Blues Volume 2

1978  ·  Alligator Records AL 7702  ·  Stereo  ·  US  ·  LP, Compilation · 33 1/3 RPM

Carey Bell's Blues Harp Band / Magic Slim And The Teardrops / Johnny "Big Moose" Walker - Living Chicago Blues Volume 2: Front Cover
Back Cover Side 1 Label Side 1 Vinyl Side 2 Label Side 2 Vinyl Side 1 Matrix Runout A1 Side 1 Matrix Runout A2 Side 2 Matrix Runout B1 Side 2 Matrix Runout B2

Pressing details

LabelAlligator Records
Catalogue numberAL 7702
Year1978
Mono / StereoStereo
CountryUS
FormatLP, Compilation
Speed33 1/3 RPM
GenreBlues - Chicago Blues
ProducerBruce Iglauer, Richard McLeese
MusiciansCarey Bell (harmonica, vocals), Lurrie Bell (guitar), Bob Riedy (piano), Aron Burton (bass), Odie Payne, Jr. (drums) - tracks A1-A4; Morris "Magic Slim" Holt (guitar, vocals), Coleman "Daddy Rabbit" Pettis (guitar), Nick Holt (bass), Joel Poston (drums) - tracks A5-B2; Johnny Walker (piano, vocals), Louis Myers (guitar), Bob Stroger (bass), Chris Moss (drums) - tracks B3-B6

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  AL-7702A ANVIL
Side B:  AL-7702B ANVIL

Condition

Cover
NM-
Vinyl
NM-

Variant chronology

1978 - US Alligator Records AL 7702, stereo, grey label with alligator logo (pressing-plant stamp in the runout varies between copies; no separate label design is known for this number)  <- this copy
1978 - UK Sonet SNTF 785, stereo
1978 - France Sonet ST. 8544 / B. ST. 9544, stereo
1978 - Italy Sonet SNTL 2785
1979 - Spain Discophon J-4449
1981 - Japan Alligator Records LA23-3008
1983 - Yugoslavia PGP RTB, catalogued as SNTF 785, stereo
1988 - France Sonet reissue 70625/50625
1991 - US Alligator Records ALCD 7702 (compact disc reissue)
2006 - US Alligator Records ALCD 7702 (compact disc reissue)

This Pressing

1978 US stereo pressing - flat grey alligator-logo label, AL 7702; runout stamped ANVIL with no date etch, differing from the dated 1980 ALT-stamped runout seen on other copies of this number, but its own place in the pressing sequence is not fixed by the label alone.

The Album

This volume is the second installment of a landmark series that set out to document the working, unsung players of Chicago's blues clubs rather than the genre's established stars, pairing three separate acts on a single LP. Carey Bell, a harmonica player steeped in the Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson lineage, leads a quartet featuring his son Lurrie Bell on guitar, giving an early glimpse of a next-generation talent who would go on to a long career of his own. Magic Slim and the Teardrops represent the raw, hard-driving West Side bar-band sound that Slim carried from Mississippi through decades of nightly Chicago gigs, built around his and his brother's rhythm section. Johnny

Tracklist

Side 1

CAREY BELL'S BLUES HARP BAND
1. Too Late
2. Laundromat Blues
3. One Day
4. Woman In Trouble

MAGIC SLIM AND THE TEARDROPS
1. Stranded On The Highway
2. Dirty Mother For You

Side 2

MAGIC SLIM AND THE TEARDROPS
3. Spider In My Stew
4. Don't Say That No More

JOHNNY "BIG MOOSE" WALKER
1. Would You, Baby
2. Worry, Worry
3. Sunnyland Blues
4. Cry, Cry Darling

The Label

The label on both sides is a flat label: a grey/silver field with a single alligator logo at the bottom, the series title "LIVING CHICAGO BLUES" arcing around the rim, the side letter and catalogue number AL 7702 at left, and the artist names and track titles printed directly on the label face. The label carries no street address or rim legal text, and this grey alligator-logo design is the one design used on the US Alligator pressing of this title, so it does not rank as an earlier or later design against another. The runout on this copy is stamped ANVIL with no date etch; copies of this catalogue number stamped ALT with an etched date of 11-6-80 - two years after the album's 1978 issue - belong to a repress run, and the undated ANVIL stamp alone does not place this copy before or after that run.

Fidelity

This is a standard commercial late-1970s Alligator Records pressing, cut for wide trade distribution rather than as an audiophile product, with no mastering engineer separately credited on the jacket or label. Collectors generally rate the series for the immediacy and rawness of its performances rather than studio polish, and no audiophile reissue of this particular volume exists to compare against. As the sole vinyl edition of this title pressed in its country of origin, this pressing stands as the primary listening source for the album.

Notes

1978 Alligator Records AL 7702 stereo compilation, the second volume of the label's Living Chicago Blues series. The grey alligator-logo label carries the full track listing printed on its face, matching the catalogue number, with no second label design documented for this title to rank it against. The deadwax is stamped ANVIL with no accompanying date etch, differing from the Allentown-stamped, date-etched runout recorded for other copies bearing this same catalogue number, which points to a separate manufacturing run of the same 1978 issue. Both the jacket and the vinyl are graded NM-.

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