Sold Date:
May 1, 2018
Start Date:
May 1, 2018
Final Price:
$49.93
(USD)
Seller Feedback:
2956
Buyer Feedback:
64
New, Still sealed!
Format: 2 x LP
Label: Run Out Groove
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
James Thomas Ramey, better known by his stage name Baby Huey (taken from
the Paramount Pictures animated giant cartoon duckling) was born in
Richmond, Indiana and moved to Chicago in the early '60s to front his
band The Babysitters with co-founders Melvin Deacon Jones on trumpet and
Johnny Ross on guitar. By the time they recorded The Living Legend,
only Huey and Jones remained (Deacon Jones would go on to play with
Freddie King and John Lee Hooker). Because of a glandular disorder, Huey
weighed close to 400 pounds at times, contributing to his "larger than
life" stage presence, but also to a host of health issues. During the
later '60s, The Babysitters followed Sly and the Family Stone's lead and
became a psychedelic soul act, with Huey adding rhymes to their stage
act. Curtis Mayfield, tipped off by Donny Hathaway, came to check them
out and they were in the midst of recording The Living Legend for his
label when Huey died in a hotel room, just a few weeks after Jimi
Hendrix. It became a posthumous release. Fast forward a few years to
Kool Herc (one of the original hip-hop DJs, who began to spin two copies
of "Listen To Me" at the same time---starting the Baby Huey cult, and
leading to "Hard Times" being sampled by the likes of A Tribe Called
Quest and Ice Cube. The lacquers for this RSD 2018 release were cut
directly from the analog tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman
Mastering, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Industry. It comes in a
tip-on Stoughton jacket and includes a bonus LP of unreleased
instrumentals making their vinyl debut.
SIDE A: "Listen To Me",
"Mama Get Yourself Together", "A Change Is Going To Come" SIDE B:
"Mighty, Mighty", "Hard Times", "California Dreaming", "Running" "One
Dragon, Two Dragon" SIDE C: "Little Linda Turn On"*, "Running"*, "Hard
Times"*, "You Make Me So Very Happy"* SIDE D: "Mama Get Yourself
Together"*, "Turn On To Me"*, "Mighty, Mighty"*, "Aquarius"*
*Unreleased Instrumental