Sold Date: November 14, 2016
Start Date: November 7, 2016
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"PENTHOUSE PAUPER" (John Fogerty, 1970)

Now, if I was a bricklayer,
I wouldn't build just anything,
And if I was a ball player,
I wouldn't play no second string.
And if I were some jewelry, baby,
Lord, I'd have to be a diamond ring.

If I were a secret, lord, I never would be told,
If I were a jug of wine, lord, my flavor would be old.
I could be most anything,
But it's got to be twenty four karat solid gold.

If I were a gambler, you know I'd never lose,
And if I were a guitar player,
Lord, I'd have to play the blues.

If I was a hacksaw, my blade would be razor sharp,
If I were a politician, I could prove that monkeys talk.
You can find the tallest building,
Lord, I'd have me the house on top.

I'm the penthouse pauper,
I got nothing to my name.
I'm the penthouse pauper baby,
I got nothing to my name.
I can be most anything,
'Cause when you got nothing, it's all the same.

Oh, lets move to this song!
Lord, look at my penthouse."
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: "Bayou Country" LP. THIS IS THE MARCH,1973 UK PRESSING ON THE 
  TEXTURED DARK BROWN, ORANGE AND WHITE 'FANTASY' LABEL.  THE  RARE FIRST UK PRESSING WAS ISSUED 
  ON THE BLUE LIBERTY LABEL IN THE UK, 1st MAY, 1970. IN MARCH,1973 THE UK UNIFIED WITH THE AMERICAN
  ORIGINAL LABEL, FROM THERE ON REGARDLESS OF THE DIFFERENT LABEL DESIGNS, ALL CREEDENCE ALBUMS
  WERE  ISSUED HERE ON THE  'FANTASY' LABEL.
Earlier this year I have finally located a very first pressing of "Bayou Country" on the blue design Liberty label, the previous
  copy I  sold one on ebay was in 2004, that is how rare a Mint first pressing is.   1970 was a rather long time ago and with only
 five months left for the blue labels in 1970, I'm delighted to be able to offer this unplayed, true Mint, March,1973 UK pressing.
  the mastering and pressing, with 'Garrod & Lofthouse' providing the covers.  I recently sold their self titled debut album with a
  'Factory Sample' sticker, which explained why it was never played.  Then unplayed "Green River" that did not have the same
  stickers, the unsold status had to also be connected to records retained by EMI.  As detailed above, March,1973 was still close to
  the late 1969, even more so for this last of the small collection, the UK 1970 release of "Bayou Country" was only three years 
  before this very rare Mint first Fantasy label pressing.  As seen by the transitional stamped indexing in the run-out grooves,
  all 1960's Liberty labels had blue background's and that continued until September, 1970, then the black labels were introduced.
  May, 1972, the final Creedence album was "Mardi Gras," in the UK first pressings were no longer on the Liberty label, that final
album was on the brown, orange & white Fantasy label.....for the first time.  Only ten 10 months later, this 1973 "Bayou Country"
was pressed on the same label, as it was pressed by EMI, the cover and label text can easily placed as originating in March,1973.
So few copies were made of the Liberty pressings and only three years had passed since the first issues, EMI still had the mothers
or metal stamping discs as the source, the original maitrix was neatly crossed out with a single line and the first ever Fantasy
label pressing was re-stamped on this record.  A stunning unplayed 43 year old record, the real beauty of that is EMI used their
finest vinyl, just as heavyweight and deep grooved as the rare blue 1969 Liberty label pressings, there is still one other major*
rarity and why it was left unplayed for all those years.  That meant EMI created 100% directly connected pressings made from an
original / first edition with identical details like the initial still present in this record's run-out grooves, becomes the correct and only term
for such a direct connection, this is a transitional record with the precise sound, power and Stereo mix of the 1970 mastering.
A much abused word on ebay, but I personally love Creedence's records and the very special Master Tape sound I grew used  
to right from their first UK released records. There is no difference between the very special sound / stereo mix on the Liberty  
label records and these March,1973 first Fantasy label pressings, hence the May,1972 first pressings of "Mardi Gras" reference.
To actually give the finest possible comparison, in the same March,1973, the very first UK EMI pressing of Pink Floyd's legendary
"Dark Side Of The Moon" was pressed on exactly the same deluxe quality and density vinyl.
 
1969 - 1970 UK pressings came at you so fast it was unbelievable, putting a great strain on being able to afford to to buy them,
 not the band's fault, just the ridiculous record company policy, EMI were just tidying up the mess in '73, from their debut LP.
To explain that comment, Creedence were no longer together and although still a high profile band, interest was fast diminishing.
I have very recently documented that and although I find repetition tedious, Creedence's story is always fascinating to recount.
The debut first pressing was in December,1969 on the blue Liberty label, the actual release date was the 7th January, 1970 and
the labels of first pressings alone contain a correct date, I will give full details later, this is a summary of Liberty labels.
immediately after a few initial first pressings. The final blue Liberty label UK pressing  was of the "Cosmos Factory" LP's, then
the black label pressings of "Cosmos Factory" became part of the album's chart residency, it was around this time all preceding
Creedence albums were also pressed and issued on the black label, so were the 1970 second pressings of  the "Bayou Country" LP.
   Accurately dating any British record made during 1970 is simple enough, by using  the maitrix number configuration I will give
below.  Now this becomes very interesting,  Polydor normally pressed Liberty's records, but so did EMI, CBS and Pye, the blue
  label first pressings of "Bayou Country"were made by Phillips and also Polydor, but the black label second pressing  was made
  by EMI, hence the original mothers of metal stamping discs that only very had light use.


EMI TEXTURED DARK BROWN, ORANGE & WHITE FANTASY LABEL: FT 507

THE LABEL RIMS HAVE 'The Gramophone Co. Ltd.' AND NOT 'EMI Records Ltd'.
 
  "Made In Gt. Britain" IS PRINTED AT 6 O'CLOCK.

Both label texts were changed at the end of March,1973, the cover itself contains further confirmation of when was it was printed
and the record pressed, via an encoded date for the year and that even includes the actual month.
 
FANTASY MAITRIX:  FT 507  A - 2 /   FT 504  B - 2  (The very first Fantasy pressing in March, 1973, please see the pictures.)

LIBERTY MAITRIX:  LBS 83261   A - 2   /   LBS 3261 B - 2  
 (Crossed out EMI / Liberty first pressing,1970 -1972)

  EMI STAMPING CODES:  GA 1 /  GD 2
The letters and digits were stamped at 3 o'clock, that was rare but I have seen that before when only a really low number of
records were pressed and only one mother was prepared, in March ,1973 that was most certainly the case for this first 'Fantasy'
  label pressing of the recently sold "Green River" and this "Bayou Country."  Once again EMI also pressed this very first Fantasy
  record as a direct continuation of the Liberty label pressings, after all only 12 months had passed since then!


  ORIGINAL 1973  EMI / FANTASY WHITE INNER SLEEVE, WITH RECORD CARE INSTRUCTIONS, AS FOUND ON OTHER
EMI ARTIST'S ALBUMS.  SUCH AS THE BEATLES, DEEP PURPLE  AND PINK FLOYD TO NAME RATHER WELL KNOWN
ARTISTS, WHO's RECORDS ARE LEGENDARY FOR THE MASTERING AND PRESSING RECORDS IN 1973.
Unused with only a light record impression and related light creases and some natural ageing to the textured white paper..
I CANNOT INCLUDE AGEING AFTER 43 YEARS,THE INNER SLEVE IS IN NEAR MINT CONDITION.


1973  FIRST ISSUE PRINTED, 'Fantasy' COVER,  BY 'Garrod & Lofthouse', THE BACK CENTRE BOTOM EDGE HAS
THIS MANUFACTURING DATE:
7303 = March, 1973
'Garrod & Lofthouse' were producing several laminated covers in the 1970's for EMI,  it would be really hard to tell this from the
1970 Liberty record covers because the front and back were laminated.  In 1970, only the very first pressing had fully laminated
covers, the back was left matt on the majority, so this was a return to the deluxe finish.  As an unplayed record, this is exceptional
but naturally there has to be standing in storage entering the equation, a record impression and related laminated edge lines and
contour ripples, but only the most minimal standing traits of the early 1970's.
   Here I go again, an unplayed major Creedence album and of course such a heavyweight 1973 record had to have some impact on the
  cover.  This is not the usual heavy use of a multiple played record and it all centres around the record's internal position of a very
  tight and compact cover.  Please see how slim this was made by viewing my close up picture of the spine's centre with the title
  and artist, a spine so thin the tiny lettering only just fitted, however, unused this spine's titles printing is near perfect .
 
  The stunning psychedelic front and back artwork has unfaded and deeply toned colours under the deluxe thick, glossy lamination,
a positive record impression accompanies all the 1970 -1973 covers, nothing major but I always include natural events for covers.
So a few related laminate edge lines, mostly on the spine's side and some small, minor laminate crinkles, not too pronounced but
  there and absolutely minimal, anything else is directly connected to holding the unplayed record while standing in storage for
all those decades, all the edges, corners and spine are in near perfect condition.  The rather long artist name and album title's
  lettering on the spine is in remarkable condition and can be seen in the above pictures, I tend to over fuss!  How do you grade
a cover holding an unplayed record for those 46 years with standing in storage traits only?  Something like this is my opinion;
THE COVER IS IN UNUSED, EXCELLENT+++ / NEAR MINT- CONDITION.
 

THE RECORD WAS NEVER PLAYED, AS SEEN ON THE GLEAMING UNMARKED VINYL AND NO SPINDLE TRACES ON
EITHER SIDE'S TEXTURED LABEL CENTRES.  IMMACULATE LABELS,  WITHOUT VINYL SHAVINGS IN A THE SPINDLE
HOLE, I CAN VERY CAREFULLY PLAY THE RECORD AND WRITE A FULL TRACK BY TRACK DESCRIPTION.
After doing the same for the mentioned self titled Creedence debut and "Green River",  I can't wait to hear to hear the 1973 EMI
mastering and  pressing.   In fact, the few copies pressed for the first Fantasy issues, there are more Liberty copies around,
but the condition is equally poor from 1970 and 1973!   I can never stress the connection of the late 1960's to the early 1970's,
nothing had changed at all to the records, only the covers were affected from holding such heavyweight records for all those
THE ULTRA GLOSSY RECORD ALSO HAS THE FANTASTIC APPEARANCE OF JUST PRESSED VINYL.
  THE RECORD IS IN UNPLAYED MINT CONDITION

SIDE 1
"Born On The Bayou"
  "Bootleg"
  "Graveyard Train"  
 
  SIDE 2
  "Good Golly Miss Molly" (Robert Blackwell / John Marascalco)
"Penthouse Pauper"
"Proud Mary"
  "Keep On Chooglin' "


John Fogerty - lead guitar, lead vocals & harmonica
Tom Fogerty - rhythm guitar & backing vocals
Doug Clifford - drums & bass
Stu Cook - bass & drums
 
All Songs Written By John Fogerty Except; "Good Golly Miss Molly" (Robert Blackwell / John Marascalco)
Recorded At RCA Studios, Los Angeles, California, 1969
  Produced By John Fogerty
Only selling Creedence albums in Nr.Mint / Mint has been a habit I have never broken, the only trouble with that is how rare they
  have become now, I mentioned "Cosmos Factory" was current to the first black Liberty label "Bayou Country, it became a No.1 huge
  seller.  So where are all the top condition first pressing or original "Cosmos Factory" LP's today?   Played excessively and long
ago replaced and when the few copies come up for sale, that observation is confirmed and so their albums that sold moderately
are rarer. As I said the last time I sold a 1970 "Bayou Country" was 12 years ago, very frustrating, because this is my personal
  favourite Creedence album.  I'm delighted to offer the early 1970's pressings in Mint condition, but thrilled to now have on my
turntable, an absolutely stunning first Fantasy label first pressing of the awesome,"Bayou Country."   Their previous albums in
1970 were well received here, the 24th January "Green River" made No.20, the 28th March "Willy & The Poor Boys" made No.10.
  Overkill by the record companies or not, no less than five Creedence Clearwater singles had very healthy sales in 1970 but not
even the Beatles released three albums in a four month period.  No question Creedence had the talent to write and perform at an
unbelievable peak of creativity, but something had to give when only four weeks later "Bayou Country" was released!  The crazy
thing this time, "Willy & The Poor Boys" was still a current top selling and charting album!  By spending 24 weeks in the charts,
"Willy & The Poor Boys" was still there right up to the September,1970 release of "Bayou Country."   Little wonder all that had a
negative effect in May '70, the failure of "Bayou Country" was not a reflection on the fantastic music, it thoroughly deserved to
be as successful as the two previous albums. Just writing that and discussing releasing a third album a few weeks later was just
absurd and fans were reeling with the funds needed to keep up, "Bayou Country" only reached No.64 in May,1970 and only lasted
in the charts for seven days!  That lowly position was so brief, blink and you missed it, then even more amazingly, Liberty went
and released a fourth album the second "Willy & The Poor Boys" left the charts in September of the same 1970.  As mentioned,
the biggest selling band on the planet could not sustain high record sales for four albums and five singles released in the same
year, the Beatles also had the talent to write and record that amount but even they would have suffered failures for one of four
LP's, the remarkable twist to this story has be how in September,"Cosmos Factory" went to No.1 and that alone is the biggest
testimony to the exceptional music Creedence Clearwater recorded, the 'Revival' part of their name was certainly lived up to!

The fate of so many true great albums that sell poorly, seem to follow the same pattern because I am constantly writing about
later pressings also failing to sell, regardless of the artists with a high status. Which indeed happened, "Bayou Country" never
made a British chart re-entry and not only are the very first pressing blue Liberty extremely rare, so are the late 1970 black label
pressings, and now the 1973 first UK Fantasy pressings on the initial brown label. Providing that pair of following early 1970's
 pressings are in Near Mint / Mint condition, they are absolutely stunning records and perfectly represent the Master Tapes, I am
writing as a long term fan who has sampled all the pressings and my personal opinion is based on a love of the fantastic sound
I first knew in May,1970.  Besides, had it charted in proportion to their other albums, it would have still been in the charts when
the black labels were first introduced, that is something that cannot be ignored.  Ironically, Creedence front covers did no more
than place portraits of the band on the covers in the same fashion used in the first half of the 1960's decade, the only exception
being the final album, "Mardi Gras," but by then Tom Fogerty  had left them as a trio.  Of all their covers, "Bayou Country" had a
simply staggering front cover, that alone should have been a good enough reason to pick up a copy in a record shop in May,1970.
  The front's truly amazing psychedelic artwork is just as stunning as any of the preceding late 60's covers, the impact of that is
there to see in my pictures.

Enough pressing and chart facts, I'm itching to start my turntable and lower the stylus, I have yet to hear this superb unplayed
Mint 1973 record, amazingly this is 43 years old now and that's reason enough to be thrilled to offer such ultimate condition.
No way does an EMI pressing of "Bayou Country" pass through my hands without hearing it, the textured Fantasy  labels are in
immaculate, unblemished condition, no spindle traces was true for all the trio of Creedence albums I bought together recently.
  A really  beautiful gleaming record, so just one undetectable play with a briefish description.  Static and vinyl go hand in hand,
  but unworn records can only improve with successive plays, Mint records often require several plays to remove the static created
  by the pressing procedure....on the other hand I might find nothing at all on this record, EMI pressings were among the world's
  finest, if not the best in the world, especially during in the troubled 1970's decade.
 

Side 1 has light static in the run-in grooves, to be expected after being unplayed in an amazing 43 years,now a really staggering
impact and audio clarity, opening up with an enticing psychedelic drone initial intro.  Exploding with all the extremely powerful
  sounds of the track that inspired the album's title,"Born On The Bayou", the sound quality is simply stunning!  EMI's pressings
  were indeed awesome because their mastering squeezed every decibel from the master tapes, these are very deep grooves and
  handling it with consummate ease, worn means distortion becomes painful listening.  From Mint vinyl the sound is sensational for
  the gradually faded up psychedelic drone sound, building up very slowly, absolute minimal pressing related static even during
  that completely exposed to noise opening section.  The heavy stinging guitars begin the fantastic melodic notes of the main intro
  with Tom's rhythm guitar panned entirely from the left channel with part of the percussion, from the right speaker, the lead
  and the bass guitar are with the rest of the percussion.  John Fogerty's blistering vocals are equally spread across both of the
  channels, this is the total channel separation of true stereo, 1960's style and the very sound of a first generation Master Tape
  pressing.  I often write how late 60's stereo has a uniqueness that became lost during the last decades,  the music back then
  was mixed into purely sensory panning to have the greatest impact on the listener, this was recorded and mixed in 1969 and it's
  rare writing that for a UK first pressing, astounding sound!  Mono had set amazing audio standards, but a stereo mix still had
  to create that same impact, re-centralising the individual parts of the tracks lessened and diluted the music's amazing impact.
   It only happened because  artists no longer had control over the sound engineers remastering from the precious original Master
  Tapes, to hear how they intended the tracks to sound, only the original pressings represent that.  The effect with this stunning
  audio and colossal power, is quite an experience!  Creedence's music should always be heard in this fantastic mastering with
  the colossal level of volume cut into this record.  Even this loud, I still keep my volume set very high to check for distortion,
  there is none at all from the totally unworn 1970 grooves, so you can listen to John Fogerty's full bloodied vocals in perfect
  audio clarity.  There were no added on studio effects after that droning sound, Creedence just played their instruments with
  a refreshing honesty, they simply gave everything they had and held nothing back, that may well sound simple but the results
  are pure dynamite!  The driving, relentless percussion pushes the rhythm extremely hard, this has fantastic sharpness, giving
  a mean cutting edge to the instruments and the devastating lead vocals.  A near silent gap, so good to hear that great acoustic
  guitar intro for "Bootleg" beginning without any of the usual crackles, clicks or  irritations and continuing to play without any
  needle, background or surface sound.  The stereo mix has Tom's acoustic rhythm guitar placed in the left channel, opposite it
  from the right is the lead electric guitar and it creates such a pulsating sound for my central  position.  A stunning track, with
  an inspiredly emphatic vocal delivered at full force, a really loud bass courtesy of Stu Cook and Doug Clifford's druming is in
  exceptionally sharp sound.  Whenever Creedence locked together into a blues rhythm such as this they were one of the tightest
  bands of all time. My most loved track now follows and the staggering "Graveyard Train" runs for eight and a half minutes, this
  really gives Creedence all the space to stretch out and play, for me, "Graveyard Train" remains as their definitive recording.
With such astounding musicianship and born with blues improvisational ability, this really is a truly electrifying performance!
A prowling, creeping, smouldering blues song with the music running on pure inspiration, right from the first seconds, you feel
an intensive dramatic tension, as taut as a wire.  I'm pleased to say during the first seconds the single electric guitar intro is
without any accompanying surface sound or even any static, the lead guitar is panned entirely from the left, leaving the right
speaker waiting for the first music signal /sound, then the drums kick in loudly and heavily.  They are the very points I check,
knowing every second of a track is so vital to sound grading, the exposed nature of the opening is commonly full of loud and
annoying crackles, but playing here exactly as only a Mint 1973 EMI pressed record can.  I cannot and will not say any record
  does not sound like a record, but I will examine up close anything I know not to belong on a record I am rather familiar with.
They sustain that dramatic tension, staying very tightly to the basic blues rhythm, what a vocal!  John Fogerty is just immense
  here,John's blues harmonica blowing is just as incredible as his stunning delivery of the brilliant lyrics is.  At times you would
swear this was Cream circa 1966 from the "Fresh Cream" album, I cannot think of any bigger compliment than that.  A song with
the 'down on the floor despair' you would expect from one of the original older blues giants, once again the stereo mix here was
a work of art, the vocals are in one speaker, then slowly drift over to the opposite side for a verse or so and then drifting back
again to the other channel. The sound quality from an  unworn record is as sharp as a knife, an immense recording in the ultimate
sound quality.
  

Side 2 also has wonderful smooth as silk, near silent run-in grooves, beginning with a really red hot version of the magnificent
Little Richard's,"Good Golly Miss Molly."  Few vocalists could live with the original, but this was a song custom made for John
Fogerty's blues soaked voice to wrap around, he just takes the song by the scruff of the neck and makes it his!  The backing is a
very long way from that original version, with superlative hard driving electric blues guitars and Doug Clifford demonstrating
what a talented drummer he is.  In loud and extremely powerful sound with pin point definition on every part of the track, I knew
this would be an audio feast and simply had to sample it, I will warn that is always providing of course the vinyl is still in this
amazingly pristine condition after 43 years!   A rather loud track but you can push your volume as high as you can handle and
there is still no distortion.  From a totally silent gap,"Penthouse Pauper" now drops the tempo down to slower r&b / blues, with
a stinging guitar solo from John.  His vocal is just as purely toned as the sound of his guitar, what a record!   The lyrics are
above in full, I wrote them without the track blasting out, I still think they will stand up perfectly in text, with this cutting line;
  "And if I were a guitar player, Lord, I'd have to play the blues", how could I choose anything else?  I was really tempted by the
lyrics on "Graveyard Train" though, back to the music, the track has parts when the other instruments drop back, leaving only
the drums and the vocal, there's no needle or surface sound there, just ultra sharp audio. This has a faded-out ending, into a
completely silent gap, giving absolutely perfectly clean pure clarity for those superb guitar chords, introducing the Creedence
classic of all time, the magnificent "Proud Mary".   Not only good to hear in such perfect sound quality, the original spaciously
wide stereo mix, has extra depth and an impact second to none. I still can't believe how this album failed so miserably to sell
in 1970, but perhaps my facts and figures go some way to understanding how normally, a well known and loved song like this
on an album, was more than enough reason to buy it for.  All that did happen a rather a long time ago now.  A truly inspired and
highly infectious melody with a backing that never strays too far from the same blues roots.  John Fogerty's vocals have a really
magical quality that is hard to define, with so many cover versions recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley & Tina Turner, I'm sure
it has been forgotten this song was indeed an original John Fogerty composition.  The fantastic "Keep On Chooglin' " finishes
Side 2 in a similar way to how the sheer intensity of "Graveyard Train" gave Side 1 such an awesome ending, it left you feeling
overwhelmed and breathless.  This is as tight a performance you can find on any album, an incredible 8:40 minutes length track
with some scintillating blues harmonica and doubled up electric guitars, being propelled along by the outstanding drums and bass
guitar.  Once again I can only make direct comparisons to Cream, I would never usually compare any band with one of my most
collected artists, but the storm Creedence created here from a purely blues base, is just as potent blues rock as Cream's music.
  When John's incredible harmonica takes off, Jack Bruce certainly does come to mind!  The standard of their musicianship on this
track is off the scale for inspiration, the guitar playing is just stunning, for the vocals, well, they just don't get any better
than this staggering John Fogerty performance!  The stereo panning effects are as mind blowing as the sound quality, if anyone
reading this yet to experienced this sensational track, do not be put off by the tame sounding title, "Keep On Chooglin' ", this is
  is a band on fire, truly amazing stuff!  The audio on this record has been sheer perfection on every second.
   {Roy}