ORIGINAL '70s FIRST PRESS       ..|/\|...............................................|/\|..                          
               

                 BOXER

            Below The Belt

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                  UK - (Colored, twin girls) -Virgin Records - V 2409

 

RARE... TOP COPY ~~ FINAL COLLECTION ((MINTY)) COLLECTIBLE

BLACK inner (original) inner sleeve

SCARCE original British 1975 first pressing of the legendary uncensored laminated gatefold cover that was re-called and covered up in precise locations, and of course the USA version had a completely different (terrible) group cover...So, this copy is special, being one of the few survivors of the first pressing that 'got out' but as well, this one is minty clean all over...

Boxer looked real good when the band got first together. The extraordinary duo of Mike Patto and Ollie Halsall, leather lungs and flying guitar fingers matched up in two seasoned teammates, should bode good things for any band. With the added strength of Tony Newman (whose drum credits include Beck, Bowie and, last but least, May Blitz) and Keith Ellis (who goes back with Van der Graaf Generator and way back with the Koobas), the advance word held out the promise of this years brightest new hope. Come the LP, and it still looks good. In fact, the rare British first pressing album cover, replete with an extremely nude young lady, looks very good. Then the music begins...and it rocks hard, features some spiffing guitar seizures from Ollie and mucho hollering in the proper key from Patto.

"Below The Belt" established that Boxer would be a straight-ahead rock band. Ollie and Mike were writing together again, but the new music did not hark back to the days of Patto (you may notice that "Shooting Star" has a chord progression that was also used in "Time To Die" on Patto's first album, though).

According to the host for the BBC session the band did prior to the album's release, it was originally going to be titled "Round 1" or "Round One".

Their first album was produced and engineered by Richard Digby-Smith, an engineer for Patto's "Hold Your Fire" and "Roll 'Em Smoke 'Em..." albums. Overall, the production gives the band a good, full sound -- all of the band's members are great players and for the guitar fans, there is plenty of great guitar from Ollie. The slide work in "California Calling", the tasteful solo in "More Than Meets The Eye", the volume/echo bits in "Gonna Work Out Fine", and Ollie singing along with his guitar on "Save Me" are a few of the moments that come to mind

The album contains some great tunes. "California Calling", "More Than Meets The Eye", "Waiting For A Miracle", and "Save Me" are fan favorites. "Waiting For A Miracle" is a great remake of Ollie's tune from the Tempest "Living In Fear" album (1974). "Town Drunk" is a slow, bluesy tune that features a great vocal from Mike..

The album cover received quite a bit of attention, featuring a model named Stephanie Mariann. This British only cover design has the famous full-frontal nude photo on the back cover, which caused the jacket to be banned. The cover was redone covering her lower private bits with a Boxer logo. This original uncensored cover is seldom seen. Of course, in the United States, they wouldn't allow nudity to be shown, so they completely re-designed the cover using the band photo from the inside of the UK gatefold cover.

                      

SIDE A

SIDE B

SHOOTING STAR (Patto/Halsall)

WAITING FOR A MIRACLE (Halsall)

ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD(Halsall)

LOONI ALI (Patto/Halsall)

CALIFORNIA CALLING (Patto/Halsall)

SAVE ME (Patto)

HIP KISS (Patto/Halsall/Ellis/Newman)

GONNA WORK OUT FINE(Patto/Halsall)

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE (Patto)

TOWN DRUNK (Stamp/Avery)

 

CONDITION: The cover: stiff and solid, UK laminated press; rated: M- still has fresh original colors, no delete marks, no split seams, no bends, and no writing  ... NICE collection worthy rarity ... old import sticker on front cover (removable if desired)

The vinyl:  loads of shine...rated: M- TOPS! ...will play clean ...has clean  UK-Virgin labels

        A cool addition to anyone's music library!






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