George McCurn: Country Boy Goes To Town

[Rudy]

Last week, I scored a very nice copy of this rare album, A&M's second: Geroge McCurn, Country Boy Goes To Town, SP102. The vinyl needs another trip through the vacuum, but it looks almost unplayed. I grabbed some scans of this LP as I received it. Note that this is on the original light tan backgroud/brown text A&M label, with the logo at the "high noon" position. (Anyone know if this one was ever reissued on the later ochre label?)

Anyhoo, here's a bit of a gallery display of all of the album, including blowups of some of the rear cover photos. Enjoy!

 

[Rudy]

The front cover of Country Boy Goes To Town.
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[Rudy]

The rear of the jacket. Note the interesting attempt at an early
logo, mimicking a 45RPM single and a sleeve.
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[Rudy]

George McCurn and Jerry Moss (rear); Shorty Rogers and Herb Alpert (front).
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[Rudy]

George McCurn.
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[Rudy]

Shorty Rogers, Herb Alpert and George McCurn in the studio.
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[Rudy]

The liner notes from the LP jacket...a mini-bio of McCurn.
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[Rudy]

The LP labels! Note the unique number variation here: "SLP-102".
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[Harry]

(Anyone know if this one was ever reissued on the later ochre label?)

If what I've read here is true, then I don't think so. Didn't we decide that this album was A&M's first cutout? It didn't survive very far into A&M's run of albums, so I find it unlikely that any re-pressings occurred on the ochre label. But I sure could be wrong. My copy has the same layout as yours.

Harry
...who needs to do a needle drop on this one, online...

 

[Rudy]

Yeah, it was barely a blip on the radar...you rarely see it on any other A&M album jackets, and it never made it to an innersleeve as far as I know.

 

[LPJim]

"Country Boy" had decent success as a single but that was the only one.. Several more 45s came out, many with tracks not featured on the album.
I think McCurn and Dave Lewis' albums were popular in their regions but hard to find elsewhere. I never saw either in the LP racks, and it wasn't until bidding successfully in "Goldmine" and "Discoveries" auctions that I owned copies.
They were not expensive (apx. $5 plus postage each), indicating while they were rare in my neck of the woods they were plentiful elsewhere, particularly SP 105 in the Pacific Northwest.
JB

 

[Rudy]

I have seen other copies listed out there, but these days they seem to be mostly in shabby condition. This one looks just about unplayed--not even any spindle marks on the label, and there's no evidence of groove wear on my turntable. Same with SP105--I see some listed on GEMM, but they are either mono or in bad condition. I already have a mono copy in bad condition, thanks...I'm waiting for that clean, rare stereo copy to unearth itself. As popular as other A&M LPs were, I don't mind paying a little extra for these two titles.

 

[Rudy]

Sound clip here.

 

[daveK]

Wow! That's great to have so much information about this elusive album. I've never seen a copy anywhere! Great soundclip. Reminds me of Gene McDaniels. Why do you suppose this album was rarely advertised on the back covers or inner sleeves of other A&M albums? They always showed A&M 101, 103, 104, etc. but seemed to just about always skip 102. I've only seen Dave Lewis' album one place. A local Half-Price Books has a copy, but are very proud of it. I can't bring myself to pay their asking price. It's not half!

 

[Andrew T.]

I think I found something not one of us has in our CD collections. Unfortunately, it does not exist, but I did have fun making it.
What do you think?

 

[Harry]

Looks good Andrew. Did you actually make the CD, or were you just playing with the artwork?

Harry
NP: Beatles Let It Be...Naked (advance broadcast version)

 

[Rudy]

I'm still on the hunt for a clean Dave Lewis SP105. This McCurn LP I have is in amazingly good condition...it looks and plays like it was rarely, if ever, played. No spindle marks on the label...a good sign it wasn't abused.

Given the talent on this LP, it surprises me that they didn't try to push it more. By the time it was recorded, Shorty Rogers was already a high profile figure in west coast jazz for at least a decade. A couple of the tracks practically have his sound to them. (Could that be Pete Jolly on piano?) Other slower songs almost have a Ray Charles character to them, especially the track I posted. Given that, many of the songs are secular/religious in theme, and that didn't exactly make the album an easy sell IMHO. Plus, no hit singles. "The Lonely Bull" was an awfully good debut for a brand new label...hard to follow up.

Interesting when I cleaned this album up in the computer--the channel balance was off by about 3 decibels.

 

[Andrew T.]

Did you actually make the CD, or were you just playing with the artwork?

To tell the truth, I was just playing around with the artwork. I probably could make a real one if my printer wasn't a piece of junk, however. I was kind of impressed with the way it turned out myself...got to love that "Audio Master Plus Series" logo on the back!

NP: "One More Time for the Poor Man" by George McCurn

 

[Rudy]

Well, hey, if anyone's made a CD of it, I think I still have the high-res scans that I made. It should print out nice at 600dpi or even 1200dpi. Photoshop, TIFF or high quality JPG.

 

[Mr Bill]

I think I found something not one of us has in our CD collections. Unfortunately, it does not exist, but I did have fun making it.
What do you think?

Wow! That looks swell. Now if it only had the non-LP single tracks (and the actual A&M UPC #s) it would be a "must-have"!!!

I for one have long wanted to make my own CDs of the albums that NEVER got the CD treatment. I have always envisioned them coming out looking as good as your sample!

--Mr Bill

 

[Rudy]

It IS a rewarding "package" when you can get the audio into the computer, clean it up, put it onto CD, then make the rest of the artwork to make it look like a finished product. For most albums, I do two-fers if they fit; if I need to make a finished project later, I can pull the album from my "archive" two-fer CDs. The art isn't too difficult once you know the dimensions.

 

[Mr Bill]

Why do you suppose this album was rarely advertised on the back covers or inner sleeves of other A&M albums?

By the time those later albums (105 and on) came out 102 was already history. I AM kind of surprised it's not on the back of the first versions of 103. I don't own an original release of 104 to see if it appeared there or not...

--Mr Bill
wondering what a Dore Alpert or Kenjolairs album would have looked like...

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I wonder what might have happenned if A&M would have released this album after VOLUME 2 and the first Baja Marimba Band album. The cover art has almost exactly the same theme as THE LONELY BULL...George is sitting on a trunk, Herb was sitting on a chair...there were travel icons scattered about the cover shot, just as there were bullfight icons scattered about on THE LONELY BULL cover...they look the same to me. George McCurn was a great talent, but I wonder if he might have been marketed as an R&B Herb Alpert, which he really wasn't. If this album had been released after the TJB and BMB were established as GROUPS, then there might have been more of a place for a solo artist. It looks like Herb Alpert is the main marketing focus behind the Tijuana Brass, and he really was...the sound was so unique that George never had a chance to get out from under Herb's shadow. It's a shame, because the music is GOOD; and I kick myself again and again for not buying that copy I saw in the bargain bin at the supermarket back in the late '60's...I could have had this album for less than a buck.

But I think that A&M packaged George McCurn as an R&B Herb Alpert, maybe by default, and it just didn't work.


Dan

 

[Rudy]

It definitely didn't have much in the way of mainstream music on the album, which is why I think it didn't sell many copies. It certainly wasn't for a lack of effort either. Getting Shorty Rogers to work on it wasn't small potatoes! (Unless there's a slim chance Rogers wanted to record McCurn but couldn't find another label to support it.) I do think that if there were fewer secular songs, or none at all, it would have had a better chance. Maybe this would sell in the religious/gospel section these days, since the genre is more popular now.

The Dave Lewis album didn't have many miles under it either before it disappeared, but at least it was a little more mainstream.

 

[Mr Bill]

Whether Mc Curn was improperly marketed or not is not as important as how Alpert and Moss saw McCurn. They had major success working with Sam Cooke and more than likely saw McCurn as the "new" Sam Cooke. Like Dan said, if they weren't saddled with the stigma of being a "new" label and gaining an "identity" (which did indeed come in time) McCurn could have become a major act.

--Mr Bill