W.L. PROMO Orig 1969 = BLACK CAT BONES BARBED WIRE LEAFHOUND HARD BLUES PSYCH

$

449

 .

• 1969 WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL ~ BEAUTY
  
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• EVIL HARD HEAVY 1969 BLUES~ROCK
  
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• FROM THE BRITISH BLOOZ BOOM ..|/\|...............................................|/\|..
• BLACK  CAT  BONES
  
  BARBED WIRE SANDWICH

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• USA - PIP Records - 6809 (PROMOTIONAL)
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  Major-rare WHITE LABEL PROMOTIONAL
  
• (see full details BELOW)
  
  RARE and sought after ORIGINAL 1969 first printing of a slamming hard UK crew by the doom trodden name of 
• BLACK CAT BONES ...their 
• "Barbed Wire Sandwich" was sadly their only album... killer hard psych blues with fiery guitar theatrics,
  
• all over the place!
  
  The right place at the wrong time. That could be the epitaph on the gravestone of Black Cat Bones. Having acted as unofficial house band for a number of visiting US artists during the British Blues Boom of the mid to late Sixties, and survived a potentially fatal line-up change into the bargain, they finally made it to vinyl rather late in the day. This, their first and only album, reached the racks in the last months of the Sixties, just as progressive rock was in the ascendancy.
  
  That Black Cat Bones remains a known name is due to two musicians whose names remain stubbornly absent from the credits. Celebrated "FREE" guitarist Paul Kossoff would go on to superstar status as a founder member (of "Free",) but started his musical career in earnest, these ranks. And though neither he nor drummer Simon Kirke appear here, Koss's featured replacement is Rod Price, a player of no mean ability who would later take his axe-wielding skills to Stateside fame and fortune with Foghat.
  
  But let's backtrack now to the events that led up to November 1969, when "Barbed Wire Sandwich", was released on the small PIP label. Though retaining semi-professional status for some time, Black Cat Bones had enough going for them to catch the eye of legendary blues producer Mike Vernon. His patronage brought them their first recording session, backing Champion Jack Dupree for a Blue Horizon album, 'When You Feel The Feeling You Was Feeling'; meanwhile, they made a reputation in their own right touring Germany and Scandinavia.
  
  Kossoff and Kirke jumped ship, in 1968 after seeing singer Paul Rodgers fronting the similarly unrecorded Brown Sugar; hence by the time Black Cat Bones entered Tangerine and Decca Studios the following year with recording stardom in mind, the existing nucleus of brothers Derek and Stu Brooks on rhythm guitar and bass respectively and vocalist Brian Short had been augmented by Phil Lenoir (drums) and Rod Price (lead guitar).
  
  The music kicks off with 'Chauffeur', - a dead ringer heavy jammer in both pace and chord sequence in Free's 'Walk In My Shadow', from their 1st great album, released mere months before. And the well-worn blues metaphor of riding, (Free rode ponies, Black Cat Bones a car - such is progress) indicates the overtly sexual inclinations both shared.
  
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• Elsewhere, there's a welcome touch of acoustical (on 'Four Women') to even the mixture -- but overall, the album very much reflected the electric blues of the stage set, as you'd expect from a band that played live so often .
  
  It was left to producer David Hitchcock, who later guided the careers of Caravan, Camel, Genesis (circa 'Foxtrot') and more, to supply the studio expertise they needed to give "Barbed Wire Sandwich", that touch of the unexpected. 'Please Tell Me Baby' stands out in this respect, the band fading in and out around the barrelhouse keys of Robin Sylvester. This would have been impossible live, since Black Cat Bone's line-up didn't feature keyboards (Sylvester was the sound engineer at Tangerine), so was clearly an attempt to diversify and use the studio to greatest advantage. Steve Milliner lent further ivory-tickling skills to 'Feelin' Good'.
  
  Talking of progression, the middle section of 'Save My Love For You', along with other dramatic mood and/or tempo changes throughout the album, suggests that the growth of progressive rock had not passed them by. Rod Price was quite different in approach to Kossoff, his fast, fluid style contrasting with the howling sustain of his predecessor - but he was clearly no slouch either, as he proved on the final track. The self-penned 'Good Lookin' Woman' is the one song on which Price tackled lead vocal. More importantly, it's a guitar tour-de-force, fading out prematurely and leaving the listener wondering exactly what would have happened next . Highlights are all throughout the album, including:-
  
  'Death Valley Blues' a blues-rock number, with the real highs being Price's snarling lead guitar and Shore's vocal.
  
  - It took awhile to get going, but the first part of 'Feelin' Good' was one of the prettiest tunes on the album and the quick nod to the traditional 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' pretty unusual.
  
• Rod Price delivers one of his best performances.
  
  - A growling, sinewy slice of blues-rock, 'Chauffeur' is as good as anything Free ever did.
  

1.                  CONDITION:
2. 
   
3. The cover: rated: near M- a beauty (see photos)
   
4. Totally solid! Final collection copy collectible!
   
5. The 51 years young PRE-RELEASE white-promo issue sports a very dark (black) cover that good-luck finding this clean (doubtful to find better) ...
6. Seldom ever found without shelf wear, there are NO delete marks, no seam splits, no bends, and no writing ...

1. The vinyl: Rated: near M- (top-copy!) glossy-clean all over both sides ... yes = TOP COPY ...plays beautiful / enjoyable from start to finish... the PIP labels are both WHITE PROMO Labels are CLEAN

• BLACK  CAT  BONES
  
  BARBED WIRE SANDWICH