New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Blue Horizon, the legendary British blues label co-founded in 1965 by esteemed record producer Mike Vernon, and Fat Possum, a blues powerhouse in itself, have announced an exclusive partnership for North America. Expanding the reach and visibility of the label across the United States and Canada. Under the guidance of Sire Records founder, legendary Seymour Stein, and Matthew Johnson, founder of Fat Possum Records, Blue Horizon expands into a new era.
The new arrangement will kick off with a selection of vinyl reissues this year, starting with new re- releases of three key
Fleetwood Mac albums recorded for Blue Horizon: the 1968 self-titled LP (otherwise known as
Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac), 'Mr. Wonderful,' and the compilation of singles, B-sides and other assorted tracks, 'The Pious Bird of Good Omen.' The latter features the hit single "Albatross." All three albums are released February 26 and available for pre-order now. Further vinyl reissues are planned for later in 2021.
The upcoming
Fleetwood Mac vinyl titles can be pre-ordered here:
Peter Green's
Fleetwood Mac - https://BlueHorizon.lnk.to/FleetwoodMac
Mr. Wonderful - https://BlueHorizon.lnk.to/MrWonderful
The Pious Bird of Good Omen - https://BlueHorizon.lnk.to/PiousBird
Further information on Blue Horizon, along with links to digital releases, can be found on the new label
website at https://www.bluehorizonrecords.com/
In addition to the 2020 reactivation of Blue Horizon as a catalog entity, both Stein and Johnson are most excited about their plan to re launch the company as a frontline label, collaborating and signing new artists together. Commenting on the new arrangement, Seymour Stein said, "I have long been aware of Matthew Johnson and Fat Possum, all the more so following my daughter Mandy Stein's documentary You See Me Laughin' on the label back in its early days. I have enjoyed watching Fat Possum grow into the great and well-respected label it is today. I am excited looking forward for our two labels to work together and bring this fabulous music into the marketplace."
Johnson added, "Seymour's great. He's one of the three or four people on the business side that are fun to talk to. He's left places I'll never get to... It's a real honor to work with him and Blue Horizon."
The arrangement between Blue Horizon and Fat Possum is the story of two labels, formed decades apart. Both Stein and Johnson have their own personal histories steeped in the blues - with the former starting at a young age at Syd Nathan's King Records in Cincinnati. Seymour Stein became an early partner in Blue Horizon, investing in Mike Vernon's label, before later becoming the sole owner. Both music men would also go on to have an impact outside the blues, with Seymour Stein at the leading edge of the punk and alternative rock movement with Sire Records, and the Ramones, Talking Heads, The Replacements, Dead Boys and Richard Hell, and later with The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Madonna, and countless others while Johnson made Fat Possum a premier indie rock destination for Spiritualized, X, El-P of
Run The Jewels and The Jim Carroll Band,
After being launched by Vernon and Neal Slaven as a spin-off from their 'R&B Monthly' magazine, Blue Horizon's first release was "Across The Board," a 1965 single by Hubert Sumlin. But it wasn't until 1968 that the label really took off, with the debut from Fleetwood Mac. If the label had only birthed the career of Fleetwood Mac, whose founder
Peter Green sadly passed in early 2020, Blue Horizon's place in history would be sealed, but it quickly collected some of the brightest stars from the local London scene. Over more than 70 singles, and in excess of 100 albums, including the Blues Masters Series of LPs in the early '70s, Blue Horizon became epicenter for blues, and a veritable who's who from both sides of the Atlantic, supplementing their host of classic U.K. acts, with an American roster that also included Otis Rush, Lightnin' Hopkins,
Sonny Boy Williamson, B.B. King, and Lightnin' Slim. The label's artists spanned both the classic
Chicago blues, and its more country cousin, with the likes of Bukka White and Mississippi Joe Callicott, and included a Blue Horizon issued-live album recorded at the 1968
Memphis Country Blues Festival. Blue Horizon remained active as a label until the early 1970s, with the catalog remaining available in subsequent years via periodic reissues, highlighted by a series of CD releases in the early 2000's curated by Mike Vernon. Across its history, Blue Horizon hit the British charts numerous times with singles by Chicken Shack ("I'd Rather Go Blind" in 1968) and
Fleetwood Mac ("Need Your Love So Bad" and "Black Magic Woman," both in 1968), while
Fleetwood Mac also reached the top 10 with their first two album releases (the band's debut peaking at #4). To this day, the only single by
Fleetwood Mac to hit #1 on the U.K. charts is "Albatross," released by Blue Horizon on November 22, 1968.
