New York, NY (Top40 Charts / Verve/ UMe) From 1968 to 1978, Blue Thumb Records was one of music's most adventurous and imaginative record labels, with a far-ranging roster of cutting-edge acts and an unconventional visual sensibility. Nurturing an eclectic assortment of artists from a wide variety of genres, Blue Thumb embodied the restless creative spirit of the era in which it was born, reflecting the emerging attitude that albums were worthy of being taken seriously as artistic statements.
Blue Thumb's expansive musical vision was anthologized on the 1995 label retrospective . Today, October 27,
Verve Records/UMe is releasing the long-out-of-print collection, originally compiled by Gary Katz, known for his work with Steely Dan, in an updated two-CD edition on the eve of next year's 50th anniversary of Blue Thumb's founding. The first in a projected series of releases to celebrate the revered label, the CD set offers 32 vintage tracks spread across two discs, while the digital edition, due November 10, marks the first time this collection will be available as a digital download and for streaming. In showcasing Blue Thumb's influential artist roster, the album also honors the iconoclastic musical vision of late label founders Bob Krasnow, who died on December 11, 2016, and Tommy LiPuma, who passed away on March 13, 2017. The album is available for purchase here: https://lnk.to/Thumbsucker2CD
Danny Bennett, President & CEO of
Verve Label Group comments, "With the release of All Day Thumbsucker Revisited, we are so proud to honor Tommy LiPuma and Bob Krasnow by celebrating their Blue Thumb Records legacy and the incredible music they curated, all of which is well represented on this must-have collection."
Blue Thumb Records' diverse artist roster included avant-garde hero
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band (whose rejected band name provided Blue Thumb's handle), Marc Bolan's Tyrannosaurus Rex, soul icons Ike and Tina Turner, hitmakers the Pointer Sisters, retro-swing hipsters Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, venerable rockers Dave
Mason and Leon Russell, psychedelic savants Love, boundary-pushing future star Sylvester, avant-jazz icon Sun Ra, rap progenitors the Last Poets, Gypsy jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó, spoken-word innovator Ken Nordine, British imports Mark-Almond and the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, jazz greats the Crusaders, Luis Gasca and Philip Upchurch, and blues legends Albert Collins, John Mayall,
Buddy Guy,
Junior Wells and
Junior Mance—all of whom are featured on All Day Thumbsucker Revisited.
Along with 30 tracks from the original album, the 2017 edition of All Day Thumbsucker Revisited features two additional tracks by
Buddy Guy and the Pointer Sisters. In addition to the above-mentioned artists, the album also includes a track by veteran pianist-journalist Ben Sidran, who also provided the original album's liner notes, which are reproduced here in their entirety.
Bob Krasnow had already been president of the King and Buddah/Kama Sutra labels when he formed Blue Thumb Records in 1968. Recruiting like-minded A&M Records producer Tommy LiPuma and A&M marketing executive Don Graham, Krasnow set out to build a record label that would reflect his own freewheeling sensibility as well as the increasing influence of album-oriented radio.
As
Joe Sample of the Crusaders observed, "LiPuma and Krasnow were young and vibrant men with a tremendous love of music. And they also had the expertise to back up that love. And they started signing all kinds of bands. It was the new image in music, and I think it was the best kind of image that we ever had in the music business.
"There was a sense in the air of a lot of adventure," Sample notes. "The music business was making big, major changes; the newfound FM airwaves meant there was suddenly a whole new branch of radio stations that played music that would never be played on an AM station. Blue Thumb was one of the first companies that realized this new set of airwaves was important for music."
Commenting on Blue Thumb's early days, Sidran recalled, "They were running it, literally, out of three rooms. And they were making records that were consciously counter to what was going on. And nobody had done that... Krasnow was going out of his way to do something different."
That "something different" can be heard throughout All Day Thumbsucker Revisited, whose vintage grooves affirm the timeless brilliance of Blue Thumb's enduring musical vision.
ALL DAY THUMBSUCKER REVISITED TRACK LISTING
Disc One
1. Only You Know and I Know - Dave Mason
2. The City - Mark-Almond
3. Put It Where You Want It - The Crusaders
4. A Song For You - Leon Russell
5. Stimela (Coaltrain) - Hugh Masekela
6. By The Light Of Magical Moon - Tyrannosaurus Rex
7. Yes We Can Can - The Pointer Sisters
8.
Darkness Darkness - Philip Upchurch
9. Son Of Mirror Man - Mere Man -
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
10. Sugar on the Line - The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
11.
Little Mama - Luis Gasca
12. Canned
Music - Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
13. Riffin' (A.K.A. A Motif Is Just A Riff) -
Buddy Guy,
Junior Wells and
Junior Mance
14. I've Been Loving You Too Long - Ike & Tina Turner
15. Fat Jam - Ben Sidran
16. Southern Man - Sylvester and the Hot Band
Disc Two
1. Delta Lady - Leon Russell
2.
Shiver 'n Shake - Albert Collins
3. Shouldn't Have Took More Than You Gave - Dave Mason
4. Blackbird - Bossa Rio
5. Ride A White Swan - Tyrannosaurus Rex
6. I Scare Myself - Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
7. The Everlasting First - Love
8. The Frog - Joao Donato
9. Safe As Milk -
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
10. Breezin' - Gabor Szabo
11. Sitting on the Outside - John Mayall
12. Images - Sun Ra
13. Bird's Word - The Last Poets
14.
Roger - Ken Nordine
15. How Long (Betcha' Got A Chick On The Side) - The Pointer Sisters
16. So Far Away - The Crusaders
