UNIQUE PRIVATE BLUES FOLK LP Peacock Farm Camp Levee Moan REVISED

	£		800
	$		1,060

Levee Camp Moan - S/T LP, County Recording Service COUNLP132/133 1969.

VA - Peacock Farm Free Concert LP: Levee Camp Moan/ John Thomas Blues Band/ Thomas Houlihan/ Frank Gillibrand/ St. James Infirmary, County Recording Service COUNLP158/159 1969.

Having tested the waters with my original listing, and having many interesting conversations, I decided that the best thing to do would be to listen to both discs of this in full and give a more comprehensive description with new information I have been offered.

And I would also like to make it clear that although Camp Levee Moan is included, making this the single most complete example that there is PROOF of existing despite CLAIMS of acetates of the second unissued disc, varying artwork etc, all of which I can find no hard evidence to back up, purely hearsay and speculation, it is really just a bonus to the overall listing of Peacock Farm.

Without solid proof to the contrary, I do not believe that there were copies issued with the second disc as an acetate housed in the full artwork picture sleeve as I have here, if there were I can find no evidence of it other than talk - certainly no images. Given that supposedly less than 100 copies were pressed up, and any with covers at all are hand made with pasted front and inside sheets as can be seen in the photos, apparently made to order, or intended to be customer constructed with the artwork for the cover being separate, it seems unlikely any acetates were "intended" for distribution in the same way IF they exist. The discrepancies in knowledge about this album could be explained by the lack of artwork ever even existing, as it may not be known that there was ever intended to be a second record for this release going by the copies that have ever surfaced to date! You can clearly see on the inside artwork of this copy that there is a side three and a side four. No catalogue number is listed but one would assume it would be COUNLP160/161 as County seemed to list each side of their pressings as subsequent catalogue numbers from what I have found. This copy has the first record, COUNLP158/159, which is the only record I have ever seen included with the cover (and even touted as a promo never having had a cover), but also includes the self titled Levee Camp Moan solo album, COUNLP132/133.

I have only ever seen one original copy of the LCM album itself, which did have a cover - the same one as the more recent reissue of the album, but begs the question how many were made, along with the cover, and why is it included in this record? My guess is that, this being the only copy to appear almost complete with full artwork mentioning a second record at all, the second record was never actually pressed, and this has the LCM album included because of its connection to the live recordings or chances are there were surplus copies of LCMs lp and was added instead of the second record.

Whatever the story, this is the most complete copy of the album I have ever seen to exist with the full artwork and second album from Levee Camp Moan, which in itself is extremely scarce, making it a totally unique one off copy of one of the rarest albums ever made.
Now the music on BOTH of these records has actually been reissued over the years, as I mentioned before, the Levee Camp Moan self titled album was reissued as a vinyl album complete with a reproduction of the original cover, well the front at least as I've never seen the back and can't vouch for that being an exact replica, limited to 150 copies and being a bit of a collectable itself now, and both the Peacock Farm recordings from COUNLP158/159 and the Levee Camp Moan COUNLP132/133 have been digitally remastered and reissued together on cd, both of which are readily available on ebay. The fact that the third and fourth sides have not been reissued also strengthens my argument that the record was likely never pressed at all as it would have featured two more LCM tracks which are unavailable anywhere else that I can find, so would definitely have been included in the cd reissue if they were available in any way, again strengthening my opinion that the acetate(s) are probably a myth.

The cover is handmade and completely unique in how complete it is, but is worn around the edges with a tear to one side which is pictured. And likewise the records are well worn visually, and given how scarce this is I am astounded any copies have ever turned up in relatively decent shape at all! But this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to own the most complete copy of one of the scarcest blues albums ever made. Having played the discs Peacock Farm plays very well:

Peacock Farm
Side one
1. electric blues, plays with crackle and pops but plays well with the sound still clear
2. heavier electric blues, crackle at the very start intro and on the dead space between the guitar chord stabs mid-section, with one or two light pops on the last 1/5 otherwise playing fine.

Side two
1. heavy electric blues with a long solo mid-section, heavy crackle on the quiet spoken intro, drowned out by the heavy guitars, pops on and off from the mid-section onwards.
2. acoustic folk blues, pops continue from A1 through the track.
3. instrumental electo-acoustic folk blues, crackles and pops.
4. heavy organ over sluggish beat backing with psych guitar 3/4 in, 2 pops 1/6 in otherwise playing great.

The Levee Camp Moan record is significantly more worn than Peacock Farm visually, and plays like it too:

Levee Camp Moan
Side one
1. melancholy blues, bad mark clicks, has a strange noise before a skip 1/3 in. very long track.
2. negro spiritual sounding blues, very short track, plays well.
3. female fronted melancholy blues, crackles
4. female fronted electric blues with long guitar solo, crackles but mostly drowned out but the song, few pops on 1st 1/2.

Side two
1. female fronted electric blues, heavy crackle and pops, skips twice near the start.
2. crackles and pops throughout
3. nice psych electric blues, loud track drowns out most crackle or pops for 1st 3/4, few loud pops.
4. straighter blues, more melodic guitar towards the end, crackles and pops.

A totally one of a kind unique copy from anything I can find about the release, with full and complete gatefold artwork, a fully playable disc one of the release, and an added bonus of owning the just as scarce Levee Camp Moan album, despite the playback issues, something that will likely never surface again given that it has never surfaced before.

Any questions or further information I can shed please feel free to ask and I will help as best I can. :)

I am also more than happy to ship outside of the UK but the insurance needed on this makes the cost quite hefty so would invite anyone interested to get in touch first to discuss this. Good luck. :)