THIS IS THE 1969 US ORIGINAL PRESSING on SSS INTERNATIONAL label [Terre Haute pressing]. DIE-CUT GATEFOLD COVER. The cover is in VG+ condition [PRISON BARS ARE ALL INTACT], normal wear, BUT  light discolouration/wear on spines/corners, drill-hole (top left), few marks/lines on front,  rectangular store or owner sticker n rear (left edge), left spine is fully readable, for details see photos (with and without flashlight). The vinyl (with some surface hairlines) is from VG(+) to VG+ condition (some clicks/mild crackles, barely played)  and plays wonderfully and without lessening in sound quality. DEBUT ALBUM. BECOMING HARD TO FIND.

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DAVID ALLAN COE

David Allan Coe is one of the most celebrated and controversial artists to emerge from the outlaw country movement; a gifted songwriter and a charismatic performer, Coe is also a man who has followed his own path even when it meant traveling the hard way, and his life has been full of bad luck and misadventure. Few artists in any genre have as many tall tales and wild allegations attached to their name (some of which have been spread by Coe himself), and there are plenty of fans who love him or hate him for reasons that have nothing to do with his music. Despite it all, Coe's songwriting reveals a greater intelligence and emotional range than his reputation would suggest, and his best music is a bracing mixture of country, blues, and rock & roll.

"PENITENTIARY BLUES"

Produced by Teddy Paige & Shelby S. Singleton, Jr.

1969      LP       SSS INTERNATIONAL RECORDS       SSS #9

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.    ORIGINAL PRESSING

DIE-CUT GATEFOLD SLEEVE

HEAVY CARDBOARD COVER

NOTES: lavel variations exist

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode: none

Label Code: none

Pressing Plant ID: T [Terre Haute pressing]

LABEL: SSS INTERNATIONAL -  MULTICOLOUR LABEL w/LOGO on TOP - BLACK TEXT

Catalog on cover: SSS-9

Catalog on labels: SSS #9 XSBV 130460 / SSS #9 XSBV 130461

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): T  I  XSBV-130460--1A  SSS-9-A

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): T  I  XSBV-130461--1B  SSS-9-B

On labels: rim text reads "A Division of The Shelby Singleton Corp., Nashville, Tenn. U.S.A."

Prod. by..........for Shelby............Productions, Inc.

On Back Sleeve: Tracklist & Credits

Packaging AGI, Printed in U.S.A.

tracklisting

Side A: PENITENTIARY BLUES - CELL #33 - MONKEY DAVID WINE

WALKIN' BUM - ONE WAY TICKET TO NOWHERE

Side B: FUNERAL PARLOR BLUES - DEATH ROW - OH WARDEN

AGE 21 - LITTLE DAVID - CONJER MAN

RECORD from VG(+) to VG+ but (please, read above description) 

SLEEVE VG+ but (please, see pictures and read above description)

David Allan Coe's debut album, released in 1969 shortly after his release from prison, is in its way a wonder. Penitentiary Blues is far more a blues album than it is a country record, musically styled after the dark, loungy blues of Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis in his Mercury period as well as the rawer mercurial blues of Bo Diddley, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Tony Joe White. The subject matter is far darker and foreshadows the subjects and themes of Coe's later country records. The title cut mentions everything from working for the first time to taking blood tests in his heroin veins. "Cell 33" is a wide-open rocking shuffle with Jerry Lee Lewis piano coming out of the backdrop of a muddy mix and playing solo after choogling guitar riff over lines like: "They'll find me hangin' here tomorrow/If they don't come with the key." Musically, Coe was wrapped in the blues, particularly the barroom tradition. At the time, his band was clearly not capable of handling the more sophisticated honky tonk songs he would be writing shortly thereafter, some appearing on his next recording, Requiem for a Harlequin. This is redneck music, pure and simple, fresh out of hell and trying to communicate the giddiness of reprieve as well as its horrors to the listener. There's an obsession with hoodoo imagery and death, with self-loathing and boasting, and the contradictions in a man who doesn't want to go back to prison but who seems resigned to the fact he will because he's been inside so long (for Coe it was almost 20 years), he has no idea how to live on the outside. There are hints and traces of the lyrical genius Coe would display later, but taken as a whole, Penitentiary is thoroughly enjoyable as a rowdy, funky, and crude blues record full of out-of-tune guitars, slippery performances, and an attitude of "f*%$ it, let's get it done and get it out," which was a trademark of Plantation Records during the era. Penitentiary Blues is a set of voodoo blues from a future country legend and pariah...(AllMusic)