Willie P. Bennet - Tryin' To Start Out Clean (1975). 2001 CD release by Bnatural Music.Willie's first album, and one i own multiple times over. I have a scratchy LP, which was the first Willie P. Bennett album I owned, bought in 1992 ish after seeing him play harmonica with Pat Temple & His High Lonesome Players. A few years ago I bought a Japanese mini-LP CD published by an outfit called "Air Mail Recordings", who have released a lot of obscure Canadian & American folk on CD. The production on that was a bit harsh, maybe too "bright", if that means anything, and i've heard somebody suggest that many of those Japanese releases are in fact mastered from vintage vinyl sources, though I've no way of knowing if that's true.
"Bnatural Music" was Willie's independent label, and he had his first three albums digitally remastered at Bob & Daniel Lanois' Grant Avenue Studios (where his second & third albums were recorded). I will say the sound on this is a better mix than the other, although I think the vocals might be a little bit more upfront on the Air Mail Recordings version.
Anyway, Willie has left us and his stuff is all out of print, so i've been searching out all his albums on CD in order to upload them to be freely enjoyed by all, but they usually fetch a pretty penny. I got this one for under $30 and consider myself lucky to have found it at all. Now i'm only missing a Bnatural edition of "Hobo's Taunt" to complete the collection.
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 9:59 pm
for 50c along with a Nancy Wilson one that I should've bought. 
