Fred McDowell, 2nd edition.

The second edition liner and inner sleeve of “Live in New York”, 1973


Quickly —within our first year— Oblivion sold out the first pressing of 2000 OD-1’s. But we really hated the job our pressing plant did. The printing stunk, the pressings were worse. And we weren’t all that crazy about the way we’d done a few things ourselves. Even though Tom thought the blues meant kind of funky quality, it was too funky for our standards. So, some changes were clearly in order.

First up, the record itself. Tom was a perfectionist (oh, yes) and for reasons beyond my pay grade decided to scrap “Goin’ To The River (Carry My Rocking Chair)” (check it out in the bonus tracks) with “White Lightnin’”.

Next, the liners. I’ve mentioned before the notes were typical and perfunctory and Tom wanted another shot. This time around they were more personal (Fred had sadly passed away between the two editions), thorough, and special. We both felt the first edition notes were ugly, so I asked Lisa for advice and tried The Oblivionettes improved layout skills (improved, but look closely and you’ll see they still aren’t too good). Valerie Wilmer generously donated a couple of shots from the show.

The original Viewlex pressings sounded like too many typical, cheap pressings of the 70s (that is to say, like records covered in sand); we were a miniscule, ignorant client with no clout or vocabulary for making things better. The pristine pressings of ECM Records (“The Most Beautiful Sound Next To Silence”) were pressed in Europe and too expensive) The closest independent whose records sounded good was our distributor Rounder Records, who pointed us to their domestic supplier, Wakefield Manufacturing in Phoenix, who became Oblivion’s superior presser and printer until we closed.

Lastly, we replaced the labels with a questionable design by yours truly.

In March 1973 we unleashed the 2nd edition of “Live in New York.” It was a lot better.

(We licensed this record a few times over the last 40 years, but only one other edition —in 2000— added anything of value. It had 16 bonus outtakes, and new essays by Tom. You can listen and read that entire release here.)