B ‘n’ B — SOB & the CZYKS

The story of B ‘n’ B

Nope, B ’n’ B does not stand for Bed & Breakfast, but for Boogie and Blues. The order matters, even if it may seem confusing — didn’t the Blues come first and only then the Boogie? Not in this case. The producer simply wanted SOB & the CZYKS to record the Be Ba Ba Le Ba Boogie for the next LP. Whereupon the bandleader suggested dedicating the entire next album to Boogie Woogie. That, in turn, was something the producer absolutely did not want.

What followed was a prolonged back-and-forth, a give-and-take on both sides, with concessions made — and no loss of face whatsoever. And since the appeal of Be Ba Ba Le Ba Boogie lies in its (highly demanding) lyrics, a female singer was needed anyway. And as she happens to have one foot stylistically in jazz and the other in blues, things unfolded exactly as they had to.

Thus emerged a textbook example of the “normative force of the factual”, which ultimately meant that the subtitle of this LP could be nothing other than When the Boogie Gets the Blues. (The Art of Compromise was also considered as an alternative, but was quickly discarded for marketing reasons… You can learn the full story of how it came about either from this PDF or from the inside of the gatefold sleeve of B ’n’ B.)

And, like our first two LPs, SG-003 is distinguished by the following:

For instance:

• 100 percent analog: An absolutely pure analog production, from recording all the way to lacquer cutting

• Live to 2-track: The band plays live in the studio; microphone signals are mixed channel by channel in real time, summed to stereo, and recorded directly onto a two-track tape machine. No overdubs, no later mix corrections, no added effects — nothing at all, period

• Mastering directly from the original session tapes: The selected tracks are cut directly from the session tape and assembled into a production master — at least two fewer generations of copying

• One-step plating (1SP): The stamper is not produced via three galvanic stages (lacquer > father > mother > son/stamper), but pulled directly from the lacquer. The lacquer is destroyed in the process. A new lacquer must be cut for each stamper. Result: fewer copies, more detail, even closer to the live experience

• Strictly limited edition: 500 hand numbered records, no more than 500 LPs per stamper

• Special vinyl formula with exceptionally low surface noise and groove noise

• Pressed on 140 grams of vinyl – fewer resonances and less warping than 180-gram vinyl

• Rigorous QC: The pressing plant visually inspects every single LP twice for defects, and we play-grade every 100th record

Three are enough!

1. Do not order more than three copies of limited edition LPs so others have a fair chance, too, of getting a limited edition Swingin’ Gate (yep, the records made with TLC).

2. Don’t try to be clever with orders on separate days—we’ll notice. Our refund will cost you dearly: we will of course pay you back the excess money for more than 3 LPs.

3. But you’ll get only 75 percent of what you paid us. The rest goes to a charity of our choice. Okay?