Jimmy Buffet "Down To Earth" Vinyl LP Rare Original Press- Near Mint (NM or M-)

$

75

This auction is for the hard to find original Barnaby Records 1970 release (Z30093) of Jimmy Buffett's "Down To Earth" that is widely reported to have sold only 324 copies. It is in exceptional condition for its age. I am the original owner and this LP has been played less than ten time. Interestingly, this album came with a 1970 copyright CBS, Inc. - Columbia Special Products (CSP) inner sleeve, which will be included along with a new plain white paper inner sleeve with viewing hole. The CSP inner sleeve is discolored with age (see photos), but in very good condition otherwise. 

"Copies of the original vinyl LP version of Down To Earth appear on Ebay from time to time with sellers asking anywhere from $100 on up. The most popular record collecting guides published by Goldmine and Official Price Guides value the vinyl LP version of Down To Earth from $100 to $250 depending on condition the album is in."  (http://home.comcast.net/~ehigging01/barnaby/barnaby_songs.htm)

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions, or for additional information.

Source for the following: Wikipedia (Wiki track time changed to reflect track time shown on album jacket)

Down To Earth is the debut album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was produced by Travis Turk and was initially released in 1970 on Andy Williams's small Barnaby Records label as Z 30093. Parts of the album were re-released in various compilations until the album was issued in its entirety on compact disc by Varèse Sarabande in June 1998.

Due to its limited initial appeal (it only sold a few hundred copies), long periods out of general release, and stylistic differences with the rest of Buffett's work, Down to Earth (along with the similar High Cumberland Jubilee) was often not considered part of the chronology of Buffett.

All of the songs on Down to Earth were written or co-written by Buffett. "The Captain and the Kid," which originally appeared on this album, was later re-recorded by Buffett, first for 1976's Havaña Daydreamin' when it was released as a single, and in 2002 for the greatest hits compilation Meet Me in Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection making it (with "In the Shelter") one of only two of his songs with three different studio versions.

The folk-rock style of music and lyrics on Down to Earth and High Cumberland Jubilee differ greatly from Buffett's subsequent output. There is less of the country music feel and little of the gulf and western, Key-West-influenced sound and themes that have defined his musical career. Allmusic reviewer William Ruhlmann notes that "this is not the freewheeling Jimmy Buffett of 'Margaritaville,' but rather a thoughtful folk-rock singer/songwriter of the early '70s, earnestly strumming an acoustic guitar over a rhythm section and singing lyrics of social consciousness with sly references to drugs."

Side A:

1. "The Christian?" (Milton Brown, Jimmy Buffett) 3:36
2. "Ellis Dee (He Ain't Free)" (Jimmy Buffett, Buzz Cason) 2:40
3. "The Missionary" 3:16
4. "A Mile High in Denver" 2:55
5. "The Captain and the Kid" 3:00
   

Side B:

1. "Captain America" 3:17
2. "Ain't He a Genius" 2:37
3. "Turnabout" 4:10
4. "There's Nothin' Soft about Hard Times" 3:07
5. "I Can't be Your Hero Today" 2:48
6. "Truckstop Salvation" 5:45

The Barnaby Songs: A long and winding history (http://home.comcast.net/~ehigging01/barnaby/barnaby_songs.htm)

In May of 1993, singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett was a success with numerous albums and his own recently launched record label. The record label, called Margaritaville Records had co-released Jimmy's 1992 box set, Boats, Beaches, Bars and Ballads. In the wake of the box set release many Jimmy Buffett fans were eager for his first new album on his new label, due to the fact he had not released one since 1989. However Jimmy had an idea to use his new record label to revisit his musical origins, with a CD called "Before the Beach"......

Die hard Jimmy Buffett fans are aware that the man's recording history stretches back to Nashville and the year 1969, there are some who believe it actually began in 1973. While it is true that Jimmy Buffett had his first taste of commercial success with his 1973 album entitled A "White Sport Coat and A Pink Crustacean". That first successful album was actually his third recorded album and second album released for public consumption.

Jimmy Buffett's recording career began in earnest with a series of 45rpm records released on a record label called Barnaby Records. The musicians that accompanied Jimmy on the Barnaby 45's were Lanny Fiel, Dave Haney, Bob Cook, Carl Himmel, Travis Turk, Paul Tabet and Buzz Cason. The record label was called Barnaby Records, and was owned by crooner Andy Williams and was based in the country music capital of Nashville Tennessee. Barnaby Records was founded by singer Andy Williams in 1963 with his purchase of soon-to-be-liquidated Cadence Records. It held the rights to work by a number of popular music performers including Williams work before he was with Columbia Records. Williams got control of the Cadence master tapes in the 1960s but limited releases to that of himself and another former Cadence artist, Lenny Welch, this material was released on Williams' current label at the time, Columbia Records.

In 1970 Williams created the Barnaby label to release the rest of the long unreleased Cadence archive, which was made up principally Everly Brothers recordings which had been long out of print but continued to be in great demand. Cadence also released new material by artists such as Ray Stevens, who scored a Top Ten hit with his single "Everything Is Beautiful". As well as a few LPs by Claudine Longet, who was Williams's then wife at the time. Barnaby had several distributors including CBS, then MGM, and finally GRT in 1974. Once Barnaby ceased operating as a working record company at the end of the 1970s, Williams licensed the old Cadence and Barnaby material to various other labels such as Varèse Sarabande, Rhino, and after 1980, Time-Life

At some point in 1970, a decision was made at Barnaby Records to compile Jimmy Buffett's 45's as a full album release, entitled Down To Earth. The album offered eleven out of twelve songs all that had been previously issued on the aforementioned 45 rpm records. The song that was absent from the compiled album was "Richard Frost" which was the B-side of the 45 rpm that featured the song "The Christian?". The eleven songs on the album have a distinctive folk music sound and style that Jimmy Buffett moved away from in later years. Yet these songs still contain the earliest hint of what would become Jimmy's Buffett career spanning musical style. One song in particular on the album is the original version of the song "The Captain and the Kid" which Jimmy wrote about his own grandfather. (Jimmy would, five years later re-record this song, with a some minor changes,  and release on it his fourth ABC Records album Havana Daydreaming in 1976.)Barnaby Records did and decent job of packaging Jimmy's songs and even arranging for a cover photo shoot. However the record buying public barely gave the album any notice resulting in dismal sales. Jimmy Buffett has repeatedly claimed that Down to Earth only sold 374 copies which is probably a slight understatement.

Copies of the original vinyl LP version of Down To Earth appear on Ebay from time to time with sellers asking anywhere from $100 on up. The most popular record collecting guides published by Goldmine and Official Price Guides value the vinyl LP version of Down To Earth from $100 to $250 depending on condition the album is in.