Cheap reissues, back in the day.

[Big Beat Steve]

Ha, those black & white Chess pressings ...

Yes, this must have been the latter 70s 8and early 80s) when they evden popped up here. All those I really noticed at the time (Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, mostly) looked not just b/w instead of color but also somewhat blacked out to me - like sub-perfect photocopies. And yes - I also seem to remember they all were cutouts. But many U.S pressings that came into the shops here in those years were cutouts at the time ... But for some reason at the same time the full-color reissues also were available. So the choice was easy ...

I also remember, however, that while color was better than B&W, I somehow felt that "at least" they did reproduce the original artwork in some way. Considering the often really boring/garish/clueless/out-of-style 70s and early/mid-80s reissue covers of 50s records that were regulars in the shops then this seemed like a (relatively) major achievement to me then ...

[Dmitry]

This, yesterday at one of our State capital's finer record emporiums. Some very subtle differences between this and the original, that only the most discriminating connoisseur will spy.