The Delta Sweete!

At long last I have secured a copy of The Delta Sweete by Bobbie Gentry, the sleeve wholly abused, the vinyl perfect!

The details:

Side 1:
Okolona River Bottom Band {Bobbie Gentry} (2:57)
Big Boss Man {Al Dixon & A. Smith} (2:56)
Reunion {Bobbie Gentry} (2:35)
Parchman Farm {Mose Allison} (3:00)
Mornin' Glory {Bobbie Gentry} (2:57)
Sermon {Bobbie Gentry} (2:41)
Side 2:
Tobacco Road {John D. Loudermilk} (2:50)
Penduli Pendulum {Bobbie Gentry} (2:55)
Jessye' Lisabeth {Bobbie Gentry} (3:00)
Refractions {Bobbie Gentry} (2:20)
Louisiana Man {Doug Kershaw} (2:35)
Courtyard {Bobbie Gentry} (2:58

(DELTA SWEETE - back cover notes)

Her Second Album! BOBBY GENTRY performs THE DELTA SWEETE sweet is a suite is a sweete...In the heat of last summer, a dark-eyed, dark-haired girl wrote and sang a moving "Ode To Billie Joe" that made the country come alive for millions of people who might not have thought about it their whole lives.And all summer long and through the autumn that followed, everybody praised the subtle intensity of the song, and talked and wrote about the exciting talent of the girl. Her path was stunningly swift: from records to television to films to worldwide fame. Virtually every major news magazine did a feature on her. Mademoiselle gave her the M'lle Award as one of the outstanding women of the year. And everybody everywhere looked forward to her next creative effort.Paying tribute to Hopkins. Allison, Reed, Diddley and Gentry, here is Bobbie Gentry's next. Here is the dust, the fragrance, the molasses, grits and grit, the love, sorrow and humor of the Delta country.And here are the people, young and old, bad and good, from Monday to Sunday....etched in unforgettable images by an immensely perceptive young lady. Here is Bobbie Gentry and here is her "Delta Sweete." And that's about all anybody ought to need to say.

From another era or what! Great stuff.

The album itself is a concept album about white southern life and the tracks all flow into each other. It has huge emotional power and ranges from the funk of Oklahoma River Bottom Band through to a haunting tale of an imprisoned woman with spares arrangements in the track called Courtyard.