BOBBIE GENTRY – Ode To Billie Joe (VMP Reissue) – LP – 180g Orange Vinyl

LP – Limited Edition 180g Orange Vinyl in a reverse tip-on; single sleeve with listening notes booklet by Brittney McKenna. (AAA) Lacquers cut from the master tapes by Ryan Smith, Sterling Sound.

Few artists can say they knocked the Beatles off their pedestal, but Bobbie Gentry is one of them. The Mississippi-born singer-songwriter with the one-of-a-kind voice and similarly singular songwriting perspective scored a No. 1 album with her debut Ode to Billie Joe in 1967, temporarily ousting the Fab Fours seminal Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band from a weeks-long stint atop the Billboard 200.

Topping the Beatles is a remarkable feat on its own, but especially so for a debut artist who approached music stardom with a skeptical curiosity before suddenly tapping out, and eventually vanishing, while at the top of her game. Ode to Billie Joe itself is both a time capsule of its era the turbulent and transformative late 60s as well as a primer for Gentrys chameleonic artistry.

Tracklist:

Side A
1. Mississippi Delta
2. I Saw an Angel Die
3. Chickasaw County Child
4. Sunday Best
5. Niki Hoeky

Side B
1. Papa Woncha Let Me Go to Town With You
2. Bugs
3. Hurry Tuesday Child
4. Lazy Willie
5. Ode to Billie Joe