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The former Blasters frontman's 1986 solo debut album is a soulful collection of blues, jazz, country, and pop songs originally written and recorded between 1925-1953. More than just an engaging document of pre-rock Americana, the album features avant-garde legend Sun Ra and his Arkestra, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and New Orleans saxman Lee Allen, whose session work with Little Richard and Fats Domino have earned him near-mythic status. Before there was any acknowledgement of what's now known as the Great American Songbook, a genre called Americana, Triple-A radio, or even an internet to aid in research, a dedicated band of crate-diggers sprang up around LA, discovering long-lost gems on 78s and 45s: Barret "Dr.Demento" Hansen, with his novelty records; Lux Interior of the Cramps, foraging for country and rockabilly; Billy Vera, amassing an R&B archive... and perhaps the most eclectic of the lot, Phil Alvin. As renowned music journalist Chris Morris observed in the liner notes, "If you made a trip to the Alvins' family home in Downey, affectionately known as 'the Flop,' in the early '80s, it was almost inevitable that Phil would reach into a crate of 78s and pull out some gem you had never heard." That pioneering eclecticism was admired by critics and fans alike, although Alvin was perhaps just a step... more

Media

Track Listing

Bonus Materials

• New liner notes from noted author, and chronicler of the west coast independent music scene, Chris Morris

Sales Points

• Released and promoted in conjunction with Mandatory: The Best of the Blasters on November 3
• One of Sun Ra’s final performances with the Arkestra
• Dedicated to ”The Big Man” Joe Turner
• Liner notes updated by Chris Morris, noted Blasters historian
• All but one track on the album were composed before WWII
• AllMusic give it 4/5 stars, Robert Christgau an A-
• For fans of Ry Cooder, Leon Redbone, the Blasters
• Liberation Hall plans a catalog campaign to celebrate The Blasters’ 45th anniversary in 2024 with multiple re-releases.
• Phil Alvin’s first solo record

Press Quotes

Un 'Sung Stories' 'a delightful solo album of blues, gospel and jazz

     —Trouser Pree

Alvin 'loves a good lyric, and if he can't write them or order them up, he has only to ransack his record collection for oldies that are just strange enough goodies.

     —Robert Christgau

'Short and sweet, Un 'Sung Stories' is a true gem that's richly felt in a way a collection of 'old standards' is not expected to be

     —AllMusic

Alvin's forceful arrangements fuses the material with dark, funny, frightening and inspiring edges ... The result is an album that suggests a heroic grappling with the struggles involved in daily living

     —L.A. Times

an offbeat mix of musical Americana that includes gospel, country blues and pop anthems of the 1920s and '30s

     —Chicago Tribune

Alvin has trimmed some of the excessive stylization of some of his Blasters work, and deepened the bluesy feel in his voice

     —Sacramento Bee

This album is eclectic, masterful, well-performed

     —Sid Griggin, Amazon

Phil Alvin is a 'West-Coast Buster Poindexter,'

     —Spin Alternative Record Guide

'...Phil Alvin... is one of rock's most underrated vocalists'

     —Joe Sasfy, Washington Post