Blue Thumb Records

Blue Thumb Records
Parent company	Universal Music Group
Founded	1968
Founder	Bob Krasnow, Tommy LiPuma, Don Graham
Status	Inactive/Defunct
Distributor(s)	Hip-O Records (re-issues)
Genre	Various
Country of origin	United States

Blue Thumb Records was an American record label founded in 1968 by Bob Krasnow, along with former A&M Records executives Tommy LiPuma and Don Graham.

History

Bob Krasnow had been in the record business for a number of years, working as a promotion man for King Records and also working for Buddah/Kama Sutra Records. Blue Thumb was originally intended to be the name of Captain Beefheart's band, but Krasnow did not think the name was right for the group. However, he chose the name for his label.

Acts that appeared on the label include Beefheart, The Credibility Gap, The Crusaders, Hugh Masekela, Sam Lay, Sylvester, Southwind, Robbie Basho, Tom Rapp, Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation (licensed from UK Liberty Records), Modereko, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, Jimmy Smith, Dave Mason, The Pointer Sisters, T. Rex (in its earlier incarnation as Tyrannosaurus Rex, licensed from the UK's Regal Zonophone Records), Ike & Tina Turner, Love, Gábor Szabó, Mark-Almond, and National Lampoon (on the Banana label imprint).

Blue Thumb originally used independent distribution, but went to Capitol/EMI for distribution in late 1970. Gulf and Western's Famous Music Group took over distribution in mid-1971, then bought the label outright in 1972. Late in 1974, the Famous Music record labels were sold to ABC Records. ABC kept Blue Thumb active for a time, mostly for albums by the Pointer Sisters and the Crusaders as well as some reissues. In 1979 ABC sold its labels to MCA Records, which discontinued the Blue Thumb imprint altogether.

In the United Kingdom and Europe, Blue Thumb releases were licensed to Harvest Records (also owned by EMI) from 1969 to 1971, and to Island Records thereafter.

The label was revived in 1995 for blues and soft rock releases. This remained so, even after the 1998 merger with parent Universal Music Group and PolyGram and being put under the fold of the Verve Music Group, continuing to be Verve's imprint for non-jazz releases. In early 2005, the Blue Thumb imprint was deactivated and was replaced with Verve Forecast to handle such releases. UMG's reissue arm Hip-O Records has reissued several Blue Thumb recordings, including such acts as the Crusaders, Dan Hicks & his Hot Licks and the Pointer Sisters.

Discography

Catalog	Album	Artist	Notes
BTS 1	Strictly Personal	Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
BTS 2	An Album of Political Pornography	Lew Irwin & The Credibility Gap
BTS 3	Original and Authentic Recordings by the Great W.C. Fields	W.C. Fields
BTS 4	The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation	Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
BTS 5	Outta Season	Ike & Tina Turner
BTS 6	Doctor Dunbar's Prescription	Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
BTS 7	Unicorn	Tyrannosaurus Rex
BTS 8	Truckin' with Albert Collins	Albert Collins	Reissue of The Cool Sounds of Albert Collins (TCF Hall, 1965)
BTS 9	Coming Home	Chicago Blue Stars	Personnel includes Charlie Musselwhite, Fred Roulette, Louis Myers, Skip Rose, Jack Myers and Fred Below
BTS 10	Venus in Cancer	Robbie Basho
BTS 11	The Hunter	Ike & Tina Turner
BTS 12	Sweet Black Angel	Earl Hooker
BTS 13	Ready to Ride	Southwind
BTS 14	Sam Lay in Bluesland	Sam Lay's Bluesband
BTS 15	Clifton Chenier's Very Best	Clifton Chenier
BTS 16	To Mum From Aynsley and the Boys	Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
BTS 17	Alegria!	Bossa Rio
BTS 18	A Beard of Stars	Tyrannosaurus Rex
BTS 19	Alone Together	Dave Mason
BTS 20	Buddy and the Juniors	Buddy Guy, Junior Mance & Junior Wells
BTS 21	A Bad Donato	João Donato
BTS 22	False Start	Love
BTS 23	Magical Connection	Gábor Szabó
BTS 24
BTS 25	Dave Mason & Cass Elliot	Dave Mason and Cass Elliot
BTS 26	What a Place to Land	Southwind
BTS 27	Mark-Almond	Mark-Almond
BTS 28	High Contrast	Gábor Szabó	featuring Bobby Womack
BTS 29	Where's the Money?	Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
BTS 30	Recorded Live at Bimbo's, San Francisco	Charles Pierce
BTS 31	Naturally	Jessie Hill
BTS 32	Mark-Almond II	Mark-Almond
BTS 33	How Are Things in Your Town?	Ken Nordine	2LP Compilation of material previously released on Dot Records
BTS 34	Headkeeper	Dave Mason
BTS 35	Crazed Hipsters	Finningan & Wood
BTS 36	Striking It Rich	Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
BTS 37	Luis Gasca	Luis Gasca	aka For Those Who Chant
Banana BTS 38	Radio Dinner	National Lampoon
BTS 39	Chastisement	The Last Poets
BTS 40	I Lead a Life	Ben Sidran
BTS 41	Space Is the Place	Sun Ra
BTS 42	The Barbeque of Deville	Hoodoo Rhythm Devils
BTS 43	Private Tonight	Arthur Adams
BTS 44	Stardancer	Tom Rapp
BTS 45	Sylvester and the Hot Band	Sylvester and the Hot Band
BTS 46	Singing/Playing	Larry Carlton
BTS 47	Supermellow	Paul Humphrey
BTS 48	The Pointer Sisters	The Pointer Sisters
BTS 49	The Best of Ike & Tina Turner	Ike & Tina Turner	Compilation
BTS 50	The Best of Mark-Almond	Mark-Almond	Compilation
BTS 51	Last Train to Hicksville... The Home of Happy Feet	Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
BTS 52	At Last	The Last Poets
BTS 53
BTS 54	Dave Mason is Alive!	Dave Mason
BTS 55	Puttin' in Time on Planet Earth	Ben Sidran
BTS 56	Sunforest	Tom Rapp / Pearls Before Swine
BTS 57	What the Kids Want	Hoodoo Rhythm Devils
BTS 58	Can I Have My Money Back?	Gerry Rafferty	Reissue of Transatlantic Records album
BTS 59	Lovin' Feelin'	Phil Upchurch
BTS 60	Bazaar	Sylvester & The Hot Band
BTS 61	Face to Face	Evan Pace
BTS 62	Introducing Hedzoleh Sounds	Hugh Masekela
BTS 63	Butts Band	Butts Band	Featuring Robby Krieger and John Densmore
BTS 64	Aim for the Highest	Aim
BTS 65
BTS 66	America, Wake Up	Paul Humphrey
BTS 6000	Memphis Swamp Jam	Various Artists	Featuring Bukka White, Piano Red, Nathan Beauregard, Sleepy John Estes, Fred McDowell & Johnny Woods, Furry Lewis, R.L. Watson & Josiah Jones
BTS 6001	Crusaders 1	The Crusaders
BTS 6002
BTS 6003	Home Is Where the Music Is	Hugh Masekela
BTS 6004	Lights Out: San Francisco	Various Artists	Featuring John Lee Hooker, Clifford Coulter, Tower Of Power, Sylvester and The Hot Band, Fadil Shahin and The Casbah Band, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks
BTS 6005	Darkess Darkness	Phil Upchurch
Banana BTS 6006	Lemmings	National Lampoon
BTS 6007	Unsung Heroes	The Crusaders
Banana BTS 6008	The Missing White House Tapes	National Lampoon
BTS 6009	That's a Plenty	The Pointer Sisters
BTS 6010	Scratch	The Crusaders
BTS 6011	Italian Graffiti	Nick DeCaro
BTS 6012	Don't Let Go	Ben Sidran
BTS 6013	The Best of Dave Mason	Dave Mason
BTS 6014	Gabor Szabo Live	Gábor Szabó
BTS 6015	I Am Not Afraid	Hugh Masekela
BTS 6016	The Big Bow-Wow Strain	Ken Burgan
BTS 6017
BTSD 6018	Hear and Now	Butts Band
BTSD 6019	New Year, New Band, New Company	John Mayall
BTSD 6020
BTSD 6021	Steppin'	The Pointer Sisters
BTSD 6022	Chain Reaction	The Crusaders
BTSD 6023	Having a Party	The Pointer Sisters
BTSD 6024	Those Southern Knights	The Crusaders
BTSD 6025
BTSY 6026/2	The Best of the Pointer Sisters	The Pointer Sisters
BTS 6027	The Best of the Crusaders	The Crusaders
BTS 6028	Come Into Knowledge	RAMP
BT 6029	Free as the Wind	The Crusaders
BT 6030	Images	The Crusaders
BTS 7000	The 2nd Crusade	The Crusaders
BTS 8002	Live at the Opera House	The Pointer Sisters
BTS 8702	All Day Thumb Sucker	Various Artists
BTS 9000	Out Here	Love
BTS 9001	Lenny	Original Broadway Cast

See also

• List of record labels
• Verve Records

External links

• The Story of Blue Thumb Records
• Blue Thumb Discography