You can finally hear both songs by crazed Detroit blues artists the Richard Brothers

By Mike McGonigal

Jan 3, 2015 at 10:13 am

Audio By Carbonatix

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A few days ago, the Youtube user "BobSeger1981" uploaded a song called "Stolen Property," the flip-side to the Richard Brothers' beyond-sloppy blues bootleg staple "Drunk Driver's Coming." The song was originally released on a Detroit-based label called Strate 8, a subsidiary of Fortune.

This is a pretty big deal for fans of raw electric blues. The song was reissued once, but the LP it was reissued on might be almost as rare as the record itself. How scarce is the release? Just one week ago a VG- copy sold for nearly $1700. (Someone must have gotten a nice big check from Santa for Christmas!) I wonder if the YouTube user is either the seller or the buyer? Not that it matters, but the timing is interesting.

No less an authority than Billy Miller of Brooklyn's reissue kings Norton Records considers Fortune the greatest record label of all time (or his favorite anyway, if there is a distinction to be made there). Miller is working on a book about Fortune with noted local record collector, musician, writer and Kresge fellow Michael Hurtt. As you can hear for yourself here, both sides are straight-up novelty numbers, and they're both very similar, with two voices delivering exaggerated stories of mischief and mayhem atop a shambolic two guitar shuffle.

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About The Author

Mike McGonigal

Metro Times music editor Mike McGonigal has written about music since 1984, when he started the fanzine Chemical Imbalance at age sixteen with money saved from mowing lawns in Florida. He's since written for Spin, Pitchfork, the Village VOICE and Artforum. He's been a museum guard, a financial reporter, a bicycle...