Hi all....I just saw a listing on ebay for Stillwater's self titled Capricorn debut on CD. The album was released, I think, in 1977, but I don't recall ever finding it on CD. The photo on ebay shows a sealed CD with clear plastic inlay and the Capricorn Classics Series moniker running up the left side of the inlay. Backside is green with titles, writing credits, and Capricorn logo on bottom right, and UPC in upper left. Starting bid is $39.99. Does anyone know if this is a legit CD? One feedback message regarding the seller states the buyer was unhappy with having received CDR. Otherwise feedback is generally positive. I would consider 40 bucks for this if it were legit...

Murdog,

Stillwater's self-titled debut and their second album I Reserve The Right! were both remastered and scheduled to come out on CD as part of PolyGram's "Capricorn Classics" series in 1997 -- not 2007 as stated on the back inserts of the CDs currently listed at eBay -- but sales were poor and the series ended early. So we can probably assume that the eBay ones aren't legitimate releases.

Now, if these are factory-pressed aluminum CDs rather than CD-Rs, and if they're made from the remastered tapes rather than ripped from vinyl, you might want to pick them up anyway. But since the discs are shrinkwrapped, even the sellers themselves might not be able to tell you for sure what they contain.

Thanks for the research Linda. I did a Google search and landed somewhere called Rocket CD, I think, where someone was selling these (I think the auction was long gone, though), noting he/she had "picked a few up in Europe...". I might just go for it.

Is "Fever Dog" on that one?

ALMOST FAMOUS actually licensed the name from the surviving members.

Wow, I never knew that!

Murdog, I own this title, it is NOT legit in any way whatsoever, the same label released some Atlanta Rhythm Section titles that are OOP as well. The copy of Stillwater that I own, I can't even play, it won't play on my car cd player or my iMac. I just got my stereo system hooked-up finally, so I will see if my OPPO BDP-83 will play it, but it is 100% CD-R, trust me. *Update* Upon insertion into my OPPO player, it came up "UNKNOWN DISC"--but on the second try,"Mind Bender"--one of my all-time favorite songs-- is now playing fine. We'll see how the rest of the disc does. The sound is good as long as you can get it to play in your player.

Murdog, I got the Stillwater cd to play twice all the way through my OPPO. After the first time, I had to feed it into the player another half a dozen times, but it played. Very good cd, sounds like 70's Allman Brothers. Remember all those great southern bands: Skynyrd, ARS, Molly Hatchet, et al--where has that sound gone?

Hey James Dean,

Thanks for your post. It's really a "buyer beware" situation I think. My NAD has always been able to play CDR without any trouble. Still may be worth the hassle....

Re: Southern Rock bands, Sea Level (after the Allmans, of course) was always my favorite. Happy to have all of their CDs (legitimate releases too) in my collection and a cool live boot. Glad to see Chuck Leavell (sp?) still recording and touring.

"Mind Bender" was always one of my favorites. I bought the Universal "Southern Rock Gold" (or something like that) so that I could get an official release. As far as I know, that's the only legitimate release of the song.

Murdog, Walter: If you don't already have it, pick up "Alive Down South" which is a live compilation album featuring, Stillwater, Sea Level, Wet Willie, Dixie Dregs, Elvin Bishop and the Allman Brothers. The tracks were recorded live from '76-'78 at various venues and includes a nice version of "Mind Bender."

A quick follow up ... I did buy this CD from the ebay seller and just received it yesterday. Though the ebay listing showed the location as NY, the package postmark and return address are from Estonia. May explain the two weeks it took to get here. At any rate, the CD plays fine, without hesitation, on my laptop at work, in my car, and at home. Track titles show up fine (although out of order) on the MSN media program on my laptop. The sound is great, especially on my home system. Definitely not a needle drop. The CD is shiny aluminum -- looks like any factory pressed CD except for the label which is definitely not a "legitimate" factory pressed label (though it contains the typical label copyright information). The Capricorn artwork is fuzzy, the band name "Stillwater" on the label is in a kind of creepy "old fashioned" "last star fighter" font, the cover art on the booklet is too heavily tinted green, and the liner notes are amatuerish (but, at least there are some). At home, Gracenotes easily accesses the album artwork and details. Overall, I'm happy with this. Cool album to hear again after (yikes!) decades of not hearing it. Mindbender is as fun as ever.

Six years later, the Stillwater and I Reserve The Right! albums will both be getting legitimate CD releases via the UK's Rock Candy label:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=107323

Patience is rewarded.

I used to think this was a made up band name for the Almost Famous movie.

Did they pay Stillwater the rights for the name so they could use it in the movie?

Yes.

the deluxe version of the movie on DVD came with a CD that had 8 stillwater ( the movie band) songs.

i bought it used.......for $3........got home......no CD .............both DVD's, though.