The Unnecessary Mitch Benn (25th anniversary reisuue)

This was the first album I ever released, entirely independently and off my own bat in the summer of 1998.

I'd established myself as a UK club circuit comic after moving down to London in 1996... It soon became apparent that there would be a demand for a live album, because audience members were literally coming up to me after gigs and demanding one.

In early 1998 I got myself a mini-disc recorder (remember those?) and a stereo tie-pin mic; I discovered that this gave me a pretty decent recording of my voice, guitar AND the audience reactions. I recorded more or less every gig I did for the first few months of 1998 until I had a decent take of all the songs and "bits" in my set, then I edited the best takes together into a master recording.

I found a company in Richmond to master and produce the CDs and soon I had a box of 1,000 ready to go; I sold the CD at all my gigs for the next few years.

I thought I'd long since run out of copies but I found one last box while having a clear-out in February 2023, and so I'm marking the album's 25th anniversary by making it available once again.