Jackson C. Frank: The Complete Recordings Available for Pre-Order!

For those who are in the know about Jackson C. Frank, a 6 LP (3 double albums) & a 3 CD set of his Complete Recordings is now available for pre-order at Badabing Records. Of special note are about 7 unreleased studio recordings from 1972-1974 that will be available for the first time. Per Jim Abbott, the fellow who rescued Jackson in the early 90's and who wrote the recently released biography "Jackson C. Frank - The Clear, Hard Light of Genius," a couple of these songs may stand as great as anything he ever did. Should be interesting!

http://www.badabingrecords.com/2015/04/pre-order-jackson-c-frank-the-complete-recordings/

 

Wow. Who woulda thunk?

 

I am all over hearing seven more songs from the brilliant "Marlene" period. Thanks!

Edit: OK, preordered. I probably should have emailed Simon/Grapefruit first to ask about the pressing plant, but hey, life's a gamble.

 

I ordered the 3 cd's really looking forward to it

 

In case anyone cares, here's some info about the Complete Frank LPs kindly provided by Simon Joyner:

--Initial mastering at Elysian Masters (Dave Cooley)
--Lacquers cut at Salt Mastering (Paul Gold), which I believe is AAA capable?
--Pressing being done at Erika

Erika did a nice job on the new extremely acoustic Sufjan Stevens record, and his people say they're very good about correcting any problems, etc. Erika at least has the most important qualification: not being United.

 

Here are a couple of updates with links to NEW MUSIC!!!

Badabing Records is streaming one of the lost studio recordings from 1972 at Soundcloud. The song is called "China Blue." IMHO, this is an amazing song of undeniable quality. Fantastic!!! Here is the Pitchfork article and song link:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/17486-jackson-c-frank-china-blue/

Jim Abbott, the man who rescued Jackson in the 90's, and who has written the recently published biography/memoir "Jackson C. Frank: The Clear Heart Light of Genius," has posted a minute snippet of one of the other unreleased early 70's studio recordings. Again, mind boggling in its quality. It is found on Youtube here. The xeroxed photo accompanying the video is a picture of Jackson from his homeless days in New York that Jackson's mother sent to Jim.



Badabing previously posted a link to an unreleased song called "Juliette," with the link below. While their complete set does include an early 70's studio recording of this song, the one featured in the link is a home recording in a friend's living room from about 1970, not the studio version. Actually, this song and the 1970 version has been released on the unauthorized "Forest of Eden," a bogus release from a couple of years ago. The song there is mistitled as "Forest of Eden." Jim Abbott says the studio version blows this one away which really has me intrigued because this is amazing (the song and performance, not sound quality).

https://soundcloud.com/badabingrecords/jackson-c-frank-juliette

It is important to note that the most interesting and desirable of the unreleased recordings from this set are the seven tracks that were recorded in the early 70's (1972 and 1974). Three of those songs were later re-recorded again in 1975 with those versions having been released on a couple of different Frank posthumous collections. Those are "Cover Me with Roses," "Spanish Moss," and "Madonna of Swans." If you then add the early version of "Juliette," that leaves only three totally unheard of songs from the time period, two of which have links above. Those songs are "China White," "Box Canyon" and "Stitch in Time." According to Jim Abbott, they are of staggering quality, could be as great as anything Frank ever did. Of course, you just wish there were more of them! The Complete Recordings set also includes the previously unreleased 1968 Peel Sessions including JCF's stunning cover of Patrick Sky's "Jimmy Clay," and then a set of him from 1961 on the radio doing folk standards. The rest has all been released in one form or another, but it all has been remastered!

Again, here is the link for ordering the complete works of JCF that Badabing Records is releasing in August this year:

http://www.badabingrecords.com/2015/04/pre-order-jackson-c-frank-the-complete-recordings/

Lastly, the production company that is doing a film documentary on Jackson C. Frank has a new website with a couple of trailers including interview snippets with John Renbourn and Whizz Jones. No release date is mentioned:

http://www.jacksoncfrank.com/

Hopefully more news to come...

 

I got the book about a week ago. Looking forward to the new songs.

 

I don't know too much about him but have quite enjoyed what I've heard so far. I have pre-ordered and am really looking forward to this one...

 

LPs + book. Done. Stoked.

 

I'm just writing from Secret Records, the label that released "Forest Of Eden", to reassure you that this was an entirely legitimate, authorised release.

Thanks!

 

Just pre-ordered the box set (which I did not know about til a couple nights ago from here).

I had to get the box set.
Had to.
It's a monument to Jackson C. Frank that he never got to see in own lifetime.
(I did spend hours now over it cause I sure ain't rich, but...so I'm broke for a little while...
it's Jackson.)

 

Only know of him from Bert Jansch (RIP) performing "blues run the game". Looks like a great set.

 

Some of the newly unearthed rare tracks from the early 70's are starting to show up on radio playlists with listening links! I have found these:

Juliette - from the 1972 Shotwell sessions. This is *not* to be confused with another version of the same song that Badabing Records posted to Soundcloud a couple of months ago (that was a home recording from 1970). This is a beautiful studio recording with another guitarist sitting in. Jackson sounds focused, restrained and the song is exquisite. Reportedly Art Garfunkel was searching for material when he went solo in 1971 and he looked Jackson up hoping he had some fresh material. Jackson was going to give him "Juliette," but in typical fashion Jackson began to unravel and totally screwed up the opportunity. The link is:

https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/61830

Another one of the rare 70's tracks is a version of "Spanish Moss" from the 1974 Rude sessions. While Jackson re-cut "Spanish Moss" a year later for his aborted "Marlene" album project (which was released on the 2003 comp "Blues Runs the Game"), this version again finds Jackson working with another musician, Artie Traum, who played an additional guitar and bass during the sessions. Again like "Juliette," Jackson sounds very focused and the results are wonderful. The link is:

https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/61814

Sadly, it is impossible to not play the "what if" game here. Jackson clearly had excellent material and performances from his '72, '74 & '75 sessions and it is a crying shame that an album or two did not materialize. Of course, he was running way off the deep end by this point, and it is a minor miracle that this stuff survived, let alone even was recorded. I scratch my head in wonder when people totally dismiss his music from this era saying it is substandard and never could compare to his 1965 hey day. Of course, it is different. What musician during that era sounded exactly the same from 1965 to 1975? To me the quality is there. Some of the 70's recordings are more challenging to get into, but the rewards are huge. It can be difficult on an emotional level too. Songs like "Marlene" (about his his 6th grade girl friend who died in the school fire) is downright harrowing, and the edgy craziness in his voice in "Marcy's Song" is actually frightening. But listen to the above versions of "Juliette" and "Spanish Moss" and hear the voice, guitar and songwriting of one of the all-time greats. Just think, what if...... ......... .......

 

Fantastic! Thanks for these. "Spanish Moss" has long been my favorite JCF song, and "Juliette" is lovely too.

It's nearly "Early August"! (ship date)

 

I've just started listening to Jackson C. Frank after seeing his name and reading his story in the 'most tragic' musicians thread (about as tragic as any of the examples brought up, I was stunned by sadness of the life he led). I'm sort of fascinated with his music and very tempted to pick this set up as it looks like it will be the definitive collection of whatever is out there. I noticed this includes the Night Ride session, was it discovered or did they use an off-air recording of it?

 

Anybody get a shipping confirmation from Grapefruit? These are reportedly already in the shops.

 

If anyone is still waiting -- was informed they had a huge backlog of pre-orders and the last (including mine) were shipped yesterday.

 

I got my 3 cd set today

 

Hello. Got my 3 albums set of vinyl yesterday, and must say that I am pretty pleased with the sound and production.

Except! I am having distortion on Side G vol. 2 on the tracks Cover Me With Roses, Spanish Moss, Stitch in time and Juliette.
Anyone else having this who bought the vinyl, how is the cd when it comes to these tracks. I'd presume clean.

Thinking of returning this one for a replacement. Very good tracks. And I liked immediately that Jimmy Clay and more.

 

You are not wrong -- side G definitely suffers from distortion not inherent to the recording (the mp3s of these tracks sound clean). I'm not sure if the label can make this right or not, but replacements would certainly be nice. I'm gonna drop 'em a polite note.

Musically it is a great set, and normally I'm not such a completist, but you kinda need all of it (1994 in particular is devastatingly good). Package-wise, using the same gatefolds for all three volumes seems like a regrettable cost-saving shortcut. I'd much rather have non-GF covers, with different photos spread across individual inner sleeves or booklets, and the session info printed somewhere a bit more convenient than the center labels.

 

Ok. Thanks for the input. Sorry to hear this might be a general faulty, being that those tracks are so band-like and good, uncommon for JCF, it swings.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Took me a little while examining the labels and inner sleeves to get a clear idea of the arrangement of the content from an otherwise uniform design. But somehow I like them.

 

I haven't had a chance to play my records yet, but will listen to Side G this weekend. If the distortion is there I'd be very interested in replacements if possible.

 

I guess I'll be content even if I cant get a replacement. That song China Blue has softened my heart.

 

Didn't have much luck contacting them about this (side G), so I'm guessing that will be so.

 

So fine...