I can not bring myself to “like” Tribute’s post. It is too depressing. So I’ll just publicly thank him instead.
I actually message Amazon.de to ask why mine hadn't shipped even though it was now in stock. I got a reply within 24 hours. They said the order is still active and will ship. But that's about it.
Definitely. Good to know the information, although it gives you that sinking feeling in your stomach. Something has to be done to rectify this situation. I believe in preservation of the music and at this point, it's out of Richard's control as his efforts are focused on RWA. If Bear Family allow certain titles to go OOP or become unavailable, the music will fade away and be largely forgotten.
My copy of the Starday box arrived today. Listening to the first disc now, I didn't expect to hear a sax-driven R&B blaster as the fifth track. My only complaint is that no explanation is given for the absence of certain tracks. For some it's a simple matter of a copy never having turned up, and in other cases the only known copy is in such poor condition that it's unlistenable. However, some songs are described in detail without mentioning unacceptable sound quality, leaving the reader guessing as to why they were left off. Take Walter Ponder Jr.'s "Carry On" b/w "I Had a Chance", which is written up as follows: "A nice piano-led gospel-type number, sung with feeling (as almost all gospel records are). Both sides are slightly similar to each other and that's a good thing 'cos it's a great record." However, only the A-side is included. The flip doesn't even have a label shot. Similarly, Bert Hughart's custom single has label shots for both sides but beneath his entry in the book it says "NOT INCLUDED: NOT FOUND". Did BE Sharp Records somehow come into possession of the labels but not the record itself? Simply put, specific reasoning for the absence of each missing track would have been appreciated. That aside, it's great so far.
That’s really weird because I ordered mine on Thursday and it was delivered to the US on Monday! Thats just, what, two business days?!
Yup. Makes no sense and GodBlessTinyTim ordered on the same day as me and got a shipping notification so his is on the way. But you bought later than both of us and got yours sooner than either of us! To rub it in...Amazon.de replied to my message asking when the order would ship and said it would definitely go out. But still no shipping notification. The message said something about deciding which warehouse it would go from and then it would go out. Truly bizarre. It's now been in stock for awhile but still nothing.
Mine was dispatched from the UK although the order was placed on Amazon.de. So there may be something to this whole “deciding which warehouse” business. But I don’t understand why the orders are not fulfilled in the order in which they are received.
It is mentioned on the back of the box: "There are a few records listed in the book that are not on the CDs - sadly, after 30 years of collecting...these records simply haven't turned up yet"
Same here! Thursday, January 25, 2018 Location 13 Arrived at Sort Facility LOS ANGELES GATEWAY - USA LOS ANGELES GATEWAY, CA - USA 12 Customs status updated LOS ANGELES GATEWAY, CA - USA 11 Arrived at Sort Facility LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 10 Departed Facility in LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 9 Transferred through LONDON-HEATHROW - UK LONDON-HEATHROW - UK 8 Departed Facility in EAST MIDLANDS - UK EAST MIDLANDS - UK Wednesday, January 24, 2018 Location 7 Processed at EAST MIDLANDS - UK EAST MIDLANDS - UK 6 Arrived at Sort Facility EAST MIDLANDS - UK EAST MIDLANDS - UK 5 Departed Facility in EDINBURGH - UK EDINBURGH - UK 4 Arrived at Sort Facility EDINBURGH - UK EDINBURGH - UK 3 Departed Facility in GLASGOW - UK GLASGOW - UK 2 Processed at GLASGOW - UK GLASGOW - UK 1 Shipment information received GLASGOW - UK
But as mentioned, a number of the absent records are described in terms of how they sound and/or have label shots , meaning they were available to listen to and/or photograph. How does that work? It really isn't fair. In an ideal world you'd get a discount for the wasted time.
I noticed that the County Sales website is still up. I ordered a box set from the website the day before the store "closed" and received the box set a few days ago. I wonder what would happen if I ordered a box set on the website now?
The compilers tried to assemble all available information. A few label shots were found through dodgy internet sources (and some of these even led to the owners of actual copies of the singles!), but a couple of songs only surfaced on private cassette and tape compilations which weren't usable. But as they mention in the foreword: they're still hunting around, and currently missing tracks may be added to the next volumes...
Thank you for clearing that up. I guess I would have liked those details to have been included in the notes, but it doesn't matter in the long run. Great work from everyone involved.
I wouldn't be surprised if the release of this first volume will lead to some of the missing tracks surfacing.
Well you will not believe this, actually you probably will. I sent them another message last night asking for an update. I received an email saying that this item is no longer in stock, even though it is and I sent them a screen shot showing it is. I got a standard email response about how some items are popular and sell out blah blah. So I also pointed out that it wasn't sold out previously and they've been fulfilling orders since I actually pre-ordered mine. I knew something like this was going to happen. I'll keep the order alive for the heck of it but I have no hope that it will ship. The stupid thing is if I buy it now at the higher price it'll ship to me! I can't see how an error like this could've happened on their end. Makes no sense. So dumb. What I hate the most out of all this is the stupid form letter responses you get. Geez, just give me a straight up answer.
In an IDEAL WORLD, there wouldn't be such a thing as wasted time. Because that is all we would do. Be lazy and listen to Bear Family box sets all day long. Oh, and in an ideal world, there would be no discounts. Everything would be free. Last point: In an ideal world, there would be a Bear Family box set of the complete recordings of Ray Charles, so I would not have to dig out those LPs that still have never been on CD.
From the box, a neat gospel bopper that uses the tune of Piano Red's "Right String But the Wrong Yo-Yo". The picking style reminds me of a certain pre-war blues player, but I can't remember whom.
I don't know why but the latest comments remind me of one of my all time favorite music scenes in a movie:
I just bought and ripped to iTunes the Bear Family Howlin' Wolf memphis Days album. It is so hotly trebled up that I can't listen to it at all. Does anybody know any settings besides Options/EQ/Treble Reducer that can make it listenable?
That Howlin Wolf would sound great in this setting or in this setting The treble was probably pretty high in the stage speakers wherever Wolf played. No one ever argued that the producer Sam Phillips (who recorded Howlin Wolf sessions on Bear Family) EVER faithfully recorded a natural-sounding session in the first place. Everything was futzed.
