Some tracks sounds like a player like this is being used.Some singles may have been made of bad vinyl or worn out.
I'd just like to thank Bear Family for releasing in the last 6 or so months 2 of their (debatably) most sought after projects (I know they were for me).First the Roy Acuff box set and then the George Jones Starday/Mercury set. I didn't even know Richard Weize had sold the business until it was mentioned in this thread some time back and the current owners finished what RW started. There's been criticism in the thread regarding licensing etc... but as far as I'm concerned the current BF team have delivered 2 sets I've waited probably 20 years for someone to do (and let's be honest if BF didn't do them nobody else would have).Thanks again Bear Family.
Coming next month, two more entries in the Rocks series. I may get the Arthur Crudup collection at some point, but The Platters? Rock? Arthur Crudup - Rocks | Bear Family Records The Platters - Rock | Bear Family Records
BF already have a single disc Platters platter. It's called Ballads. I suppose this one will showcase another side.
There's already a BF Platters box set called "Four Platters and One Lovely Dish." (9-CD LP-sized box set with 52-page book, 254 tracks) A long overdue set! The Platters sold more records, played more venues, and appeared in more films than any other vocal group of the time. They truly had the Magic Touch. By 1962, the Platters had placed an astonishing 35 songs on the American pop charts. The lead singer, Tony Williams, influenced an entire generation of singers - black and white. This is one of the most impressive legacies in black music. Virtually all of the Platters' classic recordings from 1955 to 1964 were made for one label, Mercury Records, and they're here complete for the first time. Titles include Only You, The Great Pretender, The Magic Touch, My Prayer, Harbour Lights, You'll Never Know, Twilight Time, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, I'm Sorry....more than 250 songs in all.
There's a copy of the Wynn Stewart box for sale in the classifieds. Somebody should pick it up. It's a great box.
$100 isn't a bad price at all. It's worth the money to upgrade from the 1CD "Challenge Masters," because that material sounds even better on the Bear Family set. Here is a nice tv commercial for Kmart, which aired some years back and featured Wynn Stewart. I was sad to see one of the last remaining Kmart stores close just a couple weeks ago. Huge liquidation, mostly junk was left.
Been fighting the urge to buy the Jerry Lee Lewis complete; and when I saw the track listing and noticed at least 12 versions of "High School Confidential" the urge went away. I love that song like the next rock-a-billy fool, but how many versions does one really need? I guess if I had endless time and money, I'd get it (and the Chuck Berry box).
It also has thirty different versions of "Break Up". Think I may have already mentioned this, but instead of either of Bear Family's JLL Sun boxes I opted for this twelve-disc set from Charly. Instead of bombarding the listener with five consecutive versions of the same song, it divides them up somewhat evenly among the discs. The booklet isn't as good as a Bear product's, but that's the trade-off. Speaking of Wynn Stewart, Bear Family should put together a single-disc, career-spanning greatest-hits collection. He has a Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight entry but its upbeat focus means it's missing smashes like "It's Such a Pretty World Today" and "After the Storm".
This looks like a trick question, so I searched for the answer using Google Here is what I got. Just to be safe, I'd say twelve.
AVI had a Best of the Challenge Masters CD out years ago, it was my introduction to Wynn Stewart, great disc if it's still about. The Bear box is well worth getting, 10 discs worth of consistent quality stuff.
Here you can order a DVD box set with Jimmy Dean show. Whole lotta countrystars on these: The Jimmy Dean Show
The sound is superior on the complete Jerry Lee Lewis set & it has better liner notes than any other release. The Charly set especially is full of mistakes.
I woudn't doubt it. As mentioned, it came down to a matter of sequencing. I'd love that massive 18-disc box Bear Box for the book, but I couldn't possibly sit through six or seven consecutive versions of any one song. Agreed on both counts. I just mean there's no single-disc collection of all his hits from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. A more likely compilation I'd also like to see is a Rocks entry for Louis Jordan, maybe delving a little than the box set's 1954 cutoff in order to capture some of his deliberate stabs at rock 'n' roll. Chuck Berry has been quoted as saying “The music was here long before Jordan, but Louis Jordan was the first one I heard play rock n roll.” Rocked-up 1956 remake of his hit from a decade prior:
Here is a great cd,complete recordings on RCA,price is bad: Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five - Rock N Roll Call by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five (1993-02-09) - Amazon.com Music
I believe these two Rev-Ola discs should give you almost everything he did from 1953-'57. The Mercury collection is missing a handful of songs. Louis Jordan - Aladdin X & Vik Recordings 1953-55 - Amazon.com Music (Vik and "X" were the RCA subsidiaries he recorded for) Louis Jordan - Roc Doc: Louis Jordan on Mercury 1956-57 - Amazon.com Music One more updated version, this one with killer guitar from Mickey Baker.
This week I got my first Richard Weize Archives release, Johnny Cymbal's Mr. Bass Man: The Acetates. Not essential listening by any means, but those with a passion for early-60's pop or Brill Building songcraft should find it interesting. Cymbal's greatest talents were a knack for songwriting and an astonishing vocal range. On tracks like "Whose Gonna Love Me" he jumps effortlessly between highs and lows without missing a beat. He even provides his own bass voice on the demo version of "Mr. Bass Man". That tune is presented in three different versions, comprising one-fifth of the album. Songs like "Go VW Go" and "Summertime USA" were squarely aimed at the Beach Blanket Bikini Bingo audience, but the embryonic arragements keep them from being overwhelmingly cheesy. "Outside My World" gets the full orchestral treatment and was probably intended to be picked up by a Gene Pitney type. Speaking of demos aimed at other singers, "Slow Dancin' with Don" has Cymbal standing in for someone like Connie Stevens or Jo Ann Campbell. "Teenage Heaven" is a precursor to The Righteous Brothers' "Rock 'n' Roll Heaven", naming off recently-deceased rockers like Ritchie Valens and Eddie Cochran. Coincidentally, Cochran also recorded a song called "Teenage Heaven" as well as his own ode to Buddy and company, "Three Stars". It would have been nice to round up Cymbal's complete early recordings to fill up the unused 47 minutes of running time, but as it stands this is a charming curio. Very much looking forward to RWA's Huelyn Duvall comp, especially for the early rockabilly stuff.
