Bear Family's 1st cd is a good sampler... Rock'n'Roll Party 1957-62 (CD) – jpc Peter Kraus was probably more like the German Ricky Nelson, Ted Herold's sound reminded me more of Fabian than Elvis. I think (only my opinion) 1950s German "Rock & Roll" had more in common with Pat Boone, The McGuire Sisters, and Stan Freberg than Elvis. I like a lot of it - it can be very entertaining...
Fair enough. Their sound was closer to those you mentioned, but they were marketed as Elvis-types and covered a great number of his songs. All in all, Germany seemed to have the most lightweight early rock sound of any western European country. Billy Sanders was an English-born fellow who stayed in Germany after getting drafted and tried to knock it out as a rock 'n' roll star. He never quite made it, but his early recordings were some of the most authentic German-language stuff. I thought about getting Bear Family's CD of his complete work, but the 60's stuff is that really ethnic German schlager stuff with march beats and accordions. A couple early rockers by Sanders: Billy Sanders - Ja, so 'ne party - 1958
a bit off topic, but I know 'Bear' have released versions of songs by artists in other languages, maybe it's another thread. the likes of Jim Reeves, Connie Francis, Cliff Richard, Johnny Cash, Paul Anka etc. this is one release I do like from the 'Everly Brothers', not a 'Bear' item, and most of it sounds like needle drops. still, it's a fun listen.
There are 4 German and 2 Italian songs on disc 7 of the Bear Family Everly Brothers "The Price of Fame" box set.
Here is a great one,some track in English are in stereo,only place i know they are. Disc 1 only English tracks. Disc 2 in german. Various Artists - Let's Go Let's Dance Let's Have a Party - Amazon.com Music :
I don't really know his stuff but after listening bought the other two-fer that Bear put out with Blackjack Choir and Ain't It Something. Funny when I looked him up on Allmusic, the two albums on the CD I bought are both 4 1/2 stars and yet the two-fer itself is only 3!
Congrats! I still hope to get it one day. Apparently the book is comprehensive enough that it includes a price guide for each single. Think you'll get any of the other "State" boxes?
Well, listening to James Talley - Blackjack Choir/Ain't It Something Bear Family CD right now, what a great set of country blues songs.
Can anyone testify to the sound/pressing quality of Bear Family LPs? They recently reissued Tages - Studio (1967) and I'm rather interested but would rather not waste my money if they're poorly pressed! Analogue source? Good quality? Thanks
I only have Bear Family vinyl pressed in the 1980's. All excellent. But most titles from Bear Family are scarce items available nowhere else, except on some original pressings (often 45s or 78s). So if you want the music at all (which is most important), you just get the Bear Family titles. I would not call any Bear Family title a waste of money. As far as I am concerned, people can keep their $50 "audiophile" vinyl LPs. They often find that even those sound just like all vinyl, with all the typical artifacts that come with microgroove pressings. I have read some comments from buyers of a well known audiophile label pressing of a $500 Bill Evans box that they returned up to nine (yes nine!) copies of the $500 box because they heard (or imagined?) defects. With all of those disgruntled customer returns, it is no wonder that the company charges $500 for the box instead of $150-200 where it should be priced (the CD set is often available at $50 and sounds great)
News of new Bear CD releases has seemingly slowed to a crawl and the issues related to US distribution are still hanging out there. Has anyone heard any updates on either front?
I can't speak for that album in particular, but I have a handful of Bear Family LPs -- some from the 80's and some from the 10's. No defects or weirdness to speak of. One of their older albums, a collection of Terry Noland's demos, is possibly the quietest record I've ever played.
If I buy a record, I want to hear some sound, not silence! The great thing about human hearing (as opposed to listening to music as some graphic image on an oscilloscope), is that the human ear and brain can filter through and bypass (completely ignore) surface noise on a vinyl pressing. Too many audiophiles seem to listen to a record only to hear the surface noise and get unhappy. This forum is full of threads about surface noise.
There seem to be far more new releases on Richard Weize's new label (RWA). It seems like Richard took the soul of Bear Family with him. I wonder why.
Been a while since I bought a BF title, but today I ordered It's So Easy for You to be Mean by Lee Emerson. He has to be one of the most obscure country singers Bear Family has covered, with just one of his songs have over 10,000 YouTube hits. One of those artists who tried his hand at just about every style in the quest for a hit. A bit of surface noise doesn't bother me personally, I'm just reinforcing that they put out quality records. Indeed, their only upcoming CD releases are the Woody Guthrie tribute concert box and something on the Cree sub-label. Bear Family had begun moving in strange directions even before Mr. Weize announced his semi-retirement, so I wonder if there was some conflict of interests.
Agreed. The most troubling thing about this is that once Mr. Weize is no longer able to keep his venture going (he's in his mid 70s) there doesn't seem to be much hope of the kind of releases he championed continuing.
What is the word on the Woody Guthrie Bear Family issue? As Smithsonian has done just about everything, I wondered what Bear might do. So is it just an all-star tribute set, with little actual Woody?
Woody Guthrie - The Tribute Concerts | Bear Family Records • Two ''Tribute to Woody Guthrie'' concerts were planned after Woody Guthrie’s death on October 3, 1967: at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on January 20th, 1968, and at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on September 12, 1970 • Appearing at the January concert were Judy Collins, Bob Dylan with members of The Band, Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Odetta, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger. • Appearing in Los Angeles were Joan Baez, Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Odetta, Country Joe McDonald, Richie Havens, Earl Robinson and Pete Seeger. The house band included members of Swampwater and Ry Cooder Well, an impressive lineup at the very least.
I was listening to a radio interview today with a musician who was about 50 years old (I missed his name). He said he can't stand country music and that it had absolutely no influence on his music. Then he said his major influence and inspiration came from traditional folk music and rockabilly. Not all musicians are smart
