The "Black Europe" set was one of Bear Family's fastest sellers – much to the surprise of everyone involved. And BTW, the "Lily Marlene" box did quite well, too.
I have that one. I often study a particular song in great depth, and pull together as many as 100 (or more!) versions of the same song, in both instrumental and vocal performances. It is amazing how well a sequence of several hours of one song can work, with all of the different vocal approaches, instrumental arrangements, tempos, etc. They come off as a grand suite. I have broadcast many of these one song specials for either two hours or three hours. Listeners love them and seem to remember them years later. This tends to work best with songs that encourage interpretation. The so-called "Great American Songbook" by the composers like Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, etc. is the best source for studying variations. Songs that encourage imitative cover versions tend to have less variation in performance or musical arrangement. Some individual performers, like Bob Dylan, vary their vocal interpretations, musical arrangements and even lyrics of one single song that you can really explore one singer's performances of one song without repetition. You can put together three hours of Dylan singing Mr. Tambourine Man and it sounds, again, like a grand musical suite - always changing.
I would not consider the Chuck Berry Guitar case edition to be a separate issue. It is just part of the Chuck Berry pressing. The Black Europe box (I have that too, being obsessed with that part of music history) may have sold quickly, but I doubt many of the owners have listened to a good portion of the set. I wonder how many copies of that ended up in university libraries or archives. They may have been shipped to individuals, but gone to music department libraries.
Paul got lots of money so he can buy that guitar case set.He owns the copyrights to the Buddy Holly songs.
I know I gave him some of my money. He got a little bit from many of us. But as Paul said, "Money Cant Buy Me Love"
I once visited the offices of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin (for a demonstration of their 100-year old wax cylinder copying machine, no less), and on one of the desks I saw a copy of the "Black Europe" box. "Hey, there's one of our boxes!" I said, and the guide replied, "Yeah, we use that on an almost daily basis. Great for checking stuff, and actually hearing recordings you only know from obscure documents or catalogs..."
I bet many of the major research libraries in the US have a copy, at least 50 of them. That would be at least 10% of the entire production. Of course the books alone are enough reason for significant libraries to have one.
These must be in museums/universities somewhere: Bristol sessions cd box - YouTube Various The Johnson City Sessions, 1928 1929 Can You Sing Or Play Old Time Music BCD16083 Various Black Europe The Sounds And Images Of Black People In Europe pre 1927 BCD16095
They certainly should be! I also think these box sets should be on display in the City Halls and Public Libraries of the cities covered by those box sets.
That picture definitely looks like it is from the Bear Family facility. I doubt Paul keeps his in the basement workshop. I wonder what happened to Chuck's copy?
Bristol, Knoxville and Johnson City all have major annual celebrations for these sessions, with the Bear Family boxes well on display (and available to citizens at discount price). Johnson City recently produced a T-shirt with the box cover.
The guitar case was custom-made for Bear Family (with special inlays and pockets for the boxes and the bonus stuff) by the Gibson company in the US.
David Houston rocks: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x...3zMQaYEFPr3-GAZc5KEH9o_AFGJQ940TiZ-_2qi3cI5M4
I'm fairly certain Chuck was still alive when it was released. I assume he got one. And Bob Dylan might have put in an advance order. I hope Brian Wilson ordered a set (even the regular edition), as he copped much of Berry's style.
I wonder how many of the Bear Family sets came with a poster of some sort. I cannot remember. But I just opened to play the Memphis Belles box, and it has a great two-sided large poster reviewing in great detail, the reissues of Sun Records on Bear Family. It's a promo piece that is very well done.
Willie Nelson performing live at Panther Hall. Probably late 60s due to Paul English on drums. Paul played with him since the 1950s, but didn't become Willie's full-time drummer until 1966.