It would be great if Bear Family could collect them all - as well as the other outtakes noted in the sessionography - into some kind of 'Outtakes' set. While I'm in 'wish list' mode - Fats Domino's Mercury recordings (some unissued) would make a nice companion/addition to the new box set. And now that Universal issued their own 'complete' Buddy Holly (and the original recorings are mostly in the public domain) would that make licencing any easier for Bear Family's own set?
A cheap great CD box not made by Bear Family,just bought one: Various CD: Trains & Cars (4-CD) - Bear Family Records
Just pulled the trigger on the second Merle Haggard box set. It's been sitting in my cart for months @ $175. They just dropped it to $127. I'm a happy cowboy. Hag: The Studio Recordings 1969-1976 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000U716D8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_CX7kDbQV5D4P9
I've got all three now. I can't say that I'll be returning to #3 very often. I had hoped that The Strangers material alone would make it worthwhile, as I am now a big Roy Nichols guy, but I certainly wasn't bowled over. Only one listen though, so we'll see. No regrets. It's a nice item.
Is that the Concepts, Live or Troubadour? Troubadour is really good, be nice to have an Epic set though. Glad he doesn't ship to the UK, I'd be picking up the Linn Kliff and Blue Sky Boys. That Leona Williams set is first rate, it's only a compact one but it's really good.
Hag - The Capitol Recordings 1968-1976 - Concepts, Live & The Strangers I haven't given up on it yet. I've only listened to it once. The Gospel material I found pretty disappointing. Not much fire. Kinda rote and cliched. I had expected to be bowled over by The Strangers material, but a lot of that was hit and miss for me. Not bad, just not great. Some of the vehicles are pretty weak. The playing is great, of course. I'll give it all some time. Second or third time around maybe I'll feel differently. As I said, I'm not regretting the purchase -- just expected more. I don't really have my sights on Troubadour -- it's a little late in the game for my tastes. That could change. I've been known to develop an itch now and then.
Oh sh#t. I neglected to mention the "tribute" material that comprises much of the first two discs of the Haggard set. The Jimmie Rodgers stuff is fantastic. Two LPs worth. A real treat. I enjoyed the Bob Wills stuff as well. It didn't hit me quite as hard, but it's all very good, for the most part. And the live shows taking up part of disc 2 and all of disc 3 are solid, at the very least. Good recordings. Good performances. No complaints there. It's disc 4 with the Gospel revues that I started straying. Not because it's Gospel -- it just didn't strike me as particularly strong material. Again -- this could all change for me going forward. I know better than to close the door after one listening.
Yeah I’ve got the stand alone BF Jimmie Rodgers disc and it really is first rate. I’m a big fan of Hag MCA and Epic stuff, I think his voice took on a new dimension during this period, some of the material isn’t classic like the Capitol recordings but there’s some great stuff here.
Yeah. That's why I'm waffling on Troubadour. I know his vocal execution just naturally matured -- but I generally have a proclivity for earlier material. I'll probably buckle, at some point. It's been known to happen.
A great CD box with Elvis recordings from 1969 coming in August: Elvis - American Sound 1969 (FTD) 5 CD Box Set Available August 23rd
pasted below is the information from this link above. I note that the link states that many of these missing tracks are on the series of Hip-O boxes, but does not indicate which ones or how many. Though I have the Hip-O boxes, I do not have the time or focus to figure it all out. Has anyone else done that? The INFORMATION THE FIFTY-FIVE CHUCK BERRY RECORDINGS MISSING FROM THE BEAR FAMILY 16-CD SET Recently an unnamed Chuck Berry fan collected what he called „The Ultimate Collection of Hard-to-find Rarities, Live Performances, Demos & Out-Takes“. I don‘t know who this fan is, but I know for a fact that he/she follows the articles in this blog closely. Probably, this privately-made collection has been made available on one of the typical bootleg sites. For some time, privately-made CD copies of this collection were sold by an American bootlegger on ebay using the album name „Such A Sight To See – Vol. 1“. There are other Volumes containing all kinds of live performances. The bootleg CDs have a printing “Made in Japan” and a barcode (all the same), which are intended to make them look “official”. We do not encourage to buy bootlegs as we believe that music creators (artists, musicians, studios, labels) deserve a fair compensation for creating the work we all enjoy. However, we would like to encourage Bear Family and similar re-issue labels to take this collection as a pattern of what urgently needs to be re-released soon. On the first two CDs of this collection, the creator included 55 (53) studio recordings by Chuck Berry. All follow a simple rule: they have been released in the past before but were omitted from the omnibus Rock And Roll Music - Any Old Way You Choose It (Bear Family BCD 17273 PL, 2014). Which tells us that if Bear Family would have included just two more CDs in their 16-CD boxset, they’d had indeed made the ‘ultimate’ Berry collection. Many of the tracks are from the out-of-print HIP-O-Select boxsets, some are from other CDs and records and were missing even on these “complete” sets. All have been discussed on this site before. One should note, though, that some of these tracks are omitted from the Bear Family set by intention e.g. because of the poor sound quality (Go Go Go, Top Gear tracks). Anyway, they are “out there” and thus missing. The collector’s effort in combining the missing recordings is worth to be repeated here for all of you who would like to know what they missed when buying the Bear Family box. Thus here it is (with a few corrections from me): 1. La Jaunda (EP Version) – We prefer the spelling La Juanda because this is what Chuck sings. 2. Rock and Roll Music (Alternate Take) 3. Sweet Little Sixteen (Original Demo – Longer Ending) – nowadays considered to be Take 1. 4. Sweet Little Sixteen (Take 3 ) 5. Sweet Little Sixteen (Take 8 ) – which in fact is a combination of Take 11 and Take 13. 6. Sweet Little Sixteen (Take 11 ) 7. Sweet Little Sixteen (Master – Original Speed) 8. Night Be At (Take 3 ) – correct title is Night Beat, of course. 9. Time Was (Take 4 ) 10. Reelin’ And Rockin’ (Take 1 ) 11. Reelin’ And Rockin’ (Take 7 ) 12. Reelin’ And Rockin’ (Take 8 ) 13. Johnny B. Goode (Take 1 ) 14. Johnny B. Goode (Take 2 ) 15. Johnny B. Goode (Take 3 ) 16. Around And Around (Overdub – Take 2 ) 17. Around And Around (Overdub – Take 3 ) 18. Ingo (Overdub – Take 3 ) 19. Beautiful Delilah (Takes 15 & 16 ) 20. 21 (Take 14 ) 21. Carol (Alternate Piano Overdub 1 ) 22. Carol (Alternate Piano Overdub 2 ) 23. Anthony Boy (Take 6 ) 24. Sweet Little Rock ‘N’ Roller (Take 5 ) 25. Merry Christmas Baby (Album Version) 26. Little Queenie (Take 8 ) 27. Do You Love Me (Alternate Take) 28. Almost Grown (Take 14 ) 29. Almost Grown (Take 28 ) 30. Blue on Blue (Take 3 ) 31. Betty Jean (Take 14 ) 32. Betty Jean (Take 17 ) 33. Childhood Sweetheart (Alternate Take) 34. I Just Want to Make Love to You (Take 3 ) 35. Broken Arrow (Take 21 ) 36. Let It Rock (Alternate Mix) 37. Too Pooped To Pop (Take 4A ) 38. Go Go Go (Alternate Take) 39. Nadine (Stereo Remix) (40.) The Little Girl From Central (Stereo) – the stereo version IS in the Bear Family box, though. 41. O Rangutang (No Fade) (42.) Big Ben Blues (Stereo) – likewise also this stereo version is not missing in Bear Family’s set. 43. Promised Land (Stereo Remix) 44. No Particular Place To Go (Stereo Remix) 45. Little Marie (Stereo Remix) 46. I Want To Be Your Driver (Stereo Remix) 47. Nadine (BBC Top Gear) – these three are from BBC Radio 1965 48. Promised Land (BBC Top Gear) 49. No Particular Place To Go (BBC Top Gear) 50. Oh Captain (Original Unsynched) 51. YMCA Radio Spot ––– missing here is the NAPRA Radio Spot of 1975 52. Ridin’ Along In My GTI 53. Go Shabba Go (With Shabba Ranks) 54. Independence Air Commercial 55. Independence Air Safety Briefings Congratulations to the collector for this next-to-complete list. Along with the Bear Family set this combines every surviving studio recording ever made by Chuck Berry (except for the late Dualtone release and a couple of TV and radio studio recordings). Thus a request to Bear Family and the other labels: This is what collectors would like to be able to buy legally!
The Drake Family Feb. 1942. Weslaco, Texas. Fiddler Nathan Drake, Jasper "Sleepy" Drake and big brother Weldon Drake
Most of the "information" about the missing tracks is present in the discography included in the Bear Family books (especially the amended second edition). In the BF session listing every take is identified and whether it's available on the Hip-O boxes or the BF set (or elsewhere).
You can download the Chuck Berry sessionography here: Fred Rothwell's Chuck Berry Discography Download - The Chuck Berry Collectors Blog Based upon a super quick scan through; these are the tracks not on the Hip-O boxes: 1. La Jaunda (EP Version) 5. Sweet Little Sixteen (Take 8 ) 14. Johnny B. Goode (Take 2 ) 15. Johnny B. Goode (Take 3 ) 21. Carol (Alternate Piano Overdub 1 ) 22. Carol (Alternate Piano Overdub 2 ) 23. Anthony Boy (Take 6 ) 39. Nadine (Stereo Remix) 43. Promised Land (Stereo Remix)+ 44. No Particular Place To Go (Stereo Remix) 45. Little Marie (Stereo Remix) 46. I Want To Be Your Driver (Stereo Remix) 47. Nadine (BBC Top Gear) – these three are from BBC Radio 1965 48. Promised Land (BBC Top Gear) 49. No Particular Place To Go (BBC Top Gear) 50. Oh Captain (Original Unsynched) 51. YMCA Radio Spot 52. Ridin’ Along In My GTI 53. Go Shabba Go (With Shabba Ranks) 54. Independence Air Commercial 55. Independence Air Safety Briefings There is a second edition of the book in the Bear Family box? Is there much difference? If I have the first edition (how would I tell?) is it worth worrying about trying to get the updated version?
The edition is stated on page 4 ("First edition" or "Second edition"). After the box was released a musician from the Chess sessions got in contact and gave some additional information. Not much to worry about – but there are people out there who want to know when the bass player got his lunch break. And when he returned.
Any chance for a 4 disc Bonnie Dobson box? Looks like her 60s and 70s stuff is OOP on CD save for her first two records, one of which is on ACE. I know Bear did a 2 on 1 CD. She's got a stellar catalog, is still active and decently known. How about it, Bear? Bonnie Dobson on CD and well mastered?
It's not weird – it's standard practice in Richard Weize's discographies since 1973. Not everything recorded is always included in the boxes. The tracklisting is on different pages.