It's great these are still going to be in print, but like some of the other new updated sets, a lot of us have these already, the upgrades are not likely worth in our pay grades..... Great for the new folks however! I'm more on the side of new artists sets over re-hashing old sets that are already top class..... Ultimately, when it comes to Cash, I don't see why BF don't include the whole bunch of old sets into one collection like Jerry Lee or Chuck Berry at this point..... Then, you'd have more bargaining power as a complete collection... Anyway, Happy Days, keep em' coming.....
My remark was my own remark, not a press statement or the opinion of Bear Family. We should all be thankful that they keep most of their catalog in print. No-one is forced to buy anything twice; no-one is kept under the illusion that these upgraded sets are anything new – they only look a bit nicer in parts.
Today's favorite Bear............... Billy "Red" Love – Gee … I Wish - The Sun Years, Plus (BCD 17149 AH)
The point was given in your initial description. The new book for the Johnny Cash set is now 44 pages, you stated. I have the old one, which was 32 pages, counting the covers. So the new book is 12 more full format pages longer, almost 40% longer. Plus, the old book had no discography at all. This is far from a minor difference, looking a bit nicer. So, I believe that those customers who purchased the set when issued should be allowed to purchase the new book separately, and yet that gets summarily dismissed. To me this is poor customer relations.
I'm not aware of any record company in the history of the universe that has ever provided this option. Please correct me if I'm wrong. One's beliefs should at least be somewhat based in reality.
Bear Family is far from "any record company". It is essentially a collector's company, and its customers are very often "completists" It has made its reputation on customer service to its buyers, nearly all of whom are serious collectors. In the past, unlike most other companies, they would either give replacement "parts" (CDs, typically) out for no charge, or very nominal. My request was not for "free" books, but replacement books at a reasonable charge. That is based in reality, and not unreasonable, especially in that Bear Family has never used the business model of "pop chart oriented companies" And actually, when it had stock of booklets, the Mosaic company either provided replacement books for free or at reasonable cost. Mosaic was somewhat similar to Bear Family, but it's titles were limited printings, so booklets were in shorter supply than for Bear which keeps most sets in print and reprints books.
The Mosaic label even provided extra copies of the outer boxes if they had remaining "parts" of sets, and also provided the printed "slicks" used to create the box set covers.
And? So you could recreate an empty Mosaic box from these parts – without content??? BTW – and I probably mentioned this when you grumbled about this frustration before – Bear Family did provide the option to buy some of their books separately. Problem was nobody was buying them.
No, if your box was damaged, you could restore it. In one case, I loaned a Mosaic box set to a friend and he lost the book. Mosaic got me a replacement. Again, I am surprised and disappointed by the apparent attitude toward long time customers. I have purchased nearly every Bear Family box, including many of the German language sets.
Here is a book for sale: Bill Monroe Bücher/Books: Bluegrass 1950-58 by Charles K. Wolfe & Neil V. Rosenberg - Bear Family Records i just bought it
From the dimensions of that book, it appears that it might be the earlier edition of that book, before it was expanded into the LP sized format. The description on-line was not entirely clear on that. But if it is the earlier version of that book rather than the later version, that is the opposite of what I had been recommending, which is to make the new revised versions available separately.
Respectfully to @Tribute , my understanding is that you are the biggest proponent of Bear Family Records around. And rough guesstimate is that you have spent $200K on Bear Family boxsets. As you appear to have the wherewithal to acquire all these boxsets, I would think that you could easily afford the new box for $69.00. Because what are you gonna do with two(2) books and only one(1) boxset? That seems odd. Buy the new set and sell off the old; is my suggestion. I, personally, think that your personal account representative @ Bear Family Records should be discussing this with you, not on a message board. It's not my business what you do with your money, but, I wanted to post this. YMMV
My personal wish is for Bear Family to offer those books digitally, though I suspect Bear Family’s primary demographic would be even less interested in that than they apparently were of just the physical books. At any rate, currently listening to the second Wanda Jackson box. So much great stuff on there!
There are many proponents of Bear Family just on this thread who are more dedicated than me, but thank you. That number $200K is way too high, by a huge amount, but I do not keep track. In addition, my collection of Bear Family has been going on for about 40 years. If I had the second book, I would probably insert it in the old box to update the set, and I would probably give the old book to a friend who collects books and magazines on vintage country music. He just buys vintage LPs, 45s and 78s so he never buys any CDs. But, as far as $69 for a new booklet, I have many other interests besides Bear Family. Plus, I never sell things: I generally give them away.
Why not aimply write an e-mail directly to Bear Family and describe what you want? It never hurts to ask directly.
When will the 45 years anniversary box be released? 5 years ago this was released: Please have sound on the video for the 45 years anniversary box.
I never got replies to two emails concerning the defective DVD that came with the Roy Acuff set. The emails were sent around the time of the release.
Ain't being funny but this is a favourite Bear Family (and wider non-Bear circle if it's relevant music) releases discussion, couldn't Bear Family beef be taken off line please?
This has become a catch-all for everything Bear Family related, which I think is fine. I think that most of us here are Bear Family fans and consumers, and it’s nice to not have half a dozen Bear Family threads going. Just my opinion.
