Bear Family Records: Imports That Present the Eclectic

It's great to collect the vinyl versions of classic music, but sometimes it's impossible to find or just too expensive.  True music collectors and connoisseurs have known for years about an import label out of Germany called Bear Family Records.  While still expensive to import into the US, the albums they release are some of the most thoroughly researched and presented available in any market.

A new series that they have recently released is creating a real stir among R&B fans.  "Blowing the Fuse" is a series of 16-CDs, each one covering a year in music from 1945 to 1960.  The difference here is that they really researched the music to give the listener a true feeling for R&B in each particular year.  Not only are their hits, but many other tracks of significance.  Plus, each CD comes with a book reviewing the year and each of the tracks with many historical pictures.  These books aren't just the ones that fit into the CD case, but a larger format that makes Bear Family have to house each release in its own digipacks.

For example, on the 1956 release there are 30 tracks that include many of the big R&B hits of the year ("Speedo" by the Cadillacs, "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard) but also lesser known records such as "Pretty Thing" by Bo Didley, "Try Rock 'n' Roll" by Bobby Mitchell and "You've Got Me Dizzy" by Jimmy Reed.

Truly great stuff that isn't always easily available.

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Tower Records is no more.  A federal bankruptcy judge has awarded the chain to Great American Corp. for $134.3 million and they plan on liquidating the chain.  Interestingly, Trans World's bid was just $500,000 less and they would have left part of the chain running, but the judge chose to shut the long-time retailer down.

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Pete Seeger is 87 years old and his voice is a bit worn from the years, but he's still revered by those who remember him from many years as a folksinger and activist.  Here's an article from the Washington Post on his performance at the recent Woody Guthrie tribute concert.

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The National Endowment for the Arts has named seven new "Jazz Masters".  Included in this year's class are:

• Ramsey Lewis (piano) who had four top 40 hits in the 60's with songs like "The In Crowd" and "Walk on the Water."
• Toshiko Akiyoshi (big-band leader)
• Jimmy Scott (vocalist)
• Curtis Fuller (trombone)
• Frank Wess (tenor saxophone and flute)
• Phil Woods (alto saxophone)
• Dan Morgenstern (director of jazz studies at Rutgers and author)

Their awards include a $25,000 endowment and will be presented on January 12th, 2007 in New York.  For a complete list of the Jazz Masters and information on the award, go to the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship website.

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Brian Setzer is continuing his back-to-basics trend with his new album "13", being released on Surfdog records on October 24th.  With no big bands in sight, Setzer plays Rockabilly, instrumental blues and straight-ahead rock-and-roll.

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Natalie Cole is also going back to her style before her standards period with "Leavin'", her 20th studio album.  Along with some classic R&B sounds, she's also mixed in some pop and rock from such artists as Fiona Apple, Kate Bush, Sting and Shelby Lynn.  Here's a short interview with her from the site Monsters and Critics.

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Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris will be releasing a CD/DVD combo of their late-June concert at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.  "Real Live Roadrunning" will be released by Nonesuch/Warner Brothers on June 28th and will feature songs from the duo's album "All the Roadrunning" along with a few of their solo songs.

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Even before his "Greatest Songs of the 60's" hits stores on October 31st, Barry Manilow is predicting that he will be following it up with "Greatest Songs of the 70's."  He evidently forgot that he already did an album of all 70's songs about five years ago.  Soon he'll be up to "Greatest Songs of Hip-Hop."