Search - Various Artists :: Revolutions In Sound: Warner Bros. Records-The First Fifty Years(10 CD)

Excellent, not perfect box

Philip A.Cohen | Bay Harbor Islands, Florida United States | 12/28/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 10-CD, 199-song box covers 50 years(1958-2008) of Warner Bros Records(including the Reprise & Sire labels) as well as some labels which were once manufactured and distributed by Warners(Capricorn,Geffen,Chrysalis), and luckily the present-day owners or distributors of those labels were willing to license recordings for this box.

Almost anybody who was anybody who recorded for these labels is included, however, the absence of Prince,Van Morrison, The Kinks, Black Sabbath, Kraftwerk & Enya fairly glares at you. Presumbably those artists refused permission.

The box does rush quickly through the label's first 8 years(on one CD!), but you get a remarkable selection of hits,misses & album tracks covering novelty songs, comedy, MOR, top 40, rock,soul,dance & alternative music and an attractive 64-page booklet.

Some have complained about the packaging. The discs fit(very snugly) onto hubs made of a gel material, and it is difficult to get the discs onto or off of these hubs. Disc 5 & disc 10 fit into the package in a way that they sit overlapping onto the other discs, so you will likely not get discs 5 & 10 in pristine condition. However, they played fine.

Still, I recommend the set."

Eclectic time capsule and then some

Luigi Facotti | Chicago Il | 12/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Warner Brothers was a pioneering MoR record label in the 60s and 70s with these strengths represented in the present collection in Sinatra (Frank and Nancy) and the Rat Pack (Dino and Sammy), comedy (Bob Newhart, Richard Pryor) and pop (Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple,Neil Young, Leo Sayer, Paul Simon etc.,) but with the occasional forays into soul (Loma, WB, Ze, Capricorn, - Percy Sledge, Dobie Gray, Candi Staton,Lorraine Ellison!!) and jazz (Randy Crawford, Joe Sample, Bob James etc.,) woefully underrepresented. The full history of WB and its ground breaking PR activities are wonderfully documented in Stan Cornyn's book "Exploding".

WB could and would never, ever be accused of confusing product with altruism - unlike the Ertegun's at sister label, Atlantic or Jim Stewart at Stax. Nonetheless, this is a magnificently produced time capsule - the sonics are wonderful - if you've only heard Tiny Tim and Napoleon XIV (They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! Ho Ho, hee Hee etc.,) on mono 45s, you are in for a treat - or audio abuse - take your pick - betcha did'nt know "Tip-Toe Thru The Tulips" actually had any bass?

This is an indispensable collection for anyone interested in the history of pop music and maybe - now that WB has recognized value in its 50th Anniversary - we'll see more expertly remastered golden oldies - remember Leroy Van Dyke's "It's All over Now Baby Blue"?

"

Some missing artists and one glaring error

Steven A. Ferentzy | Fairfield, CT | 05/26/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"No Prince? No surprise. That feud will never be resolved. No Van Morrison? Also not surprising. Still, a good many of the label's megahits are here, and the story unfolds rather nicely across ten CDs. There are no rarities included in this set, which is OK - doing so would sort of diminish the picture it paints, which is that WB grew from an offshoot of the movie studio at the beginning of the 1960s to a rock/pop powerhouse by decade's end. Still, given the fact that the label is under the same corporate umbrella as Rhino, the reissue kings, couldn't they have asked someone there to review the production copies to verify that the correct masters were being used for every track? Case in point: the version of the Bellamy Brothers' "Let Your Love Flow" is not the 1976 original as it should be, it is a remake from 2005 featuring '90s country stars Hal Ketchum and Lisa Brokop. An inexcusable, bush-league error that sullies this set by corrupting the timeline of its history. This never would have happened if Mo Ostin were still in charge."