Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0880226000325 Label: Dust to Digital Manufacturer: Dust to Digital Number Of Discs: 5 Publisher: Dust to Digital Release Date: December 06, 2005 Sales Rank: 160070 Studio: Dust to Digital
Album Description: Massive 5CD set of American Primitive music unearthed for the first time (in various styles: Jug Band, Country, Old Time, Blues and Bluegrass), recorded and documented by Joe Bussard's 78-RPM Fonotone label, 1956-1969 -- not one track previously on CD before. Incredible package featuring 131 tracks over 5 discs, 160-page perfect-bound book, 17 full-color postcards, 3 record label reproductions in souvenir folder and a nickel-plated Fonotone Records bottle opener(!) -- all packaged in a deluxe cigar box. The label that gave us one of the most elaborate packaging presentations of the modern era (Goodbye Babylon, DTD's first release from 2004). What started as a conversation about Fonotone Records metamorphasized into this 5CD box set, for which no stone went unturned. Master reel-to-reel tapes, unplayed for decades but still pristine, were painstakingly remastered; forgotten Kodak slides in old cigar boxes were dusted off and retouched; and musicians! of all stripes who had disappeared more than 35 years ago were tracked down. Their stories, and the story of Fonotone, the last 78-RPM record label in the land, are told here with words, pictures and music. Take a look-see, give it a listen, and get a rare portrait of a long-gone America.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Cute -- but the packaging is better than the music
A lot of the performances are horrid, some of the arrangements are insipid. There ended up being about 30 tunes and songs here that were of interest--and over 100 that I'll never listen to again. In many ways, it's a beautifully packaged vanity project of limited interest musically.
Rating: - Excited about the Fonotone set!
I was lucky enough to get to attend the release party for the Fonotone Records box set last Thursday in Atlanta. I got to meet Joe Bussard and hear a band from Tennessee whose family is on the set. I couldn't have had a better time. I bought a copy of the Fonotone set at the show and have been listening to it non-stop all weekend. What a great job Dust-to-Digital did in presenting this music, and what a great job Joe Bussard did in recording it.
Rating: - A Weak Effort Of A Box Set By Any Standard
Being a fan of pre-war old-time music and post-war field sessions by Lomax and other, I thought that this box, even though pricey, would certainly be worth it. I was, unfortunately, wrong. Though there are some mighty good tracks to be had with this set, it really could be boiled down to one or possibly two discs. Most of the material is tepid and folky and very affected sounding, completely unlike the pre-war material and and authentic field-sessions. Some of the guitar performances by Blind Thomas (Fahey) and B. Sam Firk (Stewart) are inspired but those with vocals by them are downright awful. Plus, adding to the unnecessary cost is the hard-to-read notes and the mysterious bottle-opener...
Rating: - Hee Haw ain't got nothin' on this!
The Fonotone Records box takes me back to a time in music history I never had the chance to experience. So glad Dust-to-Digital has offered such a diverse sampling of a truly influential era in Southern music history; a chance to connect even further with my Southern roots.
This cleverly assembled boxed set is as pleasing to the eyes as it is to the ears! Joe Bussard and his crew were truly "pickin' and grinnin"!
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- Cute -- but the packaging is better than the music
- Excited about the Fonotone set!