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The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Volume One / lavish box

By Paul Sinclair

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Paramount Records were an American record label that ran for 15 years from around 1917 onwards. The company were a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company who (amongst other things) originally made wooden phonograph cabinets.

The firm released blues and jazz records by artists such as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Charley Patton, and Blind Lemon Jefferson specialising in so-called “race records” – that is music from African-American artists.

This became a lucrative business and a new music box set (in two volumes) charts The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records. Volume One covers the period 1917-1927 (The Rise) and comes in spectacular packaging.

There is no ‘sturdy card slipcase’ for the contents of this set – the various elements that make up Volume One are collected in a “handcrafted quarter-sawn oak cabinet” with sage velvet upholstery and custom-forged metal hardware!!

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The handcrafted quarter-sawn oak cabinet

Inside this wonderfully lavish (and appropriate) setting are books, vinyl LPs and a USB stick. Specifically the oak box contains:

  • • 800 newly-remastered digital tracks, representing 172 artists
  • • 200+ fully-restored original 1920s ads and images
  • • Six 180g vinyl LPs pressed on burled chestnut colored vinyl w/ hand-engraved, blind-embossed gold-leaf labels, housed in a laser-etched white birch LP folio
  • • 250 page deluxe large-format clothbound hardcover art book
  • • 360 page encyclopedia-style softcover field guide containing artist portraits and full Paramount discography
  • • Handcrafted quarter-sawn oak cabinet with lush sage velvet upholstery and custom-forged metal hardware
  • • First-of-its-kind music and image player app, allowing user management of all tracks and ads, housed on custom-designed USB drive
The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Vol One
Six burled chestnut colored vinyl LPS w/ hand-engraved, blind-embossed gold-leaf labels

Volume One of The Rise And Fall of Paramount Records is released on 19 November 2013. Volume Two will be issued in November 2014.

The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Vol One
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Click to enlarge
The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Vol One
USB stick contains 800 tracks with a music and image player app
The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Vol One
Oak cabinet open, contents on display

 

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9 thoughts on “The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Volume One / lavish box”

  2. Well, in 20 years from now you will at least still be able to play those 6 LPS… probably not the 800 tracks on the USB drive and definitely NOT the CDs that so many of you are crying about. Had this music originally been produced on anything other than wax you wouldnt even be talking about this box set. LPs are a lifetime… everything else is just a fad.

  3. Come on guys, it’s being released as jointly by Jack White’s Third Man Records and John Fahey’s Revenant Records. The former is definitely more pro vinyl than cd so it’s not a surprise that there are no cds in this box. It’s firmly aimed at the collector and as per usual, buying it from Germany is cheaper than buying it here in the UK.

  4. I think it would be very interesting to come back to this in a year and find out how many sets sold. 800 mp3s for under £400 plus everything else included makes the set good value, but to me it feels incredibly specialist with I guess a very limited market. It will also be interesting to see whether a less lavish cd version is ever produced.

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