Atlantic 1947

This is the CD first press issue of this boxset. These were sold individually as Vols 1-8 and they were also sold together as a boxset. The contents of the boxset are all 8 Vols individually packaged into a LP sized case plus the boxset comes with a 36 page LP sized booklet.

This eight-CD set should be a part of any collection that presumes to take American music - not just rock & roll or rhythm & blues - seriously. Atlantic Records was one of dozens of independent labels started up after the war by neophyte executives and producers, but it was different from most of the others in that the guys who ran it were honest and genuinely loved music. Coupled with a lot of luck and some good judgment, the results trace a good chunk of the history of American music and popular culture. Disc one opens with cuts which slot in somewhere midway between jazz, bop, and "race" music (as the term was used then). Disc two is pure, distilled R&B, the stuff filling the airwaves of black radio and the jukeboxes in the "wrong" parts of town in 1952-54….

This is the third and final volume in the complete recordings of Lil Green in chronological order as reissued by the Classics Blues & Rhythm Series. By 1947 Lil Green was beginning to sound more than a little like Ida Cox, even when handling songs from Tin Pan Alley rather than straight up out of the tried and true traditional blues repertoire. Comparisons could also be drawn between Lil Green and Nellie Lutcher or Julia Lee. While her "crossover" performances are worthwhile, there's nothing quite like hearing this woman savor the flavor of Bessie Smith hits like "Aggravatin' Papa," "Outside of That," and "You've Been a Good Old Wagon (But You Done Broke Down)." Green's own "Lonely Woman" has a powerful undercurrent running through it – there is even a remote possibility that Ornette Coleman was inspired by this record when conceiving his own composition of the same title in 1959. Even if the link is purely coincidental, these melodies have something wonderful in common. Green's final recordings for the Victor label are strengthened by the presence of tenor saxophonists Budd Johnson, Lem Johnson, and David Young.

Founded in 1947 by avid jazz fans and record collectors Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson with a $10,000 loan from Ertegun’s dentist, Atlantic Records ended up being one of the most successful independent labels in the history of recorded music, and a litany of the label’s artists over the past 60-plus years is stunning in its diversity, ranging from John Coltrane and Big Joe Turner to Kid Rock and Gnarls Barkley and several points in-between. This “time capsule” – nine discs of music, one DVD documentary, and a 45 rpm 7" of Sticks McGee's “Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-Oh-Dee,” plus several little bits of flare and memorabilia and a book of photographs, all of it housed in a sturdy metal box – simply confirms what most pop music fans already knew: Atlantic Records is one hell of a record company.