Date:         Tue, 18 Oct 2005 23:12:57 -0400
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         David Lennick <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Verve, but not Jazz
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Tom Fine wrote:

> I _think_ but do not know that non-jazz music was in the post-Granz, MGM
> era. The comedy may have started before Norman Granz sold it to MGM, but I
> doubt it.

The comedy (aside from Spike Jones) started in 1958 or '59 with Mort Sahl, then
Shelley Berman, then in quick succession Jonathan Winters, Phyllis Diller and
Jackie Mason. I remember well how it was difficult to find Verve LPs in Canada
because they were distributed by a small company called Musimart, and also
licensed through the Columbia Record Club..and their albums always sold up here
for $5.98 while you could by RCA and Columbia lps for $4.29.

> Does anyone know when Polygram bought Verve from MGM and does anyone know
> definitively if they bought all of MGM's record labels at the same time?

MGM had been licensing material from Polydor and DG for a number of years, even
importing DG pressings and selling them in thick packaging..maybe this was after
DG's deal with Decca ended, maybe concurrently. The MGM books (Ruppli) refer at
one point to "The Polydor Era", beginning in 1975..could that be the date it
purchased the entire MGM label, which included Verve?

> Whichever company owned Verve in the late 60's reissued a lot of the 50's
> albums as budget-priced LPs.

VSP, I think..aside from Metro, which was a horrible budget label of MGM's that
mixed MGM and Verve sides, fake stereo and real, with no documentation.

> Then a bunch of the really early stuff was
> licensed to Book of the Month Club in the 70's. I have a bunch of those
> reissues and they are actually not bad. They seem to be remastered from the
> original tapes, and done pretty well at that. Not pressed on the best vinyl
> in the world, but not the worst either. Cheapo thin cardboard sleeves but
> original liner notes and artwork reproduced pretty well.
>
> -- Tom Fine

dl