Dec 14

CBS Records

CBS RECORDS
 
 
Columbia Records  is an American flagship recording label, under the ownership of Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group.  It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company.  Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in recorded sound, being the second major record company to produce recorded records as opposed to cylinders.  Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of notable singers, instrumentalists, and bands.  From 1961 to 1990, its recordings were released outside the U.S. and Canada on the CBS Records label (for Columbia Broadcasting System, its parent from 1938 to 1988) before adopting the Columbia name in most of the world.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
The last album by Les Sinners is scarcely mentioned at all on the various Internet sources that I researched about this band; it came out in 1976 on the CBS Records label (basically, Columbia Records outside of the USA) and is called Le Chemin de Croix De Jos Roy (“The Way of the Cross for Jos Roy”). 
 

(April 2013)

 

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Silverbird is a Native American musical ensemble consisting mainly of members of the Ortiz / Silverbird family that has been around for more than 40 years.  The above album, Broken Treaties was released in 1972 or 1973 on Capitol Records and is (according to Gil Silverbird) the first album by a Native American band to be released on a major record label.  A more obscure album by the same band called Getting Together could have been their first (it was released in 1972) on CBS Records and Columbia Records, though this album might have been released mainly in Europe.  A third album, Silverbird was released in 1973, on Bravo Records. 

 

(August 2013)

 

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The Sons of Fred released their first single, “Sweet Love” b/w “I’ll Be There” in 1964 on Columbia Records – not the same as our Columbia Records (outside the U.S. and Canada, their releases are on CBS Records due to the name conflict) but rather a subsidiary of EMI Records.  This was an R&B record. 

 

(March 2014/2)

 

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In a long essay in the booklet for Rough Power that includes an interview with guitarist/bassist Ron Asheton, Frank Meyer says of David Bowie’s involvement:  “Finally . . . Iggy brought the tapes to [David] Bowie in L.A. for remixing and mastering.  Bowie’s mix turned out to be very different than the original Stooges mix.  He buried the drums and bass, took out backup vocals, percussion and keyboard parts, and brought the lead guitar up in the mix.  While the band was not happy with it, CBS [Records] was thrilled that [Raw Power] was produced by Ziggy Stardust himself, and felt it would boost sales.  Although Bowie’s mix stands the test of time and, in fact, adds to the overall originality of the album, it’s very interesting to hear some of the Stooges’ original attempts.” 
 
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For Open Up and Bleed!, which has a subtitle “The Great Lost Stooges Album?”, Bomp! Records collected available recordings of songs that were written and developed by the Stooges after the release of Raw Power in February 1973.  The first six songs – “Rubber Legs”, “Open up and Bleed”, “Johanna”, “Cock in My Pocket”, “Head On”, and “Cry for Me” – were made during practice sessions at CBS Records in New York in 1973 and are taken from the only tape that has surfaced from these rehearsals.  The liner notes for Open Up and Bleed! by Frank Meyer state that “Head On” is also known as “Head on the Curve”, but not “Head on the Curb”, as the song is called on the Metallic K.O. albums. 
 
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The liner notes for Wild Love, which sound like they were written by Greg Shaw, lay out the process that Bomp! Records went through to sift through the box of tapes that James Williamson gave them.  The box included rehearsal tapes from Detroit, CBS Records in New York, and probably Los Angeles that evidently date from 1973, plus others made in 1972 that included demos for some songs that wound up on Kill City.  However, there was no way to know for certain when much of the music was recorded, since the tapes were mostly unlabeled or incorrectly labeled.  Among the bandmembers in the Stooges, only Ron Asheton was forthcoming with information about the tapes, and he was unclear on many of the details or wasn’t present at all.
 
After pulling the finished studio masters that provided the songs on the Kill City, I’m Sick of You and I Got a Right albums, and also the live concert performances that make up a third to a half of the Iguana Chronicles releases, the remaining tapes were almost all post-Raw Power rehearsal sessions.  Greg Shaw mentioned that songs like “Johanna” and “Head On” were practiced seven or eight times in a row, often with stops and starts.  Many of these songs were taken out on the road after Raw Power was released and often show up on the Iguana Chronicles concert albums.  The best of these rehearsal performances were pulled out and assembled, along with selected live versions of other songs, for the hypothetical fourth album by the Stooges that was released as Open Up and Bleed!. 
 
(December 2017)
 
Last edited: April 7, 2021