[78-L] Fats Waller (10-CD Membran/Documents set )

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Zwarg" <doctordisc at truesoundtransfers.de>
>>"Ciao review I wrote"
>>To see this page please click here:
>><http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Fats_Waller_Fats_Waller__Review_5795248>http://cd.ciao.co.uk/Fats_Waller_Fats_Waller__Review_5795248 
>> > There is nothing - I repeat, NOTHING - on this label that has not been 
>>stolen from legitimate reissues, so it is extremely unlikely these are 
>>"first issues", probably not even on CD format, as transferring LPs is 
>>extra work that the crooks at Membran usually want to avoid. Two small 
>>Berlin reissue producers who worked decently from original 78s have been 
>>driven into bankruptcy by Membran, so the less said about them the better 
>>maybe. I trust that you didn't know these facts, Steve, or you wouldn't 
>>have written such a positive review.
>
Well, quite logically, I am TOTALLY unaware of any details concerning the 
German "CD Industry"...
nor could I find any details regarding previous CD/LP reissues of the 
material in a fairly detailed
Internet search (I was just trying to establish if...and to what 
extent...Waller cut transcriptions...
apparently he was VERY active there...!)!

The positive tone of the review was based on my enjoyment of the set's 
contents...which I had
NEVER heard before...or seen offered on LP or CD...! The problem is, of 
course, that the
50-year copyright limit on sound recordings (which I TOTALLY prefer to the 
"Eternity plus
AT LEAST twenty-five years limit in the US Of A...!!) makes copying of p.d. 
content on
existing reissue sets a VERY involved procedure...!

Actually, I have mixed emotions here...on the one hand, I have sympathy for 
those whose
"work" (assuming they did same...?!) was "stolen"...on the other, I find it 
advantageous
that quality reissued material is made available to hapless "poor folks" 
like myself on an
affordable basis...even if under dubious circumstances...! My alternative 
would have
been to, first, track down owners of the original transcription discs (which 
assumes I
knew they existed...?!)...and, second, beg for recorded copies thereof (this 
assumes
they would be unlikely to sell their records at ANY price...let alone one I 
could
conceivably ever afford...?!)...!

This, in turn, opens another question...are folks like (i.e.) myself better 
served by
making the contents of our hordes/hoards (both true in my case...?!) of 
ancient
phonorecords available to the public in more accessible form (NOT legally
possible in the US Of A, of course...?!)...or by keeping both records and
contents effectively "hidden away" for whatever reasons...?!

...stevenc