R&b Indies Vols 1-4

[Guest SteveA]

These four thumping great books from the US (Eyeball Productions) covering all, or at least a huge number, of the labels & releases on post war black music look mighty tempting. Has anybody indulged themselves?

If so, can you advise:-

what years did it run up to?

What's the quality of production like?

Was the £200 good value or would it be better spent on some vinyl?

[Dave Rimmer]

These four thumping great books from the US (Eyeball Productions) covering all, or at least a huge number, of the labels & releases on post war black music look mighty tempting. Has anybody indulged themselves?

If so, can you advise:-

what years did it run up to?

What's the quality of production like?

Was the £200 good value or would it be better spent on some vinyl?

Bought the first two volume set, and then bought the second set as they were printed. Well worth the money, absolutely fabulous books. They cover from the Forties through to the Seventies, and although I've come across a few labels that aren't in there Bob has done an awe inspiring job. It's taken me years to get just over 320 label discographies onto my website, there are literally thousands in the four volumes. He;s also managed to get the logo for each label as well, and inserts it wherever a label logo changes.

The quality is great, and if you go to the Eyeball Production Website you can download some sample pages to check for yourself.

My advice would be if you have an interest in labels, just buy them

[Alan Pollard]

Like Dave I bought the first 2 volume set which was if I remember letters A to M and N to Z, I haven't bought any of the new ones since as they are expensive, I think I paid close on £200 including postage about 8 years ago, my only criticism is that I would have thought that Eyeball and the author would have issued amendment volumes (which I would have willingly bought) for those who bought the 1st 2 volumes as to buy the new more complete 4 volumes is an expensive way especially when you are literally discarding the 1sdt 2 volumes, do you get my drift or am i talking crap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway this distracts from what is the most complete history of American Music over many decades and is not only a good reference book it is a good read and even better the label logos accompany each discography and that includes all variants of the label designs over the period of the label.

Recommended.

Regards

Alan

[Dave Rimmer]

Like Dave I bought the first 2 volume set which was if I remember letters A to M and N to Z, I haven't bought any of the new ones since as they are expensive, I think I paid close on £200 including postage about 8 years ago, my only criticism is that I would have thought that Eyeball and the author would have issued amendment volumes (which I would have willingly bought) for those who bought the 1st 2 volumes as to buy the new more complete 4 volumes is an expensive way especially when you are literally discarding the 1sdt 2 volumes, do you get my drift or am i talking crap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do the same as me, sell the first two volumes on Soul Source, reduces the cost of the four new ones.

Anyway this distracts from what is the most complete history of American Music over many decades and is not only a good reference book it is a good read and even better the label logos accompany each discography and that includes all variants of the label designs over the period of the label.

Recommended.

Regards

Alan

[Denbo]

Like Dave I bought the first 2 volume set which was if I remember letters A to M and N to Z, I haven't bought any of the new ones since as they are expensive, I think I paid close on £200 including postage about 8 years ago, my only criticism is that I would have thought that Eyeball and the author would have issued amendment volumes (which I would have willingly bought) for those who bought the 1st 2 volumes as to buy the new more complete 4 volumes is an expensive way especially when you are literally discarding the 1sdt 2 volumes, do you get my drift or am i talking crap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway this distracts from what is the most complete history of American Music over many decades and is not only a good reference book it is a good read and even better the label logos accompany each discography and that includes all variants of the label designs over the period of the label.

Recommended.

Regards

Alan

No, you ain't talking crap, I was thinking the exact same thing myself. But then people reckon I talk crap all the time. I think it's only 95% of the time. :o)

But, Dave's idea ain't a bad one either.

[Larsc]

I've bought 3 volumes so far. Ordering the 4th next month. Good books, very happy with them even if there are some entries missing here and there. Personally I take note of missing entries and e-mail them to Bob just in case he's going to take the trouble of making a third version of these books

[boba]

I've bought 3 volumes so far. Ordering the 4th next month. Good books, very happy with them even if there are some entries missing here and there. Personally I take note of missing entries and e-mail them to Bob just in case he's going to take the trouble of making a third version of these books

I don't want to be ultra-negative here, but I would suggest that before buying this book someone looks through a copy before dropping the $$$. I was going to buy them and was at a friend's house and he started complaining about it. The thing is rife with errors -- obviously any discographical attempt will have errors, but this thing would have, for common labels with many known titles, only two entries, combined with some entries from totally unrelated labels from different time periods. The information in the book was so sparse (missing so much really basic information) that I would consider it not useful at all for a serious collector. Also, the person who was complaining about it to me runs one of those regional discographical websites and said that information was completely stolen verbatim from his site with no credit. All I have to say is that it's a pretty big investment to buy this book, so someone considering it should look at one of them first. Thanks.

[Larsc]

I don't want to be ultra-negative here, but I would suggest that before buying this book someone looks through a copy before dropping the $$$. I was going to buy them and was at a friend's house and he started complaining about it. The thing is rife with errors -- obviously any discographical attempt will have errors, but this thing would have, for common labels with many known titles, only two entries, combined with some entries from totally unrelated labels from different time periods. The information in the book was so sparse (missing so much really basic information) that I would consider it not useful at all for a serious collector. Also, the person who was complaining about it to me runs one of those regional discographical websites and said that information was completely stolen verbatim from his site with no credit. All I have to say is that it's a pretty big investment to buy this book, so someone considering it should look at one of them first. Thanks.

That's true. But it's still a useful set of books.

[Guest]

Those books look wonderful, I wish I had the money to get 'em!