The Tiffany Transcriptions [Box set][Original recording remastered]

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 27, 2009)
• Original Release Date: January 27, 2009
• Number of Discs: 10
• Format: Box set, Original recording remastered
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Collector's Choice
• ASIN: B001LDRP26
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #59,238 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For our first-ever exclusive Collectors Choice Music boxed set, we re presenting a series of recordings that changed the face of American country music, and, indeed, American popular music in general. But more on that later. The story behind the Tiffany Transcriptions is this: in 1945, Bob Wills, Oakland, California disc jockey Cactus Jack and businessman-songwriter Clifford Sundin founded Tiffany Music, Inc. to create a series of transcriptions, pre-packaged radio shows featuring Wills and his Texas Playboys. A steady series of programs, of course, required that Wills and the band record scores of tunes, and not just their hits and their bandstand repertoire. And the extra space afforded by the 16-inch transcription discs as opposed to 78s meant that the band had infinitely more jamming space and this was a band (most notably vocalist Tommy Duncan, steel guitarists Noel Boggs, Roy Honeycutt and Herb Remington, guitarists Eldon Shamblin and Lester 'Junior' Bernard, fiddler/mandolinist Tiny Moore, fiddlers Joe Holley and Louis Tierney, pianist Millard Kelso, banjoist Ocie Stockard, bassist Luke Wills and drummer Johnny Cuviello) that, more than arguably any other outfit in the history of country music, KNEW how to jam! The result was, as Wills expert Rich Kienzle puts it in his liner notes, For all the great records Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys made in 1946 47 for Columbia and MGM and there were plenty the Tiffany sessions captured something deeper, intangible and vibrant, music that even the occasional miscue or missed note can't diminish. It represents the very soul, spirit and musical passion of Bob and the band as they really were on those Western and Southwestern bandstands. 60 years later, it still sounds like yesterday. Play it loud and listen. The magic is still there. These 150 remastered tracks include the debut of the Wills classic 'Faded Love', torrid versions of jazz classics like 'St. Louis Blues'; 'C-Jam Blues', and 'Jumpin at the Woodside'; early, pre-rock and roll knee-knockers like 'Okie Boogie' and 'A Little Bit of Boogie', and Western Swing favorites like 'Shame on You' and 'Oklahoma Hills' among their highlights. The accompanying booklet not only includes Kienzle s essay, which boasts quotes from many of the Playboys, but rare pix and artist testimonials from Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, Ranger Doug from Riders in the Sky and Ashley Kingman from Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Boys (hey, it s our first boxed set, we wanted to do it right)!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars get it, January 31, 2009

By	J. Bourgeois "jimmyb" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A great collection and great value, about 11 bucks apiece for discs that are twice that individually. Try before you buy-- check out sample cuts from the individual albums on Amazon. Play the clip of Crazy Rhythm from Vol. 3, Basin Street Blues. It kills. Hot licks, you bet. There's so much here, blues, jazz, swing, pop, the McKinney sisters yodeling on Vol. 10 fer crying out loud, and a little bit country, too. The entire gamut of American music is here and you will love every bit of it.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great music, but a lazy product, February 8, 2009

By	C. Steward (Castro Valley CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The music in this box set is undeniably great. Alas, unlike the German company Bear Family for which liner notes writer Rich Kienzle more frequently writes, this set was thrown together from the Tiffany Transcriptions already released twice in the past two decades, by Kaleidoscope in the 1980s on vinyl and Rhino in the 1990s on CD. There is nothing new here for true Bob Wills fans that they haven't already heard, which is unfortunate considering that there are nearly 140 more Tiffany Transcriptions that may never see the light of day now because Collector's Choice didn't care about a comprehensive, complete set of this important music. Are the rest of the Tiffanys as good as this? Well, having heard them, probably not. But there are at least 50-60 recordings that are just as strong as what's released here, perhaps more, and even the bottom of the barrel is high-quality Wills music with fabulous instrumentalists and the incomparable Tommy Duncan. The sad fact is that this box will be looked as a definitive, all-inclusive set, even though it isn't, and people who truly care about this music will never see the complete Tiffany set that they have for so long dreamed. If Collector's Choice really wants five stars for this set, it needs to augment this set with separate releases of the remaining Tiffany tracks. Until then, it's really just slapping its own label and packaging on somebody else's truly conscientious hard work. To me, that's just plain lazy and amateurish with music as historically significant and wonderful as this. True professionalism and quality can be found in Bear Family's two Bob Wills box sets. Too bad BF didn't get this project. That company would have done it right. If pressed on the matter, I'm sure even Kienzle would agree.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great set, but..., February 11, 2010

By	Rockabeatinboogie (Derbyshire) - See all my reviews

If you're reading this, you don't need to be told that the music's great ... it's Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys with Tommy Duncan at just about their best. The presentation is pretty good as well ... each CD is in a gatefold sleeve based on the original LP sleeves with notes by various former Texas Playboys, except one where the notes are by "Honorary Playboy" Merle Haggard. Volume 10, featuring the McKinney Sisters, has liner notes from Dean McKinney who married Playboy fiddler Tiny Moore. All housed in a very neat and attractive CD-sized flip-top box with an excellent booklet to augment the sleeve notes.

Of course, these are straight reissues of the original LPs with the same track listings. The content could easily have fitted on half-a-dozen CDs rather than ten. An even better alternative would have been to fill the ten CDs with bonus tracks from unissued Tiffany recordings. That said, it's still a very nicely presented little box set.

But ... Collectors' Choice Music spoilt it by their poor quality control. My factory-sealed copy was opened to reveal one gatefold sleeve badly creased and a CD with two bad scratches on it. As it was clearly their fault and not the sellers', I contacted Collectors' Choice several times. Their customer service matched their quality control ... as it hadn't been bought from them they didn't want to know. Never mind that they produced it. That's why I've only given a 3-star rating when it could so easily have warranted a "5" ...