Professor Kitzel's Record Label Profile; Paramount Records

CHARLIE PATTON ~ "SHAKE IT & BREAK IT";


Paramount Records was the premiere label for blues, jazz and country music during the Roaring Twenties, helping to create the mass market for blues and country and recording some of the biggest names of the era.



Jellyroll Morton ~ "SIDEWALK BLUES";


Early Years ~ 1916 ~ 1922 ~ Paramount was founded in 1916, growing out of the Wisconsin Chair Company ,which was itself founded in 1888 in Port Washington, Wis, making both phonograph players as well as records. Paramount's early recordings were light classical pieces, sentimental ballads and patriotic anthems of the day. Most of these records were a financial flop and by 1922 the label was deep in debt and desperate.

MA RAINEY (WITH LOUIS ARMSTRONG) ~ "SEE SEE RIDER BLUES";


Urban Blues & Jazz on Paramount ~ In 1922 Paramount looking to turn around their flagging fortunes hired Englishman Art Satherly who began recording urban Vaudeville Blues singers such as Ma Rainey, Trixie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Hattie McDaniels & Moanin' Bernice Edwards as well as Hot Jazzmen as JellyRoll Morton, Clarence Williams, Johnny Dodds and Jimmy Noone, Jabo Williams, along with Boogie-Woogie pianists Roosevelt Sykes, Jimmy Blythe, Meade Lux Lewis, Charlie Spand and the white pianist Kansas City Frank Melrose. Satherly boosted Paramount's roster of black artists by hiring Mayo Johnson, an ambitious and well connected talent scout who would later go on to found rival Black Patti Records Paramount also arranged a licensing deal with the failing Black Swan label which included important and big sellers as Ethel Waters & Fletcher Henderson. When Black Swan folded in 1924 Paramount bought out their catalog.



TRIXIE SMITH ~ "JACK I'M MELLOW";


Rural Blues on Paramount ~ As important as the urban recordings were in keeping the label afloat their biggest (and musically most important) recordings were it's rural blues catalogue. Mostly scouted and discovered by Mayo Williams, a black former executive from Black Swan, Paramount became the first label to score a hit with a rural blues artist starting with Papa Charlie Jackson and quickly growing to include most of the major names of the era including Blind Blake, Pappa Charley Jackson, Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Skip James, Ramblin' Thomas, Gus Cannon, Frank Stokes, Big Bill Broonzy, Tommy Johnson, William Moore, Bo Weavil Jackson, Bumble Bee Jackson, Henry Townsend, Freddy Spruell (who recorded the first version of "Milkcow Blues"), James Wiggins (who did the first version of "Keep a' knockin") and Bo Carter & the Mississippi Sheiks. The young Tampa Red and Josh White got their starts on Paramount. Soon the rural market was so important to Paramount that they started the "Broadway" budget label to introduce new acts.

PAPA CHARLIE JACKSON ~ "ALL I WANT IS A SPOONFUL";


Old Time Country on Paramount ~ Although known mostly for their "race" records Paramount also recorded a large number of Old time Country artists starting with among the earliest OTM recordings through the budget "Broadway" label in 1922 and later including Wilmer Watts, Charlie Poole (briefly), Arthur Tanner (brother of famed fiddler Gid Tanner), Earl Johnson, Fiddlin' Doc Roberts, Emry Arthur, Davey Miller (AKA The Blind Soldier), Welling & McGhee, The Blue Ridge Highballers and George Washington White.

WILMER WATTS & THE LONELY EAGLES ~ "BEEN ON THE JOB TOO LONG";


Spirituals on Paramount ~ An important part of Paramount's "Race" catalogue were a number of Spirituals and Sermons with The Norfolk Jubilee Quartet and The Rev J.M. Gates being big sellers. Other frequent artists included The Jubilee Gospel Team, Rev. Beaumont, Blind Willie Davis, Blind Connie Rosemond and Rev. Johnny Blakey AKA The Son Of Thunder. Some of the blues artists also recorded spirituals including Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton and Skip James, albeit under assumed names since many religious people would not buy records from "sinful" blues singers. Some of the white Old Time Country artists also recorded Gospel songs, however unlike the Blues artists the OTM artists recorded under their usual names. Notable OTM-Gospel artists included Sid Harkreader, Joe Reed, Welling and McGhee and The Kentucky Thoroughbreds. Classical baritone Carroll Clark also recorded classic spirituals in a staid, dignified style similar to that of Paul Robeson.

REV. J.M. GATES ~ "DEATH'S BLACK TRAIN IS COMING":


Concert Singing on Paramount ~ Besides the Jazz, Blues, OTM and Gospel which is most treasured by collectors today Paramount also continued to record what was then referred to as "Concert Music" which meant traditional songs such as Stephen Foster songs, Spirituals and light classical ballads and lullabies sung in a stately, restrained carefully enunciated style. Several black artists continued in this style well into the Jazz Age, many had originally recorded for Black Swan and were kept on by Paramount. Best known examples would include Carroll Clark, Florance Cole-Talbert and The Harmony Kings. While these records did not sell as well as the Jazz, Blues and Gospel records they evidently sold well enough to keep them in print for the duration of the label's life.

CARROLL CLARK ~ "OLD DOG TRAY";


Cajun Music on Paramount ~ Paramount also recorded a few early Cajun artists as part of their OTM catalog including Leo Soileau & Robin Moise, John Bertrand & Milton Pitre and Roy Gonzales.

SOILEAU & ROBIN ~ "EASY RIDER BLUES";


The decline and fall of Paramount ~ Like all labels that relied on black or poor white listeners Paramount was hit hard by the Great Depression of the 1930's although the label was already struggling by then. Paramount was hit by the defections of Mayo Williams in 1927 to found his own "Black Patti Records", and Art Satherly in 1928 to start his own "QRS Label". In 1929 Paramount lost it's biggest distributor in Artophone to bankruptcy with others following as the depression deepened. The label was also rocked by the deaths of their biggest seller Blind Lemon Jefferson in 1929 as well as Jimmy Blythe and Charlie Poole in 1931. Paramount cut back on it's staff and recording until shutting down all new recordings and advertising at the end of 1932 although they continued to run an office until 1935. The inactive label was bought out in 1942 and run as a reissue label until much of it's catalog entered the public domain in the 1970's.

BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON ~ "MATCHBOX BLUES";


The aftermath ~ Many of Paramount's artists fell on hard times during the depression with most of the rural artists being forced into retirement. Many important ones did not survive the depression and war years including Blind Blake who died in 1933, Charlie Patton in 1934, Papa Charlie Jackson & Ma Rainey in 1938, Johnny Dodds in 1940, Kansas City Frank Melrose (murdered) & Jelly Roll Morton in 1941, Trixie Smith (car crash) and Wilmer Watts in 1943 and Jimmy Noone in 1944, and Rev. J.M. Gates in 1945. Carroll Clark appears to have died during this time. However a few did maintain careers into the R&R era such as Roosevelt Sykes, Tampa Red, Josh White, Fletcher Henderson and Ida Cox. A few survivors saw their careers revive with the folk boom of the 1960's including Son House, Skip James, Alberta Hunter and Henry Townsend who kept performing until his death in Dec. 2006.

SKIP JAMES ~ "CROW JAMES";


Today ~ The Paramount catalog is widely available on a number of re-releases, comps and box sets and the original 78's are highly collectible. The building which housed The Wisconsin Chair company and Paramount Records was demolished in 1959 and is now in ruins in an open field with a plaque to mark the spot.

SON HOUSE ~ "DEATH LETTER BLUES";

Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project; UK Industrial Music

I've already posted numerous videos from early industrial bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA, Monoton, Ramleh and Destroy All Monsters but here's a few similar odds and ends.

ROBERT RENTAL & THE NORMAL ~ "SONG NUMBER 6";


Robert Rental (real name Robert Donnachie) was a Scottish pioneer of the the early electro industrial scene working with Thomas Leers and Daniel Miller (Mute Records founder) as The Normal starting in 1978. He released a few records including working with Throbbing Gristle and touring with Stiff Little Fingers. He died of cancer in 2000.

ROBERT RENTAL & THE NORMAL ~ "SONG NUMBER 7";


Both of these vids are from his first album on which the songs have no titles. I used films shot by Andy Warhol in the 1960's as part of his "Screen Tests".

YELLOW ~ "YES TO ANOTHER EXCESS";


Yellow were actually Swiss, not British but I don't know where else to put them. Anyway this vid uses an early rare horror film by DW Griffith based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask Of The Amontillado". The cast includes Henry Walthall (who would later star in "Birth Of A Nation" with supporting roles by Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett and Linda Arvidson, Griffith's wife.

NURSE WITH WOUND ~ "SWAMP RAT";


Nurse With Wound are a UK group who have been around in various formations since 1978 with literally dozens of albums ranging from Industrial drone to Kraut Rock. For this vid I used an old silent fantasy film.

ORCHESTRAL MANEUVERS IN THE DARK ~ "DAZZLE SHIPS";


OMD were known for their series of synth pop hits however their early work was more experimental including this track from their fourth album for which I used a 1905 Segundo De Chomon film.

OMD ~ "UNIVERSAL";


For this later track vid I used a French silent film from between 1904 - 1908 which includes some early animation.

Throwback Thursdays Retro Video Project; UK New Wave

Assorted UK New Wave;

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD;
The post Sex Pistols project of Johnny Lydon (nee Rotten) had little in common with the Pistols but would be effectively the first Post Punk band and would be a huge influence on the likes of Joy Division, Gang Of Four, Bauhaus, the Banshees, Killing Joke, Clock DVA and pretty much every other artsy dark and moody UK band ofthe 1980's by eschewing the thrashy power chords of punk for funky-dub bass lines and shards of angular guitar and Lydon's keening vocals. The classic albums were the first self titled debut and the second "Metal Box" with it's iconic film can packaging. PIL would carry with an ever fractious lineup. At the end of the eighties they suddenly took an unexpected turn to more conventional sounds for their last three albums. The Pistols would briefly reform in the nineties.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD ~ "ALBATROSS";


For this video I used an early Gothic horror film from French director Maurice Tourneur "The Wax Figures" (1914)

SUBWAY SECT; Subway Sect were part of the first wave of London punk bands but they were radically different than than the thrashing three chord punks. Led by singer Vic Goddard the Sect filtered their slower Stooges chords through a low-fi artsier lens. They only released a few singles (including a minor hit with "Ambition") while the album they recorded sat on the shelf unreleased to this day after Goddard fired the rest of the band before completely restructuring them as a non-rock cabaret act for a few years. Subway Sect's time in the limelight didn't last long but their crude, droning art-punk and drab black and grey visual aesthetic would have an influence on the next generation of art punks like the Fall, Wire, Magazine, Joy Division and the Psychedelic Furs. The Jesus & Mary Chain would go on to cover "Ambition" in their early days.

SUBWAY SECT ~ "CHAIN SMOKING";


For this vid I used some footage of a London Cabaret in the 1930's

SUBWAY SECT ~ "WE OPPOSE ALL ROCK & ROLL";


This vid uses footage from a 1930's newsreal of a rally by the British Blackshirts and leader Sir Oswald Mosley that turned into a riot.

MAGAZINE:

Magazine were formed by singer Howard DeVoto after leaving the Buzzcocks. They had several albums and a few hits from 1977 - 1981. After the band petered out guitarist John McGheogh went on to Visage (first album) and three highly regarded albums with Siouxsie & The Banshees finally ending up with Public Image Ltd by the late eighties. He died in 2004. This song was later covered by Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy on his first album and also by Trotsky Icepick.

MAGAZINE ~ "THE LIGHT POURS OUT OF ME";


This video uses some street scene footage from 1920's Wiemar Germany.

FINGERPRINTZ;

Fingerprintz were a Scottish group who put out three highly regarded but not very successful albums between 1979-1983. Each of their albums were quite different with the first album being artsy guitar based, the second more power pop and the third slick and dancable. In spite of getting great reviews nothing quite worked and they broke up with singer Jimmie O'Neil and guitarist Cha Burns reforming as the Silencers who would face a similar fate.

FINGERPRITNZ ~ "SYNCH UNIT";


This early instrumental with a spaghetti western feel uses a clip of a silent western starring Jack Hoxie, (in the white hat of course).

THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS;

The Furs started out as an artsy post punk band with a droning cacophonous sound of the Subway Sect/Wire school. After original producer Martin Hannett had to bow out in order to rescue New Order after the death of Ian Curtis the Furs went to Steve Lillywhite who had previously produced the first albums by Siouxsie & The Banshees and Ultravox. (Note; Another young band also being produced by Hannett also ended up with Lillywhite, that band was U2). Lillywhite would produce the Furs first two albums.

THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS ~ "SO RUN DOWN";


This track from the first album uses a 1908 George Melies film.

THE PASSIONS;

The Passions were a band a female singer (Barbara Gogan), who put out three well reviewed albums between 1979 - 82 with two classic hits including "I'm In Love With A German Film Star" and "African Mine" before they broke up. Later guitarist Kevin Armstrong later went to play with David Bowie in Tin Machine, Iggy Pop, Morrissey and Sinead O'Connor. And that's about it.

THE PASSIONS ~ "I'M IN LOVE WITH A GERMAN FILM STAR";


I naturally used an Andy Warhol screen-test of Nico because of course I did.

THE CULT; The Cult started out as a murky proto-Goth band as The Southern Death Cult who released a couple of singles and ep's before briefly shortening it to the Death Cult with another ep before finally settling on The Cult who finally settled on a cleaner big guitar and vocal sound with some psychedelic imagery on the "Dream Time" and "Love" albums which finally became, um, cult hits in the UK and Canada. By 1987 they evolved into a more 1970's hard rock sound with "Electric" and it's follow-up "Sonic Temple" which finally broke them into the U.S. market. It didn't really last though and the next few albums got diminishing results and cock-rock gave way to grunge. Eventually they broke up and singer Ian Astbury joined a reformed version of the Doors with Ray Manzerek.

THE CULT ~ "PHOENIX";


For the opening track off of "Love" I used an old film "A Trip To Mars".

THE CULT ~ "NIRVANA";


For this track from "Love" I used some early animation from German Dada film-maker Walter Ruttmann from the 1920's.

THE FIXX;

The Fixx were one of the last groups of the post-Joy Division Simple school of artsy, atmospheric, keyboard heavy, New Wave with their first album coming out in 1982 although they had been kicking around for a few years. Unlike the likes of Simple Minds, Ultravox and Japan however the Fixx surprised everyone, including probably themselves, by scoring a series of hits on both sides of the Atlantic, helped no doubt by the rise of MTV. This track off of the first album uses a short art film made for the Dadaist Fluxus Film collective circa 1967.

THE FIXX ~ "THE FOOL";


This track off of the first album uses a short art film made for the Dadaist Fluxus Film collective circa 1967.

THE FIXX ~ "THE SIGN OF FIRE";


This track uses an early film about a home invasion.

THE CHAMELEONS;
The Chameleons (sometimes called the Chameleons UK in the USA for legal reasons) were a band from Manchester with a loud echoey guitar sound and deep voiced vocals somewhat midway between early U2 and Sisters Of Mercy. They put out three albums between 1983 -86 before breaking up and reforming a couple times including a reunion tour this year. The first album was the best.

THE CHAMELEONS ~ "DON'T FALL";


This song of the first uses a clip from a Harry Houdini adventure movie from the 1920's.

THE CHAMELEONS ~ "SECOND SKIN";


Another song from the first album using an early French film about a stalker.

ERASURE; One of the bigger synth-pop bands, Erasure were a spin-off from Depeche Mode starting in 1985 with a number of hits. ERASURE ~ "SHIP OF FOOLS";


This vid uses an early colour film (1926) using dancers from Martha Graham's modern dance troop.