Rare 1st EDITION DUKE/PEACOCK RECORDS HISTORY-GALT
$
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Description
RARE 1ST EDITION
Duke/Peacock Records: an illustrated history with discography
Galen Gart & Roy C. Ames; with contributions by Ray Funk, Rob Bowman, David Booth
Publisher: Milford, N.H., U.S.A. : Big Nickel Publications, c1990. 234 Pages-Paperback
GOOD CONDITION with a wear-tear on the back(see photo) & a small tear on the front/bottom-scuffs-Contents are Clean Duke/Peacock vividly portrays the seamy underside of the record industry, but authors do not overlook the significant socioeconomic and cultural contributions Don Robey made to the industry and to the convergence of black and white popular music. He was a rare breed, a black man succeeding in a white man's business, in the South, at a time when that was not encouraged. By the end of the book, through his own flowery quotes and the reminiscences of others, the reader feels he has come to know this unusual man and his world.
The authors have tapped many primary sources, including interviews with associates of Robey, original files and trade papers of the period. When a key player or piece of information has disappeared entirely, they say so and shed whatever light they can on the situation. Prior work on the label and its artists is fully credited. This is a refreshingly honest book.
The book includes a full discography (as much as can be reconstructed without the company's missing recording logs) and more than 100 fascinating illustrations, many of them rare action shots. The production values of the book are thoroughly professional.
Robey's labels continued to operate through the "soul years" of the 1960s, until the entire catalog was sold to ABC Records in 1973. Robey died two years later at the age of 71. Many of the masters he cut are now considered classics and will continue to be reissued, probably forever.
Duke/Peacock Records is clearly the definitive history of those labels, as well as one of the best books yet written on the wider subject of black labels during the R&B and early rock 'n' roll eras. Future work in this field will be measured against its high standards.
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