THE RISE & FALL OF PARAMOUNT RECORDS VOL 2: 180g VINYL BLUES BOX SET, 800 TRACKS

$

375

NEW, UNPLAYED. SHIPS TODAY!

Included in Volume 2:

• 800 digital tracks by 175 Paramount artists

• A visual centerpiece comprising the full run of 90+ striking, hand-drawn

  original ads, fully-restored, as published by Paramount in the Chicago Defender newspaper from 1928-30 – ads which are cited as his single biggest influence by artist Robert Crumb.

• All ads and digital tracks can be downloaded onto the user’s hard drive and managed via itunes or other player software, or managed and played directly via the cabinet’s proprietary music-and-image player app, housed on a custom-designed USB drive; tracks can be searched, sorted, grouped, and played by song title, artist, performer, catalog number, matrix number, and recording date, and are cross-referenced to their corresponding weekly ad from the Chicago Defender; users can also choose from pre-programmed playlists or listen to the tracks and watch the images in “radio” and slideshow mode.

• A 256-page large-format cloth-bound foil-stamped hardcover book, with a feature-length narrative by award-winning writer Scott Blackwood, chronicling Paramount's curious tale, along with hundreds of full color art plates showcasing ads and ephemera from its family of labels.

• A 400-page Field Manual featuring encyclopedia-style bio-discographical entries for 175 artists and their repertoire, each written by an expert in the field and all writing and research directed by Paramount authority and co- producer of the set, Alex van der Tuuk; with ink portraits of each artist by Tony Mostrom (illustrator for both 78 Quarterly and Derek Bailey's Incus Records).

• An integrated LP folio built into the lid of the cabinet, housing 6 x 180g LPs pressed on label-less alabaster-white vinyl, each side bearing in place of the label an engraved numeral and hand-etched holographic image (by light artist Tristan Duke); the 6 LPs comprise a selection of 87 tracks from the collection.

• Full-size, freestanding reproductions of showbills, banners, window displays, mail order foldout catalogs and other original ephemera from Paramount and its affiliates.

• All housed in a polished aluminum and stainless steel cabinet, lushly upholstered in sapphire blue velvet, inspired by the streamlined profiles of America’s “Machine Age” art deco product designs of the 1930s; more specific nods are made in the direction of the gleaming metal bodies of both the National "resonator" guitar, a favored instrument of many Pre-WW2 bluesmen, and the portable phonographs of master art deco designer John Vassos for Paramount’s well-heeled rival, RCA Victor.