[ Post a Response | Lonnie Donegan Discussion Forum ]
Posted by Roger Rettig on October 25, 2009, 2:24 am, in reply to "Re: The Bear Family Box-Set"
76.7.32.186
Well, this is all subjective, of course. I like the notion and I'm always looking out for 'complete works' sets of artists who are favourites of mine.
I wish they'd do Ray Charles! While his early Atlantic stuff is well-covered, the material that he owned the rights to (an unusual situation for a singer to find himself in) from the early 1960s on is singularly difficult to find - there are just those irritating 'Best Of...', 'The Genius Does This or That...', etc - I don't want a third-party to select what he deems the most important tracks, I want it ALL.
Back to Lonnie:
This was a golden opportunity for all his material to be collected (mission accomplished, I'd say) within a package that should also have have contained a complete and accurate biography (definitely NOT accomplished!) Mr Pelletier is said to have found Donegan 'difficult' during the collating process, so his becoming disillusioned is, perhaps, understandable.
As it stands we only have the Spencer Leigh book (it has its merits), and some quite good passages in various books that are focused on the British music scene in general. Mike Dewes 'The Skiffle Craze' discusses Donegan's musicality in reasonably well-informed terms, as does Pete Frame in 'The Restless Generation'.
Paul Pelletier's sleeve-notes on the various reissue CDs for the Castle Records releases were very good indeed; I harboured hopes that he might be the one to become the Lonnie Donegan biographer. I received no reply to an email on this point - he may have changed his 'address', of course, but equally he may have been disinclined to respond.
21
Message Thread:
« Back to thread