As the Crow Flies
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This week, Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz took time out from working on the group’s next album to unveil his own label. He’s done this before. A few years back, he founded the E Pluribus Unum imprint which was absorbed by Geffen Records. Now, Duritz is launching Tyrannosaurus Records (complete with the cute nickname “T-Recs”) with a website - http://tyrannosaurusrecords.net/ - and a roster of fledgling artists. One assumes that the label will reflect Duritz’s taste in music, which is a lot more eclectic than the sound of Counting Crows might suggest. In fact, the first two signings to T-Recs don’t have much to do with the Crows’ rootsy, classic-rock style which is in the spirit of The Band, REM, and Cracker. Instead, Duritz is introducing Brooklyn, New York rapper/classically-trained musician Mike Notar with an autumn album release, and Chicago punk-pop trio Blacktop Mourning, whose debut – produced by Duritz and Crow member David Immerglück – is slated to drop in the spring.Vanity labels are a tricky thing. On one hand, you’ve got Reprise Records, established by Frank Sinatra - perhaps the most renowned pop singer of the 20th Century. Although it started out in the early ‘60s (when Frank left his longtime label Capitol) as a comfy home for Ol’ Blue Eyes and his Rat Pack pals such as Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., Reprise took on a life of its own. It became the legendary home to many significant bands and singer-songwriters (Fleetwood Mac, Green Day, The Kinks, Black Sabbath, The B-52’s, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Randy Newman, etc.), and at least two pretty decent guitarists (Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton). Its origin as Frank’s specialty brand is now almost a footnote.
Duritz: Like Sinatra, Byrne or Gabriel?Rolling Stones Records and Apple were originally designed to allow the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, respectively, to control their own recordings – and ostensibly spotlight unknown or underappreciated artists that appealed to the band members. Yet the only releases on Rolling Stones Records were their post-Let It Bleed albums and a few solo or offshoot projects. And after a promising start (James Taylor, Badfinger, Mary Hopkin), Apple ended up as little more than the custom logo on Beatles albums.David Byrne’s Luaka Bop and Peter Gabriel’s RealWorld are different stories – labels that benefited from their founders’ devotion to seeking out worthy musicians in need of wider exposure. Luaka Bop has released superb material by Brazil’s wildly popular singer-songwriter Tom Zé, as well as other choice cuts from Latin America, while RealWorld spanned the globe to offer up albums by performers that range from The Drummers of Burundi and Congo native Papa Wemba to Ohio singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur.It seems like Duritz is taking the Byrne-Gabriel route, getting out there himself and digging up the sort of acts that he believes will mark T-Recs as a quality label. If he’s right, the listening audience will benefit as much as the musicians he signs.
Duritz: Like Sinatra, Byrne or Gabriel?Rolling Stones Records and Apple were originally designed to allow the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, respectively, to control their own recordings – and ostensibly spotlight unknown or underappreciated artists that appealed to the band members. Yet the only releases on Rolling Stones Records were their post-Let It Bleed albums and a few solo or offshoot projects. And after a promising start (James Taylor, Badfinger, Mary Hopkin), Apple ended up as little more than the custom logo on Beatles albums.David Byrne’s Luaka Bop and Peter Gabriel’s RealWorld are different stories – labels that benefited from their founders’ devotion to seeking out worthy musicians in need of wider exposure. Luaka Bop has released superb material by Brazil’s wildly popular singer-songwriter Tom Zé, as well as other choice cuts from Latin America, while RealWorld spanned the globe to offer up albums by performers that range from The Drummers of Burundi and Congo native Papa Wemba to Ohio singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur.It seems like Duritz is taking the Byrne-Gabriel route, getting out there himself and digging up the sort of acts that he believes will mark T-Recs as a quality label. If he’s right, the listening audience will benefit as much as the musicians he signs.
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