Theme Time Radio Hour (6-CD) - from BEAR FAMILY RECORDS
Now let me tell you something about THEME TIME RADIO HOUR: It is a, now discontinued, series of 101 radio shows made in collaboration with Bob Dylan himself - ok, you may guess the music selections: country, bluegrass, soul, gospel, funk, some rock and even some extra additions of contemporary alternative & hip-hop!!!
But what you may not expect is that Bod Dylan is one hell of a DJ! Yes, he is: funny, well-prepared, he knows his claret from his beaujolais (pun intended) and he always has something interesting to say about each & every one single track! Plus, he has some "staged" phone calls, letters from listeners (but obviously the show wasn't meant to be "live", so they're pre-staged too), old time radio jingles and some funny jokes that other celebrities have shared with him in the past - and, guess what: each show runs for 120 minutes and all selections are dedicated to one concept-theme, such as "cats", "kiss", "drink", "whiskey" (because drinking in general & drinking whiskey is not the same thing!), "baseball", "bible" etc.
So you embark on a journey through American (most of the time, with some guest contributions from UK, Jamaica & Mexico) history and from pre-war 78s to nowadays cd singles, but somehow they all remain connected and the flow seems as natural as one can be.
Now let me tell you something about BEAR FAMILY RECORDS as well: these guys surely know their stuff - big time!. To anyone familiar with their compilations and re-issues, you know they fill some important voids of the cd market out there (Robert Mitchum compilations anyone? Dean Martin COMPLETE ANTHOLOGY anyone else?) and their booklets alone deserve every single penny. But, in their e-store, I was lucky enough to bump into this 6cd box set, originally issued by ace rec. housed in a long deleted slipcase that really means a lot, if you are a sucker for those things - and I am.
So, I used to be grateful to BEAR FAMILY REC. because they made available songs & albums that couldn't otherwise be spotted. But now I am for other reasons as well: thanks to them, I managed to get this special edition delivered to me in no time (in this covid day & age, they actually shipped this and in four working days it was on my hands to Athens, Greece! Furthermore, they put another cd compilation inside the package as an extra THANK-YOU gift. I mean... how cool is that?).
So, dear gents (& ladies) up there in BF: Thank you for the music. And that's the greatest "thank you" of them all!
But what you may not expect is that Bod Dylan is one hell of a DJ! Yes, he is: funny, well-prepared, he knows his claret from his beaujolais (pun intended) and he always has something interesting to say about each & every one single track! Plus, he has some "staged" phone calls, letters from listeners (but obviously the show wasn't meant to be "live", so they're pre-staged too), old time radio jingles and some funny jokes that other celebrities have shared with him in the past - and, guess what: each show runs for 120 minutes and all selections are dedicated to one concept-theme, such as "cats", "kiss", "drink", "whiskey" (because drinking in general & drinking whiskey is not the same thing!), "baseball", "bible" etc.
So you embark on a journey through American (most of the time, with some guest contributions from UK, Jamaica & Mexico) history and from pre-war 78s to nowadays cd singles, but somehow they all remain connected and the flow seems as natural as one can be.
Now let me tell you something about BEAR FAMILY RECORDS as well: these guys surely know their stuff - big time!. To anyone familiar with their compilations and re-issues, you know they fill some important voids of the cd market out there (Robert Mitchum compilations anyone? Dean Martin COMPLETE ANTHOLOGY anyone else?) and their booklets alone deserve every single penny. But, in their e-store, I was lucky enough to bump into this 6cd box set, originally issued by ace rec. housed in a long deleted slipcase that really means a lot, if you are a sucker for those things - and I am.
So, I used to be grateful to BEAR FAMILY REC. because they made available songs & albums that couldn't otherwise be spotted. But now I am for other reasons as well: thanks to them, I managed to get this special edition delivered to me in no time (in this covid day & age, they actually shipped this and in four working days it was on my hands to Athens, Greece! Furthermore, they put another cd compilation inside the package as an extra THANK-YOU gift. I mean... how cool is that?).
So, dear gents (& ladies) up there in BF: Thank you for the music. And that's the greatest "thank you" of them all!
Bear Family Records
