The Chetboard

i have recently purchased some chet albums from amazon in mp3 format .

i have a question or 2 . first question does any of the money spent benefit chets family in any way ?

second question is where are they finding his music ? i have now heard a few arrangements of songs i know very well, after listening to them for over forty years i am very surprised but please with the new old arrangements i have never heard .

that being said how does one go about deciding which ones to buy in hopes of finding the rare versions with out haveing to buy them all .

just to let anyone know i didnt create a link here on purpose for amazon it did it on its on .
dont want to get banded from chets place

I'm pretty sure Chet's musical royalty is handled by either ASCAP or BMI and he would have made any royalties payable to his corporation. You incorporate when get to a certain level of income and complexity.

I think it's fair to think Chet incorporated himself and such things are now in control of his Estate meaning Merle Atkins-Russel and Jonathan Russell.

Chet was always one to TCB

No help on your filtering question of which to buy.

thankyou for your reply sir
i find it interesting that no one either knows or cares to respond to the question i asked tho.
so asking the same question again but different , is what lps where this songs featured on .

there are many arrangements i have never heard before on some of these mp3 lps i have purchased. no i dont have a complete collection but it anit that shabby either .

so where are they finding these cuts from ? i suppose i could take the time and make a list of all the ones i am referring to if needed

Hi Roger-

You might be referring to about 8 songs from the "Workshop" LP. When Bear Family issued their 2nd set of Chet material back in 2004, they included "alternate" versions of such tracks as "Hot Mocking Bird," "Lambeth Walk" and so on.

You're probably familiar w/ the story of the 2 different versions of the "In Hollywood" LP that were released. The Bear Family set has the tracks that were issued on the "skyline" cover which, although released first, actually contained Chet's "remakes" of the songs.

Finally, I posted on here a LONG time ago about my copy of "The Other Chet Atkins" LP which has versions of "Siboney," "El Relicario" and a few others that I've never heard anywhere else. Not saying mine is a "one of a kind," but it's obviously an early pressing that was withdrawn at Chet's request. "Relicario" is played much faster and "Siboney" ends w/ a "golpe" tap on the guitar, not a strummed chord.

Hope this info helps a bit.

Thanks,

John

thankyou john for your reply . lol now i have to find and take a listen to the one you have listed as i am not so sure i have heard these either .

with out looking at my phone and trying to get a list of the ones i am talking about these songs that comes to mind is whispering , georgia camp meeting, a summer place, and others , and based on some things i have heard i cant figure why chet would have pull these .

i must really be out of touch these days on chets stuff.
i hope there are others here willing to share there treasures as well .

Hi Roger-

Yes, "Whispering" & "Summer Place" were on the Workshop LP. Bear Family issued alternate takes of those songs.

"Georgia Camp Meeting" might be the "live" version from the 1950s Al Gannaway Opry films. I'm sure the clip is on You Tube.

The other alternate songs on my copy of The Other Chet Atkins are "Yours" & "Streets of Laredo."

Thanks,

John

Roger Crews wrote:
"...i cant figure why chet would have pull these ..."
.

Chet's sense of discipline was such that doing another take of a song wasn't that big a deal to him particularly after he got one of those Ampex Self-Synch tape machines at his home. That's the one that allowed him to get the A-Team of the day to lay down a rhythym track and he would do his part at home. I've read that "Stringing Along With CA" was originally done as a 10" on his D'Angelico but right after he signed with Gretsch he did the whole thing over using a Gretsch and added a couple of songs to make a 12" album.

There's no big mystery to it. He seldom played anything the same way twice and was always looking to improve. He was under contract to release a certain number of albums per year. When one was in the can he was looking for the songlist for the next one coming. Sometimes there would be more than one take of a given song and sometimes he would not be the one to decide which got used. It's just business and when we do find more than one take of a song it is to the ear of the beholder sometimes as to which is better.

To a guitarist, just like an actor, once the album or movie is done that part of their life (recording or moviemaking) is over unless they get another offer or contract.

I'm amazed how he was able to play so well so long. His arranging ability was fabulous. There are many who try to play versions or imitations of what Chet did but they usually lose on the subtle things like endings... things like that.

The Bear Family compilations are a bit pricey but definitely worth it.