The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Volume One / lavish box

Paramount Records were an American record label that ran for 15 years from around 1917 onwards. The company were a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company who (amongst other things) originally made wooden phonograph cabinets.

The firm released blues and jazz records by artists such as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Charley Patton, and Blind Lemon Jefferson specialising in so-called “race records” – that is music from African-American artists.

This became a lucrative business and a new music box set (in two volumes) charts The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records. Volume One covers the period 1917-1927 (The Rise) and comes in spectacular packaging.

There is no ‘sturdy card slipcase’ for the contents of this set – the various elements that make up Volume One are collected in a “handcrafted quarter-sawn oak cabinet” with sage velvet upholstery and custom-forged metal hardware!!

Inside this wonderfully lavish (and appropriate) setting are books, vinyl LPs and a USB stick. Specifically the oak box contains:

• • 800 newly-remastered digital tracks, representing 172 artists
• • 200+ fully-restored original 1920s ads and images
• • Six 180g vinyl LPs pressed on burled chestnut colored vinyl w/ hand-engraved, blind-embossed gold-leaf labels, housed in a laser-etched white birch LP folio
• • 250 page deluxe large-format clothbound hardcover art book
• • 360 page encyclopedia-style softcover field guide containing artist portraits and full Paramount discography
• • Handcrafted quarter-sawn oak cabinet with lush sage velvet upholstery and custom-forged metal hardware
• • First-of-its-kind music and image player app, allowing user management of all tracks and ads, housed on custom-designed USB drive

Volume One of The Rise And Fall of Paramount Records is released on 19 November 2013. Volume Two will be issued in November 2014.

• • UK Pre-order:  The Rise & Fall Of Paramount Records, Volume 1 
• • USA Pre-order: The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 1
• • CANADA Pre-order: The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 1
• • GERMANY Pre-order: The Rise & Fall of Paramount Records, Volume 1