Jasmine label reissues

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 26 Jul 2001 4:42 pm

I'm wondering if anyone has any of these CDs, I'd really like to hear some feedback on packaging, notes, sound quality, anything.
http://www.hasmick.demon.co.uk/jasmine-country-artist.htm

They're based in the UK and get the material from Transcription discs and the like. I do know someone who has the Hank Penny set and loved it, it's from the 1950-1951 transcriptions period, Bloodshot also issued a collection from more of these sides, both have come with rave reviews.

I swapped a few emails with Don Bradley of Bradley Brothers Records in California and he mentioned getting some of their early promo CDs some years back and said that the sound was awful. Now that was a few years back and they have a lot of different material, it's really hard to get here so before I start doing the hard work of getting anything I'd love to hear anyone's opinion.

Jason

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Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 26 Jul 2001 5:43 pm

I have the Speedy West CD "There's Gonna Be A Party..." and it's quite good considering the source. Almost all the songs are from Tennessee Ernie Ford shows where Speedy gets a solo spot. Speedy is his usual excellent self, and the recording quality is very acceptable. Mr. Ford introduces Speedy for the beginning and end of each song, which gets a bit tiresome over the length of the CD, but there's some great playing on this CD.

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Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 26 Jul 2001 5:46 pm

Okay Brad, sounds good, on your recomendation I'd get a copy of that one. Thanks... anyone else?

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 26 Jul 2001 11:31 pm

i have maybe a half dozen of them, all acceptable to fine sound. most of the hillbilly releases, if not all, are from transcription sources and not readily to be heard elsewhere--thompson, arthur smith, tennessee ernie, etc.

i think it is jasmine that has a new mcauliffe cd as well, called "take it away the leon way". not sure if it is transcription material or from leon's own cimarron label.

some nice 40s/50s jazz vocalists too--anita oday, june christy, etc.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 27 Jul 2001 5:13 pm

Hi Mitch, well that's it, you guys have got me interested. I've got some of the Joaquin and various German releaes, the sound at time can be murky, but they are still worth a listen and purchase.

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » 29 Jul 2001 5:54 pm

I've got a bunch of these and they're all real good.The Speedy West,Ernie Ford,and Ray Price ones in particular.They all seem to be good quality radio transcriptions and sell for about 13 bucks here in the US.There are no real liner notes in any of the ones I've seen.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 29 Jul 2001 7:27 pm

I've got the Ray Price CD and it's purty dog gone good.

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Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 29 Jul 2001 7:27 pm

Sounds good, I think they'll got for $35 here, but that's not too bad.

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The future ain't what it used to be

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 30 Jul 2001 4:28 am

Jason...this is an aside from your question, but I think relatedand interesting. I recently made a side-by-side comparison of some the things Speedy was playing on some of the recording during that era, with some of the things recorded on albums by Jody Carver....and on some of those "bar chatter/crash" rides it was difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish which one was playing! Gene

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 30 Jul 2001 6:54 am

Hi Gene, hey I wanted to do that, I've been curious as to what would have happened, now I know that as well.

I've been listening to a lot of Ernie Hagar of late, his 1960s Sage & Sage label recordings have a distinct Speedy-Jimmy Bryant vibe, very tasty stuff.

Steve England · Post by **Steve England** » 1 Aug 2001 11:21 am

I've got a bunch of them, picked up some in England over Xmas, and have got a few since then, Best ones I have so far are the speedy West/Jimmy Bryant radio transciptions and the Ray Price CD. If you are expecting Krazy Kat/Bear Family type sleeve notes and recording info though forget it. My one peeve with Jasmine records is that they are putting out some great stuff, but not really giving any information about it, not even approximate recording dates. They have this great stuf, but their releasing of it seems so half hearted. The only way I worked out that the Ray Price CD was a radio show and not just re issues of old hits was the final track listing for "Signing off".

Same with the Speedy West, mostly the sleeve notes seem to be just an overview of the artists carreer. Their Hank Thmpson CD "IN the Mood For Hank" has even less information.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 1 Aug 2001 4:13 pm

This is pretty good news, the ones I'm after are mainly the Ernie Ford, Speedy West type material, although the Ray Price set sounds like a keeper, as well as Penny who I'm a big fan of anyway.
There's quite a lot of good stuff, but I have to admit the lack of notes really get me worked up.
The Ray Price material, I'd love to know who's playing on that material, I have an obsession with the Cherokee Cowboys and who was in the group in the 1950s and 1960s.

Steve England · Post by **Steve England** » 3 Aug 2001 7:12 am

Jason, if I am remembering corrrectly the Hank Penny album on Jasmine has exactly the same tracks as the Bloodshot release.

Except the Bloodshot release has about half a dozen more tracks on it.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 4 Aug 2001 11:03 am

Steve; By that do you mean they where exactly the same recordings on both releases?

The reason I ask is that they're both from the 1950-1951 transcriptions that Penny did.
So I figure there might have been some doubling up.

Steve England · Post by **Steve England** » 6 Aug 2001 7:01 am

Jason, the Bloodshot album "Crazy Rhythm" has 30 tracks on it. The Jasmine "Penny Opus #1" CD has 25 tracks on it. All of these 25 tracks are on the Bloodshot album. So the Bloodshot album has all of the Jasmine album tracks on it, plus an additional 5 tracks. I didn't realize that till I bought both of them.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 6 Aug 2001 4:43 pm

Thanks Steve, the Bloodshot set will be easier to get here, so that's a big plus, thank you for that info.

Dana Duplan · Post by **Dana Duplan** » 7 Aug 2001 6:07 am

I did the same thing with the Penny CD's. Luckily the store took the Jasmine one back. I have the Speedy West and it's great. I noticed on the Ernie Ford CD that it lists some of the same tunes as on the Speedy CD and states (with Speedy West) after the title. Are these the same cuts or alternate versions? Since Ernie is announcing the songs on Speedy's CD I figured that they were the same? Oh, and I really like the Red Foley CD-not really Western Swing but good country stuff with excellent pickin' from Bud Isaacs, Grady Martin, etc.
DD<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Dana Duplan on 07 August 2001 at 07:10 AM.]</p></FONT>

Steve England · Post by **Steve England** » 7 Aug 2001 6:42 am

Yeah Dana, I guess I could have taken mine back to the shop, but it was 200 miles away

. Just got the Ernest Tubb CD on Jasmine over the weekend. That is a puzzle. I've only listened to it once but there are between song chats with a wholebunch of people, Faron Young, Jim Reeves (I think), Carolina Cotton. Somehow I get the impression that these may even have been recorded for a TV show, there are a lot of references to their outfits etc. Anyne know where these come from. I wonder if the folks at Jasmine records know what they are releasing. If they do it would be nice if they would share the information with us.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 7 Aug 2001 3:54 pm

I suspect that a lot of them are from the Naval Service Transcription discs, I notice that when someone tries to flog them on E-bay and places like that, they seem to have people like Merle Travis, Carolina Cotton, Tubb and others on one side, then say T. Texas Tyler and others on another side, I have no idea where a lot of these where recorded, but either they where cut all together, or, pieced together from different sessions to produce a feeling that they were all sitting around at a big pickin' gathering.
Either way Jasmine seems to be doing their best to not find out, let alone share it with the rest of us.