Atlantic Records’ 75th Anniversary Courtesy Photo
In September 1947, Ahmet Ertegun as well as Herb Abramson established Atlantic Records with a $10,000 lending from Ertegun’s dental expert. In 1948, Atlantic started producing its initial launches. Seventy-5 years later on, Atlantic continues to be among one of the most fabled tags in American background as house via the years to such musicians as Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Stevie Nicks, Matchbox Twenty as well as Crosby, Stills & Nash; as well as, a lot more lately, Twenty One Pilots, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran as well as Lizzo.
This year, Atlantic is admiring its abundant heritage with a multi-pronged, year-long project that commemorates a few of its most famous titles. Already began is the launch of 90 timeless titles, several on crystal clear, tinted or reused vinyl, curated by Atlantic Records chairman/CEO as well as kept in mind audiophile Craig Kallman.
Among the launches in the 75th-anniversary celebration are John Coltrane’s Olé Coltrane, Yes’ Fragile, Dusty Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis, Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required, Hootie & the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View as well as Crosby, Stills & Nash’s self-titled cd. More current titles in the collection consist of Mars’ 24K Magic, Gucci Mane’s Mr. Davis, Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You, Sheeran’s Divide as well as Gayle’s A Study in the Human Experience. All titles are for purchase through Atlantic Records’ website as well as a number are offered via different brick-and-mortar merchants.
Kallman started working with the task, which is running in combination with Rhino Entertainment, a variety of years earlier, publishing out spread sheets highlighting every substantial title of the previous 75 years. “It was stacks of paper making sure we didn’t miss anybody. It was painstakingly done. There was a lot of internal debating,” he states.
His goal was to cover the “breadth and scope of Atlantic’s history by genre,” he states. “We tried to include records that were culturally significant, that were groundbreaking for the company, that were blowout sales successes. It was about records that defined the label and the culture of the company.”
Though painstaking as well as very taxing, Kallman states the procedure “was a lot of fun and brings back a lot of memories because I was here for 32 years of it.” Kallman signed up with Atlantic in 1991 when the firm bought his dancing tag, Big Beat Records, as well as, in several means, he had actually inadvertently been planning for this minute. When he began at Atlantic, “I thought part of my responsibility was to really know and understand the history and legacy of the company so I can’t think of any [release] I didn’t already know about, but we wrestled with making sure that the depths of the early catalog were there,” he states. “My DJ’ing background also came in handy in making the selections.” Kallman’s individual collection numbers greater than 2 million LPs.
While titles began turning out a couple of months earlier, upcoming launches consist of Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams (consisting of The Chainsmokers as well as Coldplay’s 2017 hit, “Something Just Like This,” as a perk track) on Oct. 20 as well as Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin IV on Oct. 27. The collection consists of a variety of titles that have actually run out print, like Lil Uzi Vert’s Luv is Rage 2, in addition to launches that have actually never ever appeared on plastic. All launches are identified with a 75th-anniversary logo design.
Kallman attempted to maintain the launches to 75, however eventually, he can just pare it to 90. “We’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is too tough to narrow down,’ and we figured we could err on the side of going beyond 75 titles,” he states.
Courtesy Photo
The wedding anniversary has a number of various other elements. Atlantic has actually partnered with premium audiophile tag Acoustic Sounds to launch 75 timeless titles in 180-gram, 45RPM black plastic as well as SACD variations. That offering consists of such Genesis cds as Selling England by the Pound as well as The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Coltrane’s Giant Steps as well as My Favorite Things, Otis Redding’s The Dock of the Bay as well as Buffalo Springfield’s self-titled collection.
Another linkup is with plastic membership solution Vinyl Me Please (VMP), where Atlantic will certainly provide a number of titles via VMP’s document of the month program. Five titles will certainly be offered to VMP participants as November choices, consisting of Charles’ Ray Charles in Person, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor as well as Stone Temple Pilots‘ No. 4. Kallman states the offer can prolong past the first 5 titles relying on the action.
Another part is a collection of remixes, offered specifically for streaming through DSPs. Among the choices are DJ Nora En Pure’s fresh take on Donna Lewis’ “I Love You Always Forever,” DJ Spinna’s remake of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly” as well as Italian DJ Luca Olivotto’s variation of Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”
The wedding anniversary additionally consists of a coffee table publication from deluxe art publication author Taschen, which is anticipated ahead out in 2024. “That’s been a labor of love,” Kallman states. “We’re excited to have a fitting chronicle of the history of the company with extraordinary photos and great essays.”
