Revisit the House That Jac Built

Five-Disc FOREVER CHANGING Box Mines Elektra Records' Golden Age

In 1950, one of the true visionaries of the music business, Jac Holzman, founded Elektra Records, a label that would go on to release some of the most influential and successful recordings of all time. Rhino celebrates Holzman and Elektra's contributions to the world of music with FOREVER CHANGING: THE GOLDEN AGE OF ELEKTRA RECORDS-1963 TO 1973. The five-CD box set will be available January 23 at all retail outlets and at www.rhino.com for a suggested retail price of $69.98 for the physical version and $49.99 for the digital version.

FOREVER CHANGING focuses on the heyday of the Elektra label as it made a transition from folk music to folk rock before fully embracing electric rock. The box opens with pivotal early folk artists Judy Collins, Fred Neil and Phil Ochs and goes on to document the gradual impact of electric music with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and key signings to the label: Love, The Doors, and Tim Buckley. Elektra never lost its folk roots and, as the sixties progressed, the label embraced the singer/songwriter era by signing Carly Simon, Harry Chapin and the hugely successful Bread. Yet in 1969, Elektra went on to release the debut albums by The Stooges and the MC5, groups that still make a fierce impact on young musicians to this day.

FOREVER CHANGING mixes familiar names with a host of genuine rarities and lesser-knowns included not merely for the sake of obscurity, but because the likes of Hamilton Camp, David Stoughton, Paul Siebel or Pat Kilroy all made great music that was somehow overlooked. Elektra's reputation preceded it and helped give maverick artists such as Nico, The Holy Modal Rounders, David Peel or The Incredible String Band a launch pad to wider recognition.

The fifth disc of FOREVER CHANGING, "Another Time, Another Place," presents an alternative take on Elektra's history, from the rare 1963 single by The Beefeaters (who went on to become The Byrds), through to one of Jac Holzman's final signings, Jobriath. This disc also includes Eric Clapton & Powerhouse, The Baroque Beatles Book, Simon Stokes, Joseph Spence, Eclection, Leviathan, Goodthunder and David Peel.

FOREVER CHANGING was compiled with the full cooperation and assistance of Holzman himself and from the music to the packaging it is clearly a labor of love. All tracks are newly remastered from the best possible sources under the supervision of the renowned Bill Inglot. More than half the tracks included have never before been available on CD.

The box's booklet offers an in-depth track-by-track discussion of each song-most of the entries running a full-page. The notes include new interviews with artists, Elektra insiders, and fellow travelers for whom Elektra was and still is the label.

In addition to the regular version, a very special limited-edition version of FOREVER CHANGING is available. Packaged in a 12" x 12" box, the deluxe version includes a lavishly illustrated hardback book, four fine art prints of classic Elektra record sleeves, a set of artist postcards, scrapbook style facsimile memorabilia, an illustrated discography, and a CD-ROM copy of Jac Holzman and Gavan Daw's book, "Follow The Music." This deluxe edition carries an SRP of $199.98 and is limited to 4,000 copies worldwide, with less than half that number available in the U.S. Unfortunately, due its high cost and limited availability, we are not able to provide promotional copies of this version of the box for review.

Source: Rhino Entertainment