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THE LAMP RECORDS STORY

Stuart Jefferson | San Diego,Ca | 04/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Two discs 65,61 minutes each approximately. The sound is fairly clean and immediate as can be expected from recordings from this era. There is occasional surface noise or distortion,but nothing that really gets in the way of the overall sound.

This collection centers on Lamp Records,an off-shoot of Alladin Records in Los Angeles.This set contains almost all the sides recorded by Lamp between 1954 through 1957. This collection is just one of several dealing with small labels. Interested listeners should look into the following collections: BOB GEDDINS BIG TOWN RECORDS STORY,THE TRILON RECORDS STORY,THE OLLIET RECORDS STORY,and a number of others. All the above have been released on the Acrobat label.

A lot of small record labels were started due to the influx,and demand,in areas where African-Americans lived and worked,on both coasts. Lamp Records originally was based in New York City,but late in it's brief life moved to Los Angeles. Lamp never really had a hit record,their first was in 1957,but they always seemed to record good artists.

For collectors who might like to delve a little deeper,Lamp issued it's recordings in "series": 8000 series (disc one 1-14) released in 1954,9000 series (disc one 15-18) also released in 1954,2000 series (disc one 19-26 and all of disc two) released in 1956-57.

The overall tone of this collection is r&b with a bit of pop and gospel mixeb in. This is good music and as to why Lamp never really did well is a mystery. However,for those listeners who like music from this era,that's off the beaten path,this is a good find. This is yet another collection that tells the story of another small,underfunded,independent record label. I sometimes feel that these small labels tell the real truth concerning what music was truly like during this time. For these labels recorded mostly local artists-and that gives a different perspective into this period. A period before the giant labels took over and music became much more nationalized and ultimately homogenized.

Once again the folks at Acrobat have done all of us a favor by collecting and releasing this music. The booklet gives an overview of the Lamp story and several of the artists here. A number of people/groups here are unknown-there is little or no information available. However,we still have this wonderful music,and that in the end,is what really matters."