Bob Dylan and Columbia

[Milestones]

Dylan is set for a new release next month--original music too.  I'm sure that's not news.

But it seems to me that Dylan has been on Columbia for his whole career--58 years.  Are they any music artists (of any sort) who have had such a consistent label association over a comparable period of time?

 

[ghost of miles]

5 minutes ago, Milestones said:

Dylan is set for a new release next month--original music too.  I'm sure that's not news.

But it seems to me that Dylan has been on Columbia for his whole career--58 years.  Are they any music artists (of any sort) who have had such a consistent label association over a comparable period of time?

 

That is a pretty amazing stretch and I can't think of anybody else with a similar run off the top of my head.  Should be noted, though, that Dylan did leave Columbia briefly in the early 1970s to record two albums for Asylum.  (Planet Waves and Before The Flood--though evidently later reissues of them fell under the purview of Columbia as well?)

[Teasing the Korean]

Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett were similarly on Columbia for very long stretches.

Johnny was at Mercury for a few years in the mid-1960s.

Tony didn't have a deal for about 15 years in the 70s and 80s. 

Still, remarkably long runs at Columbia.

[JSngry]

Lots of classical performers/conductors were with Columbia for decades...for that matter, at least one composer also comes to mind, Stravinsky.

[mjzee]

I'd love to find out the story behind the 1973 release "Dylan."  From the Bootleg Series, we know what gems were held in the Columbia vaults, yet someone at Columbia pushed this album of outtakes from "Self Portrait," perhaps Dylan's most embarrassing album.  This was obviously a release born of spite, in retaliation for Dylan's leaving Columbia for Asylum.  Or was it a contractual fulfillment obligation album, perhaps given to Columbia by Dylan himself?  Very intriguing.

[jazzbo]

I actually think this album is quite listenable. I don't think Dylan had any hand in its release.

[Milestones]

I will add that Springsteen has done 47 years at Columbia.

Yeah, some good examples in the posts.

 

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Milestones

[JSngry]

4 hours ago, mjzee said:

 This was obviously a release born of spite...

that could be a good thread...Records Born Of Spite...

#1 on my list:

[mjzee]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

that could be a good thread...Records Born Of Spite...

#1 on my list:

I was thinking of this too!  Big difference is that Marvin Gaye was the spiteful one, not the record company.  It was masterful: he records a 2-LP set (released at full price, to guarantee zero sales) about how much he hates his ex-wife, puts no singles on it, AND forces his ex-father in law to release it on his record label!

Two more masterfully spiteful contractual obligation albums by the artists:

[JSngry]

31 minutes ago, mjzee said:

I was thinking of this too!  Big difference is that Marvin Gaye was the spiteful one, not the record company.  

And yet, the record company got its turn!

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

he went to asylum for a second (planet waves), i dont know the history behind that

[felser]

5 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

he went to asylum for a second (planet waves), i dont know the history behind that

Also "Before The Flood".  I was reading a Greil Marcus book on Dylan last night which indicated that Asylum did no publicity for "Before the Flood" at all.