joee@orca.UUCP (12/19/84)
The following is a (very long) excerpt from an advertising insert that was
included with the "Mannheim Steamroller Christmas" album I just bought.
It is reproduced here without permission, but solely with the intent of
promoting the Steamroller and sharing with other devoted followers some
very interesting history, plus information about some new albums (which
I personally can't wait to get!)
(I'm sure American Gramaphone would approve of this reproduction so PLEASE
don't flame about copyright violations -- besides, there is no copyright notice
on the insert.)
Joe Eckardt
Tektronix
Wilsonville, Oregon
UUCP: ...!tektronix!tekecs!joee (ignore return address)
CSNET: tekecs!joee @ tektronix
ARPA: tekecs!joee.tektronix @ rand-relay
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T H E A M E R I C A N G R A M A P H O N E S T O R Y
----- --------------- ------------------- ---------
"American Gramaphone Record Company was formed in 1974 in Omaha,
Nebraska. It actually all started with the music to a bread
commercial!
"At the time, Chip Davis, composer and commercial music writer, and
Bill Fries, Creative Director of Bozell and Jacobs Advertising Agency,
were actively involved in the production of a series of bread commercials
for "Old Home Bread." Don Sears was the recording engineer on the
project and also owner of the recording studio where all the "Old
Home Bread" commerecials were being recorded...Sound Recorders, in
Omaha.
"The Old Home commercials became such a tremendous regional success
that people were actually running to their television sets to see
the continuing saga of the Old Home Bread truck driver, C.W.McCall,
and his lip-smacking, gum-chewing, eye-batting girlfriend, Mavis,
the truck stop waitress where C.W. would always stop for a "cup of
hot C and an Old Home bun" on his bread route.
"Needless to say, the advertising campaign spread to other regions
of the country and Bill Fries went on to win the coveted national
"Clio" advertising award for his unique and clever approach to selling
bread.
"It was decided that if the TV commercials could be such a success,
the music to those commercials could be a big radio success, so a
few hundred singles of "The Old Home Filler-Up An' Keep-On-A-Truckin'
Cafe" were pressed. And they sold out in a matter of days! So a
few hundred more were pressed. (Yeah, they did too.)
Soon radio stations picked up on the novelty of the record and
airwaves across the country became abuzz with this new music out of
Omaha. Naturally, it followed that when the record became so hot
across the U.S., hundreds of personal appearance requests poured
in to see and hear C.W.McCall perform his walkin', talkin' story-
telling songs live. (Now, even though an actor out of Dallas was
hired to be the on-camera television talent for the character of
McCall, it was actually the *voice* of Bill Fries who walked and
talked his way into the hearts of bread lovers everywhere!) So
the first big problem arose -- Americans had *seen* the character
acter on television, but had actually *heard* Bill Fries. So who
was to actually *be* C.W.McCall? -- the talent, or the voice?
And this presented another whole set of problems. By now, McCall
had 13 hit records on the charts so the pressure was on to get out
on tour and perform for the millions of anxious fans everywhere.
"After much serious consideration, Bill Fries left his position as
creative director of the 14th largest advertising agency in the
world and became C.W.McCall, going on to tour the United States
from 1975 to 1978.
"C.W.'s back-up band ("The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant")
turned out to be the actual studio musicians used on the commercial
tracked and since the composers of the tracks, and all the musicians
were all well-schooled and classically trained, they turned out
some exceptionally creative and dynamic progressive country tracks
which can be witnessed on any of seven C.W.McCall albums. (We
recommend Aurora Borealis an Wilderness from McCall's "WILDERNESS"
albume, Old Glory from "ROSES FOR MAMA", and Green River from
"BLACK BEAR ROAD" but who's dropping names?)
"After just a few of the initial McCalls hits, record labels across
the country became curious as to what all the excitement was about
and came to Omaha to offer McCall a deal on a "major record label
with world-wide distribution." And it came to pass that American
Gramaphone leased the rights of the McCall music to MGM Records and
after a few years, McCall retired to the Colorado Rockies. Amen.
"...Johnny Carson...American Bandstand...Rock Concert...The Midnight
Special...Tyrone Malone and his 186 mph Peterbilt Truck carrying his
10-ton frozen whale...500 County Fairs...800 corn dogs...and 1600
lemon squeezes later...and we're glad to be off the road, alive and
well in Omaha.
"Meanwhile...
"all during this McCall craze, American Gramaphone Records continued
onward and upward. With the CB Radio frenzy McCall created with his
million seller "Convoy" record, along came movies and Chip Davis
scored the soundtrack for the movie "Convoy" with Kris Kristofferson,
Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine. But "country" was definitely not the
only string twangin' in the heart of Chip and he quietly pursued another
new form of music in the offstage McCall shadows...music he called "18th
Century Classical Rock"...music he would entitle "Fresh Aire(tm)" meaning
"fresh song." And the dynamics of this new Fresh Aire music was something
audiophile ears had not even dreamed of as yet!
"After production of the first Fresh Aire album, major record labels
were sought to pick up the product. The record company presidents
*loved* it, in fact they all even bought copies to give to friends
and family as presents -- check that out! -- but no one would touch
Fresh Aire. They simply did not know how to market this highly unique
musical style -- it did not fit into the normal formats. The major
labels wre simply afraid to break the norms and go for broke on such
an unusual sounding product. So Fresh Aire stayed on the American
Gramaphone record label. The, something happened. Fresh Aire began
to sell itself!
"Because of the pure penetration of sound and the exceptionally wide
dynamic range of the Fresh Aire music, hi-fi and stereo dealers
across the United States began to use Fresh Aire music to demo their
stereo equipment. The found it could really sell their speakers
and turntables -- thus begins the distribution network for the first
Fresh Aire album.
"And today Fresh Aire continues to dominate the record market as on
of the top selling audiophile recording series of our time. not only
has "Fresh Aire I" risen in rank, but now there is "Fresh Aire II",
"Fresh Aire III", "Fresh Aire IV", "Fresh Aire V" with the London
Symphony, Fresh Aire "Interludes", "Sunken Cathedral" ) a solo
classical piano album by Fresh Aire keyboardist Jackson Berkey),
"Daydreams" and "Rainbows" (two impressionistic guitar albums by
Ron Cooley, who played on those original McCall tracks0, the
"American Gramaphone Sampler" album, "Ballade", Jackson Berkey's
second piano album featuring works by Debussy, Rachmaninoff and
Satie...an album with an exotic, Mediterranean flavor, and "Volume
One", our limited edition serialized *Collector's Series*, packaged
in velvet-suede and pweter, containing 140 gram Teldec vinyl pressings
of Fresh Aire I-IV and also featuring a full-color 36 page inner
book highlighting the history of the album series...a rich box-set
Fresh Aire fans and collector's will treasure for years to come.
"But wait! We're not through yet. Other albums soon-to-be-released
are+ "Olde English Madrigals and Fold Songs" recorded at Ely Cathedral
in England with John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers; The "Mannheim
Steamroller Christmas Album"; a classical guitar and lute album by
string player Eric Hansen of the Mannheim Steamroller; a third
impressionistic album by Ron Colley; a violin album; and many, many
more surprises. But the newest and most exciting addition to our current
catalogue is the introduction of the revolutionary *COMPACT DISC*!
"*And so it goes*, with the success of the Fresh Aire album series,
requrests are pouring in again for personal concert appearances to
see and hear the Fresh Aire music performed live, thus, *FRESH AIRE,
"The Concert of Multi Images"* was created. It involves virtually
every art form from computerized visuals to dance, animation, lighting
and special effects and we bill it "A contemporary, electronic,
music-visual fantasy through 18th century eyes." We've been touring
nationally with the Fresh Aire show, as a production of Sound Trak, Inc.,
also based in Omaha.
"With the touring company activity, more softwares have been developed
and aside from albums, *Dolby Cassettes* of all the American Gramaphone
albums, Fresh Aire/Mannheim Steamroller *T-Shirts, posters, piano scores,
hats, and visors* are now also available through American Gramaphone
Record Company. On top of all this, we've just moved American Gramaphone
and Sound Trak into a brand new 12,000 wquare foot facility in the wooded
hills of North Omaha, consolidating and strengthening the "Steamroller"
momentum.
"It's a funny sort of story, the way American Gramaphone Records has
developed but it's a good story. In fact, it's almost a fairy tale
how a small company from America's heartlands has taken wing and risen
to become world renowned for its exceptionally wuperior sounding product.
"If you want to know more or are interested in how to obtain any of our
products, write!
"We'll even write back.
Because that's just the way we do things back here in Omaha...
the wild kingdom."
"Carol Davis"
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[Also attached was the following form:]
"For more information on ay of our products, upcoming releases, and
concert tours, please fill out and clip this coupon. Mail to American
Gramaphone Records, 9130 Mormon Bridge Road, Omaha, Nebraska 68152,
(402)457-4341.
Name:___________________________________________ Age:____________
Address:_____________________________ City:__________State:______
Phone number:___________________________________ Zip:____________