On Monday, January 4, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-5, Chris Metzler wrote:
> In article <368DD4...@cam.org>, Michel Forest <for...@cam.org> wrote:
> >Joe Castleman wrote:
> >>
> >> Greetings:
> >>
> >> I asked about this a week or two ago, but I wnet out-of-town before I
> >> could check for an answer:
> >>
> >> What is this big fire that destroyed the tape archives at Atlantic
> >> Records? I hear about it occasionally, mainly in this newsgroup. When
> >> was the fire, and what did it consume? How has Atlantic been able to
> >> re-issue the fire-damaged tapes, or have they?
> >
> > I remember posting an answer to this question a few weeks ago... but I'm
> > glad to repost it! Anyway, in 1976, a department store burned down in
> > New Jersey. The 4th floor of the store was, strangely enough, the place
> > where Atlantic stored its master tapes from every session recorded
> > before 1969. The building burned down to the ground and all was lost. In
> > the Coltrane boxset, it says that the released material was safe, having
> > been released on lp's. But the unreleased material was lost forever. As
> > for the source of the unreleased material on the Coltrane box, it seems
> > a small amount of session tapes were found in another storage room.
> > Maybe these were copies of the master tapes, it's not very clear in the
> > booklet.
> Everyone notes how much wonderful jazz was probably lost in this fire
> -- which makes sense, because it's a jazz newsgroup. It's worth
> noting also, however, that Atlantic was the premier R&B/soul label of
> the 60's, through their own material and through music they
> distributed from smaller companies. Not all of the music they
> distributed for other labels did they have the masters for; but in
> mid-1968, Atlantic took possession of the entire catalog of Stax
> Records up to that point, due to some fine print in a distribution
> contract that Jerry Wexler claims his lawyers snuck in there without
> asking him. So, lost along with Coltrane, Mingus, Coleman, etc. were
> Ray Charles, Don Covay, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave,
> LaVern Baker, Booker T. & the MGs, Wilson Pickett, the Drifters,
> Carla Thomas, etc. etc.
> -c
> --
> Chris Metzler Work Address: Loomis Laboratory of Physics
> 217-333-1065 (office) University of Illinois
> met...@snip-me.uiuc.edu 1110 W. Green Street
> (remove "snip-me." to email, of course) Champaign, IL 61801-3080 USA
> "As a child I understood how to give; I have forgotten this grace since I
> have become civilized." - Chief Luther Standing Bear

Thanks for the history everyone. The Temptations' Atlantic recordings could've also been lost. Hope all is well with this group