Set of early Elektra logos

Elektra Records Master Discography: Browse

Judy Collins Judy Collins Fifth Album

Sleeve:Judy Collins Fifth Album

Elektra EKL 300 (Mono) EKS 7300 (Stereo)

Released: August 1965

Production: Mark Abramson and Jac Holzman

  • Pack Up Your Sorrows
  • The Coming of the Roads
  • So Early, Early in the Spring
  • Tomorrow is a Long Time
  • Daddy You've Been on my Mind
  • Thirsty Boots
  • Mr Tambourine Man
  • Lord Gregory
  • In the Heat of the Summer
  • Early Morning Rain
  • Carry it on
  • It Isn't Nice

Some sleeves say that this album was recorded in concert at Town Hall, New York, March 21 1964. That is not the case. The Concert album was recorded then ... as you might think.


Leadbelly The Library Of Congress Recordings

Sleeve:The Library Of Congress Recordings

Elektra EKL 301/2 (Mono)

Released: 1965

Production: Compiled and annotated by Laurence Cohn

Engineering: John A and Alan Lomax

Side 1

Texas, Louisiana, Barrelhouse

  • Mr. Tom Hughes' Town
  • De Kalb Blues
  • Take A Whiff On Me
  • The Medicine Man
  • I'm Sorry Mama

Square Dances, Sooky Jumps, Reels

  • Monologue: Square Dances, Sooky Jumps
  • Po Howard
  • Monologue: Dance Calls, Dance Steps

Side 2

  • Gwine Dig A Hole
  • Tight Like That
  • Green Corn
  • Becky Dean

Penitentiaries

  • Monologue: Prison Singing
  • Midnight Special
  • I Ain't Gonna Ring Dem Yellow Women's Do' Bells; Rock Island Line; Governor Pat Neff

Side 3

  • Irene (Part I, Part II)
  • Governor OK Allen

Spirituals

  • Git On Board
  • Monologue: Hallelujah; Joining The Church; Backslider; Fare You Well; Amazing Grace; Must I Be Carried To The Sky; Flowered Beds Of Ease; Down In The Valley To Pray

Side 4

  • Let It Shine On Me
  • Run Sinners
  • Ride On

Blues

  • Monologue: The Blues
  • Thirty Days In The Workhouse
  • Fo' Day Worry Blues
  • Matchbox Blues
  • You Don't Know My Mind
  • Got a Gal in Town with her Mouth Chock Full of Gold

Side 5

  • Alberta
  • Take Me Back
  • Henry Ford Blues

Ballads

  • Ella Speed
  • Billy The Weaver
  • Frankie and Albert
  • If It Wasn't For Dicky

Side 6

Topical Protest

  • Mama did you Bring me any Silver?
  • The Bourgeois Blues
  • Howard Hughes
  • Scottsboro Blues
  • The Hindenburg Disaster
  • Turn Yo' Radio On
  • The Roosevelt Song

Boxed set of three discs with booklet.

The discs are configured for an autochanger with sides 1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4 on the three discs so you could stack' em and flip 'em in the correct sequence.


Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis

Sleeve:Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis

Elektra EKL 303 (Mono)

Released: October 1965

Production: Norman Dayron with the Assistance of Pete Welding

Side 1

  • What More Can A Good Man Do?
  • Two Trains Running
  • Long-Haired Darlin'
  • My Baby Changed The Lock On My Door
  • Drifting From Door To Door
  • I Got My Eyes On You

Side 2

  • Me And My Telephone
  • Dust My Broom
  • She's My Babe
  • Alberta
  • Baby Please Don't Go
  • Drifting Blues

UK release on Bounty BY6009 in 1966.


The Corrie Folk Trio with Paddle Bell The Promise Of The Day

Sleeve:The Promise Of The Day

Elektra EKL 304 (Mono) EKS 7304 (Stereo)

Released: 1966

Production: W Gordon Smith

  • My Love She's But A Lassie Yet
  • The Leaving Of Liverpool
  • The Trooper And The Maid
  • The Whistling Gipsy
  • I Saw Three Ships
  • The Gift o' Gowd
  • The Cherry Tree Carol
  • Johnnie Lad
  • Roddy McCorley
  • Verdant Braes o' Screen
  • Around Cape Horn
  • Fear A Bhata
  • Killiecrankie
  • Jock Hawk's Adventures In Glasgow

Licensed from Waverly Records in Scotland. The original (ZLP 2050) has different tracks. 'I Saw Three Ships', 'The Gift o' Gawd' and 'The Cherry Tree Carol' were not on the original, which had instead 'Shoals o' Herrin', 'Queen Mary' and 'Uist Tramping Song'.


Koerner Ray & Glover The Return Of Koerner Ray & Glover

Sleeve:The Return Of Koerner Ray & Glover

Elektra EKL 305 (Mono) EKS 7305 (Stereo)

Released: October 1965

Production: Jac Holzman and Paul Rothchild with the assistance of Paul Nelson

Recorded: Mastertone Studios, New York City

Side 1

  • I Want To See My Baby
  • Titanic
  • You've Got To Be Careful
  • Looky, Looky Yonder
  • Statesboro Blues
  • Eugene C
  • Goin' To The Country
  • The Boys Was Shootin' It Out Last Night

Side 2

  • Poor Howard
  • I Don't Want To Be Terrified
  • Don't Let Your Right Hand Know What Your Left Hand Do
  • Lonesome Road
  • England Blues
  • Packin' Trunk
  • John Hardy

Baroque Ensemble of the Merseyside Kammermusikgesellschaft: Joshua Rifkin, conductor The Baroque Beatles Book

Sleeve:The Baroque Beatles Book

Elektra EKL 306 (Mono) EKS 7306 (Stereo)

Released: 1965

Production: Mark Abramson assisted by Paul Rothchild

Side 1

The Royale Beatleworks Musicke, MBE 1963

  • Ouverture: I Want To Hold Your Hand; You're Going to Lose that Girl
  • Réjoussance: I'll Cry Instead
  • La Paix: Things We Said Today
  • L'Amour s'en cachant: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
  • Les Plaisirs: Ticket To Ride

Epstein Variations, MBE 69a

  • Hold Me Tight

Side 2

'Last Night I Said', Cantata for the third Saturday after Shea Statium, MBE 58,000

  • Chorus: 'Last night I said' - Please Please Me
  • Recitative: In they came jorking
  • Aria: 'When I was younger' - Help
  • Chorale: 'You know, if you break my heart' - I'll Be Back

Tria Sonata: Das Käferlein, MBE 0004 1/4

  • Grave-Allegro-Grave: Eight Days A Week
  • Quodlibette: She Loves You; Thank You Girl; Hard Day's Night

Joshua Rifkin was later to bring Scott Joplin's rags to serious attention on the Nonesuch label, and with it's serious cover painting (by Roger Hane) this could be mistaken for a Nonsuch disc ... maybe. This disc takes Lennon/McCartney songs and takes them back 400 years or so, complete with a delightful dedication letter.

Here's one of those connections: Elektra needed permission from the Beatles to record these versions of the songs so Jac Holzman met with John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They'd heard Koerner, Ray and Glover, thought that Elektra were 'OK' and so gave permission.

From the credits it seems that folklorist Edward Tatnall Canby, who had been connected with Elektra in the early 50s, directed the chorus in the Cantata. A credit to Murray the Klavierkitzler is given on the Epstein Variations: an homage to legendary DJ and Beatles fanatic Murray the K.


Mark Spoelstra State Of Mind

Sleeve:State Of Mind

Elektra EKL 307 (Mono) EKS 7307 (Stereo)

Released: 1966

Production: Paul Rothchild and Peter Siegel

Side 1

  • Too Late
  • State Of Mind
  • Guns Of Our Cities
  • Bubble Gum Song
  • Dizzy Spell Blues
  • This Man

Side 2

  • Gimme Gimme
  • Souless Blues
  • Full Time Man
  • Sacred Life
  • Play Run Run
  • Farewell To North Avenue

Tom Rush Take A Little Walk With Me

Sleeve:Take A Little Walk With Me

Elektra EKL 308 (Mono) EKS 7308 (Stereo)

Released: March 1966

Production: Mark Abramson

  • You Can't Tell A Book By The Cover
  • Who Do You Love
  • Love's Made A Fool Of You
  • Too Much Monkey Business
  • Money Honey
  • On The Road Again
  • Joshua Gone Barbados
  • Statesboro Blues
  • Turn Your Money Green
  • Sagar Babe
  • Galveston Flood

Tom Rush finds electricity! This album is a little gem of an example of the cross-over from folk to rock ... but Tom never does manage to growl effectively. The spine doesn't bear the sleeve title: it just says 'The New Album'.


The Ian Campbell Folk Group The Rights Of Man

Sleeve:The Rights Of Man

Elektra EKL 309 (Mono) EKS 7309 (Stereo)

Released: 1966

  • Canny Miner Lad
  • Come Kiss Me Love
  • Death Come Easy
  • The Rights Of Man
  • Liverpool Lullaby
  • Four Pounds A Day
  • The Net Hauling Song
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Dirty Old Town
  • Thirty Foot Trailer
  • My Donal
  • Battle Of The Somme
  • Hard Life On The Cut
  • Across The Hills

Licensed from Transatlantic Record in the UK.


Phil Ochs Phil Ochs In Concert

Sleeve:Phil Ochs In Concert

Elektra EKL 310 (Mono) EKS 7310 (Stereo)

Released: 1966

Production: Mark Abramson and Jac Holzman

Engineering: David B Jones

Recorded: Boston and New York

Side 1

  • In Going To Say It Now
  • Bracero
  • Ringing Of Revolution
  • Is There Anybody Here?
  • Canons Of Christianity

Side 2

  • There But For Fortune
  • Cops Of The World
  • Santo Domingo
  • Changes
  • Love Me, I'm A Liberal
  • When I'm Gone

Recorded at a series of concerts in Boston and New York during the winter of 1065/6. The album sleeve famously features poems by Mao Tse-Tung (as he was then spelled) with the note: 'Is this the enemy?'

The song 'There but for Fortune', in a version by Joan Baez, became a world-wide hit.


Pat Kilroy Light Of Day

Sleeve:Light Of Day

Elektra EKL 311 (Mono) EKS 7311 (Stereo)

Released: October 1966

Production: Peter K Siegel

Side 1

  • The Magic Carpet
  • Roberta's Blues
  • Cancereal
  • A Day At The Beach
  • The Pipes Of Pan
  • Mississippi Blues

Side 2

  • Vibrations
  • Light of Day
  • The Fortune Teller
  • Canned Heat
  • The River
  • Star Dance

Harvey Brooks How To Play Electric Bass

Sleeve:How To Play Electric Bass

Elektra EKL 312 (Mono) EKS 7312 (Stereo)

Released: 1967

Production: A Wild Indigo Production, produced by Bill Szymczyk and Harvey Brooks for the Elektra Corporation

Side 1

  • Tuning: E, A, D, G

Simple bass line

  • Hang on Sloopy
  • Changes
  • You Won't See Me
  • Lately I've Been Alone
  • Danger Sign
  • In my Heart

Advanced bass line

  • Changes
  • Lately I've Been Alone
  • Hang on Sloopy

Side 2

  • Tuning: E, A, D, G

Advanced bass line

  • In my Heart
  • You Won't See Me
  • Danger Sign

No bass line

  • Hang on Sloopy
  • Changes
  • You Won't See Me
  • Lately I've Been Alone
  • Danger Sign
  • In my Heart

After tuning your instrument, you could play along with Harvey on these six tunes. The tracks were on the disc three times: with a simple bass line, an advanced bass line and finally no bass line. Instruction booklet included but bring your own bass guitar.


Sound Effects Elektra Library of Authentic Sound Effects

Sleeve:Elektra Library of Authentic Sound Effects

Elektra EKL 313/4 (Mono) EKS 7313/4 (Stereo)

Released: 1966

  • Aircraft
  • Animals
  • Marine
  • Household
  • Machines and Construction
  • Automotive
  • Sports and Amusment
  • Warfare and Firearms
  • Emergency
  • Human Sounds
  • Trains
  • Bells, Gongs, Whistles
  • Time
  • Weather
  • Musical
  • Office and Business

Boxed set of three discs. UK version included an EP of local effects. A version was released in Spain (in 1974?) titled ‘133 Autenticos Efectos De Sonido’.


The Butterfield Blues Band East-West

Sleeve:East-West

Elektra EKL 315 (Mono) EKS 7315 (Stereo)

Released: August 1966

Production: Mark Abramson and Paul Rothchild

Side 1

  • Walkin' Blues
  • Get Out of My Life, Woman
  • I Got a Mind to Give Up Living
  • All These Blues
  • Work Song

Side 2

  • Mary, Mary
  • Two Trains Running
  • Never Say No
  • East-West

Oliver Smith Oliver Smith

Sleeve:Oliver Smith

Elektra EKL 316 (Mono) EKS 7316 (Stereo)

Released: 1966

  • Manhattan Blues
  • Breeze
  • Blue Ridge Mountain Blues
  • Gambling On The Sabbath Day
  • Pickin' The Guitar
  • Little Box Of Pine On The '729
  • K C Blow
  • Six Feet Of Earth
  • Everybody Works But Father
  • Just A Closer Walk With Thee
  • Guitar Pickin' Sam
  • Twenty-One Years
  • Satisfied
  • I Only Want A Buddy

Tom Paxton Outward Bound

Sleeve:Outward Bound

Elektra EKL 317 (Mono) EKS 7317 (Stereo)

Released: 1966

Production: Paul Rothchild

  • Leaving London
  • Don't You Let Nobody Turn You
  • My Son John
  • The King Of My Backyard
  • One Time And One Time Only
  • Is This Any Way To Run An Airline
  • All The Way Home
  • I Followed Her Into The West
  • This World Goes 'Round And 'Round
  • Talking Pop Art
  • When You Get Your Ticket
  • I Believe I Do
  • Outward Bound

Tom Paxton's first, and unsuccessful, foray into folk/rock was on a single version of 'One Time and One Time Only' released in the UK (EKSN 45003). He disowns it in the sleeve notes to this album which includes a more subtle and suitable arrangement of the song.


Tim Buckley Goodbye and Hello

Sleeve:Goodbye and Hello

Elektra EKL 318 (Mono) EKS 7318 (Stereo)

Released: August 1967

Production: Jerry Yester

Engineering: Bruce Botnick

Recorded: Los Angeles

Side 1

  • No Man Can Find the War
  • Carnival Song
  • Pleasant Street
  • Hallucinations
  • I Never Asked to be Your Mountain

Side 2

  • Once I Was
  • Phantasmagoria in Two
  • Knight-Errant
  • Goodbye and Hello
  • Morning Glory

This version was the first edition and had a gate-fold sleeve with lyrics in the US. In the UK (some?) copies had a standard sleeve with the gatefold-inner material moved to the liner. I have seen two different versions of the American sleeve, with different photographs and layout inside. The LP was moved to the pop/rock 4000 series at a lower price: EKS 74028.


Dave 'Snaker' Ray Fine Soft Land

Sleeve:Fine Soft Land

Elektra EKL 319 (Mono) EKS 7319 (Stereo)

Released: 1967

  • Alabama Women
  • Young Man
  • Crying Shame
  • Got To Live
  • West Egg Rag
  • How You Want Your Rolling Done
  • Highway 51
  • Tribute
  • Baby Please Don't Go
  • Kid Man Blues
  • Death Valley Blues
  • If I Get Lucky
  • Married Woman Blues
  • Look Over Yonder's Wall
  • You Can't Go
  • Born To Surrender

Judy Collins In My Life

Sleeve:In My Life

Elektra EKL 320 (Mono) EKS 7320 (Stereo)

Released: November 1966

Production: Mark Abramson

Side 1

  • Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
  • Hard Lovin' Loser
  • Pirate Jenny
  • Suzanne
  • La Colombe

Side 2

  • Marat/Sade
  • I Think it's Going to Rain Today
  • Sunny Goodge Street
  • Liverpool Lullaby
  • Dress Rehearsal Rag
  • In My Life

Label credit for Joshua Rifkin as arranger/conductor. There's a simlar credit on the sleeve, which is larger than the production credit. Note the Leonard Cohen songs: Judy was a great champion of songwriters.

Also released with catalogue number EKS 74027. There are two sleeves featuring the same photo (taken in the garden of the Glory Hole Bar in Central City, Colorado) but in the 300-series release the photo is full-page while in the 4000-series version both this and an inset and windowed version is used.


The Watersons Frost And Fire

Sleeve:Frost And Fire

Elektra EKL 321 (Mono) EKS 7321 (Stereo)

Released: 1967

Production: Bill Leader

  • Here We Come A-Wassailing
  • The Derby Ram
  • Jolly Old Hawk
  • Pace-Egging Song
  • 7 Virgins or The Leaves Of Life
  • The Holly Bears a Berry
  • Hal-An-Tow
  • Earsdon Sword Dance
  • John Barleycorn
  • Harvest Song (We Gets Up In The Morn)
  • Souling Song
  • Christmas is Now Drawing Near at Hand
  • Herod And The Cock
  • Wassail Song

Subtitle: A Calendar of Ceremonial Folk Songs. Scratched-out matrix numbers on the disc for EKS 7318 suggest either a change of number (318 is Tim Buckley 'Goodbye and Hello') or a simple mistake in the mastering. Licensed from Topic Records, UK (12T 136). UK original has a different sleeve showing a black and white oblique overhead shot of a river. The US sleeve, showing a moody photo of the goup, could have fitted a garage band rather than a trad folk quartet, and perhaps demonstrates a willingness of Elektra's buyers to look at the back of discs in the shop racks. The Watersons (including married-in Martin Carthy) were (are?) to British folk music what the Carter Family were to country.


The Incredible String Band The Incredible String Band

Sleeve:The Incredible String Band

Elektra EKL 322 (Mono) EKS 7322 (Stereo)

Released: 1966

Production: Joe Boyd

Engineering: John Wood

Recorded: Sound Techniques Studio, London

Side 1

  • Maybe Someday
  • October Song
  • When The Music Starts To Play
  • Schaeffer's Jig
  • Womankind
  • The Tree
  • Whistle Tune
  • Dandelion Blues

Side 2

  • How Happy I Am
  • Empty Pocket Blues
  • Smoke Shovelling Song
  • Can't Keep Me Here
  • Good As Gone
  • Footsteps Of The Heron
  • Niggertown
  • Everything's Fine Right Now

The original UK issue (EUK 254) has a different sleeve to the US, although the CD reverts to the UK cover and I have seen a German pressing with this catalogue number (322) and the American sleeve. In the UK, this number was used for the album 'U' with a different prefix denoting 'double': EKD 322.


Stefan Grossman How To Play Blues Guitar

Sleeve:How To Play Blues Guitar

Elektra EKL 324 (Mono)

Released: February 1967

Engineering: Peter K Siegel

Side 1

  • Old Country Rock (SK + SG)
  • Future Blues (SK)
  • Turn Your Money Green (SK)
  • God Moves On The Water (SG)
  • Monday Morning Blues (SG)
  • M & O Blues (SK + SG)
  • Whistling Blues (SG)
  • Candy Man (SK + SG)

Side 2

  • Banty Rooster (SG)
  • Save Up Your Money (SG)
  • Canned Heat (SG + SK)
  • Vestapol (SG)
  • Brownsville Blues (SG)
  • Police Dog Blues (SG)
  • You Got the Pocketbook I Got the Key (SG)
  • Mississippi Blues (SK + SG)

A tutorial disc designed to be good to listen to as well. This was Stefan's first recorded output as a soloist - he had been a member of the Even Dozen Jug Band - and on some tracks he is helped by fellow-guitarist Sunshine Kate (SK).

In order to make it easy to drop the needle on a particular track as you learn it, the inter-track scrolls are much wider than usual. The disc came with a substantial booklet with tablature and other information. The cover art was by Moselle Thompson.


The Bauls Of Bengal The Bauls Of Bengal

Sleeve:The Bauls Of Bengal

Elektra EKL 325 (Mono) EKS 7325 (Stereo)

Released: 1967

Production: John Court

  • Ki Die Pujibo Hari Charana Tomar
  • Boley Koey Manush Key Ki Sadhu Kora Jai?
  • Manush Bhaja, Manush Puja
  • Sesher Diney Sheyjon Biney
  • Tumi Jaaliey Geley Moner Aagoon Nivey Geley Naa
  • Prem Kathati Shuntey Bhalo
  • Ebar Jeney Shune Namid Saabdhaney
  • O're Mone Jele

The word Baul means 'Afflicted with the wind disease', in other words 'mad'. The Bauls are wandering musicians who dress in both Hindu and Moslem clothes. They can also be seen on the cover of Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" album.


Theodore Bikel and The Pennywhistlers Songs Of The Earth

Sleeve:Songs Of The Earth

Elektra EKL 326 (Mono) EKS 7326 (Stereo)

Released: 1967

Production: Alex Hassilev

  • Niska Banja
  • Oi, Tumani Mayi
  • Dobryvechir Diwchyno
  • Sjaj Mesece
  • Get Up Get Out
  • Sweetest Dreams Be Thine
  • Segaba la Niña
  • Kaloda Duda
  • Tino Mori and Sva Nok Le Nado
  • Thalassa
  • Purim Suite
  • Kudryafchik Maladoi

The Pennywhistlers are Francine Brown, Shelley Cook, Joyce Gluck, Alice Kogan, Deborah Lesser, Ethel Raim and Dina Silberman.