Consolidated Productions Vol. 1
During his 40 years spent operating in the farthest margins of L.A.ās cutthroat music business, Consolidated Productions founder Mel Alexander penned a total of 73 original songs while running one of the longest running Black-owned independent record conglomerates of the 20th century. Across those same decades, heād track hundreds of tunes for his Ajax, Angel Town, Car-A-Mel, City Lights, Emanuel, JGEMS, Kris, Libra III, New Breed, Simco, Space, Tyshawn, Us, and Velvet labels.
Between stints spent naming this flurry of newly formed record companies, heād also try his hand at distribution, setting up the S&M, Soul Record, and BAB outfits at addresses dotting Pico Boulevard, along Los Angelesās Record Row. Heād log hours as an on-air personality for KORG radio, and establish a host of promotional firms with names like Retail Record Network, World Wide Enterprises, Macro Media Incorporated, Melohank and Roice Promotions, and Associated Talent Development Company. Until well into his seventies, heād still be busy tinkering with a never-realized public works project: his Watts Blues Walk of Fame.
āThe blues is about living, itās about people, itās about things,ā Mel Alexander told the Peopleās Tribune in 1991. āIf youāve never lived, youāve never had the blues.ā And Mel still had quite a bit of living to do.
āFor a long time we have been pondering over our economic dilemma,ā Alexander wrote in a letter to his many associates in 1968. āI feel togetherness is our only way out of this pitfall.ā And it would be the only way, after a fashion. Across the next decade, Mel Alexander brought on an untold number of ambitious new partners, co-founding his next label or enterprise year after year, and changing his business address just as frequently. The next big hit seemed forever just around the cornerāif only he and his Consolidated Productions cohort could turn up the right slogan, the perfect logo, the correct zip code, or that committed new colleague. All Mel asked was that you believe.
2xLP, Full Color Liner Notes.
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Description
During his 40 years spent operating in the farthest margins of L.A.ās cutthroat music business, Consolidated Productions founder Mel Alexander penned a total of 73 original songs while running one of the longest running Black-owned independent record conglomerates of the 20th century. Across those same decades, heād track hundreds of tunes for his Ajax, Angel Town, Car-A-Mel, City Lights, Emanuel, JGEMS, Kris, Libra III, New Breed, Simco, Space, Tyshawn, Us, and Velvet labels.
Between stints spent naming this flurry of newly formed record companies, heād also try his hand at distribution, setting up the S&M, Soul Record, and BAB outfits at addresses dotting Pico Boulevard, along Los Angelesās Record Row. Heād log hours as an on-air personality for KORG radio, and establish a host of promotional firms with names like Retail Record Network, World Wide Enterprises, Macro Media Incorporated, Melohank and Roice Promotions, and Associated Talent Development Company. Until well into his seventies, heād still be busy tinkering with a never-realized public works project: his Watts Blues Walk of Fame.
āThe blues is about living, itās about people, itās about things,ā Mel Alexander told the Peopleās Tribune in 1991. āIf youāve never lived, youāve never had the blues.ā And Mel still had quite a bit of living to do.
āFor a long time we have been pondering over our economic dilemma,ā Alexander wrote in a letter to his many associates in 1968. āI feel togetherness is our only way out of this pitfall.ā And it would be the only way, after a fashion. Across the next decade, Mel Alexander brought on an untold number of ambitious new partners, co-founding his next label or enterprise year after year, and changing his business address just as frequently. The next big hit seemed forever just around the cornerāif only he and his Consolidated Productions cohort could turn up the right slogan, the perfect logo, the correct zip code, or that committed new colleague. All Mel asked was that you believe.
2xLP, Full Color Liner Notes.
