An E for Elektra: she of the seven Pleiades, daughter of Oceanus, mother of the harpies. The bright and brilliant one; a muse transformed four decades ago to celebrate music, that most mind-reading of arts.
A record's label is hardly as important as the artisans who give it reasons for being; yet, with few exceptions, it helps to bridge the chasm between creative impulse and realization, offering continuity with an oversoul and family tree all its own. An emotional geography spread over time, place, and sheer chance, it stands like a great center of trade at the crossroads of inspiration and commerce, merging in a marketplace of ideas, humming and hymning life's soundtrack.
- Lenny Kaye (1990) From Elektras 40th Anniversary, four-CD Rubáiyát album.
Those two elegant paragraphs began the historical notes detailing the history of Elektra up to its 40th birthday in 1990. They were as important to the Rubáiyát package as the music.
Lenny Kaye, who wrote those words, knew well the Elektra story, having previously supervised and annotated a four volume Elektra series, The Jac Holzman Years, in which each of the musical tributaries of the companys formative beginnings were lovingly explored.
Lenny had also urged an archeological exploration of garage bands from the early 60s, which we produced together and launched as the famous Nuggets series.
In 1990, to honor Elektras legacy on its 40th anniversary, Elektra Chairman , Bob Krasnow (1982-1995) had a nifty idea. He invited his current artist roster to choose a previously released Elektra song and record a cover version, bringing to it their own unique styling and interpretation. Thus, Rubáiyát 40th (ruby is the gemstone of all things 40) was born.
The Rubáiyát 4-CD release was never intended for sale, but was gifted to numerous friends, staffers and associates of Elektra. By not creating a conventional market, Elektra had created a demand and copies of Rubáiyát were traded on an elusive grey market. The advent of the Internet brought that grey market to eBay where the Rubáiyát is traded to this day .
As part of our 60th we have included all of the Rubáiyát original tracks with their cover interpretations. You can move back and forth between the original and cover track and compare versions.
Jac Holzman, Elektra founder and Elektra60.com curator.
(In his 13 years at Elektra, Bob Krasnow shepherded the careers of many superb artists. Look for details on Bobs signings as well as others in our Elektra Chief Executives and the Artists They Signed section of our website.
