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Asylum Records

ASYLUM RECORDS

 
Asylum Records  is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency.  Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan for two albums.  It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylum Records.  After various incarnations, today it is geared primarily towards hip-hop, along with rock and alternative metal.  It is owned by Warner Music Group, and is currently distributed through Atlantic Records.   (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Two of his songs (Ron Franklin writes all of his own material) basically quote Bob Dylan.  The other is “We Ain’t Got No Home”, which has a title and some lyrics that are virtually the same as Woody Guthrie’s “I Ain’t Got No Home”.  In the very beginning, Dylan was described as being just one among a host of Guthrie wannabes; but “I Ain’t Got No Home” is one of the very few Guthrie songs that Dylan recorded, even before he did much songwriting – I speak as someone owning dozens of Dylan bootleg albums as well as virtually all of his Columbia and Asylum releases. 
 
(January 2012)
 
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When David Geffen’s Asylum Records purchased his recording contract for $1,000,000 from Fantasy Records (later joined by Warner Bros. Records) – though those rights applied only for North America; Fogerty’s worldwide rights remained with Fantasy – John Fogerty finally was able to re-establish himself as a major rock artist with his 1985 hit album Centerfield.  The title track, “Centerfield” quickly became one of the best-loved baseball songs in the country.  Fogerty couldn’t resist tweaking his old nemesis Saul Zaentz at Fantasy with two other tracks, “Mr. Greed” and “Zanz Kant Danz” (about a pig who can’t dance but would “steal your money”); after a while, he was forced to change the name of the latter song to “Vanz Kant Danz”. 
 
(January 2013)
 
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There is a Bob Dylan album that scores even lower in Allmusic, and here I need to put on my “Under Appreciated” hat – the 1973 release Dylan yields just *.  As I recall, it was also the last release on Columbia Records before Bob Dylan jumped ship to Asylum Records; and record companies are often spiteful in such cases, untold millions of dollars of earnings for the corporation notwithstanding. 

 

(August 2014)