From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Aug 4, 2003  1:19 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Richard Weize
 
RICHARD WEIZE

Born 4 August 1945, Germany

Richard Weize is the founder of Bear Family Records, probably the
most important reissue label in the world when it comes to roots
oriented music.

Weize began collecting records in 1956, with the purchase of Bill
Haley's "Rock Around the Clock". In the fifties he sucked in every
piece of information he could find on rock 'n' roll, but from 1960 on
his interest shifted to country music. Richard even started a short-
lived magazine called "Country Collector's Information". In 1966 he
moved to England and sold his record collection. In 1968 Weize went
to the International Festival of Country Music at Wembley and got
hooked all over again. After returning to Germany in the early 1970s,
he started the Folk Variety label and started booking folk acts into
German clubs.

Bear Family Records was launched in 1975. The label's name was
inspired by an old woodcut (in a 1898 encyclopedia) of a mother bear
and her cubs that appealed to Richard so much that he named his
company after it. 

His first venture into leasing vintage masters and repackaging came
in 1978 when he licensed "The Unissued Johnny Cash". As a parallel
venture, Bear Family mail order was started. From the start, Richard 
never looked to make money from Bear Family Records. The profits 
came from the mailorder operation. The record company came simply 
from a desire to see the music packaged right. As a result of this non-
commercial orientation, Bear Family can postpone a release until Weize
is completely satisfied with the quality. Some of the box-sets have been
twenty years in the making (Ricky Nelson, in particular). 

The emphasis has always been on quality. Bear Family licenses the
masters from the copyright holders and doesn't take advantage of the
current copyright laws that enable old masters to be issued without
payment after a certain number of years. Then Weize or someone on
his staff goes to the States and copies all the masters digitally, taking
special care to locate the first generation tape. Then every effort is made
to locate unissued masters. After the audio research is completed, 
Richard assigns the project to the most knowledgeable people in the
field who conduct new research for the discographies and liner notes,
which then are double-checked for accuracy. Every effort is made to
locate rare or unpublished photos to complete the package, and again
first generation prints or original negatives are used whenever possible
for premium quality. Finally, any missing masters are dubbed from the
best available source and the compilation is mastered by engineers who
are generally acknowledged as the best in the field. That's why Bear 
Family records cost a little more, but they are always quality products.

Bear Family takes special pride in its boxed sets. Some are complete
career retrospectives, while others are complete within certain time 
periods. They are always packaged in an LP-sized box so that the text
is easily readable and the impact of the photos isn't lost. The boxed sets
are the jewels in the crown of the Bear Family catalogue.
Weize calls his work a passion, an obsession. He works 16 hours a day, 
seven days a week. Love of music is his primary motivation. He wants to 
make sure that the old music is not forgotten. The man deserves our
deep gratitude.

Some essential BF box-sets:
The Classic Jerry Lee Lewis (BCD 15420). 8 CD-set.
Fats Domino, Out of New Orleans (BCD 15541). 8 CD-set.
The Classic Carl Perkins (BCD 15494). 5 CD-set.
Johnny Cash : The Man In Black 1954-1958 (BCD 15517). 5 CD-set.
Louis Jordan, Let The Good Times Roll (BCD 15557). 9 CD's.
Duane Eddy, Twangin' From Phoenix To L.A. (BCD 15778). 5 CD's.
Ricky Nelson, The American Dream (BCD 16196). 6 CD's.

Further reading: "It's a passion!" 20 years of Bear Family Records.
Now Dig This 149 (August 1995), page 14-15.
and
http://lists.drizzle.com/pipermail/postcard2/20030315/009628.html