[78-L] The 5 most influential 78s ever

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "simmonssomer" <simmonssomer at comcast.net>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <soundthink at aol.com>
>>I think "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley had ten times the influence
>>any Elvis Sun record had.
>> I would also vote for "My Blue Heaven" by Gene Austin, for triggering
>> generations of crooners, and "Blue Yodel" by Jimmie Rodgers, for
>> triggering the entire country music industry.
>>
>> Cary Ginell
>
> But for the fact that ,unlike Austin, the popular crooners following in 
> his
> footsteps do not sound as if they'd been altered.
> Even Rudy Vallee  put some lowered register sturdiness into his voice
> thereby changing his tessitura toward a more masculine sound. And 
> certainly,
> Crosby didn't owe Austin a thing. (Nor did Durante (-:)
> Nope, I think Austin signaled the end of an era, not the start of one.
> And so we say a sad farewell to Austin (whom I cannot listen to) and to
> Smith Ballew(whom I can)  and who, at least, actualy rode into the sunset.
>
I also suspect it was the introduction of electrical recording in 1925-26 
that
resulted in all the "crooners"...who could finally be clearly heard on 
record...
and in turn rendered suddenly obsolete the old "leather-lunged" style of
vocals on record...?!

Even Rudy was electrically recorded on most (if not all?) of his usually-
acoustic Harmony sides...!

...stevenc