[78-L] Original Sound of the 20s~Frances Williams

[Michael Biel]

Rodger Holtin wrote:
> Yes, I didn't know about the Gershwin edit until that record showed up on one of those Rockefeller New World albums.  

Remember, this was the era when reissues were occasionally altered.  I 
think it was Brad McCuen who edited together three Bix solos on the 
Victor Bix album because Victor would not let him put three complete 
alternate takes on one LP.  And then there is the infamous edit in the 
Smithsonian issue of Gershwin playing "The Man I Love" that Martin 
Williams had Jack Towers do.  Martin did other edits in that series to 
remove someone who was not an original cast member.  I've told that 
story here before. 


> The most obvious edit is the opener to the Buddy Rogers record, "this is my first recording...,"  Why, oh why, would they do that??  (And what record did they lift it from?)
>   

I had thought it might have been from the test groovings on the outside 
edge of Columbia masters, but that question has already been answered.  
So this was NOT his first recording?? 
 
>  
> My ear says maybe they chopped of the ending of Rudy Vallee's "Outside" and Cliff Edwards' "Sunday," also.  Having not run into originals or other reissues of these titles, I have no idea.
>   

I have them and I think they are not cut.

> What else was edited?
>   
Helen Morgan's Bill.  There's also a speed glich I seem to recall.  I 
could never understand this because I know they worked off of metal 
parts.  I think someone screwed up the production cutting tape and 
didn't admit it, just altered it. 

>  
> I agree about the Willard Robison being such a fine record, and I, too, would guess that the Francis Williams is much later than the 1920's, but still an interesting item.  
>   

The album producers ran around with a very Posh society, and the 
sophistication of it fit right in with their theory of the 20s closing 
and leading into the 30s. 
>  
> One of my favorites is the twin piano version of "Kitten on the Keys."  I've never heard another version that measures up anywhere near close to that one. 
>   

Not even Confrey's own recordings?

>  Pity it's acoustical, but notice that it is one of only three acoustics on the whole album, and well worth the effort.  
>   

I think there is a comment about it in the booklet, but these were 
better years for Columbia than the early 20s had been. 
>  
> Sophie Tucker's unissued autobiographical version of "Some of These Days" is worth the price of the album.  The guy who wrote the booklet said the inclusion of Bix's "In A Mist" was worth the price of the album, and he was right, too. 
>   

But it confused me.  I had never heard of him before (but had HEARD him 
without knowing it) and I thought he was a horn player but here he was 
playing the piano.  Huh???


>  The copy they put on The Bix Beiderbecke Story Vol 3 "(Whiteman Days") was so muddy that the brighter if slightly gritty copy on C3L-35 was well worth the price.  
>   

After I fugured out he WAS a horn player, I bought all three of the 
Columbia albums and the RCA Victor one.

>  
> Still don't understand why "Home on the Range" made the list, but all in all, it was a very good example of what a great reissue could be - a true masterpiece.

Somebody there had a tiff with Annette, so there was none of her on the 
album and it took me another five years to find her. 

>   "I would have paid list for it."  ($12.00)
>  
> I bought mine at the age of 14 via mail order from Chesterfield Music, with $8.40 of lawn mowing money.

I guess I would have been 16.  I saw it listed in the Columbia Record 
Club booklet and couldn't wait so I went to Sam Goody's Paramus and 
bought it then and there. 
>   I threw away the original flyer that I ordered it from just a few years ago. 
>   

I probably have the CRC flyer if it wasn't in the box that got swamped.
>  It inspired me to drum up more clientele, and look for old Columbia records.  

I had so many of the Victor records they had reissued and would continue 
on the Vintage Series, but I had NONE of the records in this set.  Still 
only have about 7 or 8 of them.

> Looking at the discography confirmed for me the relationship I had suspected between Columbia, Harmony, Okeh, but Perfect was a surprise.  Not long after, I got my copy of the Perfect Catalog from Record Research, and that's another thread.
>   

I have it right here because I was looking up something in it about a 
record that I have Lenny Kunstadt showing Carl Kendziora at a Syndicate 
meeting I have on videotape and this clip is included in Leah's 
documentary.  A Bix record, of course.  Carl died three months later. 
> Ah, the good old days.
>
> Rodger
>
>   

Yeah, I remember when I was healthy enough to mow a lawn.  Now it would 
kill me. 

> For Best Results use Victor Needles.
>
>
>   
Not on THIS set!

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com


> --- On Fri, 1/16/09, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>
> From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Original Sound of the 20s~Frances Williams
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Date: Friday, January 16, 2009, 11:29 AM
>
> One thing that bothered me was why Columbia would do slight edits on some 
> tracks on that and on other reissues..the intro to Gershwin's "Someone
> to Watch 
> Over Me" is missing. Were they trying to trap record pirates?
>
> dl
>
> Taylor Bowie wrote:
>   
>> It was a life-changer for me.  Although I'd already started to buy
>>     
> odds and 
>   
>> ends of 78s The Original Sounds of the 20s opened up my eyes to all sorts
>>     
> of 
>   
>> stuff which seemed very exotic at the time.  At age 12 I was able to buy
>>     
> the 
>   
>> damn thing and even had enough extra dough to pick up The Bix Beiderbecke 
>> Legend for $2.79 at the same place (record department of the long-gone 
>> Frederick & Nelson department store here in Seattle).
>>
>> The one track on the whole set which bugged me the most was the unissued 
>> Willard Robison of I've Got A Feelin' I'm Falling.  Then and
>>     
> now I thought 
>   
>> it was one of the best records ever made and I was sad that I could never 
>> get a 78 of it.
>>
>> But finally I did...one of those English "test pressing"  things
>>     
> on white 
>   
>> plastic which came out in the 70s or 80s.  I forget who made them or 
>> why....but it plays beautifully.
>>
>> The other mysterious track on the set is the Frances Williams w/ piano of 
>> Sunny Disposish.  Clearly (to me) it was recorded later than the
>>     
> 20s...does 
>   
>> anyone have any details about that track?
>>
>> Taylor B
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Michael Biel" <mbiel at mbiel.com>
>> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 10:42 PM
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Original Sound of the 20s
>>
>>
>>     
>>> David Weiner wrote:
>>>       
>>>> This must be a habit in the record biz.
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> Notice that both examples are from the same company, so it might not
>>>       
> be
>   
>>> the total record biz.  There was a threat of a lawsuit when BMG tried
>>>       
> to
>   
>>> eliminate the entire Bluebird label when they were still in the middle
>>> of several "complete" series, perhaps Fats Waller and a
>>>       
> couple of
>   
>>> others.  BMG had to back down and issue THOSE albums, and THEN dump
>>> Bluebird.
>>>
>>> The Epic sets Dave mentions ARE the replacements for Orig Sound of
>>>       
> 30s.
>   
>>> Got that info straight from Larry Carr at the time.  You get six discs
>>> instead of three, plus the second 2-disc Bing set.  This was at the
>>> point when Columbia wanted to switch the reissues from Columbia to
>>> Epic.  They had done Dick Powell, Alice Faye, and Bing in Hywd on
>>> Columbia and then did the others on Epic.  It was later on that they
>>>       
> got
>   
>>> back to finishing the Bings, doing them on three separate Columbia
>>> albums.  Remember that essay on the innersleeves about Bing stiffing
>>> Brooks for an interview?  And those great label photos on the sleeves?
>>> Miles Kreuger had started preparing a complete Jolson for Columbia,
>>>       
> and
>   
>>> that finally came out (incomplete) for Arlington's Nostalgia Book
>>>       
> Club.
>   
>>> But Miles got a complete set of Jolson vinyl test pressings out of it.
>>>
>>> By the way, I have long said that The Original Sound of the Twenties
>>>       
> was
>   
>>> the album that changed my life.  It legitimized what I was interested
>>> in, especially because of the extended essay in the booklet.   All the
>>> other reissues were either big band or were out-of-print like the
>>>       
> things
>   
>>> on X and The Old Curiosity Shop.  I never saw those until later.  This
>>> was the first time it was legit for me to like non-swing or non-opera
>>> 78s.  Rich Markow also tells the same story.  Rich was working for
>>>       
> Rose
>   
>>> Records/Sounds Good Records when Orig Sound was deleted.  He called me
>>> up and asked how many sets I wanted to order.  Three.  So I have five
>>> copies including one with the original cream colored box with the
>>>       
> purple
>   
>>> printing on the spine.  I keep forgetting to bring one to Leah.
>>>
>>> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>>>       
>>>>  The Original Sound of the Twenties
>>>> booklet also promised forthcoming editions for the early Thirties,
>>>>         
> mid
>   
>>>> Thirties etc, and I'm still waiting for those, too - or
>>>>         
> they're extremely
>   
>>>> rare!
>>>>
>>>> Rodger
>>>> -----
>>>> Epic sort of picked up where "The Original Sound of the
>>>>         
> Twenties" ended,
>   
>>>> with the 2-LP set, ENCORES FROM THE 30s, 1930-35 Volume 1.  There
>>>>         
> never 
>   
>>>> was
>>>> a Volume 2, but two additional Epic 2-LP sets, "THOSE
>>>>         
> WONDERFUL GUYS/GALS 
>   
>>>> OF
>>>> STAGE, SCREEN & RADIO" rounded out the decade of the 30s.
>>>>
>>>> Dave W.
>>>>
>>>> ___________