[78-L] (no subject)

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lennick" <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> Steven C. Barr wrote:
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Stephen Davies" <SDavies at mtroyal.ca>
>> Writing in a philosophical mood, and knowing that there can be
>>> only speculation, without an absolute answer....  Recorded immortality
>>> hand in hand with mortality.
>>>        I was wondering about how TV kicked into high gear in the 1950's,
>>> and the late nights were filled with old movies, even some silents.... 
>>> How
>>> the TV audience at some point in time (1958, 1959, 1960....?) would
>>> realize that many of these early actors were now dead.  Any ghoulish
>>> feeling might be mixed with an engrossing plotline and/or a blossoming
>>> sense of camp based on the style and foibles of previous generations. 
>>> (I
>>> don't think people were mislabelling it "Nostalgia" yet.)
>>>        So was there a similar watershed moment in the history of 78's,
>>> when people realized that the majority of recorded sound belonged to
>>> deceased personalities?  Or was the 78 rpm era based always on new 
>>> songs,
>>> new styles without any retrospective similar to the TV programming and 
>>> no
>>> sentimental prickings?
>>>        There seems to be a great sense of addressing posterity in the
>>> earliest Edison recordings.  At some point, recorded sound became so
>>> common that it was just a consumeable moment rather than a historic 
>>> event.
>>> When did discs regain the status of  being a legacy?  I presume the
>>> answer depends on what genre of recording is being considered: 
>>> classical,
>>> popular, spoken word...
>>>
Okeh...a longer and more considered answer...!

First, the acoustic records of much of the twenties were basically forgotten
once electric systems revolutionized record playback! Even current
"reissue CD's" all too often cut off exactly at the "boundary" between
acoustic and electric releases...!

Second, I suspect that the fifties/sixties era had its own "nostalgia-
driven" reissues...including all the "roaring twenties"=based acts
of that period. As each generation ages, they drift into a nostalgia-
based desire to once again listen to the music of their "younger
days"....!!

In fact, there ARE (and used to be MORE!!) radio shows based
based on "hits of the "swing era"...!! I used to provide Toronto
"jock" Glen Woodcock with longish r2r tapes taken from my
78 archives...CJRT had a system, back then, where if a listener
donated $100 or more, he/she/it could choose the records to be
played on that show for an hour or so...! I have also been VERY
active recording 78's (or loaning them to) Lennick for his various
projects...!!

Now, the closest thing to "enshrining" records of vanished erae
would be the tendency of record labels to reissue "box sets"
of LP's/CD's...and I would guess the "target market" for those
are folks like us 78-L'ers...?!

And note that the "c.1925 cutoff" (recording method...?!) is
still VERY much in evidence!

Note also that the above does NOT apply to classical recordings!
In this particular case, the "musical value" of a given recording
is based on its comparative as an intepretetation of a specific
given work...! I might also that I do NOT collect classical discs,and
thus know about SFA about them or their contents; with ONE
exception...! One of my VERY favourite discs is that of
Rachmaninoff playing his own "2nd Piano Concerto"...I suspect
this is because he is interpreting his own composition...?!

...stevenc