[78-L] How well did they do it

[Doug Pomeroy]

>
Just my 2¢, see below:

> Message: 17
> Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:07:17 -0500
> From: "Bill McClung" <bmcclung at ix.netcom.com>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] How well did they do it.
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Message-ID: <380-22009432923717421 at ix.netcom.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> A question I have pondered for awhile is, "Why don't I have an  
> 'ear' for
> many 78s recorded before 19XX?"  I love my postwar 78s and many  
> "modern"
> sounding prewar 78s but oftentimes when my fellow 78Lers are  
> debating the
> relative glories of Vaughn de Leath or What is Sweet I am lost  
> because the
> music being debated doesn't excite me and I haven't explored it.
>
> This is in no way a value judgement or a question of what is "good" or
> "valuable".   I'm not really asking about genres.  I'm asking about  
> sound.
> And the components of one's personal "ear".

I'd say sound quality is extremely important.  And, I believe there are
absolute values which can be invoked in any discussion of recording  
quality,
based on the laws of physics, among other things.

An example would be remarkable dynamic "capture" of the electrically
recorded 78s (cut into warm wax with Western Electric equipment), which
all the later, slower cutting speeds could (can) never equal.
>
> Is it pre-electric guitar versus post-electric guitar?  Is it sweet  
> band
> versus swing versus bebop?   Again, not genres but sound.
>
> Is it what one heard growing up?  Is it the music a person first  
> claimed as
> one's own?  Is it historical as in the knowledge that one's  
> favorite band
> leader was once a sideman in an earlier band or that someone was a  
> mentor
> or influence?  Is it because you are a musician?

Certainly, the music which first "turned one on" remains,  
understandably,
of  special importance for the rest of one's life.
>
> I love Emmitt Miller and Annie Ross, Gid Tanner and Merle Travis,  
> early
> Louis and late Louis. Harlem Hamfats and the Treniers.  Blind Blake  
> and
> Mickey Baker. Some Ethel Waters and most Muddy Waters.

Me too.
>
> But there is a huge range of music that just hasn't touched me  
> yet.  I can
> approach it academically but not emotionally.  My "ear" just doesn't
> respond.

Maybe it's not your fault.  There is a difference between good and  
bad music,
as Ellington and others have observed.
>
> Has the march of time changed what you like or what excites you  
> musically?
> Is there a time or a sound that just doesn't work for you?  How  
> many eras
> are there in 78s history and which ones have you embraced?

Personally, I have a problem with all acoustic recordings, even tho I  
can
appreciate Oliver's Snake Rag on a purely musical level.
>
> I'll hang up and listen.
>

Likewise.

Doug Pomeroy
>>>
>>> <SNIP>