[78-L] re-issues

[Michael Biel]

From: DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
> Isn't it curious that in the 78 era we leaned more and more towards
> 10 inch records while in the LP era we quickly wound up with only
> 12 inch records.  db

You're comparing popular singles with albums.  Your comparison concerns
the length of the song vs. the number of songs.  Most 78 pop albums were
4-discs which translated to a 10-inch LP, and almost all pop LP albums
were 10-inch for 5 or 6 years.  Meanwhile, almost all classical 78
albums and singles were 12-inch, and most early classical LPs were
12-inch.   Many of the early 10-inch classical LPs divided a single
longer work into two sides, which proved to be a rather stupid idea IF
that work could fit on one 12-inch side.  The debate at first was would
classical buyers buy a 12-inch LP with two different uninterrupted works
on it, or rather have a 10-inch LP with just one work, but interrupted
in the middle?  The 12-inch LP with two works won out there.  This
further influenced the companies to lengthen pop LPs to 12-tracks which
made things more uniform (especially important to the people who had
changers that did not allow for intermixing sizes) and gave the pop
buyer greater value at a minimal increase in price.  They also found
that the attention span of the pop listeners would accommodate six songs
per side very easily, while there had been debate if four per side was
the limit.  In 1955 and 56 as the 12-inch pop album was becoming the
norm and 10-inch LPs were being deleted, Columbia tried one last
experiment with the House Party series of pop 10-inch LPs, and found
that buyers preferred Harmony 12-inch pop LPs at that price.

As for the length of the individual song, the cylinder companies
discovered that 2-minutes was too short but soon found that 4-minutes
was usually too long!  Most pop 4-minute cylinders were less than 4
minutes (but this was also a function of the disc length they were
dubbed from after 1914.)  Hit of the Week also discovered that 5-minutes
was too long for a pop song and soon divided their sides into two songs
or two renditions of the same song.  In the quest for juke box
compatability, jazz performers who would play longer versions live found
themselves pushed into the shorter length of the 10-inch side with
exceptions that were so notable that we have talked about them in this
thread, and Decca issued a special album of them called "Five Feet of
Swing".  

For those who wondered why the major companies did not make sides
longer, don't forget that the ARC "Longer Playing" 78s on Clarian and
Columbia were not big hits, and that the Program Transcription system
bombed.  Plus, in the 30s and 40s juke box operators did not want longer
songs for the same nickle and wanted more nickles per hour.  In the 50s
there was the added factor of radio which also wanted shorter songs --
and some stations even played them faster, as perhaps some juke boxes
did as well.  When the LP came out there was some feeling that pop and
jazz performers might take advantage of longer sides for uninterrupted
extended performances.  Some tried but radio play was a factor even
here, and many pop records became shorter in the early rock era.  Some
claim that the attention span of kids was being shortened by TV being
interrupted by ads.  To buck that trend, remember how "revolutionary"
MacArthur's Park was?!  It was the great bathroom record of the era (DJs
played it when they had to take a bathroom break -- whenever you heard
it you could imagine where the DJ was at that moment!  Yuck.)  But it
was considered "intellectual" because of its length and the lyrics which
made you think.  (Cakes melting in the rain?  Yuck.)

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com