[78-L] re-issues

[David Lennick]

Michael Biel wrote:
> 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.  

Some buyers wanted it both ways..no filler and no flip. They'd write to "High 
Fidelity" and ask for a complete work on one side of a twelve-incher and a 
blank flip side instead of a symphony they already owned (this was still a 
deciding factor for a number of years).
> 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.  

Except at Victor where the first 12" pop albums contained a measly 5 tracks per 
side. I understand that because of contractual conditions, "Brigadoon" STILL 
can't be padded out as a CD.

> 
> 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.  

And the record manufacturers (ARC especially) turned out pressings that wore 
out and had to be replaced within days!


> pop records became shorter in the early rock era.  

See Stan Freberg's "The Old Payola Roll Blues".


> 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.)  

Favorite "have a crap" discs:
MacArthur Park
American Pie
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
El Paso
Piano Man
Honey (now you know!)

> But it
> was considered "intellectual" because of its length and the lyrics which
> made you think.  (Cakes melting in the rain?  Yuck.)

It's Shakespeare next to that goddam Elton John tribute to Marilyn.

dl