[78-L] Venuti & Pals

[Michael Biel]

> It's curious that it's shown as take -1 though. Perhaps Bud was talking 
> about run-throughs for balance purposes? If take -1 meant first 
> preference, why is its companion "Rockin' Chair" issued as take -2?
> 
> Julian Vein
==================
I suppose it's possible that incomplete takes or "disasters" went 
unnumbered because the waxes were going to be recycled.

 Julian Vein

You're right.  I've never seen any numbered takes in the Victor ledgers
that are incomplete.  I wonder what the Decca ledgers say about the
Crosby recordings that he screwed up but were saved by the engineers. 
Did they have legit take letters?  

Steve Barr brought up a couple of days ago the 30s practice of only one
take in Victor and subsidiary labels pop recordings.  Has anyone come up
with that memo he mentioned?  The idea of preferred takes being numbered
-1 is something that has been thought to have been used by some
companies.  Mention sometimes is made that it is not always definate
that the takes were recorded in the order that they are numbered.  But I
think that Victor did number in the order they were recorded, but in the
early 30s decided to not process any more than the take they were sure
was the best, and didn't number any of the unprocessed takes.  Would
like to know for sure.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com



-------- Original Message --------

From: Julian Vein <julianvein at blueyonder.co.uk>

Julian Vein wrote:
> r.barnes4 at btopenworld.com wrote:
>> Re Barnacle Bill,
>> 
>> Some thirty years ago Bud Freeman and Ralph Sutton spent a week-end here in Dorset. 
>> 
>> After the concert it was time to for a few drinks, a meal and time to relax. Bud was a great raconteur and it was an opportunity to record his reminisces on tape.
>> 
>> I asked him about the 'Barnacle Bill' recording. According to Bud they arrived at the studio where Venuti (and a few others) shared some booze which Venuti was carrying.
>> 
>> Allegedly the engineer was difficult to please and there were a number of ruined takes due, it would seem, to drink driven tomfoolery. Bud says the wisecracks by Venuti were aimed at the Engineer and the final line was ‘Sh**ter”. 
>> 
>> RB
> ================