[78-L] I am also Gull-able

[Taylor Bowie]

>
> I also look for Grey Gull label issues...and my most recent interest
> is (are) the four or six track 78's of the late forties into the fifties,
> which are AFAIK COMPLETELY unresearched at this point...?!
>
> My Asperger's Syndrome autism has left me with an overwhelming
> interest in finding/arranging/studying data...!
>
> Steven C. Barr


I don't think there is any "family" of labels from the 20s and early 30s 
that is more curious and contains more musical  "surprises" (good and bad!) 
than does good old Grey Gull and  Friends.  A lot of the little jazzy-jazz 
records seem like they were thrown together with maybe one run-through  (if 
that) but many of them are great and they can get pretty hot.

The "house band" can run the gamut as well,  from poor versions of poor and 
unknown tunes ("Broken Honeymoon"  anyone?) to some amazing,  swinging and 
high-class dance records (If I Had A Girl Like You as by the "Atlanta 
Merrymakers" comes to mind).

Also some of the oddest and most droll Arthur Fields records can be found on 
Grey Gull,  including very tongue-in-cheek versions of the old chestnuts 
like "Just Before The Battle,  Mother."  And then he'd turn around and do 
some fairly sly modern novelty tune on the same session!

When I was first collecting,  I usually tossed out those 6-track things from 
the 50s...after all,  they weren't even "old" and I was telling myself I was 
collecting "old" records.  Wish I had them all back now,  just to see who 
was on them and how they were covering the big hits of the day (better than 
did Snooky Lanson doing Heartbreak Hotel on Your Hit Parade,  I'll wager).

Here it's  2009,  Beatles 45s on Capitol are the same age as were the ODJB 
Victors when I started collecting!  It's all old now,  and all deserves some 
attention.

Taylor