[78-L] 10" vs. 12" LPs

[Michael Biel]

 From: DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
> I always admire Michael Biel's knowledge of recording history.  I'm glad he doesn't live in my area, I'm regarded as something of a 78 Guru in my small gathering of friends and if he was my next door neighbour I'd just have to shut up.
 

You make me blush, sir.


> One interesting development was, as I've mentioned before, Columbia's habit of issueing two 10 inch Lps with the same title and cover art but one with fewer numbers than the other.  Another maybe not so strange one was releasing a 10 inch version of a 12 inch Lp with fewer numbers - once again with the same cover art.
 


VERY good point.  I had forgotten about these because I don't recall
having any, or at least any that I noticed.  Obviously many companies
did 45 albums in multi-Volumes to fill out the LP tracks.  Some were
three single EP discs, some were a two-disc pair and a third single, but
sometimes they just let a few tracks off and didn't do a three-disc set.
 Surprisingly they didn't do the trick of having EXTRA tracks on the 45
version like they later did with LPs vs. cassettes, and CDs vs LPs.  

Of course the opposite of the Columbia 12 then 10 is what many of them
did, especially Capitol, by later replacing a 10 version with a 12
having some extra tracks.  Capitol usually just changed the prefix, such
as changing H to T. They also did some two-fers, having two 10s coupled
on a 12, sometimes losing a track or two but not always.  We've been
recently warned that some of the Decca Drama 78 sets are abridged on the
12-inch paired version but are complete on the earlier 10-inch
individual discs.  No way to know until playing and timing them.  It is
fascinating to look thru some of the mid-50s Schwanns and look at
bunches of black diamonds by 10-inch LPs and some of them being replaced
with new 12-inch versions but many of them not.

The MOST HONEST was Tom Lehrer.  When he replaced the original 10-inch
album with a 12-inch version he proudly announced on all of the albums
on his label "The same record has since been reissued as a 12" LP by the
simple device of spacing the grooves farther apart."  He also stated: "A
survey has shown that many owners of Mr. Lehrer's first LP, 'Songs By
Tom Lehrer', prefer to play it at 78 rpm so that it is over with that
much sooner.  The same technique may, of course, also be used with this
record [More Of Tom Lehrer]."  Sooooooooooo, those of us who have wanted
for many years to find some 78 relevance to Lehrer for the purposes of
the 78-L can use THIS as the pretense!!!



> I don't know if it was a first but I remember first hand the "Music Treasures of the World" introductory release of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and Schubert's Unfinished.  This was hailed as a first with this much music on a disc, (Beethoven's 5th is over half an hour long).  I don't recall if any other records had this indication but I think all of the MTOTW had the words "variable pitch" at the bottom of the label.  Of course it would have been impossible to pack this much material on a disc without variable pitch.   db


 
As was mentioned in the book about Young Peoples Records/Childrens
Record Guild "Revolutionizing Children's Records" by David Bonner  
(really!  This WAS specifically mentioned!) my mother subscribed me to
Music Treasures of the World, and this record was the 10 cent initiation
record (or to use the current political misdirection word,
indoctrination record).  In case some listers are wondering about the
term "variable pitch", it does not mean that the speed or pitch of the
music is being varied, it means that the space between the grooves is
varied when the volume and bass levels change.  If the music is quiet
and less bassy they can place them closer together and then widen the
space when it gets louder or spacier.  Columbia discusses this on their
blue-print innersleeves as a warning that this might make even a new
record appear to be worn.  At the same time Columbia was promoting a
record that had a 35-minute side.  I had not realized that Beethoven's
5th was 35 minutes.   

There was a company in Revere, Mass. which mainly issued sports LPs,
Fleetwood, which used a very tight grooving to get between 45 and 60
minutes per side.  I just got their 1980 album, The World Series, FCLP
3108, which probably is at least 45 per side.  I got a Boston Pops album
or theirs a few months ago, and they promoted it as a coupling of two
full albums on one disc.

(By the way, I am not finding bargain copies on the web of Bonner's
vitally important book beyond Amazon's discount.  If you don't have it
yet, you should be on the lookout for a copy -- I'm worried it might
disappear and become VERY expensive very quickly.  Luckily Leah got me a
copy at the ARSC silent auction last year, but now I can't find her an
affordable copy.)

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com