[78-L] Radical Recordings

[Michael Biel]

Bud Black wrote:
>> I used to have those red label KKK recordings many years ago. As I recall,
>> they were rather tame, mostly revised hymns. One side was titled (IIRC) 
>> The Bright Fiery Cross," and another was "The Mystic City."   Bud 

From: Malcolm Rockwell <malcolm at 78data.com>
> And now they're bringing $60 a pop on ePay.  I'd love to have
> one, but not at those prices!  Mal

I think that all the ones I've seen listed were musical, and I think
that one of them had a title like "Daddy Took Our Last Clean Sheet and
Joined the Klan". I don't think that this was an anti-Klan song but was
on one of their labels.  Most of them are Gennett products, which was in
Indiana which the central point of Klan activities in the early and mid
1920s -- NOT the South!!  I do have one notable anti-Klan record from a
remarkable source.  It is "The Klucker Blues" by Ed McConnell on
Columbia, recorded in Atlanta around Jan 29, 1925 and released on the
other side of "Tote Your Load" which he recorded with his wife and was
introduced by Lambdin Kay of WSB Atlanta.   

I don't have any of the Klan records, but only because I haven't
stumbled across them at an affordable price.  While I was looking thru
some records at the start of my day at the Wayne NJ Mechanical Music
show this fall, a friend of the dealer came by to show him the find he
just had -- about 8 Klan records!  (They probably weren't cheap, but . .
.)

I do have a 78 of the Horst Wessel Lied, and I have many recordings of
Soviet political songs and speeches.  I also have records by Hitler,
Spiro Agnew, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan, so I collect records from
many of my enemies.  

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com  


> 
> -------Original Message-------
> 
> From: Kristjan Saag
> 
> agp wrote:
> 
>> 78s on the KKK label .. where they speeches or good ol', er, klan
>> drinking (lynching?) songs? Don't really wanna be caught dead with
>> any of 'em in my house, but am curious.
>> Second -- radical in a different way --- I'm looking for any
>> recommended recordings on 78 of The Internationale and the Soviet
>> National Anthem. What are the definitive versions?
>> 
> --
> And what if you're caught (dead or alive) with The Definite Version of the
> Soviet National Anthem? Those guys managed to kill far more people than the
> KKK ever dreamed of.
> Luckily possession of radical recordings isn't a risk factor in my country.
> I'd go for The Definite Version of the Horst Wessel Lied as well, to
> complete the picture.
> Kristjan
> 
>