[78-L] Fun while mastering

[David Lennick]

I was going to say Berliner, since he was still running the Compo Company then. 
As for Rex Battle making records for Compo, don't forget that his name was used 
on a lot of dance band sides (from the US) that weren't by his orchestra at 
all, although he did record some piano solos for them. Obviously this was 
dubbed from 33s as noted.

Odd coincidence here..I've been transferring some Erno Rapee performances as 
well, on steel-based Recordio discs. Would you believe Mahler's 3rd and 8th 
Symphonies, played by the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra? Would you believe 
they're atrocious? Would you believe that was still the only Mahler you might 
get on US radio in 1942, chopped up as it was? (One of the symphonies is even 
more chopped than it should be, since 7 of the 15 sides have peeled very badly.)

Skips transferred to issued recordings:

WHO'S ON FIRST, on one of Boris Rose's LPs..a definite skip in it. I found the 
complete performance on a Nostalgia Lane LP (it's from a tv soundtrack).

An MCA LP of Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb definitely has a skip in the 78 
(can't remember what it is).

A Bob Thiele reissue, maybe on Flying Dutchman, of Coleman Hawkins 78s. Again, 
a skip in the original.

dl

Michael Biel wrote:
> Herbert is probably Herbert Berliner.
> 
> It obviously was dubbed from a 33 safety or from a broadcast or concert
> recording.  What is the matrix number including any take designation? 
> The Compo ledgers are in the Canadian National Library and might answer
> what the source was or at least who provided it.  I do know that the
> ledgers showed no technical info about the source of the Woodrow Wilson
> Armistace Day broadcast of 1923 transferred in 1940.  
> 
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com 
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [78-L] Fun while mastering
> From: DAVID BURNHAM <burnhamd at rogers.com>
> Date: Thu, January 28, 2010 9:18 pm
> To: 78-L at 78online.com
> 
> I'm just in the process of copying a fairly rare set of records over to
> CD.  I came across a point where the record skipped, repeating a
> revolution a couple of times.  I took it off and cleaned it as well as I
> could, didn't help.  I tried every different size stylus, adjusted the
> anti-skate, adjusted the weight, blew on the side of the arm, nothing
> worked.  Then I noticed two curiosities: first, that it always skipped
> twice and then carried on and second, (this is where I slap the side of
> my head and say "duh"), that it was skipping at a rate corresponding to
> a 33 1/3, even though it was a 78!  Actually it was skipping at a rate
> considerably faster than an LP but certainly not a 78.  That's when I
> checked the pitch and found out that the work was not in the proper key,
> (knowing from my vast store of knowledge that Grieg never wrote a
> Concerto in B minor.  When I corrected the pitch, (sorry Michael), the
> period of record skip was exactly that of
>  an LP.  So this record was "issued", (I don't think it actually ever
> was), with the skips included.
> 
> For anyone who's not bored yet and is still reading this posting there
> is an interesting story attached to this recording, (which, by the way,
> is Grieg's Concerto in A minor performed by Rex Battle with Erno Rapee
> conducting the Toronto Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, recorded
> September 30th, 1943).  The opening piano entry and several other points
> of the recording are full of almost comical mistakes.  I was once
> describing this recording to a local violinist, Eugene Kash, who
> exclaimed that he was the concert master at this performance.  When it
> came to the end of the concert, it was his duty to congratulate the
> soloist on the performance but knew it was pretty bad.  He walked up to
> RB and said "Well, Mr. Battle, that was...." and Rex Battle cut him off
> saying, "Don't say a word.  I learned something tonight - I discovered
> that you can't play the piano wearing French cuffs."  Apparently these
> were a fairly new invention in 1943 and every so
>  often, the cufflinks would get attached to each other and he couldn't
> separate them.
> 
> Another couple of anomolies about these records - it's a three record
> set but every record is numbered 10300.  Also there is no company's name
> on the label.  They were "Processed and pressed by Compo Co. limited,
> Lachine, Que" but that's all it says.  I know Rex Battle made other
> recordings on the Apex label and these labels look like Apex labels ,
> (Canadian Decca blue), but without the name.
> 
> There's also an interesting, barely readable, note written on the 6th
> side label in ink the same colour as the label:
> 
> "To Herbert - a guy that knows something about music..  With my very
> best to you.  Rex Battle 1943"
> 
> There's also writing on side 1 in the same ink which just says "Herbert
> (something)".  It's very unclear - looks like he was writing it while
> the record was playing.
> 
> db
>