[78-L] EMI dubs

[Michael Shoshani]

On Sun, 2010-03-07 at 10:39 -0800, DAVID BURNHAM wrote:
> From: Michael Shoshani 
> 
> To my knowledge, EMI did not dub their release masters from
> first-generation recording discs, the way Columbia and eventually Victor
> did. 
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> When I was in England in 1977, I purchased a copy of "Hear My Prayer" by Ernest Lough which the dealer pointed out was in mint condition, never played.  When I got back to Canada I discovered it was just a dub of the original 78 and was full of a very unpleasant distortion.  I would have trashed it, (since on subsequent visits I found many copies of the original pressings of it - both versions), but it was autographed by George Thalben Ball, the director of the recording.
> 
> db

*That* doesn't surprise me; if I recall correctly, that record sold so
many pressings that everything wore out. I'm sure it was dubbed fairly
quickly, perhaps more than once.  But general issues wouldn't have been
subjected to that; they wouldn't have sold in such high numbers.

(Although, honestly, I don't know why EMI didn't just ask US Columbia to
grow them a replacement matrix from what they had here. ARC did press
the record over here.)