[78-L] Robert Johnson SAN ANTONIO [1936]

[Rockined1]

anybody have any original Chuck Wagon Gang 78s to try out this theory??

Ed


 Angeles, and a number of other US cities, had 
10v/50cycle electric service, and when they changed to 60 cycle Southern Calif. 
dison offered an exchange program of electric appliances affected by the change 
- the most significant were electric clocks, because the cycle change would 
ake the earlier-manufactured ones run incredibly fast.  I don't know whether 
he cutting equipment used was DC or AC, but this might be a factor.  Or not







-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Carli <Philip_Carli at pittsford.monroe.edu>
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Mon, Dec 13, 2010 7:10 pm
Subject: Re: [78-L] Robert Johnson records claimed to be recorded 20% slow


This is waaaaay out of my league and I generally hold that the low pitch theory 
ounds crackpotty, but I'll throw one thing in, and don't kill me: what cycle 
urrent were San Antonio and Dallas on in 1937?  I mention it because of one 
ase: in the early 1930s Los Angeles, and a number of other US cities, had 
10v/50cycle electric service, and when they changed to 60 cycle Southern Calif. 
dison offered an exchange program of electric appliances affected by the change 
- the most significant were electric clocks, because the cycle change would 
ake the earlier-manufactured ones run incredibly fast.  I don't know whether 
he cutting equipment used was DC or AC, but this might be a factor.  Or not.
________________________________________
rom: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com] 
n Behalf Of Frank Scott [scottfrank at toast2.net]
ent: Monday, December 13, 2010 5:48 PM
o: '78-L Mail List'
ubject: Re: [78-L] Robert Johnson records claimed to be recorded 20% slow
The technical explanations seem very thorough and impressive particularly to
 non musician like myself but the whole theory doesn't make sense. Johnson
as recorded on five different dates with about seven months between the
irst batch of sessions and the second. Are we to believe that the recorder
as running slow at all those sessions? Or are we to suppose that they did
t deliberately to make Johnson's recordings sound more exciting?
And of course there were the people who knew Robert well like Son House,
ohnny Shines and Robert Lockwood who never claimed that the records seemed
oo fast to them.
It's an intriguing idea that has been discussed at lengths on the blues
ists and the consensus amongst most of the blues scholars on those lists,
ome of whom are accomplished musicians, is that the theory doesn't hold
ater.
Frank
> -----Original Message-----
 From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com [mailto:78-l-
 bounces at klickitat.78online.com] On Behalf Of Jeff Lichtman
 Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 2:19 PM
 To: 78-l at 78online.com
 Subject: [78-L] Robert Johnson records claimed to be recorded 20% slow

 When I found the following article several weeks ago I paid it little
 attention, as it seemed like a crackpot theory. The claim is that
 Robert Johnson's records were originally recorded three semitones
 slower than how they're typically played back (i.e. people have been
 playing them back about 19% too fast). Assuming that they're usually
 played at 78.26 RPM, that would mean the proper playback speed would
 be around 65.8 RPM. Here is the article, along with samples of the
 recordings slowed to the speed the author believes is correct:

 http://www.touched.co.uk/press/rjnote.html

 Now I see that this article has gotten attention from The Guardian:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/may/27/robert-johnson-
 blues

 and something called The Daily Swarm:

 http://www.thedailyswarm.com/headlines/everything-you-know-about-robert-
 johnson-wrong/

 I think the idea is nonsense. I can believe that the correct playback
 speed for Johnson's records is something other than 78.26, but I
 highly doubt that the difference is three semitones.

 Thoughts?


                         -        Jeff Lichtman
                                  jeff at swazoo.com
                                  Check out Swazoo Koolak's Web Jukebox at
                                  http://swazoo.com/

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