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

[Cary Ginell]

Listened to the two Chuck Wagon Gang discs in my collection and didn't notice any speed variations or that they were inordinately fast. 

Vo 03426
SA 2607 Echoes from the Hills (11/25/36) / SA 2610 I'll Be All Smiles Tonight (11/26/36)

Vo 03434  
SA 2603 Take Me Back to Renfro Valley (11/25/36) / SA 2612  Sunny South by the Sea (11/26/36)

Accompaniment for these is guitar and mandolin. The voices appear to be consistent in pitch with other recordings by the group from later sessions.

Cary Ginell



> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:01:25 -0500
> From: rockined1 at aol.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Robert Johnson SAN ANTONIO [1936]
> 
> 
> 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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