[78-L] Milestones Among the Tombstones

[David Lennick]

Re Abe Burrows..I have NEVER found that set on 78 or seen any evidence of it, 
other than one white label DJ pressing of Lopin' Along (38830). I forget what's 
on the flip.

And for some strange reason, Sparton of Canada issued 78s and lps but I have 
never ever seen a Sparton-pressed Columbia 45. Lots of Capitols, which they 
also pressed, but nary a Columbia.

dl

On 7/24/2011 12:31 AM, Michael Biel wrote:
> I was just discussing on the phone a few hours ago how all of the first
> Columbia Lps were reissues of their 78 albums, and then Uncle Dave has
> to screw things up with CL 6004 by Dinah Shore.  I'm not so sure about
> that but I would need to have the 1950 Columbia catalog to be sure.
> These annuals came out in around July and the 1949 which has the first
> Lp release does not show 78 albums that hit the stores later than their
> Lp, such as CL 6019 Christmas Songs by Sinatra which is in the 52-53
> catalog as C-167 (and B-167 on 45), and CL-6015 S'Wonderful by Buddy
> Clark and Dinah Shore which the 52-53 shows was on 78 as C-166 (no 45
> listed).  The 52-53 does not show a 78 or 45 for Dinah's CL 6004, BUT
> maybe the 1950 catalog would.   Besides having three columns for the
> numbers for the three speeds, the 52-53 catalog has another difference
> from the older ones -- it tends not to show the individual 3_000 78
> number for sides in a set, just the set number.  Asit is I am alittle
> surprised to see that apparently these three Lps appeared before their
> 78 sets did, and that maybe 6004 had no 78 set.
>
> Since I have it sitting here I looked to see what the 52-53 catalog says
> about CL-6128 Abe Burrows Sings? which has a 1950 copyright date and a
> full illustrated cover (signed Velae).  The catalog shows the Lp but no
> 78 or 45.  But that doesn't mean that it did not have them.  What we
> need is a full numerical of all of the albums.  Some of the late 78
> albums might have gone in and out of print without ever hitting an
> annual catalog.  Note that this album is lower numbered than the Walter
> Gross album Lennick mentions, and it also shows only the Lp number, but
> yet there are some albums in this series,  such  as CL-6200 by Frankie
> Laine, which was issued on 78 and 45 as C-287 and B-287..
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
>
> On 7/23/2011 10:38 PM, David Lennick wrote:
>> Bear in mind that when Columbia launched the Lp in mid 1948, the industry was
>> in the middle of an AFM ban, so it would have been impossible to issue ANY new
>> material for another six months other than spoken word (I Can Hear It Now), and
>> tape wasn't even in general use while all the early lp masters were being cut.
>> And ten inch albums still had their 78RPM equivalents issued simultaneously,
>> like "Happy Holidays" (CL 6053, and even that was recorded in 1947 but not
>> issued till 1949). I have a Walter Gross album (CL 6141) which has continuous
>> unbanded sides, so that might have been new to LP.
>>
>> One speed..is all you need!
>>
>> dl
>>
>> On 7/23/2011 8:50 PM, David Lewis wrote:
>>> I was researching some information about Doris Day's first long player "You're My Thrill," Columbia CL-6071 (1949). I noted that the material was recorded in two sessions and none of the selections were released prior to the album and its 78 rpm equivalent, C-189. The hit from this album, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," was issued on a separate single, Columbia 38698, and its corresponding microgroove version, 1-480, in February 1950. The Billboard reviewer who covered the single thought that the flip, "Imagination," was also from the album, but it isn't; it was an older, 1947 recording that had already appeared on a different single.
>>>
>>> There is a truism that Columbia did not release a coherent LP from Doris Day until 1955's "Love Me Or Leave Me," preferring to cobble them together from singles or to produce faux soundtrack albums that were movie tie-ins. There is some truth to this, but "You're My Thrill" is genuinely an album, albeit a 10" one. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that Mitch Miller did not appreciate the value of albums in the pop market generally when it came to the singers that worked for him.
>>>
>>> This got me to thinking; CL-6071 is still very early in Columbia's Pop LP program, and I was wondering what would be the earliest pop LP from Columbia that was specifically recorded as an LP and not compiled from singles or a direct reissue of a previously released 78 album. I was not prepared for the apparent answer to arrive quite so quickly. "Dinah Shore Sings," CL 6004, does not have a 78 album equivalent, and it's eight selections do not figure in the Columbia singles catalog AT ALL. This is really curious; Columbia needed to re-purpose these things. No DJs were playing LPs in 1948, nor could you program one on a jukebox. Even "You're My Thrill" was released as a boxed set of 45s once Columbia realized the Microgroove single was a bust, and it was later refashioned into "Day Dreams," a 12-inch LP with four extra tracks in 1955.
>>>
>>> But not "Dinah Shore Sings;" as far as I can tell, it seems not to have been re-released at all. Prove me wrong -- the tracks are listed after my sig. The album has four orchestra leaders listed, but I can't tell which ones belong to which track. Also, "The Gypsy" appears listed as one of Dinah's Columbia hits in this 1948 ad:
>>>
>>> http://www.box.net/shared/olz9x053hhx93ujhxbqd
>>>
>>> Uncle Dave Lewis
>>> uncledavelewis at hotmail.com
>>>
>>> A Cottage For Sale
>>> Once In A While
>>> Oh, Susanna!
>>> It's De-Lovely
>>> I'm Yours
>>> It All Depends On You
>>> They Didn't Believe Me
>>> The Gypsy