[78-L] Milestones Among the Tombstones

[Michael Biel]

On 7/25/2011 11:25 AM, David Lewis wrote:
> Dr. B writes:
>
> 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.>>>>

> Sorry Mike, I seem to have that effect sometimes. However, it is useful to clarify what milestone I'm seeking; it doesn't matter as much to me that a given 8-track, 10" LP wasn't released in the 78 album format but that the selection was prepared specifically for release on LP, such as was the case in CL-6071 "You Thrill Me" by Doris Day. Although they issued the 78 album set also, none of the material was previously released and all of it was recorded within a few months of the release date of August 1, 1949.

Since George Avakian is claimed to have the director of Columbia's 
popular Lp series, he might be the one to ask, although I would come 
prepared with the numercial lists.  Until 1950 or 51 I don't think you 
can separate the planning of LP albums from that of 78 albums -- unless 
there is no 78 album.  If there is a 78 album, then the Lp was either an 
afterthought or was in parallel planning.  EVERY 78 album was given an 
individually illustrated cover.  EVERY ONE.  The 78 albums were still 
primary in their planning until 1950 when Columbia finally started 
putting those illustrated covers on the LPs, and then started doing 
albums with no 78 version.  This is why I find 6004 so unusual, and 
wonder if there were others.  It may have been overlooked or an 
experiment, or else it sold so poorly they ditched the 78 set!

As for the purpose of the recordings included in albums, it is 
interesting that from the beginning of popular albums almost all of them 
were comprised of sides either especially recorded for the set or they 
were being issued there for the first time.  The 1939 Radio Retailing 
article I discussed in my ARSC album cover presentation, discusses that 
dealers can be more likely to get long term sales of albums than most 
ephemeral singles -- that albums were of more permanent value.  If there 
would happen to be a breakaway hit in an album, most of the companies 
sold the records separately.  In the first couple of hundred Decca 
albums, the only sets that were comprised of previously released sides 
were the ones titled "Souvenir Album" and then some jazz historical 
reissues, the two Anthology of White/Colored Jazz and The Gems of Jazz 
series which had only previously been reissued in England.  After those, 
Decca put their major reissue albums out on Brunswick.

So generally, it seems that many performers recorded two streams of 
recordings -- those that were destined for singles and those which were 
destined for albums.  I have no idea how the decisions were made and if 
it was done before or after recording.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com




>   As Nigel Burlinson has helpfully provided the provenance of some of CL-6004 I can accept now that this isn't quite the case with "Dinah Shore Sings;" some of it was previously released, some was not and some of the tracks are of unknown origin and even one originally issued on V-Disc, a shadowy area of commercial recording for non-commercial purposes. I have a poor scan of the back cover of CL-6004 that has the edge cut off, but in part it reads, "A lo[ng] list of best-
>   selling Columbia records testifies to the wi[de] appeal of her songs, and in this collection she offers a var[ied] group of some of her favorites. Here you will find [...] sentimental ballads that she sings so lovingly, [to-]gether with her memorable version of 'Oh! Susannah' and a [...] of Cole Porter's most delightful [...] And [..] she sings the lovely 'They Didn't Believe Me' by Jerome Ke[rn], and 'The Gypsy,' one of her most outstanding [...]"
>
> I think the key word here is "collection," though CL-6004 seems to be a sort of a hybrid, made up of previously released, unissued, and perhaps some measure of specially recorded material. I don't disbelieve that Dinah herself may have been involved in the selection of the material and that these really were chosen because they were "favorites" of hers. If it did not appear in another format, perhaps that was the result of an agreement with Dinah not to make it so available, as a special enticement to those investing in the new LP format; she was their top pop artist in 1948 as all those copies of "Buttons and Bows" out there firmly attests.
>
> So the search continues... Here is an image from an ad of Dinah shilling the failed microgroove single format, which must've been very shortly before she left Columbia as in 1950 she went back to RCA Victor.
> http://www.box.net/shared/p20yd8zdqfkjt3r70mh1
>
> Uncle Dave Lewis
> uncledavelewis at hotmail.com