[78-L] Decca Songs of Our Times Series

[David Lennick]

No, they were issued well after the 1942-44 ban but recorded before it 
(mostly). There was a shellac shortage and Decca kept a lot of stuff back..some 
spoken material was never issued on 78, some was never issued at all, a lot of 
the Jascha Heifetz recordings they were supposedly delighted to get never 
appeared except on lp.

24000-24099 cover albums A-1917 through A-1941, at which point Decca 24100 
continues the Personality series. There are no copyright dates on any of the 
albums as far as I know, so dating them is a job for someone willing to search 
through the Billboard archives. Oh all right, here it is.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=iPUDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=%22songs+of+our+times%22+%22billboard%22&source=bl&ots=UdP8pCNx92&sig=jTn6SQQi2KE9_zH5j9qJfXzUrFk&hl=en&ei=4Q9XTsOaJqrv0gGw7OyhDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22songs%20of%20our%20times%22%20%22billboard%22&f=false
The 1948 catalog lists only albums 1923 through 1936 (cutoff date for this 
catalog is January 1/48) and based on the appearance of the discs and the 
albums, I'd say the remainder were issued during 1948 or 1949..note that the 
Billboard ad confirms only 1923-36 being available as of June 5/48.

dl

On 8/25/2011 5:05 PM, jim brannen wrote:
> These records were released during the recording ban sometime after Aug.1942 on the first 24000 series Decca 24000-24099. You can find a complete listing with recording dates and artist on the 78 on-line discography. http://www.78discography.com/Dec24000.htm They were issued in albums of the individual years. Decca started using the 24000 series again in 1947 @ 24100 for thier Personality series after 23999.
>
>
> From: Han Enderman<jcenderman at solcon.nl>
> To: 78-L<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 3:02 PM
> Subject: [78-L]  Decca Songs of Our Times Series
>
> These were medleys. I have some images in range 1926-1940.
> Album nrs are year with A-prefix.
> What is the full range of the series? When issued?
> 1929&  1936 are "Two Piano Medleys" with Arthur Schutt.
> Inside covers present a history of the year.
>
> han enderman
> ===
>>>> I came across a sleeve that advertised this series. I'm not familiar
> with the  contents. I've seen the albums on offer but never paid
> attention. What caught me was it says '20 to 29 great hit tunes of
> that year' and 'each album complete on 4 ten inch records'. I'm
> assuming that these were medleys - a Stars on 78 as a precursor to
> Jaap Eggermont's Stars on 45 in the 70s. Is that correct -- and are
> they any good
>
> T
> <<<