podcast – Centuries of Sound

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full nearly four-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.

Here’s what stuck me as I put this mix together: In late 1944 the disconnect between music and everything happening in the world is, from different perspectives, both narrower and wider than it has been before. Narrower because the wartime spirit is no longer enough of a novelty to even be notable – almost nobody is writing music about the war, it has just become a background presence in the way any change in culture does. American troops are in Europe now, and that’s already just a fact of life. Wider because, in the earlier days of the war, there was a real, visceral sense of the horrors of the conflict, of an existential threat. This dread hasn’t just faded into the background as the allies start to look like victory is inevitable, the dread is missing entirely. They know they can’t celebrate just yet, but they are keen to start.

In terms of music, we are jammed in the middle of two eras. The big bands are clearly on their way out, broken by the war, the strike, the inability to tour due to fuel rationing – but also because there are much more interesting sounds out there. The individual musicians in these bands have mostly moved on too, to rhythm & blues, to be bop, or to both. Still at this point they probably have a day job playing big band music, but it’s already a heritage industry.

The birth of be bop has been underway for a little while already, we can make a case for it existing as early as 1941, but it’s only really now that we can feel it emerging into the record. Next year it will fully emerge, to the extent of being recorded in studios, so best leave it until then.

Rhythm & blues is at full levels of excitement this year – unsurprisingly it sounds like people wanted to have a party. Louis Jordan in particular is producing so many absolute classics that it’s a wonder he doesn’t get more credit for anything more than being a progenitor of rock & roll – a genre only subtley different to Jordan’s “jump blues” but one which he nonetheless had no time for. Just imagine dancing at a live performance by Jodan, Lucky Millinder or Cootie Williams, really who needs rock & roll to happen?

One other aspect I’ve noticed here is the groove – whether it’s Arsenio Rodríguez, J.J. Johnson, Boyd Raeburn, Lester Young or Orquesta Casino De La Playa, there is more music than ever before spreading out and allowing itself to build up slowly. We are still a good few years away from the introduction of the LP, so expect only more of this to come.

Finally, let’s not forget that we are still in the early days of the Allied invasion of Europe, and consequently there are many journalists on the continent producing a vast amount of interesting content. I’ve included plenty of this, while trying not to let it interfere too much with the music. If the news footage isn’t much to your taste, please be assured that there will be much less in the post-war year mixes. If that’s what you’re mainly here for then, well, you’re in for a treat today.

Introduction

0:00:00 Victor Young – Excerpt from Ministry of Fear
(Clip from A Canterbury Tale)
(Clip from Tokyo Rose broadcast)
0:00:30 MGM Studio Orchestra – The Most Horrible One
(Clip from WOR Year In Review)
(Clip from Abbott & Costello Show – Special Guest Alan Ladd)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
0:01:14 Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five – Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
0:05:11 Boyd Raeburn – Little Boyd Blue (Blows His Top)
(Clip from “Cross Country Reaction to D-Day”)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:07:55 Artists Unknown – Jitterbug Instructional Film
(Clip from CBC Radio Canada)

July

(Clip of CAN – Herbert on the bombing of Caen)
0:15:22 Dinah Washington – Homeward Bound
(Clips from BBC – Frank Gillard & Chester reports from near Caen)
0:19:24 Wally Bastiansz – Suranganaviye
(Clip from MBS – Frank Singiser and The News)
(Clip from Mutual War News)
0:23:01 J.J. Johnson, Illinois Jacquet, Jack Mcvea, Nat King Cole, Les Paul, Johnny Miller, Lee Young – Blues
(Clip from Abbott & Costello Show – Special Guest Harold Peary)
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:30:12 Stan Kenton & His Orchestra – Artistry In Rhythm
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:35:41 Phil Harris – That’s What I Like About The South
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:39:59 Arsenio Rodríguez & Su Conjunto – Yo ‘Ta Namora
(Clips from NBC at Democratic National Convention)
0:44:05 Woody Guthrie – This Land Is Your Land
(Clip from Fibber McGee & Molly – D-Day Broadcast)
0:46:26 Tino Rossi – Mon Ile d’ Amour
(Clip from RL Radio Paris – Attentat Contre Hitler)
(Clip from RRG Adolf Hitler – On July 20th Assassination Attempt)
0:49:10 Sergei Provokiev – Except from Ivan The Terrible, Part I

August

(Clips from CBS World News Today)
0:52:03 Duke Ellington – Transblucency (A Blue Fog That You Can Almost See Through)
(Clips from Memphis Belle)
0:58:18 Mary Lou Williams – St. Louis Blues
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from MBS News – 1944 in Review)
(Clip from Judge Roland Freisler Shouts At Coup Defendant Ervin von Witzleben)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from RRG Heinrich Himmler – Vor Offizieren Von Volksgrenadier)
1:02:06 Lead Belly – Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
(Clips from NHK The Zero Hour Hosted By Orphan Anne Iva Toguri)
(clip from Ministry of Fear)
(Clip of Tokyo Rose)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
1:05:05 Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra & Wynonie Harris – Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well?
(Clip from BBC Ed Murrow Counts Parachutes in Holland)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
1:09:35 Cecil Gant – I Wonder (Alternate Take 4)
(Clips from BBC Richard Wessel On The Liberation Of Paris)
(Clip from CAN The Liberation Of Paris)
(Clip from RL Radio Paris – Le G)
1:14:13 Coleman Hawkins – Woody’n You
(Clips from BBC Robert Reid On DeGaulle Assassination Attempt)
(Clip from CBC Matthew Halton The Liberation Of Paris)
1:19:03 Tampa Red – Lula Mae
(Clips from CBC Matthew Halton The Liberation Of Paris)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
1:23:09 Charles Wolcott And His Orchestra (Nestor Amaral, Vocal) – Os Quindins De Yayá

September

(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from BBC Chester Wilmot On Road Outside Brussels)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
1:27:36 Bing Crosby – Swinging On A Star
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
1:30:33 Nat ‘King’ Cole – Straighten Up & Fly Right
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
1:33:30 Walter Houston – September Song
(Clip from I’ll Be Seeing You)
(Clip from CBC Kate Aitken – Homefront Fashion Tips)
1:36:47 Mary Lou And Her Chosen Five – Yesterday’s Kisses
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clips from Private SNAFU in Censored)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from NHK The Zero Hour Hosted By Orphan Anne Iva Toguri)
1:40:51 Artie Shaw & His Orchestra – Summit Ridge Drive
(Clip from BBC Montgomery Addresses His Troops)
(Clip from BBC John Snagge Invasion of Holland)
(Clip from CBS Edward Murrow Counts Parachutes In Holland)
1:45:09 Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five – G.I. Jive
(Clips from BBC Stanley Maxted Cut Off With Airborn)
(Clip from CAN Stanley Maxted Reports As Supplies Drop Over Hartenstein)
(Clip from BBC Robert Robbertson Reports On Arnhem)
1:50:49 Spike Jones – Cocktails For Two
(Clips from FDR Teamsters Union Address)
1:54:28 Julia Lee – Come On Over To My House
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
1:58:45 Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – A Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from BBC Montgomery Addresses His Troops)

October

2:02:35 Rev Utah Smith – God’s Mighty Hand
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
2:07:02 Duke Elligton and his Orchestra – I’m Beginning to See the Light
(Clip from Inner Sanctum – Death Is A Joker)
(Clip from Murder, My Sweet)
(Clip from Laura)
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
2:10:09 Harry James and His Orchestra – I’m Beginning to See the Light
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
(Clip from Gaslight)
2:13:00 Josh White – John Henry
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from MBS News – 1944 in Review)
2:17:26 Ernest Tubb – Tomorrow Never Comes
(Clip from MBS News – 1944 in Review)
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
2:21:26 Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra – East of the Sun
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
2:24:15 Edmond Hall – Tishomingo Blues
(Clip from To Have and To Have Not)
(Clip from Hail The Conquering Hero)
2:28:59 Carmen Miranda – I Like To Be Loved By You

November

(Clip from BBC Winston Churchill – The Fruits Of 1944)
(Clip from BBC Audrey Russell Interviews Bomb Victim)
2:33:11 Ink Spots with Ella Fitzgerald – Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall
2:36:20 Judy Garland & Chorus – You Gotta Get Out and Vote
(Clips from CBS Democratic National Committee Program)
(Clip from MBS News – 1944 in Review)
(Clips from NBC FDR Returns To Washington)
2:44:11 Meade Lux Lewis – Chicago Flyer
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from NBC FDR Returns To Washington)
2:48:20 Andrews Sisters – Rum And Coca Cola
(Clips from It’s That Man Again)
2:51:44 Zohrabai Ambalewali And Chorus – Rum Jhum Barse Baadarwa
(Clips from AFRS Thanksgiving Show – Lionel Barrymore – Dinah Shore)
(Clips from BBC Winston Churchill – Americas Thanksgiving Day)
2:57:35 Sons Of The Pioneers – What Are We Gonna Do Then?
(Clips from CBS World News Today)
3:00:55 Wee Bea Booze – So Good

December

(Clips from CBS World News Today)
(Clip from A Canterbury Tale)
3:05:20 Kansas City Five – Lester Leaps Again
(Clips from Life Of Riley – The Christmas Present)
3:08:03 Cootie Williams – Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
(Clip from Columbia Workshop Theatre – Orson Welles – The Plot To Overthrow Christmas)
(Clip from EIAR Benito Mussolini – Discorso)
(Clip from Jitterbug Instructional Film)
3:12:35 Mary Lou Williams And Her Orchestra – Man O’ Mine
(Clip from BBC Robert Barr Ardennes Withdrawal)
(Clips from Columbia Workshop Theatre – Orson Welles – The Plot To Overthrow Christmas)
3:17:45 Judy Garland – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
(Clip from Fibber McGee and Molly – Early Christmas Gifts)
(Clip from Duffy’s Tavern – Christmas Program With Monty Woolley)
(Clip from Fibber McGee and Molly – Early Christmas Gifts)
3:20:14 Orquesta Casino De La Playa – Parampampín
(Clip from Jimmy Durante – Christmas Show)
(Clip from Amos And Andy – Christmas Show With Andy As Santa)
(Clip from GI Journal – Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour)
(Clips from Jimmy Durante – Christmas Show)
3:25:41 Glenn Miller – Song Of The Volga Boatmen
(Clip from NBC News From Around The World)
(Clips from Amos And Andy – Christmas Show With Andy As Santa)
3:28:43 Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter & his Orchestra – I’ll Be Seeing You
(Clips from Life of Riley – Roswell’s a Guest for Christmas)
(Clip from Vick’s Matinee Theatre – A Stable in Bethlehem Pennsylvania)
(Clip from BBC Lord Mountbatten – We Are Not The Forgotton Front)
3:34:30 Frank Sinatra – Saturday Night (Is The Loneliest Night In The Week)
(Clip from Amos And Andy – Christmas Show With Andy As Santa)
(Clip from New World a Comin’ – Christmas Program)
3:39:16 Billie Holiday – Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
3:43:10 Ángel D’Agostino – Ángel Vargas – Palais De Glace
(Clip from RRG Adolf Hitler – Silvesteransprache)
(Clip from A Guy Named Joe)
(Clip from GI Journal – Kay Kyser, Connie Haines)
3:45:20 The Nat ‘King’ Cole Trio – Embraceable You
(Clip from Amos And Andy – Christmas Show With Andy As Santa)
(Clip from MBS News – 1944 in Review)
(Clip from O.T.R – Tokyo Rose)
(Clip from Double Indemnity)

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Another adventure back into the early days of recorded sound with James Errington, this time joined by Cambridge 105 Radio’s Maciek Pawlikowski to listen to some of the sounds of 1913, the year of the short-lived hot dance ragtime craze, led by the first all-black orchestra and the couple who brought the foxtrot to prominence.

Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month (and yearly payment is also now available) please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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The D-Day landings of the 6th of June 1944 are much too big a story to be covered in the middle of a mix. New recording technology, a wider variety of coverage, and the hoarding and preservation instincts of generations of historians, amateur and professional, have resulted in an unprecedented amount of material being available, around sixty hours all together. From this I’ve edited for you a tight 82 minute sound collage, taking you from pre-D-Day messages, through the landings, the first reports and dispatches from the field, to the reactions and repercussions the following few days.

Here’s what you can hear.

0:00:00 1944-06-06 0330 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:00:15 1944-06-06 0332 NBC D-Day Broadcast

The Buildup

0:00:33 1944-06-05 BBC European Service With Resistance Messages
0:01:37 1944-06-04 Frank Gillard – Build for D-Day
0:02:20 1944-06-05 FDR Fireside Chat
0:02:33 1944-06-05 Eisenhower’s Pre D-Day Announcement to Troops
0:04:13 1944-06-05 BBC Field Marshall Montgomery Address On Eve Of D-Day

The Journey

0:05:08 1944-06-03 BBC Robin Duff On Sealed Ship
0:05:50 1944-06-06 BBC Robin Duff Mid Channel To Normandy
0:06:16 1944-06-08 BBC Allied Troops Prayer Before Invasion
0:06:45 1944-06-08 CAN Travelling With D-Day Convoy
0:07:10 1944-06-06 D-Day Ship Attack

The Assault Begins

0:09:21 1944-06-06 BBC Colin Wills Lands With Infantry
0:09:57 1944-06-08 BBC Robin Duff Five Minutes Before H-Hour
0:10:20 1944-06-08 BBC Robin Duff At Signal For Landing
0:10:45 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review
0:11:22 1944-06-08 BBC British Tank Crew Describes Beach Landing
0:11:48 1944-06-08 BBC UK Soldier Landing Near Coastal Mines
0:12:10 1944-06-08 CAN Recounting The Landing
0:12:41 1944-06-08 CAN The Scene On The Beach (3 Clips)
0:13:32 1944-06-08 CAN US Soldier On The Beach (2 Clips)
0:13:58 1944-06-08 CAN A Handful Of French Sand

The First Reports

0:14:45 1944-06-06 0330 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:14:49 1944-06-06 0300 CBS News Unconfirmed Reports Of Invasion (3 Clips)
0:16:27 1944-06-06 0332 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:16:45 1944-06-06 0330 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)

The Paratroopers Land

0:17:26 1944-06-06 BBC Chester Wilmot In Glider
0:18:11 1944-06-06 BBC Chester Wilmot Sees Gliders
0:18:36 1944-06-06 CAN Glider Formations Flying Over The Beaches
0:19:45 1944-06-06 BBC Chester Wilmot Reports From Inside British Glider
0:20:09 1944-06-06 BBC Guy Byam Parachutes Into France
0:20:43 1944-06-06 BBC Alan Melville Sees Paratroops
0:21:03 1944-06-08 BBC The 13th Man To Land In France
0:21:15 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review

The Announcement

0:22:29 1944-06-06 D-Day Announcement – BBC Newsflash
0:23:28 1944-06-06 0332 NBC D-Day Broadcast (3 Clips)
0:25:31 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review
0:26:59 1944-06-06 0332 NBC D-Day Broadcast

4am to 5am EST

0:27:23 1944-06-06 0415 CBS D-Day Broadcast (4 Clips)
0:28:51 1944-06-06 0400 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:28:58 1944-06-06 0415 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:29:45 1944-06-06 0415 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:30:00 1944-06-06 D-Day Message To Free French Troops

5am to 9am EST

0:30:19 1944-06-06 BBC John Snagge D-Day Has Come
0:30:56 1944-06-06 0500 CBS D-Day Broadcast (11 Clips)
0:34:12 1944-06-06 0540 CBS D-Day Broadcast (4 Clips)
0:36:45 1944-06-06 BBC Eisenhower to Western Europe
0:37:14 1944-06-06 0540 CBS D-Day Broadcast

9am to 12pm EST

0:38:00 1944-06-06 0900 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:39:10 1944-06-06 0930 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:39:42 1944-06-06 0900 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:40:20 1944-06-06 0927 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:40:34 1944-06-06 0930 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:41:00 1944-06-06 0900 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:41:33 1944-06-06 0930 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:42:16 1944-06-06 0927 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:43:13 1944-06-08 CAN Reports From The Beachhead
0:43:31 1944-06-06 0927 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
0:44:10 1944-06-06 US D-Day Bulletin On Landing Success
0:44:23 1944-06-06 1015 CBS Light Of The World

12pm to 4:30pm EST

0:45:33 1944-06-06 Eisenhower’s D-Day Broadcast to Western Europe
0:46:16 1944-06-06 1200 CBS Kate Smith Speaks – Prayer For Our Troops
0:46:33 1944-06-06 Crisco News D-Day
0:47:42 1944-06-06 1300 NBC News Reports From London
0:48:01 1944-06-06 1245 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
0:48:36 1944-06-06 1300 NBC News Reports From London

4:30pm to 8pm EST

0:50:04 1944-06-06 1630
0:51:05 1944-06-06 1915 CBS Passing Parade
0:51:35 1944-06-06 1630
0:52:44 1944-06-06 1830 NBCR Fibber McGee and Molly D-Day Broadcast
0:52:57 1944-06-06 1630 NBC D-Day Broadcast
0:53:49 1944-06-06 1830 NBC News Lowell Thomas Reporting
0:54:40 1944-06-06 1800 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:55:04 1944-06-06 1915 CBS Passing Parade
0:55:34 1944-06-06 1800 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:56:42 1944-06-06 Cross Country Reaction to D-Day
0:56:58 1944-06-06 1830 NBCR Fibber McGee and Molly D-Day Broadcast
0:57:49 1944-06-06 1915 CBS Passing Parade
0:57:57 1944-06-06 1630

8pm to Midnight EST

0:58:15 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
0:58:38 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast
0:59:00 1944-06-08 CAN Nighttime Convoy Anti-Aircraft Attack
0:59:40 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
1:00:08 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
1:01:10 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast
1:03:20 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
1:04:00 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
1:04:27 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
1:05:40 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast
1:06:28 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
1:06:53 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
1:08:15 1944-06-06 NBC Poem and Prayer for Invading Army
1:10:59 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians
1:11:39 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast (2 Clips)
1:12:48 1944-06-06 2000 NBC Dr Goldstein And Ginny Simms
1:13:06 1944-06-06 2130 CBS D-Day Broadcast
1:13:42 1944-06-06 2200 NBCR Bob Hope Show
1:14:10 1944-06-06 2210 NBC Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians

The Next Day And Later

1:14:34 1944-06-08 CBS News D-Day Invasion
1:14:53 1944-06-07 NBCB George Hicks From The Deck Of USS Ancon
1:16:04 1944-06-08 CBS News D-Day Invasion
1:16:19 1944-06-07 CBS Kate Smith Speaks
1:16:59 1944-06-08 CBS News D-Day Invasion
1:17:17 1944-06-17 BBC Frank Gillard Takes Cover
1:17:45 1944-06-12 BBC Richard Dimbleby Reports Flying Over Normandy
1:19:33 1944-06-08 CBC Matthew Halton Welcomed By French Civilians
1:20:12 1944-06-08 BBC Michael Standing On French Civilians
1:20:42 1944-06-14 BBC Alan Melville Hermanville – Church Bells

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. Please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.

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More time-travel to the early days of recorded sound with James Errington. This time we find out about the interminable history of musical snobbery, hear some immensely beautiful, surprisingly thick Edison diamond discs and hear what Al Jolson and Billy Murray are up to.

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.

1944 is a big year. It looms large. This isn’t just a recent development either. Listen to these few hours of music and speech and one thing I think you’ll pick up is that everyone is very much stuck in the present. There’s little in the way of nostalgia, there’s hardly any dreaming, everyone seems to be living for the here and the now. Only a couple of years prior “the war” was this imposition on popular culture – now it seems to be the wellspring from which everything goes. Do we need a song about a GI when we’ve got Cecil Gant the G.I. Sing-Sation? There’s this fateful abandon underpinning everything, like they’re saying “here we are, we may get through this, we may not, but for now we’re going to enjoy every moment” and it’s infectious.

You may have also noticed that this mix is called “Part One” – this is perhaps a temporary solution for how sprawling these mixes have become. It’s been increasingly difficult to contain all I would like in a single mix, the materials available are getting altogether too much, but more importantly I have discovered vast radio archives for these years, and have spent much too long digging through them for gems. I must have listened to over a hundred hours of 1944 radio broadcasts. So this time we will have three mixes, and as I prepare myself for 1945 I promise I will try to find a new strategy.

January

(Clip from 1944-03-xx NRK News Of Norway)
(Clip from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
0:00:00 Lester Young et al. – Jammin’ the Blues (Excerpt 1)
(Clip of V1 Bomb)
(Clips from 1944-12-31 – WOR Year In Review)
0:02:03 Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive
(Clip from Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters – Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive (rejected take))
(Clip from Phantom Lady)
0:04:50 Boyd Raeburn – Hep Boyd
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
0:05:54 Boyd Raeburn – March Of The Boyds
(Clips from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
0:07:37 Lead Belly – Mr. Hitler (Hitler Song)
(Clips from 1944-01-04 CBC Matthew Halton The Fall Of Ortona)
0:10:28 Mary Lou Williams – Blue Skies
(Clips from 1944-01-09 CBS World News Today)
0:13:00 Lata Mangeshkar – Barsaat Mein Humse Mile Tum
(Clips from 1944-01-13 – It’s That Man Again Navy Show)
0:16:07 Billie Holiday – That Ole Devil Called Love
(Clips from 1944-01-16 CBS World News Today)
0:19:13 Dinah Washington – Evil Gal Blues
(Clip from 1944-01-26 BBC Wynford Vaughn Thomas In Anzio)
0:22:21 Lester Young et al. – Jammin’ the Blues (Excerpt 2)

February

(Clips from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
(Clip from Know Your Ally – Britain)
0:26:50 Arsenio Rodríguez & Su Conjunto – El Pirulero No Vuelve Mas
(Clip from 1944-02-01 Fibber Mcgee – diamond ring at cut rate price)
(Clip from Laura)
0:30:11 Cootie Williams and His Orchestra – ‘Round Midnight
0:30:30 Cootie Williams and His Orchestra – Seven Eleven
(Clip from 1944-02-05 CAN MacArthur At Flag Raising Ceremony On Manila)
0:34:19 Anjos do Inferno – Acontece Que Eu Sou Baiano
(Clip from 1944-02-06 CBS World News Today)
(Clips from 1944-02-05 NBC Skelly News Of The World)
0:36:16 Gene Autry – Don’t Fence Me In
(Clips from 1944-02-06 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from Hare Ribbin)
0:39:10 Louis Jordan – Mop! Mop!
(Clips from 1944-02-17 – It’s That Man Again RAF edition)
0:42:22 Duke Ellington – Johnny Come Lately
(Clips from 1944-02-20 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo)
0:45:51 Andrews Sisters – Straighten Up And Fly Right
(Clips from 1944-02-27 CBS World News Today)
0:49:44 Miguel Caló – Sans Souci
(Clip from 1944-02-29 Crisco Radio News)
(Clip from Supervising Women Workers)
0:53:09 Coleman Hawkins – Rainbow Mist

March

(Clips from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
0:57:00 Lionel Hampton – Hamp’s Boogie Woogie
(Clips from 1944-03-02 Abbott and Costello Show – Special Guests Blondie & Dagwood)
1:00:31 Roy Eldridge, Pete Brown, Willie Smith, Flip Phillips, Les Paul, Hank Jones, Benny Fonville, Alvin Stoller – Blues
(Clips from 1944-03-05 CBS World News Today)
(Clips from 1944-03-12 CBS World News Today)
1:06:10 Jussi Björling – Nessun Dorma
(Clips from 1944-03-19 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from Arsenic & Old Lace)
1:09:24 Trummy Young and his Lucky Seven – Hollywood
(Clip from Double Indemnity)
(Clips from 1944-03-24 MBS Special A Night In A Foxhole)
1:13:12 Halim El-Dabh – Wire Recorder Piece
(Clips from 1944-03-26 BBC Winston Churchill – On Allied Victories)
1:15:41 Noel Coward – Don’t Let’s Be Beastly To The Germans
1:18:47 Laurence Olivier – Speech from Henry V
1:20:20 Walter ‘Foots’ Thomas All-Stars – Out To Lunch
1:23:09 Wynford Vaughn-Thomas – BBC News Report
1:25:05 Harry The Hipster Gibson – 4-F Ferdinand
(Clip from 1944-03-xx NRK News Of Norway)

April

(Clip from 1944-04-02 CBS World News Today)
1:28:24 Olavi Virta – Ennen Kuolemaa
(Clips from 1944-04-02 World News Today)
(Clip from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
1:30:44 Sonny Boy Williamson – Win The War Blues
(Clip from 1944-04-17 RSH Germany Calling – We Are Waiting for You)
(Clip from Lifeboat)
1:35:00 The Mills Brothers – You Always Hurt The One You Love
1:38:16 Wynford Vaughan Thomas – Springtime At Anzio
1:39:02 Andres Segovia – Minuetto
(Clip from Ministry of Fear)
1:40:54 The Nat ‘King’ Cole Trio – I Realize Now
(Clip from To Have And To Have Not)
1:44:22 Cozy Cole – Just One More Chance
(Clips from Double Indemnity)
1:48:08 Oscar Alemán – Polvo De Estrellas
(Clip from 1944-04-13 – It’s That Man Again Army Edition)
1:50:10 Tiny Grimes Quintet – Red Cross
(Clip from Abbott & Costello Show – Special Guest Dorothy Lamour)
1:53:18 Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra & Margaret Whiting – Moonlight In Vermont

May

(Clip from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
1:57:07 Josh White – House of the Rising Sun
(Clip from 1944-05-05 BBC Richard Dimbleby Watches Airborne Troops)
2:01:04 Charlie Barnet – Skyliner
(Clip from 1944-05-13 NBC Skelly News Of The World)
2:04:24 Spike Jones – Leave The Dishes In The Sink, Ma
(Clips from 1944-05-17 BBC Godfrey Talbot in Monte Cassino)
2:07:50 Atahualpa Yupanqui – El Arriero
(Clip from 1944-05-25 RRG Heinrich Himmler – Vor Der Waffen SS)
2:11:09 Red Foley – Smoke On The Water
(Clips from Know Your Ally – Britain)
2:15:00 Cecil Gant – Cecil Boogie
(Clips from 1944-05-18 – Suspense Theater – Donovans Brain)
2:19:08 Ethel Smith – Tico Tico
(Clips from 1944-05-15 – Sherlock Holmes – Adventure of the Missing Bloodstains)
2:22:14 Tommy Dorsey & his Orchestra – Opus No. 1
(Clip from Since You Went Away)
2:25:25 Billie Holiday – No More

June

(Clip from 1944-12-31 MBS News 1944 In Review)
2:28:25 Al Trace Silly Symphonists – Mairzy Doats And Dozy Doats
2:31:25 Judy Garland – The Trolley Song
(Clip from Cover Girl)
2:34:35 Louis Prima – Oh Marie
(Clip from Abbott & Costello Show – Special Guest Alan Ladd)
2:37:38 Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Strange Things Happening Every Day
(Clip from Going My Way)
2:42:04 Sister Ernestine Washington – If I Could Just Make It In
2:44:39 Dylan Thomas – Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines
2:47:02 Erroll Garner All Stars – Gaslight
(Clip from Double Indemnity)
2:49:22 Betty Hutton – It Had To Be You
(Clip from The Woman In The Window)
2:52:50 Thyagaraja Bhagavatar & Manmatha Leelaya – Haridas
(Clip from Gaslight)
2:54:16 The Nat ‘King’ Cole Trio – Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You
(Clip from 1944-02-20 CBS World News Today)
(Clip from 1944-02-27 CBS World News Today)

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Merry Christmas Centuries of Sound Followers!

This is a mix of original Christmas-related records and radio broadcasts from 1939 to 1945. It’s also available as a compilation CD for supporters on Patreon here – https://www.patreon.com/posts/76151409

0:00:00 Bernard Herrmann – Snow Ride (1942)
0:00:41 Bing Crosby – White Christmas (1942)
0:03:48 Jimmy Durante – Clip from Christmas Show (1944)
0:04:20 Lionel Hampton – Gin For Christmas (1939)
0:06:48 King George VI – The Royal Christmas Message (1939)
0:07:08 Judy Garland & Mickey Rooney – Hollywood Christmas Parade (1940)
0:08:36 Claude Thornhill – Snowfall (1941)
0:11:32 Winston Churchill – The White House Christmas Tree (1941)
0:11:57 Franklin D. Roosevelt – Christmas Broadcast (1941)
0:12:14 Woody Herman & His Orchestra – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (1942)
0:14:49 Mayor of The Town – Clip from ‘A Christmas Carol’ (1942)
0:14:53 Christmas with The Eighth Army (1942)
0:16:18 Flanagan & Allen – There’s A Boy Coming Home On Leave (1940)
0:18:52 Fibber McGee and Molly – Listening to Christmas Carols (1942)
0:19:45 Glenn Miller Orchestra – Jingle Bells (1941)
0:22:53 Amos and Andy – Clip from Annual Christmas Show (1942)
0:23:41 Heavenly Gospel Singers – When Was Jesus Born? (1941)
0:26:49 The Andrews Sisters – Sing (1943)
0:29:52 Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters – Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1943)
0:32:31 Columbia Workshop Theatre – Clip from “The Plot To Overthrow Christmas” (1944)
0:32:40 Bob Crosby – The Skaters Waltz (In Swingtime) (1939)
0:35:27 Billy Mills & The Orchestra – Jingle Bells (1944)
0:37:05 Erroll Garner with Columbia Workshop Theatre – Great Christmas (1944)
0:41:12 Jimmy Durante – Clip from Christmas Show (1944)
0:41:30 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – Jingle Bells (1944)
0:44:19 Ken Derby & The Kings Men – The Night Before Christmas (1944)
0:50:53 The Mills Brothers – I’ll Be Home For Christmas (1944)
0:53:04 King George VI – The Royal Christmas Message (1944)
0:53:22 Lead Belly – Christmas Song (1943)
0:56:01 Amos And Andy – Clip from Christmas Show With Andy As Santa (1944)
0:56:13 Fats Waller – Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells (1944)
0:58:54 NBC Studio Orchestra – Clip from Amos & Andy Christmas Show (1944)
1:00:19 Dinah Shore – I’ll Walk Alone (Through Every Christmas) (1944)
1:03:02 Life of Riley – Clip from ‘Roswell’s a Guest for Christmas’ (1944)
1:03:21 Kenny Baker, Karen Kemple and Alexander Smallens – Hail To Christmas (1944)
1:05:52 Vick’s Matinee Theatre – A Stable in Bethlehem Pennsylvania (1944)
1:06:06 Tex Ritter – Christmas Carols By The Old Corral (1945)
1:08:27 Life of Riley – Clip from ‘Roswell’s a Guest for Christmas’ (1944)
1:08:56 Judy Garland – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (1944)

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This compilation of Christmas recordings spans the early years of electronic recording, the explosion of radio, sound films and newsreel, the end of the roaring thirties and the great depression.

I’m presenting this in two formats – a mix, which is on my main feed at centuriesofsound.com and as a compilation, which is only available to patrons. Join my patreon at patreon.com/centuriesofsound and get a load of bonus content like this, as well as helping this site to survive in these very difficult times.

Here is the tracklist, the same for both versions.

00:40 The Savoy Orpheans – Radio Christmas (1926)
03:46 Adolph Miles – Adeste Fideles (1926)
07:03 Chor Sw. Lucji – Pasterka (Wesola Nowine) (Christmas Eve At Church) (1927)
10:10 Richard Tauber – O Sanctissima (O Du Frohliche) (1929)
12:51 Andrej Pelak – Pospešte Sem Pastuškovia (Hasten, Shepherds) (1930)
16:00 Joe Gumin And His Orchestra – Jingle Bells (The One-Horse Open Sleigh) (1931)
19:20 Popeye The Sailor – Seasin’s Greetinks (1933)
19:26 Ozzie Nelson Orchestra – Christmas Night In Harlem (1934)
22:23 Laurel & Hardy – Clip From Babes In Toyland (1934)
22:33 Paul Whiteman Orchestra – Christmas Night In Harlem (1934)
25:55 Shirley Temple – Clip From Bright Eyes (1934)
26:55 Harry Reser And His Orchestra – Jingle Bells (1934)
29:30 Franklin Delano Roosevelt – White House Christmas Tree Lighting Clip (1935)
29:49 Bing Crosby With Victor Young And His Orchestra – Silent Night (1935)
32:49 Victor Novelty Orchestra – Christmas Eve (Fantasie) (1935)
35:50 British Movietone – Merry Christmas (1935)
36:26 The Chapel Quartet – Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem (1936)
39:31 Hoosier Hot Shots – Jingle Bells (1936)
42:30 Edith Fellows & Jackie Moran – Clip From And So They Were Married (1936)
42:45 The Madrigal Sisters & Lehman Engel – Jingle Bells (1937)
44:27 Mae Questel (The Betty Boop Girl) – I Want You For Christmas (1937)
47:10 Michel Warlop – Christmas Swing (+ Django Reinhardt & Louis Vola) (27-12-1937)
49:58 Andy Hardy & Family – Christmas Greetings (1938)
51:22 Swing And Sway With Sammy Kaye – (Don’t Wait ’til) The Night Before Christmas (La Vispera De Navidad) (1938)
54:06 Reginald Owen – Clip From A Christmas Carol (1938)
54:47 Silly Symphonies – The Night Before Christmas (1933)

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In this festive edition of Centuries of Sound, audio curator James Errington is joined by his son Theo to check out some Christmas records from the years 1902 to 1924. We have choirs, carols, brass bands, and of course a selection of bizarre novelty Christmas wax cylinders for your Christmas evening listening.

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. Please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.

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00:36 Harry E. Humphrey – Santa Claus Hides In Your Phonograph
03:53 Choir Of The Royal Court Opera With Orchestra And Church Bells, Acc. Harmonium, Bells – Silent Night, Holy Night
06:43 Gilbert Girard – Santa Claus Tells of Mother Goose Land
08:19 Band – Christmas Memories
12:17 Nebe-Quartett – O Tannenbaum
14:07 Albert Whelan – Scrooge’s Awakening
16:20 Edison Concert Band – Bells Of Christmas
20:31 Thomas Edison – Mr. Edison’s Christmas Greetings
24:41 George Hamilton Green Novelty Orchestra – Moonlight Waltz
28:12 George Islon – Christmas Eve In The Old Homestead
30:42 Edison Mixed Quartet – Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
33:43 Metropolitan Quartet – Christmas, Christmas, Blessed, Blessed Day
37:10 Bransby Williams – The Street Watchman’s Christmas
41:05 Edison Concert Band And The Edison Mixed Quartet – Ring Out The Bells For Christmas
45:16 Carol Singers – Joy To The World
47:42 Yolande Noble And Percy Clifton – Buying The Christmas Dinner
49:56 Robert Gayler – Christmas Eve- a Fantasie On Old German Christmas Carols
52:53 Manuel Romain – Christmas Time Seems Years And Years Away
54:50 Harry E. Humphrey – The Night Before Christmas
58:11 Elizabeth Spencer, Harry Anthony And James F. Harrison – Silent Night

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In this very special episode of Centuries of Sound, sound curator James Errington plays a selection of Halloween-themed recordings from the acoustic recording era, prior to 1927. Be ready for ghosts, skeletons, vampires, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, “The Goose Bone Man” and Mr Halloween himself, Aleister Crowley

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This mix is also available as a compilation for Patreon supporters here and at Bandcamp here. I make Centuries of Sound on my own in whatever scraps of time I can find. Please help me find more scraps by supporting the project (and get a load of extra content too!)

When we think of the great depression of the 1930s, the images which may spring to mind – The Grapes of Wrath, the dustbowl songs of Woody Guthrie – are generally from the 1940s. Popular entertainment of the thirties leaned not on realism, but on escapism. This is the golden age, not only of Hollywood musicals, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rodgers, Busby Berkley routines and screwball comedy, but also of horror movies. So who better to guide us into this mix of Halloween music than Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula from 1931, released the same year as Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and James Whale’s Frankenstein, and a year before the first appearance of The Mummy. Aside from the film clips, we naturally have plenty of novelty recordings, original sound effect records, hot jazz, and to close a suite of particularly morbid blues records.

Track listing

00:00 Bela Lugosi – Clip from Dracula (1931)
00:02 Gennett Sound Effects – Rainfall and Thunder (1936)
(Clip from Frankenstein – 1931)
00:44 Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski – Toccata and Fugue in D minor (1927)
01:26 Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Nightmare (1938)
(Clip from Dracula – 1931)
04:20 Borrah Minnevitch – The Ghost Walk (1933)
06:40 Manny Gould and Ben Harrison – Scrappy’s Ghost Story (1935)
07:51 Five Jones Boys – Mr Ghost Goes To Town (1936)
10:43 Putney Dandridge – Skeleton In The Closet (1936)
(Clip from Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf)
13:19 Prairie Ramblers – Ghost in the Graveyard (1938)
(HMV Weather Effects – Wind – 1935)
15:59 New Mayfair Dance Orchestra – The Haunted House (1931)
(Clip from The Shadow – Circle of Death – 1937)
19:32 Raymond Scott – War Dance For Wooden Indians (1937)
(Clip from The Mummy – 1932)
21:59 Truett & George – Ghost Dance (1927)
(Clip from Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – 1931)
(Clip from Mediale Musik – The Speech Of Ancient Egypt, 18th Dynasty – 1938)
24:55 Washboard Rhythm Kings – Call Of The Freaks (1931)
(Clip from Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – 1931)
27:50 Victor Arden, Phil Ohman, & their Orchestra – Dancing the Devil Away (1930)
(Clip from Reverend Johnny Blakey – Warming By The Devil’s Fire – 1928)
31:07 Fletcher Henderson – Hotter Than ‘ell (1934)
(Clip from Island of Lost Souls – 1932)
34:01 Rev. A.W. Nix – Black Diamond Express to Hell (1927)
34:41 Cab Calloway – The Nightmare (1931)
(Clip from Murders in the Zoo – 1933)
(Clip from Tomatoes Another Day – 1930)
37:27 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra – Here Comes The Bogey Man (1932)
(Clip from The Old Dark House – 1932)
40:39 Bertha Idaho – Graveyard Love (1928)
(Clip from Vampyr – 1932)
44:02 Skip James – Devil Got My Woman (1931)
(Clip from Bride of Frankenstein – 1935)
47:08 Victoria Spivey – Blood Thirsty Blues (1928)
(Clip from Gennett Sound Effects – Night Noises – 1936)
(Clip from The Shadow – Circle of Death – 1937)
50:30 Josh White – Blood Red River (1933)
(Clip from The Old Dark House – 1932)
53:46 Joe Mccoy – Evil Devil Woman Blues (1934)
(HMV Weather Effects – Wind – 1935)
(Clip from The Shadow – Circle of Death – 1937)
56:59 Walter Page – Blue Devil Blues (1930)
(Clip from Gennett Sound Effects – Rainfall and Thunder – 1936)
(Clip from King Kong – 1933)

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Beginning Halloween Week at Centuries of Sound, here’s a mix of Halloween-themed music and spoken word recordings from the pre-electrical era.

This mix is also available in compilation format – to supporters on Patreon, and on the Centuries of Sound Bandcamp page

00:00 Aleister Crowley- The Call Of The First And Second Aethyr (Ca. 1920)
01:21 Original Dixieland Jazz Band – Skeleton Jangle (1918)
04:14 Bert Williams – Never Mo’ (1916)
06:52 Sodero’s Band – The Vampire. Dance Characteristic (1918)
10:24 Billy Murray – I’m Afraid to Come Home in the Dark (1908)
12:36 Len Spencer – The Transformation Scene From ”Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde” (1905)
14:46 Edith Wilson and Johnny Dunn Original Jazz Hounds – Evil Blues (1923)
18:04 Edison Concert Band – Skeleton Dance (1905)
20:17 Arthur Collins – The Goose-Bone Man (1905)
22:24 Unknown Artist – Brown Wax Home Recording of Comic Ghost Stories (Ca. 1910)
24:42 Six Brown Brothers – Ghost of the Saxophone (1917)
27:20 American Symphony Orchestra – Hallowe’en Dance (1909)
29:22 New Orleans Owls – The Nightmare (1926)
32:29 Victor Military Band – Spooky Spooks (1917)
35:12 Abdal Ali – Death Lament (1902)
39:00 Al Weston & Irene Young – At The Circus (1921)
42:24 Unknown Artist – Okeh Laughing Record (1922)

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Time travel through audio history with James Errington, this time joined by Cambridge 105’s own Kasia Wozniak to listen to the sounds of 1911, featuring Eastern European émigrés Al Jolson, Irving Berlin and Sophie Tucker; the future president of Poland playing some Chopin; scat singing 15 years before it was supposedly invented; a story about three trees and a bunny rabbit and another story where a baby is mistaken for a piano, and hilarity ensues.

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the twelth section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.

Tracklist

(Clip from Review of The Year 1943)
(Clip from BBC – Freddy Grisewood Reports on Tehran Conference)
00:49 The Stuff Smith Trio – Humoresque
(Clip from Amos & Andy – Candy for Caroline)
(Clip from Fibber McGee & Molly)
03:20 Dicky Wells and His Orchestra – I Got Rhythm
(Clip from CBC – Canadian Women Serving Overseas – Marietta McPherson)
(Clips from CBC – Wartime Rations Christmas – Dorothy Batchellor)
(Clip of Edward R Murrow)
05:40 Nat King Cole Trio – Embraceable You
(Clip from Jane Eyre)
09:32 Shamshad Begum & Motilal – O Jaanewale Aaja
(Clip from Five Graves To Cairo)
(Clips from Mother America)
11:50 Custódio Mesquita – Brejeiro
(Clip from Wartime With Bob Hope – The Christmas Package)
13:22 The Andrews Sisters – Sing (Radio Broadcast)
(Clip from BBC – King George Christmas Speech)
(Clip from CBS World News Today)
17:32 Bing Crosby & The Andrew Sisters – Victory Polka
(Clips from CBC – Matthew Hatton – Canadians Attack Ortona)
(Clip from Mother America)
19;38 Xavier Cugat – Linda Mujer
(Clip from Cockney Slang)
(Clip from Amos & Andy – Candy for Caroline)
(Clip from Fibber McGee & Molly)
(Clip from Dynamite Cargo)
(Clip from Shadow of a Doubt)
(Clip from Review of The Year 1943)
(Clip from Popeye – Seeing Red, White & Blue)

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the eleventh section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1934 Part 11 – November"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the tenth section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 10 – October"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the ninth section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 9 – September"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the eighth section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 8 – August"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the seventh section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 7 – July"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the sixth section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 6 – June"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the fifth section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 5 – May"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the fourth section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 4 – April"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the third section of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 3 – March"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the second half-hour of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 2 – February"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible … Continue reading "1943 Part 1 – Introduction + January"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the second hour of the mix. For the full 4-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show … Continue reading "1942 Preview Mix 2"

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Back for the new decade, that decade being the 1910s, audio historian James Errington returns for a deep dive into the sounds of 110 years ago. This time we’re joined by Cambridge 105’s own George Kirkman to listen to some ragtime frolics, eccentricities, proto-barbershop, proto-gospel and some meandering comic monologues. Centuries of Sound is an … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #18 – 1910"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 4-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show … Continue reading "1942"

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More time travel to the earliest days of recorded sound with James Errington, this time joined by Cambridge 105’s own Dave Hammond. This time we go back to 1909 to hear novelty songs about moon-orbiting aeroplanes and juvenile smoking, wildly unpredictable vaudeville routines, “authentic” black music from the deep south played by a former plantation … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #17 – 1909"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full nearly 5-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This … Continue reading "1941"

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The man in the middle of this picture is my grandfather. Like most young British men in the year 1941, he was serving in the armed forces. In his case that meant the merchant navy, and the Atlantic convoys during the Battle of The Atlantic. The golden rule of the navy, he would later say, was never to volunteer, but breaking this rule to volunteer for “special work” turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made. Sent on a goodwill trip to New York and New Jersey shortly after the Pearl Harbor attacks had drawn America into the war, the sailors were surprised to find themselves treated as heroes. Then one memorable night at Radio City Music Hall, they were invited on to the stage by the new singer with Tommy Dorsey’s band, a man so popular that teenage girls (“Bobby soxers” as they would then be called) in the audience screamed as he sang, one Francis Albert Sinatra.

Frank was at this point already, suddenly, the biggest singing star in the USA, topping polls in Billboard and DownBeat magazines, and selling huge amounts of records. Listening to his recordings from this time can instantly tell you why. As much as any singer embarking on an imperial phase, his performances seem not just to be technically and artistically brilliant, but to be utterly effortless, as if he just woke up one morning singing like that. Naturally there was more to his popularity than his voice though. Sinatra would later say that he represented “…the boy in every corner drugstore, the boy who’d gone off drafted to the war” to young women. To many young men, however, this jarred with the fact that he never served himself, despite being the right age. Rumours circulated that Sinatra or unnamed underworld connections had paid a bribe to keep him out of the army, but when files were eventually released it transpired that he was deemed unfit for service for being “not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint” and “emotionally unstable” – quite a contrast to the self-assured artist we think we know.

Sinatra was not, of course, the most exciting musician working in 1941. Not by a long shot. The ridiculous running length of this mix isn’t (I hope) down to sloppiness on my part, it’s because there’s simply too much to fit in here, even after the hour-long Pearl Harbour montage was cut out. 1941 isn’t often held up as one of the best years for music, there aren’t that many hits here for example, but coming at it chronologically it’s obvious that a great bursting and unchaining of creativity is underway. Much of this is from the same people we’ve heard a great deal from in the last few years. Musicians from Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Jay McShann’s bands would jam together through the night at Minton’s Playhouse in New York, playing around with complex harmonies, syncopation, chord substitutions. It was music by and for musicians, not intended for the public, and it’s only by the most amazing luck that a single recording, heavily excerpted here, survives. Charlie Christian, electric guitarist in the Benny Goodman Orchestra, here shows himself a good few decades ahead of the curve with solos that seem to invent new genres every minute. Sadly he would be dead before 1942 was out, at the age of 25, but the music he birthed would live on, as “bebop.” Also prefiguring rock and roll we have astonishing jump blues from Lucky Millinder, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Louis Jordan and Nat King Cole, and from the West coast we have that strange mix of cowboy country and swing jazz then called “Western Swing.” And let’s not even get started on the explosion of Samba music in Brasil. Even strike action helped out here (as it would very much not do in the following years) – ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) spent most of 1941 in a dispute with radio broadcasters over royalties. As their clients were almost exclusively the white songwriting establishment, the beneficiaries were those of a different race or class, who could now get their songs played on the radio, which then led to more demand for these records to be made.

Musicians in 1941 – no, people in 1941 – were not waiting around for the war to start. They were not putting their lives on hold for the duration. They were playing some of the most original and exciting music we’ve heard so far. In a half-decade of unimaginable horrors, the dampening down of this spark doesn’t rank very high on the list of crimes, but still, it will be a long few years before we can pick up where we left off.

Track list

0:00:00 Kunaisho Shikiburyô Gagakuka – Taishikichô Chôshi
(Clip from The Maltese Falcon)
0:01:00 Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra – Snowfall
(Clip from Ball of Fire)
0:04:01 Louis Jordan – The Green Grass Grows All Around
(Clip from Sullivan’s Travels)
0:06:50 Don Byas, Charlie Christian, et al. – Up on Teddy’s Hill
(Clip from Review of the Year 1941)
0:10:03 Jay Mcshann & His Orchestra – Swingmatism
(Clip from Review of the Year 1941)
0:13:22 Albert Ammons & Pete Johnson – Boogie Woogie Man
(Clip from Bulova – world’s first television advertisement)
0:16:03 Carmen Miranda – When I Love, I Love
(Clip from Never Give A Sucker An Even Break)
0:18:54 Dinning Sisters – Louisiana Hayride
(Clip from Never Give A Sucker An Even Break)
0:21:51 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Twin Guitar Special
(Clip from Tea Making Tips)
0:24:36 Lucky Millinder – Big Fat Mama
0:26:55 Lucky Millinder with Sister Rosetta Tharpe – I Want A Tall Skinny Papa
(Clip of Winston Churchill – Give Us The Tools)

0:30:12 Billie Holiday – Solitude
(Clip from Citizen Kane)
0:34:41 Lil Green – Why Don’t You Do Right
(Clip from The Lady Eve)
0:37:35 Ángel D’agostino & Ángel Vargas – El Choclo
0:40:02 Anibal Troilo – Milongeando En El
0:41:56 Ricardo Tanturi – Alberto Castillo – Noches De Colón
(Clip from One Foot in Heaven)
0:43:29 Roland Hayes – Xango
(Clip from Major Barbara)
0:45:21 Golden Gate Quartet – The Sun Did’nt Shine
(Clip from Major Barbara)
0:47:49 Marian Anderson – Crucifixion
(Clip from Major Barbara)
0:51:02 Heavenly Gospel Singers – When Was Jesus Born?
(Clip from Major Barbara)
0:53:07 The Delta Rhythm Boys – Dry Bones
(Clip from Suspicion)
0:56:19 Una Mae Carlisle – Oh I’m Evil
(Clip of The German Newsreel)
(Clip of 1941-04-27 BBC Winston Churchill – Westward Look The Land Is Bright)
0:58:57 Arthur Rubinstein, Emanuel Feuermann, Jascha Heifetz – Brahms Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 8
(Clips from Review of the Year 1941)

1:02:04 Arthur Askey – Thanks For Dropping In Mr Hess
(Clip from Never Give A Sucker An Even Break)
1:03:04 The Andrews Sisters – Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
(Clip from Citizen Kane)
1:05:49 Metronome All-Stars – One O’clock Jump
(Clip from Meet John Doe)
1:09:14 Nat King Cole Trio – Hit That Jive, Jack
1:12:04 Bennie Carter Orchestra – Sunday
1:14:47 Charlie Christian, Kenny Clarke, Thelonious Monk et al. – Swing to Bop
(Clip from Ball of Fire)
1:20:35 Charlie Christian, Kenny Clarke, Thelonious Monk et al. – Stompin’ at the Savoy
(Clip from Never Give A Sucker An Even Break)
1:23:32 Don Byas, Charlie Christian, et al. – Down on Teddy’s Hill
(Clip from Never Give A Sucker An Even Break)
1:25:29 Don Byas, Thelonius Monk et al. – Indiana
(Clip from The Maltese Falcon)
1:27:35 Don Byas, Helen Humes, Thelonius Monk et al. – Stardust
(Clip from Here Comes Mr Jordan)

1:30:31 Duke Ellington – Take The ‘A’ Train
(Clip from That Hamilton Woman)
1:33:25 Brownie Mcghee – Death Of Blind Boy Fuller
(Clip from Sullivan’s Travels)
1:35:06 Mckinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters) – Country Blues
(Clip of The German Newsreel)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1941)
(Clip from “Interview With Madame X”)
1:38:43 Al Bowlly & Jimmy Messene – When That Man Is Dead And Gone
(Clip of Charles Lindbergh On US Non-Intervention)
1:41:58 Joshua White – Defense Factory Blues
(Clip from 1941-06-16 BBC Winston Churchill – Broadcast To America)
1:44:46 The Ink Spots – I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire
(Clip from 1941-06-22 BBC Winston Churchill – Germany Invades Russia)
1:48:53 Una Mae Carlisle – Blitzkrieg Baby (You Can’t Bomb Me)
(Clip of 1941-07-03 PCPT Josef Stalin Addresses Nation)
1:51:23 Sydney Errington, Melville Cook – Eccles Sonata In G Adagio
(Clip of Dmitri Shostakovich – Radio Message Broadcast)
(Clip from Soviet Forces in Action)
(Clip from Dorothy Thompson Interview)
1:55:04 Wingie Manone & His Orchestra – Stop The War (The Cats Are Killin’ Themselves)
(Clip from Dorothy Thompson Interview)
1:57:36 Noel Coward & Orchestra – London Pride
(Clip from 1941-07-14 BBC Winston Churchill – Do Your Worst, We’ll Do Our Best)

2:01:01 Margaret Eaves With Joe Loss & His Orchestra – ”V” Stands For Victory
2:03:29 George Formby – Crazy Record (Part 1 & 2)
2:05:38 Peter Igelhoff Ensemble – Dieses Lied Hat Keinen Text (Vocal – Evelyn Künneke)
(Clip from George Formby – Crazy Record)
2:07:14 Jetty Paerl – Het Is Koninginnedag
2:08:38 Jacques Gerlagh Combo – In The Mood (Guitar – Eddy Christiani)
(Clip from 1941-07-14 BBC General DeGaulle Urges America To Join The Allies)
2:09:56 Jacques Pills – Avec Son Ukulele
2:12:28 Luiz Gonzaga – Vira E Mexe
2:15:20 Anjos Do Inferno – Por Que Será!
2:18:03 Carmen Miranda – Rebola A Bola
2:20:14 Francisco Alves – Canta Brasil
2:21:52 Herivelto Martins – Grande Otelo Praça Xi
(Clip from Never Give A Sucker An Even Break)
2:23:38 Glenn Miller And His Orchestra – A String Of Pearls
(Clip from The Maltese Falcon)
2:26:51 Tommy Dorsey (Vocal – Sinatra,Haines) – Oh! Look At Me Now
(Clip from Ball of Fire)
2:29:08 Xavier Cugat – La Cucaracha

2:32:13 Carl Stalling – Stalling Self-Parody
(Clip from Tea Making Tips)
2:32:50 Spike Jones – Red Wing
(Clip from The Devil & Daniel Webster)
2:33:35 Fred Lowery – Indian Love Call
2:36:01 Sama No Hosomichi Etc. – Zuizui Zukkorobashi, Tenjin
2:37:49 Fats Waller – Chant Of The Groove
(Clip from Ball of Fire)
2:45:29 Les Brown – Celery Stalks At Midnight (Vocal – Doris Day)
2:46:47 Count Basie – King Joe (Vocal – Paul Robeson)
2:50:06 Lena Horne – I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
(Clip from Major Barbara)
2:53:11 Dinah Shore – Mocking Bird Lament
(Clip from Man Hunt)
2:55:22 Ella Fitzgerald – My Man (Mon Homme)
(Clip from Citizen Kane)
(Clip from 1941-08-29 BBC Winston Churchill – These Are Great Days)
2:58:39 Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Troupe – The Crow Flies Back To The Forest
(Clip from Review of the Year 1941)
(Clip from 1941-09-11 Lindbergh’s America First Committee Speech in Des Moines, Iowa)
2:59:47 Artie Shaw – Concerto For Clarinet (Part 2)
(Clip from 1941-10-03 RRG Adolf Hitler – Speech On Finland)
(Clip from Meet John Doe)

3:04:43 Xavier Cugat – Eco
3:06:19 Joseito Fernandez – Guantanamera
(Clip from The Maltese Falcon)
3:09:23 Sugii Kōichi – Jipushī Tango
(Clip from The Wolf Man)
3:11:06 Naftule Brandwein – Nifty’s Freilach
(Clip from 1941-11-11 – BBC – German Attack On British Convoy)
3:14:01 Sidney Bechet – Egyptian Fantasy
(Clip from 1941-11-07 BBC Winston Churchill – The Resolution Of The People)
3:15:44 Bert Ambrose – Oasis
(Clip from Citizen Kane)
3:18:21 Benny Goodman – Good Enough To Keep
3:20:24 Jay Mcshann – Confessin’ The Blues
(Clip from Meet John Doe)
3:23:13 Washboard Sam – Evil Blues
(Clip from The Little Foxes)
3:26:10 Sister Rosetta Tharpe With Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra – Shout, Sister, Shout
3:28:50 Louis Jordan – Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie

3:31:43 Pete Johnson – Death Ray Boogie
3:34:38 Fats Waller – I Wanna Hear Swing Songs
3:35:34 Nat King Cole – I Like To Riff
3:38:19 Big Bill Broonzy – I Feel So Good
(Clip from The Little Foxes)
3:40:32 Leadbelly – You Can’t Lose Me, Cholly
(Clip from The Devil and Daniel Webster)
3:42:34 Adolph Hofner – Cotton-Eyed Joe
3:44:59 Johnny Lee Wills – Milk Cow Blues
3:47:47 The Almanac Singers – Song For Harry Bridges
3:49:52 Mills Brothers – Lazy River
3:52:30 Sons Of The Pioneers – Cool Water
3:53:26 Edmond Hall – Edmond Hall Blues
3:57:36 Donald Lambert – Elegie (Massenet)
(Clip from Citizen Kane)
3:59:55 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Dinette
(Clip from The Little Foxes)

4:01:50 Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Frenesi
4:03:06 Nat King Cole Trio – Hit The Ramp
4:06:17 Gus Viseur Et Son Orchestre – Swing 39
4:07:24 Sidney Bechet – 12th Street Rag
4:09:24 John Kirby And His Orchestra – St. Louis Blues
4:12:07 Glenn Miller – Chattanooga Choo Choo (Vocal – Modernaires)
4:15:30 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – Soundtrack to Jam Session soundie
4:17:01 Festival Swing – Festival Swing
4:20:18 Roy Eldridge With The Gene Krupa Orchestra – After You’re Gone
(Clip of Sergeant York)
4:23:00 Hans J. Salter & Frank Skinner – The Wolf Man
4:23:15 CBS / NBC / BBC – News Broadcasts from December 7th 1941
4:25:59 Franklin Delano Roosevelt – Day Of Infamy Speech
4:27:54 Various Speakers – Interviews With People in New York City The Day After Pearl Harbor
(Clip of 1941-12-09 Adolf Hitler Declaration Of War Against USA)
(Clip of 1941-12-28 – RSH Lord Haw Haw (Wm Joyce) Germany Calling Hello North America)
4:31:02 Joshua White – Uncle Sam Says
(Clip of 1941-12-17 Japanese Victory Over Singapore)
(Clip of 1941-12-16 Fibber McGee & Molly Fibber cuts Xmas Tree)
4:34:27 The Ink Spots – That’s When Your Heartaches Begin
(Clip from How Green Was My Valley)
4:38:40 Rev. J.M. Gates – Gettin’ Ready For Christmas Day
(Clip from 1941-12-31 Amos & Andy Christmas Eve)
(Clip from 1941-12-24 BBC Winston Churchill – The White House Christmas Tree)
4:40:26 Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra & Pied Pipers – Do I Worry?
4:43:13 Gene Krupa Chicagoans – Drumboogie
(Clip from The Devil and Daniel Webster)

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound – I make these on my own, in my spare time. To support my work and help the show survive, please consider signing up at patreon.com/centuriesofsound where you can also get full show downloads and a host of other bonus stuff … Continue reading "December 7th 1941"

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At 7:48am on December 7th 1941, the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii was attacked by 353 Japanese aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers, precipitating the entrance of the United States into the Second World War.

Major news stories had been covered on the radio before, of course, and radio recordings had been made for more than a decade. Nevertheless, this is by far the most contemporary material available for a breaking news story. Edited down from nearly twenty hours of original recordings, this sound collage presents these events as they occurred from the perspective of a radio listener that day.

Generally I layer music over speech clips, but in this case I have included only music as it was broadcast on that day. The sound quality is therefore unavoidably a lot worse than you may be used to, and the audio is presented without a tracklist.

This episode was partially inspired by Awful Grace Podcast’s Again The Never Came, a sound collage from 9/11, an astonishing bit of audio which I would recommend, but with a warning that it includes phone calls from the Twin Towers, which frankly anyone will find distressing.

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS Another adventure into the history of recorded music with James Errington, this time joined by veteran BBC presenter & producer Tony Barnfield to listen to and talk about the sounds of 1908, right at the heart of the era when music … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #16 – 1908"

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Another adventure into the history of recorded music with James Errington, this time joined by veteran BBC presenter & producer Tony Barnfield to listen to and talk about the sounds of 1908, right at the heart of the era when music hall and vaudeville dominated music on either side of the Atlantic.

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for two sections of the mix. For the full 4-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.

This section of the mix is a sound collage of original broadcasts and recordings from 1940. The spoken word sections largely concern the war, the music is mainly stereo recordings made by Leopold Stokowski for the Disney movie Fantasia. This is a departure from the largely music-centric format you may be used to, I hope it is of interest.

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for two sections of the mix. For the full 4-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would … Continue reading "1940 Preview 2 – WWII Collage"

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MP3 download | Patreon | Apple | Mixcloud | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS This compilation of Christmas recordings spans the early years of electronic recording, the explosion of radio, sound films and newsreel, the end of the roaring thirties and the great depression. I’m presenting this in two formats – … Continue reading "Centuries of Sound Presents – A Holiday Between The Wars, Christmas Records 1926-1938"

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This compilation of Christmas recordings spans the early years of electronic recording, the explosion of radio, sound films and newsreel, the end of the roaring thirties and the great depression.

Here is the tracklist, the same for both versions.

00:00 The Savoy Orpheans – Radio Christmas (1926)
03:33 Adolph Miles – Adeste Fideles (1926)
06:50 Chor Sw. Lucji – Pasterka (Wesola Nowine) (Christmas Eve At Church) (1927)
09:56 Richard Tauber – O Sanctissima (O Du Frohliche) (1929)
12:40 Andrej Pelak – Pospešte Sem Pastuškovia (Hasten, Shepherds) (1930)
15:48 Joe Gumin And His Orchestra – Jingle Bells (The One-Horse Open Sleigh) (1931)
19:00 Popeye The Sailor – Seasin’s Greetinks (1933)
19:13 Ozzie Nelson Orchestra – Christmas Night In Harlem (1934)
22:11 Laurel & Hardy – Clip From Babes In Toyland (1934)
22:21 Paul Whiteman Orchestra – Christmas Night In Harlem (1934)
25:43 Shirley Temple – Clip From Bright Eyes (1934)
26:45 Harry Reser And His Orchestra – Jingle Bells (1934)
29:18 Franklin Delano Roosevelt – White House Christmas Tree Lighting Clip (1935)
29:37 Bing Crosby With Victor Young And His Orchestra – Silent Night (1935)
32:35 Victor Novelty Orchestra – Christmas Eve (Fantasie) (1935)
35:38 British Movietone – Merry Christmas (1935)
36:13 The Chapel Quartet – Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem (1936)
39:19 Hoosier Hot Shots – Jingle Bells (1936)
42:19 Edith Fellows & Jackie Moran – Clip From And So They Were Married (1936)
42:33 The Madrigal Sisters & Lehman Engel – Jingle Bells (1937)
44:15 Mae Questel (The Betty Boop Girl) – I Want You For Christmas (1937)
46:59 Michel Warlop – Christmas Swing (+ Django Reinhardt & Louis Vola) (27-12-1937)
49:46 Andy Hardy & Family – Christmas Greetings (1938)
51:10 Swing And Sway With Sammy Kaye – (Don’t Wait ’til) The Night Before Christmas (La Vispera De Navidad) (1938)
53:53 Reginald Owen – Clip From A Christmas Carol (1938)
54:33 Silly Symphonies – The Night Before Christmas (1933)

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One of the reasons this project started was a musical vacuum. In 2012 I was living in a place where nobody cared much for music of any sort – at best it would be tolerated as a background noise, and generally being noticeable meant being “noisy” and I would be asked to turn it off, or usually not even asked. Soon the headphones were on every day, and sounds became something entirely personal and unsharable. The act of immersion is ultimately a personal one, there is nothing communal about it, so how then to evoke the experience of a single, very traumatic year with a collection of music which most people living through it would not have heard?

The best-selling hit songs of 1940 are not in this mix, either they were recorded in 1939 or they are altogether too lugubrious to be worthy of inclusion. Even if they were all here, the figures that loom largest here – Churchill, Hitler, FDR, Mussolini – would not have cared for them either, and it wouldn’t be until the 1960s that there would be a world leader who appeared to be in any way touch with popular culture (you may be surprised to hear his voice appear in this mix) – no, these people only listened to real music, that is “classical” music, and it was fitting therefore that the historical events caused by their actions (I mean, of course, The War) would be accompanied by wordless orchestral sounds. It is fortunate then that this is also the year Disney released Fantasia.

You most likely know Fantasia as a ground-breaking animated film, which is a fair description. From our point of view, however, it is more notable for its sound design, for which the word “revolutionary” seems entirely inadequate. Conductor Leopold Stokowski, already noted for his pioneering recording work, led the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music Concert Hall in Philadelphia in performing a series of pieces. Thirty three microphones were placed around the orchestra, with eight optical recording machines recording. Six channels recorded different sections of the orchestra, while the seventh recorded a mixture of the first six, and the eighth captured the overall sound from a distance. The result is not just the first properly realised stereo recording, it is music recorded with a vibrancy which would genuinely not be equaled in decades. Cinemas were, of course, not ready for this sort of sound, and the film was only initially shown on a limited number of screens which could be properly adapted for the purpose. Wider distribution was hampered also by the running time (over two hours) and the impossibility of distributing anything in Europe in 1940. The result was a financial loss, and reruns were heavily edited, with a more easily usable, but much less special, mono soundtrack. So the astonishing sound we have here was heard by surprisingly few people.

As far as a comment upon the war goes, the violence of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring fits better than any new music written in 1940, but this mix is not without contemporary musical comment on current – or at least recent – events. Most notably, this is the year Alan Lomax sat down with Woody Guthrie and had him expound at length about the horrors of the dust bowl. The resultant recordings formed the basis of his 1940 collection Dust Bowl Ballads, an evocation of a time and place of a sort we haven’t really had before. This is also the year of John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath, Ed Murrow’s London After Dark and Hitchcock’s Rebecca, lending the mix an unvarnished cinéma vérité feel, from time to time. The War Effort and the artifice of propaganda, at least from an American perspective, would not begin until 1942, and we have other troubles in 1941.

And yes, there is also a lot going on in jazz and rhythm and blues this year, but let’s talk more about that next time.

Tracklist

0:00:00 Leopold Stokowski – Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
(Clip of HG Wells interviewed by Orson Welles)
(Clip from The Philadelpia Story)
0:01:06 Woody Herman – The Golden Wedding
(Clip of Deems Taylor from Fantasia)
(Clip from A Case of Spring Fever)
(Clip of Roosevelt Speaking About Cancer Of Nazis And Aid To Britain)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1940)
0:03:48 The Florida Kid – Hitler Blues
(Clip of 1940-02-27 RSH Lord Haw Haw – British Minister Of Misinformation)
0:07:09 Duke Ellington & His Orchestra – Ko Ko
(Clip from How To Improve Immigrants’ English)
0:09:50 Abibu Oluwa & His Group – Layiwola Akande
(Clip from The Sea Hawk)
0:10:36 Jararaca E Ratinho – Sapo No Saco
0:12:45 Abbott & Costello – Who’s On First?
0:15:26 Earl Hines And His Orchestra – Boogie Woogie On St. Louis Blues
(Clip from Pinocchio)
0:18:18 Fats Waller – Everybody Loves My Baby
0:21:02 Andrews Sisters – Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar
(Clip from The Bank Dick)
0:22:52 Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – Pennsylvania 6-5000
(Clip from The Philadelpia Story)
0:26:13 Will Bradley Trio – Down The Road A Piece
0:29:20 Tommy Mcclennan – Whiskey Head Man
0:31:23 Meade Lux Lewis – Honky Tonk Train Blues
(Clip from Strange Cargo)
0:35:34 Bukka White – Special Stream Line
(Clip from The Grapes of Wrath)
0:40:04 Woody Guthrie – Lost Train Blues
0:42:23 Woody Guthrie – Breathing In Dust (Speech)
0:44:28 Woody Guthrie – Talkin’ Dust Bowl Blues
0:47:02 Woody Guthrie – The End of The World (Speech)
0:48:19 Woody Guthrie – Blowin’ Down This Road
0:51:19 Woody Guthrie – Migrants Arrive in California (Speech)
0:53:00 Woody Guthrie – Do Re Mi
0:56:00 Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Special Delivery Stomp
0:58:38 Norman McLaren – Dots

(Clip from H.G. Wells and Orson Welles interview. Radio KTSA San Antonio on October 28, 1940)
1:00:04 Leopold Stokowski – Rite Of Spring
(Clip – Wyndham Lewis – end of enemy interlude)
(Clip from H.G. Wells and Orson Welles interview. Radio KTSA San Antonio on October 28, 1940)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1940)
(Clip of 1940-04-09 RSH Lord Haw Haw – Denmark & Norway Part 2)
(Clip from A Case Of Spring Fever)
(Clip from 1940-05-11 news)
(Clip of Winston Churchill – Speech to Parliament 13 May 1940)
(Clip of Winston Churchill – first radio address as prime minister – May 19, 1940)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1940)
(Clip from 1940-05-28 RSH Lord Haw Haw – Holland & Belgium Invaded)
(Clip of Raymond Massey as Abe Lincoln in Illinois)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1940)
(Clip from 1940-06-03 News with Elmer Davis)
(Clip of 1940-06-04 Winston Churchill – We Shall Never Surrender)
1:22:12 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra – Die Götterdämmerung
(Clip of 1940-06-10 Mussolini Speech)
(Clip of Winston Churchill – Address to the nation on the RAF)
1:23:55 Emanuel Feuermann With The Philadelphia Orchestra Conducted By Leopold Stokowski – Bloch’s Schelomo
(Clip of 1940-06-20 News with Elmer Davis)
(Clip of 1940-07-04 Arthur Mann)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1940)
(Clip of 1940-07-14 – BBC – Gardner Dogfight Over England)
(Clip of BBC News plus actual air raid on London 1940)
(Clip of 1940-08-20 Winston Churchill – House of Commons – The Few)
(Clip of 1940-07-04 Arthur Mann)
(Clip of Radio Broadcast, London After Dark – Aug 24, 1940)
(Clip of Albert Einstein Interview)
1:42:22 Benny Goodman – Bela Bartok , Contrasts Iii – Sebes

(Clip from BBC – It’s That Man Again – Tommy Handley)
1:45:10 Flanagan & Allen – There’s A Boy Coming Home On Leave
(Clip from My Favorite Wife)
1:47:53 Sam Castandet Et Son Orchestre Antillais – La Rue Zabyme
(Clip of Jerry Siegel – Radio Interview)
1:50:41 Harry James & Orchestra – Flight Of The Bumble Bee
1:52:26 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Rhythm Futur / Swing De Paris
(Clip from The Bank Dick)
1:54:26 Sidney Bechet – Bechet’s Steady Rider
1:56:50 Sidney Bechet – Dear Old Southland
(Clip of Abbott & Costello – Lion Hunting)
1:57:41 Benny Goodman Sextet – Sheik Of Araby
(Clip of Abbott & Costello – Lion Hunting)
2:01:06 Onitsha Native Orchestra – Angelina
2:04:02 Southern Wonder Quartet – I Am A Pilgrim
(Clip from The Letter)
2:06:12 Artie Shaw Orchestra – Gloomy Sunday
(Clip from Rebecca)
2:10:24 Slavi Velev – Kitka Horo
(Clip of F. Scott Fitzgerald reading Shakespeare)
2:12:06 Babaka – Na Dulga Sofra
2:14:53 Lil Green – Romance In The Dark
(Clip from Suspense – The Lodger)
2:18:35 Louis Armstrong – You’ve Got Me Voodoo’d
(Clip from The Letter)
2:21:40 Billie Holiday And Her Orchestra – The Man I Love
(Clip from Primrose Path)
2:24:44 Ray Noble & His Orchestra – Harlem Nocturne
(Clip from The Thief of Bagdad)
2:28:28 Fisk University Jubilee Singers – Blow, Gabriel, Blow
2:29:54 Ink Spots – Whispering Grass
2:32 Tommy Dorsey (Vocal – Frank Sinatra) – We Three (My Echo My Shadow And Me)
2:35:32 Edith Piaf – L’accordeoniste
(Clip from How To Improve Immigrants’ English)
2:40:15 Quintette Du Hot Club De France Avec Alix Combelle – Les Yeux Noirs
(Clip from How To Improve Immigrants’ English)
2:42:27 Big Joe – If You Take Me Back
2:44:19 Big Bill Broonzy – Midnight Steppers
(Clip from Our Town)
2:46:03 Lead Belly – The Midnight Special
2:48:57 Tampa Red – It Hurts Me Too

2:50:07 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Bob Wills Special
2:52:19 Jimmie Davis – You Are My Sunshine
2:54:05 Adolph Hofner & His Texans – Sam, The Old Accordion Man
2:56:40 Judy Garland & Mickey Rooney – Hollywood Christmas Parade 1940
2:58:08 Al Bowlly – Over The Rainbow
3:00:11 Geraldo (Vocal Dorothy Carless) – I Can’t Love You Any More (Than I Do)
3:02:16 Lionel Hampton – Flying Home
(Clip from The Philadelphia Story)
3:05:32 Dinah Shore – Mood Indigo
(Clip from The Long Voyage Home)
3:07:39 Roswell Sacred Harp Singers – White
3:08:48 The Carter Family – Black Jack David
(Clip from Christmas in July)
3:10:30 Luís Americano – Tocando Pra Você
3:11:57 Carmen Miranda – Bruxinha De Pano (+ Almirante)
3:14:28 Los Cadetes Del Swing – Besame Mucho
3:16:39 杉井幸一 – 九連環
3:19:44 Gus Viseur & Son Orchestre – Rosetta
3:20:54 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Cou-Cou
(Clip from A Case of Spring Fever)
3:23:33 Hans Busch Orchester – Student Geht Vorbei
3:24:49 Ken Snakehips Johnson (Vocal – Al Bowlly) – It Was A Lover And His Lass
3:26:59 Jazz Gillum – Key To The Highway
3:28:26 Brownie Mcghee – Back Door Stranger
(Clip from His Girl Friday)
3:29:59 Don Redman – Chant Of The Weed
3:32:47 Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – Cotton Tail
3:35:53 Ida Cox – You Got To Swing And Sway
(Clip from All This, And Heaven Too)
3:36:48 Gamelan Musicians Of Yogyakarta, Java – Babarlajar Mataram
3:39:47 Kirishima Noboru & Kikuchi Akiko – Soshuu Yakyoku
3:43:00 Hot Lips Page, Herbie Fields, Donald Lambert et al. – I’m In The Mood For Love

(Clip from John F Kennedy’s First Recorded Interview – 1940 on KROC AM in Rochester, MN)
3:45:35 Leopold Stokowski – The Nutcracker Suite, Op.71a Arabian Dance
(Clip from 1940-09-15 BBC 175 German Aircraft Destroyed)
(Clip from 1940-09-20 CBS – European News)
3:38:34 Leigh Harline – Lesson In Lies
(Clip from Santa Fe Trail)
3:50:12 Jascha Heifetz, Arturo Toscanini & Nbc Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven’s Violin Concerto In D Major, Op. 61
(Clip of 1940-10-05 BBC Robin Duff – in Air Raid Shelter)
(Clip of 1940-10-13 BBC Princess Elizabeth & Margaret – Speak To Evacuated Children)
(Clip of 1940-10-15 BBC – Blitz Emergency Services)
(Clip from Do You Carry Your Gas Mask?)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1940)
3:54:26 Leopold Stokowski – A Night On Bald Mountain
(Clip from 1940-11-15 BBC – Coventry Loudspeaker Announcement)
(Clip from 1940-11-15 BBC Very Reverend RT Howard – Coventry Cathedral Destroyed)
(Clip from 1940-12-31 BBC Herbert Morrison – Minister For Home Security)
(Clip from 1940-xx-xx BBC – Girl Tells Of Bomb Shelters)
(Clip from 1940-12-20 BBC Robin Duff – Sees London Burning)
4:01:35 Beniamino Gigli – Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana Siciliana
(Clip from Mr Joseph P Kennedy Says Au Revior)
(Clip from Roosevelt Speaking About Cancer Of Nazis And Aid To Britain)
(Clip from Siege!)
4:04:23 Leigh Harline – Desolation Theme
(Clip from Santa Fe Trail)
(Clip from Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse Newsreel)
(Clip from Foreign Correspondent)
4:07:22 Ink Spots – Do I Worry?
(Clip from They Drive By Night)
4:10:15 Charlie Chaplin – Speech from The Great Dictator
4:13:36 Leopold Stokowski – Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
(Clip from Princesses Elizabeth & Margaret Address the Children of Britain)

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. This is one of the four hours in the full version of Centuries of Sound 1939
To get the whole mix as a podcast, and a load of other extras, sign up for five dollars per month at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

An hour-long soundscape of the first five months of the second world war.

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. This is one of the four hours in the full version of Centuries of Sound 1939To get the whole mix as a podcast, and a load of other extras, sign up for five dollars per month at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound MP3 preview download … Continue reading "1939 Preview – War"

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Audio historian DJ James Errington takes you on another time travel adventure, this time to hear some original sounds from 1907, including some wonderful stuff from Enrico Caruso, a few original vaudeville routines and some very premature Christmas cheer.

Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month, please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS Audio historian DJ James Errington takes you on another time travel adventure, this time to hear some original sounds from 1907, including some wonderful stuff from Enrico Caruso, a few original vaudeville routines and some very premature Christmas cheer. Centuries of … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #15 – 1907"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 4.5-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show … Continue reading "1939"

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A decade ago, researching another project, I found myself listening to oral histories of the second world war, interviews with people who were children during The Blitz. Their memories, surprisingly, included admissions that they had found the experience to be an exciting one, playing in a semi-ruined, semi-abandoned city. This was the inspiration for a novel (which I think will never be ready for release, no great loss there) – but is it useful as a picture to paint of the time? It challenges a popular perspective, but does it just do this by introducing another, equally unbalanced one?

British culture is awash with unreal memory of the second world war. Popular entertainment of the time has already been forgotten – for those who were born in the decades to follow, the stiffness, forced jollity and now-obscure references make it hard to connect with Arthur Askey or Tommy Handley – but the “blitz spirit,” the never-issued “keep calm and carry on” poster and a whole industry of Hitler-based comedy remain cultural touchstones. It’s in this spirit that nostalgic collages of the time are assembled – plucky Londoners going about their business cut to the post-war orchestral recording of Vera Lynn singing “We’ll Meet Again” This recording seems to hold much less in the way of restless ghosts than the contemporary version with Vera backed by Arthur Young on the Novachord (one of the world’s first synthesisers) – but the goal of nostalgia is always to comfort.

Perhaps the best way to address this time is by starting in the manner of the documentary series The World At War (still close to definitive nearly 50 years after its release) which opens with a deadpan monotone describing the arbitrary massacre and destruction of an entire village. It’s an act of genuine courage to present some of the worst horrors immediately, challenging the viewers to only keep watching if they are ready for more of this – no glory or heroism, no warm glow, just unspeakable horror, and only an ambiguous way for the horror to be eventually stopped.

I am – thankfully! – not making a documentary about the second world war, but, all the same, the idea of a sound collage of 1939 leaving it out entirely is a ridiculous one. If I layer pop songs of the time behind news clips, then all I am doing is dulling them of all meaning, folding them into this insulting nostalgic view. Equally, if I put stirring, positive music behind political speeches, is that not a tacit endorsement for their place in history? Is it my place to present Churchill, for example, as a hero? And yet I cannot steer clear of manipulation entirely. For the most part I have tried to give news reports and speeches space to breathe, using classical recordings which are less time-bound than pop or jazz, but when I needed to adopt a palette, the flavours were sadness and hope.

But I’m afraid I’ve been leading you down the garden path a little here. This is a four and a half hour long mix (!) and the second world war doesn’t really make an appearance until the last hour. While Europe and East Asia spent the year either at war or in anticipation of war, for the rest of the world, other things were on the agenda. This is the year that swing starts to really split – the smoother styles, more acceptable by white society, were becoming codified in the “Big Bands” of Glenn Miller, Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Band leaders like Louis Jordan and instrumentalists like Pete Johnson were taking inspiration from blues to create an upbeat kind of stripped-down jazz, which would soon be labelled “rhythm & blues”, “jump blues” and eventually “rock & roll”. Then there were the swing pioneers, looking to break down ideas about rhythm and melody, big names like Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington who were kicking off what would soon become “Bebop”. It’s a genuinely exciting time for music, and three and a half hours seemed, if anything, not enough to give a real feel of all these ideas in the air.

Of all the recordings featured here, however, the two most notable fit neither into the war, nor the developments in swing. Solomon Linda & The Evening Birds improvised “Mbube” in the only recording studio in Sub-Saharan Africa one day in 1939 – while the song is best-known these days for its adaptation “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, this belies its importance for generations of African musicians. Then there is Billie Holiday’s recording of “Strange Fruit” – the only pre-50s recording in Rolling Stone’s new top 500 tracks of all time. It’s more than I can do to write about it, and even mixing it seemed crude and insulting, instead it sits on its own at the heart of this mix.

Tracklist

0:00:00 Victor Young – Prelude
(Clip from BBC Winston Churchill – Ten Weeks Of War)
(Clip from The Voder – Homer Dudley Bell Labs)
0:00:38 Harry James – Here Comes The Night
(Clip from 1939-09-03 BBC Places Of Entertainment To Be Closed)
0:01:32 Solomon Linda & The Evening Birds – Mbube
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
0:04:33 Betty Hutton – Ol’ Man Mose
(Clip from Gone With The Wind)
0:07:16 Glenn Miller – In The Mood
0:10:49 Al Donahue – In The Mood (Paula Kelly, Vocal)
(Clip from Ninotchka)
0:11:31 Carmen Miranda – Mama Eu Quero
0:13:27 Fats Waller – Ain’t Misbehavin’
(Clip from The Women)
0:17:24 Art Tatum – Tea For Two
(Clip from Gone With The Wind)
0:19:54 Lionel Hampton – Central Avenue Breakdown
(Clip from Young Mr Lincoln)
0:23:01 Pete Johnson – Let ’em Jump
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
0:26:31 Billie Holiday – Some Other Spring
(Clip from 1939-03-08 BBC Gas Mask Drill)
(Clip from A.R.P. – Gas All Clear (Handbells))
0:29:40 Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith – Echoes Of Spring
(Clip from 1939-03-15 BBC Chamberlain After Czech Invasion)

0:32:07 Duke Ellington – Sergeant Was Shy
(Clip from Only Angels Have Wings)
0:34:47 Xavier Cugat – One Two Three Kick Conga
(Clip from Ninotchka)
0:36:24 The Manhattan Brothers – Thaba Tseu
(Clip from Gone With The Wind)
0:39:12 Raymond Scott – Oil Gusher
(Clip from Bachelor Mother)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
(Clip from The Cup Final 1939)
0:41:24 Benny Goodman Sextet – Flyin’ Home
0:44:35 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Ida Red
0:46:52 The Carter Family – Hello Stranger
(Clip from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
0:48:59 Grigoraș Dinicu – Hora Lui Ion Dinicu Și Sârbă Lui Tanţi
(Clip from General Franco in Barcelona)
0:50:09 Sexteto Flores – Un Besito No Mas
(Clip from Hollywood Hobbies)
0:53:31 Artie Shaw – Begin The Beguine
(Clip from Philo T Farnsworth – The Birth of Television)
0:55:27 Carl Stalling – Good Egg
(Clip from Beau Geste)
0:55:53 Hoosier Hot Shots – Like A Monkey Likes Cocoanuts
(Clip from Dodge City)
0:57:50 Cats And The Fiddle – I Miss You So
(Clip from La Règle du Jeu)

1:00:22 Charles Trenet – Mam’zelle Clioénilmontant
(Clip from Le Jour se lève)
1:03:51 Georgius – Sur La Route De Pen-Zac
(Clip from La Règle du Jeu)
1:05:31 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Younger Generation
(Clip from The Voder – Homer Dudley Bell Labs)
1:07:59 Gus Viseur – Swing 39
(Clip from Lou Gehrig – Farewell To Baseball)
1:10:43 John Kirby – Effervescent Blues
1:12:29 Andy Kirk – Twinklin’
(Clip of Dr James Naismith – Creator Of Basketball In Rare Interview)
(Clip from Eve Ad 2000)
(Clip from Blondie Dagwood – Dagwoods New Suit)
1:15:60 Count Basie Orchestra – You Can Depend On Me
(Clip from Blondie Dagwood – Dagwoods New Suit)
1:19:14 Bud Freeman – The Eel
1:20:39 Lead Belly – Poor Howard / Green Corn
(Clip from Drums Along the Mohawk)
(Clip from Goodbye Mr Chips)
1:23:45 Ari Barroso, Lamartine Babo – No Rancho Fundo
(Clip from Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney – 1939 newsreel footage)
1:25:47 King Radio – It’s The Rhythm We Want
(Clip from Midnight)
1:28:28 Ink Spots – If I Didn’t Care
(Clip from Confessions of a Nazi Spy)

1:32:08 Lagos Mozart Orchestra – Esan Inyong Ikide
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
1:34:07 Flanagan & Allen – Nice People
(Clip of WC Fields in You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man)
1:35:56 杉井幸一 – おけさ節
(Clip from Son of Frankenstein Trailer)
1:37:23 Carl Stalling – Rubber Dog
1:37:39 Judy Garland – The Jitterbug
(Clip from Blondie Dagwood – Dagwood’s New Suit)
1:39:03 Raymond Scott – Bumpy Weather Over Newark
(Clip from Bachelor Mother)
(Clip from The Voder – Homer Dudley Bell Labs)
(Clip from Breakfast Pals)
1:40:07 Ramblers – Drie Kleine Vischjes (Vocal – Wim Poppink)
1:41:02 Kay Kyser – Three Little Fishies
(Clip from Hollywood Hobbies)
1:42:42 Louis Armstrong – Jeepers Creepers
(Clip of James Hilton discussing his Goodbye Mr Chips – CBS Radio Interview)
1:44:45 Patricia Rossborough – Sunrise Serenade
1:46:09 Thaton Ba Hein – Taw Hnit Taung Swe
(Clip from Intermezzo)
1:48:08 Sukru Tunar – Cifte Telli
(Clip from Ninotchka)
1:51:08 Joe Turner & Pete Johnson – Roll ’em Pete
1:52:55 Sonny Boy Williamson – Good Gravy
(Clip from Midnight)
1:54:31 Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five – Keep A-Knockin’ (But You Can’t Come In)
(Clip from Gone With The Wind)
1:56:20 Lionel Hampton And His Orchestra – Denison Swing
(Clip from Stagecoach)
1:59:36 Gene Autry – Back In The Saddle Again
(Clip from Drums Along the Mohawk)

2:01:42 Ida Cox – Death Letter Blues
(Clip of Lincoln’s cross examination from Young Mr Lincoln)
2:03:21 Jelly Roll Morton – Oh Didn’t He Ramble (+ Sidney Bechet)
2:06:10 Sister Rosetta Tharpe – This Train
(Clip from In Name Only)
2:08:45 Mills Brothers – Georgia On My Mind
(Clip from Destry Rides Again)
2:11:38 Sidney Bechet Quintet – Summertime
2:15:26 Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit
2:18:47 Perihan Altindag And Rakim Elkutlu – Ne Bahar Kaldi Ne Gul
2:20:43 Hanende Agyazar Efendi – Kessik Kerem
2:22:05 Tommy Dorsey – Dawn On The Desert
(Clip from Philo T Farnsworth – The Birth of Television)
(Clip from Ninotchka)
(Clip from The Man In The Iron Mask)
(Clip from Mr Smith Goes to Washington)
2:24:35 Johnny Hodges (Ellington) – Dooji Wooji
(Clip from Only Angels Have Wings)
2:27:17 Coleman Hawkins – Body And Soul

2:30:14 Larry Clinton; Bea Wain – Deep Purple
(Clip from Gone with the Wind)
2:32:30 Chick Webb – Undecided
(Clip from Swing Dance In Secret)
2:35:46 Coleman Hawkins – Fine Dinner
(Clip from Midnight)
2:38:15 Carmen Miranda – South American Way
2:40:02 Dorival Caymmi – O Que É Que A Baiana Tem
2:43:00 Francisco Alves – Aquarela Do Brasil
2:44:59 The Growler – Trinidad Loves To Play Carnival
(Clip from Rules of the Game)
2:47:33 The Atilla – La Reine Maribone
2:49:26 Cab Calloway & His Orchestra – The Jumping Jive
(Clip from Ninotchka)
2:51:36 Bram Martin – Chopsticks (Vocal – Bob Howard)
(Clip from The Women)
2:52:38 Slim Gaillard – Matzoh Balls
2:54:45 George Formby – Sweet Sue, Just You
2:56:06 Arthur Askey – The Worm
2:58:11 Flanagan & Allen – Run, Rabbit, Run

3:00:53 Johnny & Jones – We Hoeven Niet Te Hamsteren
3:02:48 Andrews Sisters – Beer Barrel Polka
(Clip from The Voder – Homer Dudley Bell Labs)
3:05:05 Pyi Hla Pe – Shwe-Tanga
3:07:54 Will Bradley Trio – Down The Road A Piece
(Clip from Lou Gehrigs 1939 Radio Interview While at the Mayo Clinic on 1340 KROC AM)
3:10:57 Fats Waller – Your Feet’s Too Big
3:13:59 Rex Stewart (Ellington) – Fat Stuff Serenade
(Clip from Machine Made Voices)
3:15:52 See There Singing Band Kumasi – Anoma Oreko
3:17:52 Be Sackey’s Band Of Appam – Nkyrinna
3:18:41 Kpagon Band Accra – Ba Wo Ni Aya Ye
3:20:43 Lead Belly – Fannin Street
3:22:25 Pete Johnson – Barrelhouse Breakdown
(Clip from The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
3:24:00 Andy Kirk And His Twelve Clouds Of Joy – Floyd’s Guitar Blues
3:27:05 Edward Heyman & The Les Paul Trio – Out Of Nowhere
3:29:56 Stéphane Grapelli – Baby

3:32:36 Glenn Miller – Moonlight Serenade
(Clip from Of Mice and Men)
(Clip from Goodbye Mr Chips)
3:37:09 Debutantes & MGM Studio Orchestra – Optimistic Voices
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
3:38:02 MGM Studio Orchestra- March Of The Winkies
(Clip from 1939-08-27 BBC Czech Ambassador In London On Poland Situation)
3:39:08 Toscanini, NBC Orchestra – Beethoven 3 Symph. Funeral March
(Clip from 1939-08-28 – CBS Coverage on the Eve of WWII)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
(Clip from 1939-08-31 BBC Alvar Liddell Reports On German 16 Point Plan)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
(Clip from 1939-09-01 State Of Armed Conflict With Poland)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
3:42:40 Pablo Casals – Bach No. 5 In C Minor – I- Prelude (Adagio – Allegro Moderato)
(Clip from 1939-09-01 BBC Alvar Liddell Reports The Invasion Of Poland)
(Clip from 1939-09-01 BBC Ignace Paderewski On The War Looming Before Poland)
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
(Clip from 1939-09-03 BBC Britain Declares War On Germany)
(Clip from 1939-09-03 BBC Prime Minister Chamberlain Declares War On Germany)
3:46:24 Max Steiner – The Death Of Melanie
(Clip from 1939-09-03 BBC King George VI Addresses The Nation)
(Clip from 1939-09-03 BBC Places Of Entertainment To Be Closed)
3:50:30 Toscanini, NBC Orchestra – Beethoven 3 Symph. Funeral March
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
3:53:05 Django Reinhardt – Echoes Of Spain
(Clip from 1939-09-01 BBC Alvar Liddell Reports On Evacuation Of Children)
(Clip from 1939-09-01 BBC S J de Lotbiniére Reports Further On Evacuation)
(Clip from 1939-09-01 BBC S J de Lotbiniére Reports Train Now Leaving)
3:54:22 Bert Ambrose – Nasty Uncle Adolf (Vocal – Jack Cooper)
(Clip from 1939-09-10 BBC Evacuee Message To Parents)
3:56:50 Judy Garland – Over The Rainbow
(Clip from 1939-10-13 BBC Children’s Hour Broadcast By Princess Elizabeth)

4:00:04 Art Tatum – Over The Rainbow
4:00:27 MGM Studio Orchestra – Terrified Lion
(Clip from Adolf Hitler – Speech – 1939-09-22 – Poland and it’s imminent defeat)
4:01:01 Max Steiner – Soldiers In Retreat
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
4:02:20 Toscanini, NBC Orchestra – Beethoven 3 Symph. Funeral March
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
4:03:17 Pablo Casals – Bach No. 4 In E Flat – I- Prelude (Allegro Maestoso)
(Clip from 1939-10-01 BBC Winston Churchill – The First Month of the War)
4:05:27 Golden Eagle Gospel Singers – A Warrior On The Battlefield
4:08:02 Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – Precious Lord
4:10:33 Roland Hayes – ‘Roun’ ‘Bout De Mountain
4:11:59 Duke Ellington – Informal Blues
(Clip from 1939-10-15 (BBC Richard Dimbleby) By a French Road)
4:14:21 Art Tatum – Deep Purple
(Clip from 1939-11-11 BBC Queen Elizabeth – Fortitude Of Women)
4:17:35 John Kirby – Dawn On The Desert
4:20:21 Django Reinhardt – Echoes Of Spain
(Clip from Review of the Year 1939)
4:21:39 Victor Young – The Scroll And The Storm
(Clip from 1939-12-18 BBC Winston Churchill – The Sinking Of The Graf Spee)
(Clip from HM King George VI – The Royal Christmas Message of 1939)
4:23:58 Lale Andersen – Lili Marlen
(Clip from HM King George VI – The Royal Christmas Message of 1939)
4:27:39 Vera Lynn – We’ll Meet Again (Novachord – Arthur Young)
(Clip from The Roaring Twenties)

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. This is one of the ten chapters in the full version of Centuries of Sound 1938
To get the whole mix as a podcast, and a load of other extras, sign up for five dollars per month at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

One of the worst crimes of the nostalgia business is to transform the worst traumas our civilization has suffered into light entertainment, and for this reason I didn’t feel it appropriate to mix coverage of Hitler’s rise with any sort of jazz. Instead, the events of late 1938 – the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Munich peace conference, the triumphant hubris of Neville Chamberlain and, it turns out, the British and international media – seem to fit better with the more sombre classical music recorded this year.

For all the creative energy released in 1938, it is ultimately a year remembered for its complacency, not just that of the British government, but from a western world which feels it is through the worst, while a “quarrel in a far away country, between people of whom we know nothing” is not something worth worrying about. Next year we will see that focus being sharply pulled.

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. This is one of the ten chapters in the full version of Centuries of Sound 1938To get the whole mix as a podcast, and a load of other extras, sign up for five dollars per month at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound MP3 preview download … Continue reading "1938 Preview – The Munich Crisis"

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Another journey back in time with James Errington bringing you original historic recordings, this time from 1906, the year of the San Francisco earthquake. We have a brace of songs from the brilliant Bert Williams, plenty of music hall and vaudeville, and a performance of Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag from Sousa’s Band.

Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month, please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS Another journey back in time with James Errington bringing you original historic recordings, this time from 1906, the year of the San Francisco earthquake. We have a brace of songs from the brilliant Bert Williams, plenty of music hall and vaudeville, … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #14 – 1906"

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Certainly the most famous episode of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Orson Wells’ adaptation of H.G. Wells’ (no relation) science fiction novel caused a scandal on broadcast when it allegedly caused panicked listeners to flee to the hills. The people actually fleeing or even complaining in vast numbers appear to have been an invention of some sort, certainly the main change when the dust settled was that Orson Wells was now well-known nationwide and able to pick up his first directing work, and I’m sure everyone knows what that is. From my POV the most interesting thing about War of the Worlds is the way it combines fantastic elements with an imitation of a standard radio programme with breaks for a live broadcast of light music. Here we have most of the first half of the drama, with the music swapped for more interesting lighter dance music from 1938, plenty of it from the UK, and at least some of it re-used later by Leyland Kirkby for his The Caretaker project.

00:00 Raymond Scott Quintette – The Happy Farmer
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
00:57 Russ Morgan – What Do You Know About Love
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
02:47 Leslie Hutchinson – It’s De Lovely
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
04:11 Geraldo – You’re As Pretty As A Picture
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
09:00 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Pray For The Lights To Go Out
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
12:17 Harry Roy – Highland Swing (Vocal – Ray Ellington)
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
19:02 Unknown Mahafaly – Flute Solo (Ampanihy, Madagascar)
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
21:05 Prof. Anukul Ch. Das – Piano Instrumental- Ramprasad Sen
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
25:20 Bruno Walter & Wiener Philharmoniker – Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
33:37 Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Nightmare
(Clips from Orson Welles Press Conference)

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. This is one of the ten chapters in the full version of Centuries of Sound 1938To get the whole mix as a podcast, and a load of other extras, sign up for five dollars per month at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound MP3 preview download … Continue reading "1938 Preview – War of The Worlds"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3.5-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show … Continue reading "1938"

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Ten stories from 1938

Part One – The Famous Carnegie Hall Concert

1938 opens with perhaps the most famous Jazz concert of all time. Every five years it is my duty to report that “Jazz has gone mainstream” but this might really be it – never before has the genre been so accepted as a national music across spectra of race and class, and after a brief plateau, it’s all going to splinter and decline (commercially – certainly not artistically!) from this point on. The concert at Carnegie Hall January 16th was held by Benny Goodman – a clarinettist and band leader who looked, and dressed, like a befuddled office clerk in a Howard Hawks movie – and an all-star ensemble. Goodman had already been recording in a trio with drummer Gene Krupa, pianist Teddy Wilson, and a quartet also featuring Lionel Hampton, and took the opportunity to massively expand on this with every other big name of the day. It’s hard to convey the novelty of a racially-integrated jazz act playing in public at all, let alone in Carnegie Hall. Such a thing would have been completely unthinkable even five years earlier.

Much like Paul Whiteman’s 1924 concert which introduced Rhapsody in Blue, the show began with a history of jazz – this time with a marginally more accurate starting point of the “dixieland” era of the early 20s. Then through the two hours the pace began to build with a number of special guests, including the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras, until finally the Goodman Quartet blitzed through their hits. The program had been wisely planned, with muted reception for the first half an hour winding up to demands for several encores at the end. Three recordings were made, two acetates and one set of aluminium discs – this may seem like a minor detail, but it has been important to the making of this mix because the lower-fidelity acetates were the source for the 1950 LP of the concert, and the CD version currently available is a direct rip from the higher-fidelity aluminium master, which archivist Phil Schaap put together in the late 1990s, and which I find to be almost unlistenable because he apparently refused to do any kind of restoration work, resulting in scraping and hissing noises being present through most of the two CDs. For this mix, then, I have combined the two versions, adding extra fidelity to sections of the old record and doing mostly eq-based noise reduction on the CD version. It still isn’t perfect, but right now it’s the best sound you’re going to get.

Part Two – Countless Blues

The late thirties, after the death of Robert Johnson, is one of the least-heralded eras for the blues – but it really shouldn’t be. Half a decade before jazz artists started playing jump blues, here we are with electric guitars, boogie-woogie rhythms and dance arrangements. Call it one of the many births of rock & roll if you like – there’s certainly a great deal here which wouldn’t feel out of place in the fifties, Georgia slide blues from Tampa Red and Georgia White, Chicago blues from Washboard Sam, Piedmont blues from Blind Boy Fuller and proto-R&B from Big Bill Broonzy and Jazz Gillum.

Part Three – Mein Rhythmus

A European tour, starting in the music halls of England, then Finnish accordion, Romanian violin and German dance bands, before settling down into a five-track exploration of French singers. Charles Trenet gives us one last taste of optimism before the events of 1939, Edith Piaf on the other hand, has a military song. Rina Ketty, an Italian, sings “J’attendrai” (“I will wait”), a translation of an Italian song, which later became emblematic of World War II, summing up the anxious longing of women awaiting the safe return of their sons and husbands from the war. Deanna Durbin was another immigrant to France, though luckily for her she was still in Hollywood at this point – and there’s Marie-Jacques Renée “Jacotte” Perrier, aged only 13, performing with the Hot Club De France – we will be hearing more from them in time. We finish our European tour with Johnny & Jones, Jewish jazz-pop artists from Amsterdam, both of whom would sadly become some of the final victims of the Holocaust.

Part Four – Algiers

This selection of Middle-Eastern and African music begins in Bulgaria, before moving on to Turkey (including Turkish-Armenian oud virtuoso Udi Hrant) and Algerian singer Cheikh Zouzou. The 1938 movie Algiers (a remake of 1937 French film Pépé le Moko) depicted a fantasied version of the native quarter of Algiers known as the Casbah – while it is certainly guilty of exoticism, and possibly a lot worse, the film is notable for bringing Hedy Lamarr to the attention of American audiences. The African section features Africans in Brasil, recorded by Mário de Andrade, and East African and Nigerian recordings about which I can find very little information – please let me know if you have anything on these artists.

Part Five – Vitalogy

A tour around the Caribbean and elsewhere, we start with Carmen Miranda, perhaps the biggest star ever to come from Brasil’s Samba scene – she would move to the USA and begin her screen career the following year. Off then to Cuba, with “Guantanamera,” perhaps the best-known song from the island, with lyrics by the Cuban poet José Martí and music by Joseíto Fernández, and another adaptation of Son music by Xavier Cugat for the American public. We have a trio of recordings from Trinidad, where Portuguese music promotor Sa Gomes is doing his best to support, record and promote the genre – one track from Carnival’s Vagabonds is a tribute to the man himself – and a little Hawaiian music, now finally fading away from the popularity and influence it has had for the last two decades.

Part Six – Stepping Into Swing Society

The first of two overviews of Swing in 1938, this one begins with some gospel music and preaching (of course this is not swing, but bear with me) in order to introduce “Reverend Sachmo” who kicks off some of the hotter jazz selections from the year. Famous names here include Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Chick Webb and Tommy Dorsey – the only slightly more obscure name is that of Pee Wee Russell. The chapter concludes with a few novelty swing records, from two different groups of Hot Shots and the Raymond Scott Quintette.

Part Seven – War of The Worlds

Certainly the most famous episode of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Orson Welles’ adaptation of H.G. Wells’ (no relation) science fiction novel caused a scandal on broadcast when it allegedly caused panicked listeners to flee to the hills. The people actually fleeing or even complaining in vast numbers appear to have been an invention of some sort, certainly the main change when the dust settled was that Orson Welles was now well-known nationwide and able to pick up his first directing work, and I’m sure everyone knows what that is. From my POV the most interesting thing about War of the Worlds is the way it combines fantastic elements with an imitation of a standard radio programme with breaks for a live broadcast of light music. Here we have most of the first half of the drama, with the music swapped for more interesting lighter dance music from 1938, plenty of it from the UK, and at least some of it re-used later by Leyland Kirkby for his The Caretaker project.

Part Eight – Did You Ever Milk A Cow?

Folk and country music has had as hard a time as country blues over the course of the great depression, but it is also finding ways to adapt to the new world. Some, like the Hackberry Rambers are working with a niche market, Some, like the Dezurik Sisters, are making as an extreme an impression as possible to grab as much attention as they can (despite being a fairly traditional yodelling record, “Arizona Yodeler” is one of the most out there things in the entire mix.) For the most part, however, this is a run-through of the early days of “western swing” – essentially just swing made by white musicians in the former wild west, with the horns sometimes (but not always) switched for fiddles, and, as of this year, electric guitars.

Part Nine – When The Sun Sets Down South

Drawing towards our conclusion, this chapter covers some of the more relaxed and vocal swing records of the year, including some of the biggest hits. Ella Fitzgerald adapted A-Tisket, A-Tasket from a nursery rhyme, and Count Basie joined in the fun with his “Stop Beatin’ ’round The Mulberry Bush” – selections from Billie Holiday are also notably relaxed and reassuring in tone, especially when compared to her recordings from 1939. It isn’t all smooth classics here, though. Django Reinhardt provides one of his most curious recordings, Sugii Kōichi has more Spanish-tinged Japanese lounge jazz, and Bob Haggart & Ray Bauduc play Big Noise From Winnetka, one of those records you’ve known all your life, but never knew the name.

Part Ten – Munich

Much of the time spent on this mix was dedicated to trying to judge the tone of this final section. I can’t promise that it has been done perfectly, but practice was needed, considering everything I will need to include on the next seven mixes. One of the worst crimes of the nostalgia business is to transform the worst traumas our civilization has suffered into light entertainment, and for this reason I didn’t feel it appropriate to mix coverage of Hitler’s rise with any sort of jazz. Instead, the events of late 1938 – the invasion of Czechoslovakia, the Munich peace conference, the triumphant hubris of Neville Chamberlain and, it turns out, the British and international media – seem to fit better with the more sombre classical music recorded this year.

Tracklist

Part One – The Famous Carnegie Hall Concert

0:00:00 Carl Stalling – Warner Brothers Intro
0:00:20 The Benny Goodman Orchestra – China Boy
(Clip from Pygmalion)
0:04:10 The Benny Goodman Orchestra – Dizzy Spells
0:08:33 The Benny Goodman Orchestra – Sing Sing Sing (With A Swing)
(Clip from You Can’t Take It With You)

Part Two – Countless Blues

(Clip from Review Of The Year)
0:13:02 Georgia White – The Blues Ain’t Nothin’ But…!!!
(Clip from Peg-Leg Pedro)
0:15:44 Big Bill Broonzy – Trucking Little Woman
(Clip from How To Undress In Front Of Your Husband)
0:17:10 Kansas City Six – Countless Blues
(Clip from The Shadow 38-02-13 The House Of Horror)
0:20:07 Bob Crosby – Honky Tonk Train Blues
(Clip from Andy Hardy)
0:22:01 Blind Boy Fuller – Step It Up And Go
(Clip from A Slight Case of Murder)
0:23:16 Tampa Red – Rock It In Rhythm
(Clip from Bringing Up Baby)
0:25:23 Jazz Gillum & His Jazz Boys – Reefer Head Woman
(Clip from How To Undress In Front Of Your Husband)
0:27:17 Washboard Sam – Don’t Leave Me Here
(Clip from La Bete Humaine)
(Clip from Four Daughters)
0:29:51 Blind Boy Fuller – Get Your Yas Yas Out
(Clip from Always Goodbye)
0:32:13 Hudson ‘Tampa Red’ Whittaker – Forgive Me Please

Part Three – Mein Rhythmus

(Clip from A Christmas Carol Trailer)
0:35:02 Tommy Trinder – I Don’t Do Things Like That
(Clip from Adele England – Chestnut Tree)
0:37:00 George Formby – In My Little Snapshot Album
(Clip from The King’s Speech)
0:38:56 Viola Turpeinen – Kahden Venheessä
(Clip from Kerensky interview)
0:40:14 Georges Boulanger – Tokay
(Clip from BBC Interview with Sigmund Freud)
0:42:14 Heinz Munsonius – Mein Rhythmus
0:43:30 Heinz Rühmann – Ich Brech Die Herzen Der Stolzesten Fraun
0:44:21 Charles Trenet – Boum!
0:46:13 Jacotte Perrier + Hot Club De France – Les Salades De L’ Oncle Francois
(Clip from La Femme du Boulanger)
0:48:25 Rina Ketty – J’ Attendrai
(Clip from Port of Shadows)
0:50:28 Edith Piaf – Le Fanion De La Legion
0:52:05 Deanna Durbin – Les Filles De Cadix
(Clip from Lou Bandy – Conference Vergeten)
0:53:18 Johnny & Jones – Lied Van Den Slangenbezweerder (Snake Charmer)

Part Four – Algiers

0:54:51 Vulkana Stoyanova – Dimo Na Rada
0:56:55 Udi Hrant – Kurdili Hicazkar Taksim
(Clip from “The Speech Of Ancient Egypt, 18th Dynasty”)
0:58:00 Cheikh Zouzou – Gheniet Ben Soussan, Pt. 7
(Clip from Algiers)
1:00:37 Kemani Haydar Tatliyay – Arap Oyun Havasi
1:02:09 Mário De Andrade – Instrumentos Do ‘Caboclinho Índios Africanos’
1:02:23 J.P. Nyangira – Hongo Owiti
1:04:28 Godwin Scotland – Adelebo Ilu Eko
(Clip from Algiers)

Part Five – Vitalogy

1:05:37 Carmen Miranda – Boneca De Pixe
(Clip from The Citadel)
1:07:05 Cuarteto Caney – Guajira Guantanamera
1:09:53 Xavier Cugat – La Paloma
(Clip from The Adventures of Robin Hood)
1:13:35 The Caresser – Clear The Way When The Bamboo Play
1:15:23 The Lion – Vitalogy
1:15:45 Carnival’s Vagabonds – We Want Sa Gomes
(Clip from Jezebel)
1:16:34 Mannie Klein’s Swing-A-Hula’s – Hoolihi Oe Ke Ike Mai

Part Six – Stepping Into Swing Society

(Clip from Angels With Dirty Faces)
1:20:17 Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – John The Revelator
1:21:22 Rev. Benny Campbell – You Must Be Born Again
1:22:43 Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra – When The Saints Go Marching In
(Clip from American Air Record – Interview With Pilot)
1:24:20 Pee Wee Russell – I’ve Found A New Baby
(Clip from Alexander’s Ragtime Band)
1:25:45 Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra – Downhome Jump
(Clip from The Sisters)
1:28:20 Duke Ellington – Stepping Into Swing Society
(Clip from Bringing Up Baby)
1:31:17 Tommy Dorsey – Boogie Woogie
(Clip from Bringing Up Baby)
1:33:21 Count Basie – Jumpin’ At The Woodside
(Clip from Mr Moto’s Gamble)
1:36:28 Chick Webb & His Orchestra – Harlem Congo
1:39:38 Joe Daniels Hot Shots – Limehouse Blues
(Clip from Too Hot To Handle – Trailer)
1:42:44 Hoosier Hot Shots – The Girl Friend Of The Whirling Dervish
(Clip from Bringing Up Baby)
1:45:04 Raymond Scott Quintette – The Happy Farmer

Part Seven – War of The Worlds

(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:48:03 Russ Morgan – What Do You Know About Love
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:49:53 Leslie Hutchinson – It’s De Lovely
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:51:18 Geraldo – You’re As Pretty As A Picture
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:56:06 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Pray For The Lights To Go Out
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
1:59:24 Harry Roy – Highland Swing (Vocal – Ray Ellington)
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
2:06:08 Unknown Mahafaly – Flute Solo (Ampanihy, Madagascar)
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
2:08:11 Prof. Anukul Ch. Das – Piano Instrumental- Ramprasad Sen
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
2:12:26 Bruno Walter & Wiener Philharmoniker – Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9
(Clip from War of the Worlds)
2:20:42 Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Nightmare
(Clips from Orson Welles Press Conference)

Part Eight – Did You Ever Milk A Cow?

(Clip from The Adventures of Robin Hood)
2:24:24 Hackberry Ramblers – Fais Pas Ca
(Clip from Adele England – Chestnut Tree)
2:26:06 Coon Creek Girls – Old Uncle Dudy (Keep Fiddling On)
(Clip from Merrily We Live)
2:28:30 The Monroe Brothers – Have A Feast Here Tonight
(Clip from Boys Town)
2:29:30 Dezurik Sisters – Arizona Yodeler
2:31:52 Cliff Bruner – When You’re Smiling
2:33:31 Light Crust Doughboys – Pussy Pussy Pussy
(Clip from Test Pilot)
2:37:05 Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans – Wabash Cannonball
(Clip from Holiday)
2:38:40 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Liza, Pull Down The Shades
(Clip from Mind The Doors)
2:41:12 Judy Garland – Cry Baby Cry

Part Nine – When The Sun Sets Down South

2:43:42 Count Basie – Stop Beatin’ ’round The Mulberry Bush
(Clip from AT&T – Operator)
2:45:38 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra – A-Tisket, A-Tasket
2:48:10 Sidney Bechet & Noble Sissle’s Swingsters – Blackstick
(Clip from Kerensky interview)
2:50:56 Duke Ellington – Pyramid (Part 2)
(Clip from Four Daughters)
2:54:09 Andy Kirk & Mary Lou Williams – Twinklin’
(Clip from You Can’t Take It With You)
2:56:40 Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra – Any Time At All
(Clip from CBS WBBM World Series Game 2 NY Yankees vs Chicago Cubs)
2:58:13 Django Reinhardt – Improvisation No. 2
(Clip from CBS WBBM World Series Game 2 NY Yankees vs Chicago Cubs)
(Clip from The Lady Vanishes)
3:00:18 Bob Haggart & Ray Bauduc – Big Noise From Winnetka
3:02:59 Sugii Kōichi – Kusatsu-bushi
(Clip from NBC ATMOTA – Is an Economic Plan for World Peace Available?)
3:05:21 Fats Waller – Waterboy
3:05:34 Django Reinhardt – Appel Indirect (Appel Direct)
(Clip from A Slight Case of Murder)
3:08:30 Noble Sissle’s Swingsters – When The Sun Sets Down South
3:11:33 Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra – When You’re Smiling
3:14:21 Hot Lips Page – Rock It For Me
3:17:10 Billie Holiday – You Go To My Head
(Clip from A Slight Case of Murder)

Part Ten – Munich

3:20:02 The Lord Executor – Poppy Day
(Clip from Inside Nazi Germany March of Time newsreel)
3:21:26 Pablo Casals – No. 1 In G – I- Prelude (Moderato)
(Clip from Inside Nazi Germany March of Time newsreel)
3:22:44 Pablo Casals – Dvorak Cello Concerto In B 03 Allegro Moderato
(Clip from Inside Nazi Germany March of Time newsreel)
(Clip from Inside Nazi Germany March of Time newsreel)
(Clip from 1938-02-03 NBC ATMOTA – What Does Democracy Mean?)
3:24:53 Bruno Walter & Wiener Philharmoniker – Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9
(Clip from Hitler In Vienna – British Pathé)
(Clip from German Propaganda Film)
(Clip from Winston Churchill – ‘We Must Arm’ Speech)
3:27:38 Herbert Von Karajan – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Ouvertüre Zu ‘die Zauberflöte’ (Excerpt 1)
(Clip from Review Of The Year)
(Clip from Peace Four Power Conference)
(Clip from Neville Chamberlain – Speech On His Return From The Munich Conference)
(Clip from Peace Four Power Conference)
3:30:17 NBC Symphony Orchestra – Adagio For Strings Op.11
(Clip from Adolf Hitler – on the occasion of the german occupation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia)
(Clip from 1938-12-01 NBC ATMOTA – Is an Economic Plan for World Peace Available?)
(Clip from 1938-12-08 NBC ATMOTA – How Should the Democracies Deal With the Dictatorships?)
3:35:03 Herbert Von Karajan – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Ouvertüre Zu ‘die Zauberflöte’ (Excerpt 2)
(Clip from Review Of The Year)
3:36:00 Flanagan & Allen – Umbrella Man
(Clip from You Can’t Take It With You)
3:38:36 Ella Logan – Adios Muchachos
3:40:12 Carl Stalling – Warner Brothers Outro
(Clip from Angels with Dirty Faces)

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS Another sonic adventure through time with James Errington, this time joined by guests Dominic, Joanne & Adam to listen to the sounds of 1905 and discuss such pressing topics as skeleton xylophones, the hubris of Dick Dastardly, melancholy in Spanish music, … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #13 – 1905"

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Another sonic adventure through time with James Errington, this time joined by guests Dominic, Joanne & Adam to listen to the sounds of 1905 and discuss such pressing topics as skeleton xylophones, the hubris of Dick Dastardly, melancholy in Spanish music, the latter-day lack of songs about bears in pop music and, for some reason, collared doves, which are definitely a type of pigeon.

Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month, please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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Recorded music has a centre of gravity, and it’s usually New York. Now and again, though, we have seen it temporarily shift – to New Orleans and to Chicago, and now, in one of the peak years of swing, we find ourselves in Paris, near to the closing moments of the Third Republic, with two Belgian-Romani guitarists, a French-Italian violin player, a French double-bass player and a French guitarist. This group of musicians recorded under a variety of names (and with a host of other musicians) but are best-remembered as Quintette du Hot Club de France.

The most well-known of this Quintette is almost certainly Django Reinhardt. Born to Romani-Belgian parents, Django played the guitar (initially a banjo-guitar) from the age of 12, but otherwise had little in the way of education. He was almost-completely illiterate until late into his life, and managed to spend a year in New York despite speaking no English. If that were not enough disadvantages to be dealing with, in 1928 he suffered severe burns after his caravan caught fire, and ended up spending 18 months in hospital, losing two of the fingers on his left hand. With only three fingers left to form chords, Django had to devise for himself an entirely new way to play the guitar. Inspired by Eddie Lang, the father of jazz guitar (sadly the two never played together as Lang died during a routine tonsillectomy in 1933) he was soon traveling throughout France, playing in any bar or club that could pay him. It was in one of these that he first met jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli.

I remember seeing Stéphane Grappelli on TV when I was very young, and was impressed enough to ask for an LP, which I did not really listen to. Nevertheless, it was my first introduction to jazz. Grapelli’s French mother died when he was five, and his Italian father was drafted into the army when he was six. He was passed first to Isadora Duncan’s dance school, then to a Dickensian orphanage, and only rescued when his father returned at the end of the war. Like Reinhardt, Grapelli had an instrument bought for him at the age of 12 – a violin bought by his father after pawning a suit – and while he did attend the the Conservatoire de Paris for a time, he was mostly self-taught. Aside from a short spell where he bafflingly shifted to piano, Grapelli’s life from the age of 15 was spent mostly playing violin professionally, first in a silent movie theatre, and after a few years in concerts put on by a student organisation for the promotion of jazz in France, the “Hot Club de France”

Reinhardt and Grapelli’s playing is still, 85 years later, without equal. Their antecedents are, naturally, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, but while that pair made some beautiful records, the way the Hot Club stretch this simple combination of instruments into such a vast array of styles, displaying such effortless virtuosity, well, it’s just breathtaking. Reinhard combines the melodies of Lang with the faster rhythms of Romani music, turning this formerly decorative, textual instument into the lead, the centre of the sound. At times his playing is dizzyingly avant-garde, but often also distinctly melodic in a very late-20th-century sort of way. Grapelli, meanwhile, grabs anything Reinhard throws at him, his improvisation described by Yehudi Menuhin as “like one of those jugglers who send 10 plates into the air and recovers them all.”

Well, I still haven’t written anything about Michel Warlop, or Josephine Baker, or Charles Trenet, or Rina Ketty, all recording in Paris this year, and yes, of course there was still a great deal going on elsewhere, and, well, you’ll just have to listen to find out.

January

0:00:00 Maurice Jaubert – Dream Sequence from Un Carnet De Bal
(Clip of Elizabeth Lomax)
(Clip from Double Wedding)
(Clip from On The Air)
0:00:52 Benny Goodman & his Orchestra – Sing, Sing, Sing
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
0:04:22 The Raymond Scott Quintette – Powerhouse
(Clip from 1937-01-05 NBC Opening Day of 75th Congress)
0:06:52 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Mystery Pacific
(Clip of NBC chimes)
0:08:52 The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – Found A Wonderful Savior
(Clip of 1937-01-18 CBS March of Time)
0:11:20 Xavier Cugat – Bim Bam Bum
(Clip of 1937-01-18 CBS March of Time)
0:13:26 Lionel Hampton And His Orchestra – China Stomp (Chinatown, My Chinatown)
(Clip of 1937-01-18 CBS March of Time)
0:16:15 Ivor Moreton & Dave Kaye – Polly & Nola
(Clip of 1937-01-27 WFBR Xmitting WSM – Flood Coverage)

February

0:19:11 Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – Caravan
(Clip from Orson Welles Screen test)
0:21:52 Django Reinhardt – Improvisation / Sweet Georgia Brown
(Clip from 1937-02-06 MBS Kay Kyser Live from the Trianon Ballroom Chicago)
0:26:56 Jimmie Lunceford – For Dancers Only
(Clip from On The Air)
0:28:40 Udi Hrant – Huzzam Taksim
(Clip from On The Air)
0:29:51 Vulkana Stoyanova – Dimo Na Rada
(Clip from 1937-02-27 Seabiscuit – Santa Anita)
0:32:04 Jimmie Revard & His Oklahoma Boys – Fox And Hounds
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)

March

0:34:53 Atilla The Hun – Roosevelt In Trinidad
(Clip from 1937-03-04 FDR Second Inaugural Address)
0:37:43 Benny Goodman Quartet – Bei Mir Bist Du Schon – Part 2
0:38:33 Andrews Sisters – Bei Mir Bist Du Schon
(Clip from 1937-03-18 MBS Duke Ellington Live from the Cotton Club)
0:42:02 Cootie Williams (Ellington) – Pigeons And Peppers
(Clip from 1937-03-18 MBS Duke Ellington Live from the Cotton Club)
0:45:26 Billie Holiday – My Man
(Clip from The Shadow – Circle Of Death)
0:48:41 Robert Johnson – Me And The Devil Blues (Take 2)
(Clip from Marked Woman)
0:51:11 Artie Shaw – Blues Part 1
(Clip from A Day At The Races)

April

0:53:07 Peetie Wheatstraw – Peetie Wheatstraw Stomp
(Clip from The Cinnamon Bear)
0:55:40 Count Basie – Exactly Like You
(Clip from 1937-04-18 CBS We The People Dinosaur Tracks)
0:58:33 Ciro Rimac – Yo Me Ba
(Clip from 1937-04-18 CBS We The People Dinosaur Tracks)
1:01:40 Kucuk Nezihe Hanim And Sukru Tunar – Agladim Aci Cektim
(Clip from 1937-04-18 CBS We The People Dinosaur Tracks)
1:03:29 Michel Warlop – Taj Mahal (Orchestre + Django Reinhardt)
(Clip from 1937-04-19 PTT General Franco Cree La Phalange Espagnole a Salamanque)
1:07:02 Secco’s Gitano’s – Hora
(Clip from A Day At The Races)
1:09:10 Hoosier Hot Shots – Goofus

May

(Clip from Maytime)
1:11:57 Vanvakaris Markos – Taksimi Zeimpekiko
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
(Clip from 1937-05-06 WLS Hindenberg Disaster Herbert Morrison)
1:15:31 Frank Churchill, Paul J. Smith & Leigh Harline – Magic Mirror
(Clip from 1937-05 RRG Cpt Hans von Schiller – Lakehurst Memorial Service)
1:16:36 Marlene Dietrich – Lili Marlene
(Clip of Charles Laughton)
1:18:19 The Caresser – Edward The VII
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
1:20:18 Executor – Reign Of The Georges
(Clip of Charles Laughton)
1:21:51 Fats Waller – Tea For Two
(Clip of 1937-05-20 Tommy Woodrooffe on a Royal Navy Fleet Review)
1:25:15 Django Reinhardt – Swing Guitars

June

1:26:19 Frank Churchill, Paul J. Smith & Leigh Harline – I’m Wishing
1:27:34 Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers – Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off
(Clip from Pathe Gazette Presents The Derby 1937)
1:30:08 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Right Or Wrong
(Clip from Saratoga)
1:33:07 Harlem Hamfats – Root Hog Or Die
(Clip from Meet the Girl who Became a Man, Australian Cinesound newsreel)
1:35:17 Sosyete Boumba, Marileanne Joseph – Ezili Si Ou Mande Manje, Map Bayou Li
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
1:36:38 Septeto Anacaona – Oh! Marambé Maramba
(Clip from Angel)
1:37:26 Peter Kreuder – Shall We Dance (Solisten)

July

(Clip from On The Air)
1:39:02 Rex Stewart And His 52nd Street Stompers – Back Room Romp
(Clip from Easy Living)
1:41:58 Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra – Sun Showers
(Clip from 1937-07-09 Red Barber – Joe Dimaggio Radio Call)
1:45:19 Ink Spots – Swing High, Swing Low
(Clip from 1937-07-20 MBS WOR Marconi Memorial Program)
1:46:56 T. V. Ramaswami Sastrigal, Vikatam Vidwan, Thiruvisalur – Sky Lark Squirrel Country Oil Mill Red Bird
(Clip from 1937-07-20 MBS WOR Marconi Memorial Program)
1:47:18 Elsie Carlisle – So Many Memories
(Clip from 1937-07-20 MBS WOR Marconi Memorial Program)
1:48:41 Loumé Fréice Of The Sosyete Viyolon – En Avant Simple
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
1:49:14 Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Boléro

August

(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
1:52:16 Akasaka Koume – Asama No Kemuri
(Clip from Song at Midnight)
1:53:50 Zhou Xuan – When Will You Return?
(Clip From 1937-08-27 NBC KGU Interviews With Refugees From China Sino-Japanese War)
1:55:40 Koichi Sugii – Setsu Kagoshima Ohara
1:58:39 Amaunalik K’âvigak’ – Song In A Fable
1:58:48 Raymond Scott – War Dance For Wooden Indians
(Clip from The Shadow 37-11-28 Circle Of Death)
(Clip from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs)
2:01:51 Count Basie – Boogie Woogie
(Clip from Dead End)
2:04:57 Jones-Smith Incorporated – Shoe Shine Boy

September

(Clip from Dime a Dance)
2:08:02 Nadezhda Zlateva – Slushai Malka Mome
2:09:59 Maurice Jaubert – Dream Sequence from Un Carnet De Bal
2:12:53 Charles Trenet – Je Chante
2:15:23 Josephine Baker – Toc Toc Partout (+ Rogers)
2:17:30 Lou Bandy – Conference Vakantie
2:17:49 Rina Ketty – Le Clocher D’ Amour
(Clip from Pepe le Moko)
2:19:07 Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Mabel

October

2:23:13 William Butler Yeats – The Lake Isle of Innisfree
2:24:20 Arthur Schnabel – Sonata No 4, E Flat Major, Op 7 Largo, Con Gran Espressione
2:26:24 Virginia Woolf – The Recorded Voice Of Virginia Woolf
2:26:45 Carroll Gibbons – There’s A Lull In My Life (Vocal – Anne Lenner)
(Clip from 1937-10-12 NBC Fireside Address FDR)
2:29:42 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Chicago
(Clip from 1937-10-13 CBS Benny Goodman Live from the Hotel Pennsylvania)
2:33:24 Benny Goodman Quartet – Avalon
(Clip from Dime a Dance)
2:36:10 Rof Acuff – Steel Guitar Blues
(Clip from 1937-10-22 NBC Ben Davis Jr)
2:39:36 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra – When I Get Low I Get High
(Clip from Movietone Reviews A Memorable Year 1937)
(Clip of Amelia Earhart On The Future Of Women In Flying)
(Clip from Krazy’s Race of Time)
2:42:34 The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet – Golden Gate Gospel Train

November

2:45:03 Robert Johnson – Love In Vain Blues (Take 1)
(Clip from Angel)
2:47:32 Kemani Nubar – Bahriye Cifte Telli
(Clip from 1937-11-20 NBCB Believe it or Not Colonel Stoopnagle)
2:49:20 Markos Vamvakaris – Oli I Rembetes Tu Dunia
(Clip from One Hundred Men and a Girl)
2:51:42 Patsy Montana – I Wanna Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart
(Clip from Lost Horizon)
2:53;34 Group Of Haitian Men And Women, Saul Polinice, Louis Marseille, Ciceron Marseille – Papa Legba Ouvri Baryè-A
2:54:16 W.M. Stepp – Bonaparte’s Retreat
(Clip from Around The Corner – How Differential Steering Works)
2:56:00 Big Joe Williams – Rooting Ground Hog
(Clip from Way Out West)
(Clip from A Star Is Born)
(Clip from Stage Door)
(Clip from Marked Woman)
(Clip from Easy Living)
(Clip from Young & Innocent)
(Clip from Nothing Sacred)
(Clip from A Damsel In Distress)
(Clip from You Only Live Once)
(Clip from A Day At The Races)
(Clip from The Hurriicane)
(Clip from The Good Earth)
3:00:31 Yenz’ Inqab’ Intombi (Zulu; South Africa) – Evening Birds

December

(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:01:57 Roy Rogers – Cowboy Night Herd Song
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:03:40 George Formby – Hi Tiddley Hi Ti Island
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:05:29 Bing Crosby – Sweet Lelani
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:08:10 Teddy Weatherford – Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Piano Solo)
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:10:20 A Jam Session At Victor – Honeysuckle Rose
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:13:25 Willie ‘ The Lion ‘ Smith – I’m All Out Of Breath
(Clip from 1937-12-12 NBC TCSH Mae West)
3:16:08 Michel Warlop – Christmas Swing (+ Django Reinhardt & Louis Vola)
(Clip of NBC chimes)

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James Errington takes you on another journey back into the forgotten history of recorded sound, this time joined by Liam Higgins, playing cylinders and shellac all from the year 1904. Aside from the usual brass band, banjo and proto-ragtime and barbershop music, you can listen to the last castrato, find out what a ‘gamp’ is and hear a lengthy excoriation of the worst Olympic Games of all time.

Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month, please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS James Errington takes you on another journey back into the forgotten history of recorded sound, this time joined by Liam Higgins, playing cylinders and shellac all from the year 1904. Aside from the usual brass band, banjo and proto-ragtime and barbershop … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #12 – 1904"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for February and March. For the full 3.5-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be … Continue reading "1936"

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As we journey through the 20th century, another parallel progression is taking place. In the now little remembered days of, 1901, this project involved collecting whatever meagre heavily-mediated artefacts survived and trying to knit them together into a narrative which felt like it made sense. For the long-forgotten years of the Edwardian era, this made sense, but as the devastation of the First World War started, the inadequacy of the sources available became suddenly stark. Who were these dance bands playing hot ragtime, and why were they so completely oblivious to the events going on in Europe? There was a forced myopia, and we just had to put up with it.

But then we had jazz, blues, country, electrical recordings, sound films, radio, newsreels; all expanding the pool of available sounds, cross-fertilizing, widening the pallet. As you know, of course, another war is now approaching. Perhaps it would be hyperbole to say the distant rumbles can be felt throughout these recordings, perhaps this is all in my interpretation and in yours, but this mix does feel to me like a picture of a year, not just a picture of a year’s music.

This, naturally, adds complications. I know very little of the lives of the musicians featured so far. Their contribution has been the joy their music can bring, and at this distant a perspective everything else about their lives – though likely very interesting – is not relevant to the project. This mix, on the other hand, includes the voices of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. To leave them out entirely would be to paint a sanitised picture of the year, but it is vital not to let them set the agenda. I have tried, to the best of my ability, to present them each briefly, with appropriate mournfulness or mockery. I can’t promise that I’ve always achieved this as well as I would like, but I promise I have tried.

This tracklisting has been divided up month-by month in order to be more easily digestible.

January – Swing Is Here

0:00:00 NBC Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 In A Major Op. 92. Ii. Allegretto
(Clips from 1936-01-03 Opening Day of 74th Congress)
0:00:34 Busch Quartet – String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127
(Clip from My Man Godfrey)
(Clip from AT&T Archives Introduction to the Dial Telephone)
0:02:21 Gene Krupa – Swing Is Here (+ Benny Goodman)
(Clip from Rose Marie)
0:05:16 Ink Spots – Stompin’ At The Savoy
0:06:17 Benny Goodman & His Orchestra – Stompin’ At The Savoy
(Clip from Reefer Madness)
0:08:28 Memphis Minnie – New Orleans Stop Time
0:11:21 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Steel Guitar Rag
0:14:08 Ciro Rimacs Rumba-Orchester – Maxixe-Carioca

February – Nightmail

(Clip from Disorder in the Court)
0:15:58 Lion – Four Mills Brothers
(Clip from Le Vrai Jeu)
0:18:41 Charles Trenet – Tout Est Au Duc
(Clip from Anthony Adverse)
0:20:56 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – Limehouse Blues
0:23:38 W. H. Auden – On This Island
0:24:27 Benjamin Britten, Stuart Legg and John Grierson – Nightmail
0:27:35 The Benny Goodman Quartet – Tiger Rag (Take 1)
(Clip from Cain & Mabel)
0:30:37 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra – Sing Me A Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)
(Clip from Rose Marie)
0:32:24 Jones-Smith Incorporated – Lady Be Good
0:35:29 Slim & Slam – The Flat Foot Floogie

March – There May Be Trouble Ahead

0:38:15 Robert Johnson – Cross Road Blues (Take 2)
(Clip from 1936-03-01 King Edward VIII – The first broadcast to the Empire as King)
0:41:18 Fred Astaire – Let’s Face The Music And Dance (Soundtrack)
(Clip from 1936-03-01 King Edward VIII – The first broadcast to the Empire as King)
0:43:27 Barney Bigard And His Jazzopaters – Caravan
(Clip from 1936-03-07 PTT Albert Sarrault Proteste Contre Loccupation De La Rhenanie)
0:44:27 Josephine Baker – Mayari
0:46:20 Sukru Tunar – Suzinak Taksim
0:47:05 Sukru Tunar – Karslama
(Clip from 1936-03-xx Winston Churchill – The Loaded Pause)
0:49:09 Ramadan Lolov – Orientalski Kyuchek
(Clip from 1936-03-19 NBC ATMOTA – The Supreme Court and the Constitution)
0:50:49 Milton Brown – Somebody’s Been Using That Thing
(Clip from Pathe Review of 1936)

April – Will the Machine Dominate Man?

0:52:37 Phil Green – Nobody’s Sweetheart (Ballyhooligans)
(Clip from 1936-04-02 NBC ATMOTA – Will Unionization Promote Industrial Recovery)
0:54:31 Kōichi Sugii – Kiso Takashi
0:57:15 Walter De La Mare – Nod
0:58:15 Roy Acuff and his Crazy Tennesseeans – Great Speckled Bird
(Clip from 1936-04-16 NBC ATMOTA – Will the Machine Dominate Man)
1:00:14 Lonnie Glosson – Arkansas Hard Luck Blues
(Clip from 1936-04-16 NBC ATMOTA – Will the Machine Dominate Man)
1:03:11 Harlem Hamfats – Weed Smoker’s Dream
(Clip from 1936-04-17 PTT Maurice Thorez)
1:06:31 Edith Piaf – Je Suis Mordue
(Clip from John Wayne in The Lawless Nineties)
1:08:10 Sri Ma Keow & Chai Wat – Courting The Woman From Chiang Mai

May – Play Faster!

(Gennett Sound Effects – Rainfall and Thunder)
(Clip from 1936-05-01 Adolf Hitler Speech at Krupp Factory in Germany)
1:09:18 NBC Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 In A Major Op. 92. Ii. Allegretto
(Clip from 1936-05-09 EIAR Benito Mussolini – Vincere)
(Clip from 1936-05-09 EIAR Reports End Of Ethiopian War)
1:10:03 Pablo Casals – Excerpt from Suite No. 2 In D Minor
(Clip of Spencer Tracy in Fury)
1:10:59 Anestis Delias – Sura Ke Mastura
(Clip of Shirley Temple in Poor Little Rich Girl)
1:13:00 Septeto Anacaona – Despúes Que Sufras
(Clip from Dodsworth)
1:16:02 Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis – Celeste Blues
(Clip from Camile)
1:18:03 Mary Lou Williams – Corny Rhythm
(Clip from Reefer Madness)
1:21:15 Albert Ammons – Nagasaki
(Clip from The Story of Louis Pasteur)
1:23:05 Little Brother Montgomery – Farish Street Jive
1:24:23 W. H. Auden – May

June – Red Hot

1:25:17 Teddy Wilson And His Orchestra – Pennies From Heaven
(Clip from After The Thin Man)
1:28:35 Georgia White – Get ’em From The Peanut Man (Hot Nuts)
(Clip from 1936-06-12 Alfred M Landon Speech)
1:30:25 Fats Waller & His Rhythm – It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie
(Clip from 1936-06-26 CBS Democratic Convention)
1:34:54 Louis Armstrong – Mahogany Hall Stomp
(Clip from 1936-06-26 CBS Democratic Convention)
1:13:16 Bo Carter – Cigarette Blues
1:39:34 Robert Johnson – They’re Red Hot
(Clip from Rembrandt)
1:41:07 Lil Johnson – Sam The Hot Dog Man
(Clip from Tarzan Escapes)
1:43:12 Lead Belly – Pig Meat Papa
(Clip from The Story of Louis Pasteur)

July – Now You’re Singing With A Swing

1:44:34 Jesse James – Southern Casey Jones
(Clip from Green Pastures)
1:46:41 Hall Negro Quartet – I’ve Heard Of A City Called Heaven
1:47:30 Elder Otis Jones – O Lord I’m Your Child
1:49:30 Mahmut Celalettin And Udi Marko – Yuzu Pembe
(Clip from AT&T Archives Introduction to the Dial Telephone)
1:50:44 Cuarteto Marcano – Sucedio Lo Que Tenia Que Suceder
(Clip from Disorder in the Court)
1:52:39 Billie Holiday – Summertime
(Clip from 1936-06-30 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia – Addresses League of Nations)
(Clip from Ten Year Old Boy Pilot)
1:55:50 Benny Goodman – Bugle Call Rag
(Clip from Mr Deeds Goes to Town)
1:58:48 Louis Prima And His New Orleans Gang – Sing, Sing, Sing
2:00:40 RCA – First Television Broadcast July 7, 1936

August – Quite Beyond the Reach of Young Women

2:04:28 Benny Goodman Trio – Tiger Rag
(Clip from 1936-07-28 DRF Jessie Owens Interview)
2:06:54 Johnny Rodríguez Y Su Orchestra – Mulatica
(Clip from 1936-07-31 RRG Radio – Olympic Fire Handed Over At The Czech-German Border)
2:10:01 Karlo – Vladaisko Horo
(Clip from 1936-08-16 Olympic Sports In Berlin)
2:11:59 Stuff Smith Onyx Club Boys – I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music
(Clip from 1936-08-16 Olympic Sports In Berlin)
(Clip fom 1936-xx-xx RRG Edgar Stahff – The Olympic Games And Foreign Germans)
2:14:50 Andy Kirk & his Twelve Clouds – Lotta Sax Appeal
(Clip from Sabotage)
2:18:08 King Radio – Texilia
(Clip from The World’s Tallest Man Robert Wadlow)
2:19:39 George Formby – When I’m Cleaning Windows
2:21:18 George Formby – Quickfire Medley
(Clip from Winterset)

September – My Hours Are Slumberless

2:21:42 Teddy Wilson – Blues In C Sharp
(Clip from 1936-08-30 Franklin D. Roosevelt – I Hate War Speech)
2:25:03 Hal Kemp – Gloomy Sunday
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx Leon Trotsky – On Stalins Moscow Trials)
2:27:36 Busch Quartet – String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx PCPT Josef Stalin – On Germany)
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx PCPT Josef Stalin – Will Do His Duty)
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx PCPT Josef Stalin – Workers Paradise)
2:28:42 Walter De La Mare – Song Of Shadows
2:29:15 Barney Bigard (Duke Ellington) – Clouds In My Heart
(Clip from Pathe Review of 1936)
2:31:16 Stellio Et Son Orchestre Creole – Encore Cinq Minutes Veux-Tu!
(Clip from 1936-xx-xx BBC Chamberlain On Tax Hikes For Armaments)
2:32:47 Ink Spots – Christopher Columbus
2:34:28 Emmett Miller & His Georgia Crackers – The Gypsy

October – Vote For Mr Rhythm

(Clip from 1936-10-01 FDR Speech DNC Pittsburgh)
2:38:02 Chick Webb And His Orchestra – Vote For Mr. Rhythm
(Clip from 1936-10-02 WCFL City Series Game 2 Chicago Cubs vs Chicago White Sox)
2:40:41 Riki Miyagawa – Yume Miru Kokoro
(Clip from 1936-10-03 NBC World Series Game 3 NY Giants vs NY Yankees)
2:42:46 The Spirits Of Rhythm – My Old Man
2:44:28 Putney Dandridge – Skeleton In The Closet
(Clip from Hra Bublinek)
2:45:48 Márkos Vamvakáris – Mávra Mátia Mávra Frýdia
(Clip from Mon Père avait raison)
2:47:04 Charles Trenet – Vous Oubliez Votre Cheval
(Clip from 1936-10-28 FDR Fiftieth Anniversary Of Statue Of Liberty)
2:48:46 Georges Boulanger – La Trioletta7
(Clip from Disorder in the Court)
2:50:20 Lew Childre – It Don’t Do Nothing But Rain
(Clip from 1936-10-31 Franklin D. Roosevelt – I Welcome Their Hatred)

November – Isn’t Jazz Just A Lot Of Noise?

2:52:23 J.E. Mainer’s Mountaineers – John Henry Was A Little Boy
(Clip from 1936-10-31 Houdinis Final Seance)
2:54:09 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra – Rusty And Dusty
(Clip from 1936-11-02 The First BBC Programme)
2:56:03 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Basin Street Blues
(Clip from NBC ATMOTA)
(Clip from 1936-11-16 Winston Churchill – The Causes of War)
3:00:10 Hackberry Ramblers – J’ai Pas Bien Fey
(Clip from 1936-11-30 British Pathe – Crystal Palace Fire Aka Great Fire Destroys Crystal Palace)
3:01:46 Marian Anderson – Heav’n, Heav’n
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)
3:02:43 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli – I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)
3:06:18 Duke Ellington – In A Sentimental Mood
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)
3:07:56 Mahmut Celalettin – Neva Ussak Gazel
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)

December – No Regrets

3:09:45 Orchestre Del’s Jazz Biguine – Nain Cochon
(Clip from 1936-11-26 NBC ATMOTA – What Does the Public Want in Music)
3:12:45 Mildred Bailey – Long About Midnight
(Clip from 1936-12-11 King Edward VIII – Abdication Speech)
3:16:30 Blind Boy Fuller – I’m A Rattlesnakin’ Daddy
(Clip from Alastair Cooke on Katherine Hepburn)
3:18:13 Tino Rossi – Le Mur De Ton Jardin
3:21:10 W. H. Auden – A Bride in the 30’s
3:23:06 Busch Quartet – String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127
(Clip from 1936-12-29 MBS First Coast To Coast Broadcast)
3:24:42 Futaba Akiko & Columbia Rhythm Boys – Biroudo No Tsuki
(Clip from The Petrified Forest)
3:27:07 Billie Holiday – No Regrets

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. This is a sample of the mix for 1936, and includes the section for January only. To hear the rest of the mix, come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound, where I will be releasing the mix in two parts for $5 and above patrons, or come to centuriesofsound.com, where the entire mix will be streamable from the 14th of June 2021. Thanks to all of my patrons who have so far kept this show going, ad-free, through the first 75 years of sound recording.

January

February

March

April

May

June

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS Another journey back in time with original recordings from the year 1903. This episode features sounds from as far afield as Tanganyika, Moscow, Kyoto and New York, and songs about cars, ducks, and bread and marmalade. Introduced by James Errington.. Centuries … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #11 – 1903"

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Another journey back in time with original recordings from the year 1903. This episode features sounds from as far afield as Tanganyika, Moscow, Kyoto and New York, and songs about cars, ducks, and bread and marmalade. Introduced by James Errington..

Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month, please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only the first hour. For the full version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without … Continue reading "1935"

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“Even to mention the 1930s is to evoke the period when human civilisation entered its darkest, bloodiest chapter. No case needs to be argued; just to name the decade is enough. It is a byword for mass poverty, violent extremism and the gathering storm of world war. “The 1930s” is not so much a label for a period of time than it is rhetorical shorthand – a two-word warning from history.” – Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian

I am not a historian, but I have a clear enough understanding of what The Thirties means. It starts with the great depression and ends with the world going to war. Bad stuff all round. But sound recordings preserve little of the buildup of fascism in Europe or the struggles of the dustbowl and Hooverville. At this time, more than ever, music seems to be an escape.

In the USA Ella Fitzgerald is singing with Chick Webb’s band, Billie Holiday is performing with Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman has made swing the universal music of American youth, Tommy Dorsey has turned jazz into mainstream entertainment. In France, Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grapelli are already recording in the Hot Club. In Hollywood, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rodgers are performing in Top Hat, The Marx Brothers in A Night At The Opera, and “Gold Diggers of 1935” introduces the Lullaby of Broadway.

This was a hard mix to make, too much good material and none of it really standing out from the crowd. In the end I jammed it all in and let it spread out. The result is surprisingly varied throughout (it was easier not to front-load with such a varied selection available) and I think it works, but will let you be the judge of that.

Is this an accurate picture of the mid 1930s? I cannot say, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a world of darkness and despair.

Track list

0:00:00 Centuries of Sound – 1935 Audio Collage Intro
(Clip of HMV Weather Effects – Wind)
(Clip from Hitler Youth Rally Speech from Triumph Of The Will)
(Clip from NBC Joe Louis vs Max Baer)
(MGM Lion Roar)
0:01:09 Tommy Dorsey & His Clambake Seven – The Music Goes ‘Round And ‘Round
(Clip from Top Hat)
0:05:31 Fred Astaire – Isn’t This A Lovely Day
(Clip of Carl Sandburg)
0:08:39 Lydia Mendoza – Palida Luna
(Clip of Robert Benchley – David O. Selznick ‘Your New Producer’ Short Film)
0:11:24 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – St. Louis Blues
0:14:28 Boswell Sisters – St. Louis Blues
(Clip of Groucho Marx in A Night at the Opera)
0:15:21 Fats Waller – Truckin’
(Clip from No Ghosts)
0:18:13 Mills Blue Rhythm Band – Harlem Heat
(Clip from Stoopnagle and Budd – If We Supervised Radio)
0:21:51 Hoosier Hot Shots – I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones
(Clip from Review of 1935)
0:23:37 Kokomo Arnold – How Long How Long Blues
(Clip from NBC ATMOTA – Personal Liberty and the Modern State with Lawrence Dennis & Lena Madison Phillips)
0:26:07 Omolo Washiembu – N. Odera (Luo; Kenya)
(Clip from Review of 1935)
0:27:45 Benny Goodman Orchestra – Eeny Meeny Miney Mo
(Clip from Marihuana)
0:29:43 Memphis Minnie – Selling My Pork Chops
(Clip from Marihuana)
0:32:38 Leslie Hutchinson – Anything Goes
(Clip from NBC WEAF Let’s Dance – Benny Goodman)
0:34:15 Nat Gonella – Tiger Rag
0:36:32 Nakano Tadaharu & Columbia Rhythm Boys – Tiger Rag
(Shirley Temple Organ Grinder’s Swing Scene from The Littlest Rebel)
0:38:09 Chick Webb & His Orchestra – Down Home Rag
(Clip from Hollywood Extra Girl)
0:39:54 Chick Webb & His Orchestra with Ella Fitzgerald – I’ll Chase The Blues Away
(Clip from Review of 1935)
(Clip from EIAR Benito Mussolini – Italy Invades Ethiopia)
0:42:34 Oum Kalthoum – Lehy Ya Zaman Kana Hawaya
(Clip from CBS Calling All Cars)
0:44:22 Udi Hrant – Hicaz Taksim
(Clip from James Weldon Johnson – The Creation)
0:44:50 Georges Boulanger – Avant De Mourir (My Prayer)
(Clip from Carl Sandburg – The People, Yes)
0:47:52 Professor Wali Ullah Khan – Sitar Instrumental
(Clip from Mad Love trailer)
0:49:22 Wingy Manone & His Orchestra – Black Coffee
(Clip from A Night at the Opera)
0:51:55 Tiger – Marabella Wedding
(Clip from CBS Calling All Cars)
0:53:23 Giorgos Batis – I Filakes Tu Oropu
(Clip from The 39 Steps)
0:54:44 Xavier Cugat – Mama Inez
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
0:57:02 Hildegarde – Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
0:59:35 Jean Sablon with Django Reinhardt – Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
(Clip from PTT Leon Degrelle Denonce Les Scandales En Belgique)
1:02:49 Josephine Baker – Reves
1:05:19 Maurice Chevalier – Les Mirlitons
(Clip from A Party On A California Isle Avalon, beside the bay)
1:07:26 Winnifred Shaw & Dick Powell – Lullaby Of Broadway
1:08:25 Boswell Sisters – Lullaby Of Broadway
1:09:10 Winnifred Shaw & Dick Powell – Lullaby Of Broadway
(Clip from Bing Crosby Studio Dialogue)
1:10:37 Bing Crosby – Take Me Back To My Boots And Saddle
(Clip from Bing Crosby Studio Dialogue)
1:12:27 Stéphane Grappelli’s Hot Four – I Got Rhythm
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
(Clip from Screen Interview With Sheffield Wednesday)
(Clip from Cup Final 1935)
(Clip from Interview With Captains)
1:17:08 Egbert Moore – M.C.C. vs. West Indies
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
1:20:12 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra (Vocal Dan Donovan) – Mickey’s Son And Daughter
(Clip from The 39 Steps)
1:22:40 Western Brothers – We’re Frightfully BBC
(Clip from W.C. Fields in David Copperfield)
1:25:29 Noel Coward – Don’t Put Your Daughter On The Stage Mrs. Worthington
(Clip from David Copperfield)
1:27:25 George Formby – Fanlight Fanny
(Clip from The Three Stooges in Uncivil Warriors)
1:29:41 Goebble Reeves The Texas Drifter – The Cowboy’s Dizzy Sweetheart
(Clip from Chevrolet Ad)
1:32:35 The Ink Spots – Your Feet’s Too Big
(Clip from A Night at the Opera)
1:36:10 Lucille Bogan – Barbecue Bess
(Clip from Financing The American Family)
1:38:48 Bunny Berigan – Chicken And Waffles
(Clip from Billy Costello – I’m Popeye The Sailor Man)
1:41:00 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Osage Stomp
1:43:32 Fănică Luca – Tudorițo, Nene
(Clip from Métodos Infalíveis Para Acabar Com A Insônia)
1:45:51 Michel Warlop Et Son Orchestre – Strange Harmony
(Clip from NBC ATMOTA – Has the New Deal Promoted or Retarded Business Recovery)
1:48:20 Petit Mirsha – Vieni Vieni (+ Django Reinhardt)
1:50:18 3 Flutes & Vocal – Kuadinkro Bessueba
1:50:49 Lawrence Tibbett – Summertime
(Clip from Carl Sandburg – The People, Yes)
1:53:12 He Zemin & Huang Peiying – Big Idiot Buys A Pig
1:54:02 Ms. Taeng, Ms. Sam, Ms. Huch & The Ensemble Of Mr. Soi Sang Wan – Cha Pi
1:55:06 Jesse Stacy Piano Solo – In The Dark
(Clip from Amelia Earhart – A Womans Place in Science)
1:56:46 Billie Holiday – I’m Painting The Town Red
(Clip from Down the Gasoline Trail)
1:59:04 Big Joe Williams – 49 Highway Blues
(Clip from Chevrolet Ad)
2:00:57 Louis Prima & His New Orleans Gang – Chinatown, My Chinatown
(Clip from ComiColor Balloon Land)
2:03:22 Benny Goodman – King Porter Stomp
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
2:05:35 Django Reinhardt & The Hot Club De France Quintet W Stéphane Grapelli – Djangology
(Clip from Flash Gordon 27/04/35 – On the Planet Mongo)
2:08:50 Jorgos Batis – O Buffedsis
(Clip from Gangster Puts Underworld On Spot For You)
2:10:44 Cripple Clarence Lofton – Strut That Thing
2:13:23 Elizabeth Austin – Sail Gal (Ring Game)
2:13:37 David Pryor – Roll ‘im On Down (Bahamian Launching Song)
2:14:32 Harry Roy – Temptation Rag (Piano Duet – Ivor Moreton & Dave Kaye)
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
(Clip from Emperor Haile Selassie delivers speech on Italian invasion)
2:16:02 Arthur Schnabel – Sonata No 29 In B Flat Major Op 106 ‘hammerklavier’ Iv Largo – Allegro Risoluto
(Clip from Huey P Long Share the Wealth speech)
2:18:53 Leo Soileau’s Four Aces – La Valse De Gueydan
(Clip from Review Of The Year 1935)
2:20:56 Giorgos Katsaros & Yorgos Katsaros – Mana Mou Ime
(Clip from A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
2:24:10 The Carter Family – Can The Circle Be Unbroken (Bye And Bye)
2:25:39 The Lone Star Cowboys – Just Because
2:26:59 Milton Brown & His Brownies – Down By The O-Hi-O
(Clip from Huey P Long VFW Speech)
2:29:46 Meade Lux Lewis – Honky Tonk Train Blues
(Clip from Baldwin Speech – Himley Hall)
2:31:23 Duke Ellington – Showboat Shuffle
2:32:49 Duke Ellington & Billie Holiday – Symphony In Black; A Rhapsody of Negro Life
(Clip from Sylvia Scarlett)
2:36:05 Raymond Quecedo – Duke And Duchess Of Kent
(Clip from Hitler Youth Rally Speech from Triumph Of The Will)
(Clip from Jewish Demonstration Against Hitler in New York)
2:38:35 Samuel Malavsky – V’shomru
(Clip from The 39 Steps)
2:41:36 Big Bill Broonzy – Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down
(Clip from Como Dormir – Métodos Infalíveis Para Acabar Com A Insônia)
2:44:06 Leadbelly – Mr. Tom Hughes’ Town
(Clip from CBS Calling All Cars)
2:45:11 Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra – Begin The Beguine
(Clip from Dangerous)
2:47:12 Septeto Machín – El Guateque
(Clip from Mad Love)
2:48:56 Len Fillis Hawaiians – Blue Hawaiian Sky
2:50:56 Adrian Rollini – Jazz O’ Jazz (Vocal – Jeanne Burns)
(Clip from Naughty Marietta)
2:52:59 Cleo Brown – Me And My Wonderful One
2:55:36 Teddy Wilson – What A Little Moonlight Can Do (Billie Holiday + Benny Goodman & Ben Webster)
(Clip from Henry Hathaway)
2:57:37 Louis Armstrong – You Are My Lucky Star
(Clip from British Pathé – Ten Stone Baby…Teased With Chocolate)
3:01:18 Coleman Hawkins & Ramblers – I Only Have Eyes For You
(Clip of White House Christmas Tree Lighting)
3:03:13 Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb and His Orchestra – Rhythm And Romance
(Clip from Les Miserables)
3:06:12 Wingy Manone – House Rent Party Day
(Clip of Groucho and Chico Marx in A Night at the Opera)
3:09:33 Willie ‘ The Lion ‘ Smith – Swing Brother Swing
(Clip from The 39 Steps)
(Clip from CBS Calling All Cars)
(Clip from Gangster Puts Underworld On Spot For You)
3:12:23 Fats Waller – Lulu’s Back In Town
(Clip from Roberta)
3:15:06 Ray Noble Orchestra – Top Hat
3:17:38 Fred Astaire – Cheek To Cheek
(Clip from Picnic Panic)
3:19:32 Frank Froeba & His Swing Band – The Music Goes Round And Round
(Clip from KNX Radio Revival Hour (12-29-1935) Charles Fuller)

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS James Errington takes you on another trip into the history of sound recording. This time we’re visiting the year 1902, and will be hearing insanely catchy tin pan alley tunes from the Edwardian Elvis, virtuoso instrumental showpieces, sublime sopranos and a … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #10 – 1902"

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James Errington takes you on another trip into the history of sound recording. This time we’re visiting the year 1902, and will be hearing insanely catchy tin pan alley tunes from the Edwardian Elvis, virtuoso instrumental showpieces, sublime sopranos and a terrifying scene from The Hound Of The Baskervilles.

Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month, please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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Away with dull care, the day is set fair,
A wireless set near, to bring us good cheer
Olden days had different ways,
Their pleasures then were fewer;
Modern days will get my praise,
Our wireless ways are newer.
A sterling time, a whirling time,
A record time, or Father Time,
The daily times that Big Ben chimes
Are radio times.

Once upon a time they played that
But that was long ago
Then they started singin’ that
But they got tired of that, you know
Now here’s a little tune that’s goin’ ’round
You can hear it all over town
They’re singin’.

Hear this fat boy blowing his horn?
He’s been a bug since the day he was born
His favorite jittersauce is rye
We’ll drink it till the day he dies
Toot your whistle and ring your bell
Ol butchy wutchy time or tell
Dont you worry you just mug
You’ll always be a jitterbug.

I went down to the landing
To see if any boats were there
And the fareman told me
Could not find the boats nowhere
The big boat ease up the river
Are turnin’ ’round an ’round
Lord, I’m ‘on get me a good girl
Or jump overboard an drown

And you’ll find while you’re dancing
That there’s a rhythm in your heart and soul
A certain rhythm that you can’t control
And you will do the continental all the time
Beautiful music, dangerous rhythm
Beautiful music, dangerous rhythm.

Tracks

0:00:00 Percussion Ensemble Cond. By Nicolas Slonimsky – Ionisation
0:00:22 Malinke Musicans, Mali – War Song, Harp with Drums
0:01:15 Sukru Tunar – Huzzam Taksim
0:02:04 Dorothy Melton – I Want Jesus To Walk With Me
0:03:22 Sergei Rachmaninoff – Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini
(Excerpt from WABC Twenty Crowded Years A Radio Review of the Years 1914-1934)
0:05:37 Hot Club De France – Tiger Rag
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:08:19 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra (Vocal – Dan Donovan) – Radio Times
(Excerpt from It Happened One Night)
0:10:27 Sexteto Pellin – A Goya Le Dio La Gripe
(Excerpt from Viva Villa!)
0:13:11 Trio Armonico – Ausencia
(Excerpt from Viva Villa!)
0:16:25 Big Bill Broonzy – Mississippi River Blues
(Excerpt from commentary on Yankees vs Tigers at Navin Field)
0:18:52 Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – Solitude
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:22:10 The Delmore Brothers – Brown’s Ferry Blues
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:24:59 Lucille Bogan – Shave ’em Dry
(Excerpt from Tarzan and His Mate)
0:26:44 Jimmy Durante – Inka Dinka Doo
(Excerpt from Alpha the Robot)
0:30:01 Blanche Calloway – Growlin’ Dan
0:32:46 Cab Calloway And His Orchestra – Jitter Bug
0:35:05 Chick Webb & His Orchestra – What A Shuffle
0:37:55 Gertrude Stein- If I Had Told Him; A Completed Portrait of Picasso
0:39:09 Arthur Schnabel – Sonata No 21 In C Major, Op 53 ‘waldstein’ I Allegro Con Brio
0:40:47 Robert Frost – Birches
0:43:47 Avro Kinderkoor Jacob Hamel – Kleppermarsch
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:45:19 Billy Merrin’s Commanders – We’ll Make Hay While The Sun Shines (Vocal – Sam Browne)
0:47:23 Jack Buchanan and Geraldo – Brewster’s Millions Medley
(Excerpt from Colorful Ports of Call)
0:49:44 Django Reinhardt – Dinah
(Excerpt from Discours De Gaston Doumergue)
0:52:23 Maurice Jaubert – Underwater Dance from L’atalante
(Excerpt from Leopold III Roi Des Belges Prete Serment)
0:53:50 Hot Club De France – I Saw Stars
(Excerpt from Colorful Ports of Call)
0:54:52 Tuareg Musicans, Mali – Marriage Song
0:55:14 Bambara Kora Musican, Mali – Song for Chief
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
0:56:34 The Lion – Wanga
0:58:08 Wilmoth Houdini – Blow Wind Blow
(Excerpt from Kid Millions)
1:00:25 Bert Ambrose – Let’s Make Love
(Excerpt from Of Human Bondage)
1:02:09 Carroll Gibbons – Let’s Fall In Love
(Excerpt from Of Human Bondage)
1:05:46 Márkos Vamvakáris – Koroido
(Excerpt from H. H. The Aga Khan)
1:08:26 Stellakis Papazoglou – I Lachanades
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
1:09:49 D. Góngos Or Bayiadéras – Hash Smoking Chicks
1:11:08 Márkos Vamvakáris – Kápote Ímouna Ki Egó
(Excerpt from 4th Herald Tribune Womens Forum on Current Issues)
1:12:46 Henry Hall BBC Dance Orchestra – Wild Ride
(Excerpt from Newsreel of Krishnamurti in Sydney)
1:15:07 Pandit Omkarnath Prakur – Garawa Mayi Sang Lage Pt 1
(Excerpt from Newsreel of Krishnamurti in Sydney)
1:17:47 Udi Hrant – Cifte Telli
1:19:23 Munir Nurettin Selcuk And Sadettin Kaynak – Cikar Yuclerden
1:20:34 Mahmut Celalettin – Neva Hicaz Gazel
(Excerpt from Bright Eyes)
1:21:35 Ko Bok-Soo – Tahyangsal-i
(Excerpt from The Scarlet Pimpernel)
1:24:08 Kouta Katsutaro – Sakura Ondo
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
(Excerpt from Dictators Meet Newsreel)
1:25:58 Joe Mccoy – Evil Devil Woman Blues
(Excerpt from The Black Cat)
1:27:17 Lucille Bogan – Pig Iron Sally
(Excerpt from It Happened One Night)
1:29:08 Papa Charlie Jackson – Scoodle Um Skoo
(Excerpt from Disney’s The Grasshopper and the Ants)
1:30:40 Memphis Jug Band – Gator Wobble
(Excerpt from The Barretts of Wimpole Street)
1:32:58 Benny Goodman – Cokey
(Excerpt from George Gershwin Radio Broadcast)
1:34:19 Boswell Sisters – Alexander’s Ragtime Band
(Excerpt from WWJ Ty Tyson NY Yankees vs Detroit Tigers)
1:36:48 Lew Stone And His Band – Canadian Capers
(Excerpt from George Gershwin Radio Broadcast)
1:38:14 Bing Crosby – I’m Hummin’ I’m Whistlin’ I’m Singin’
(Excerpt from Kid Millions)
1:40:19 Jimmy Grier – Goofus
(Excerpt from Disney’s The Grasshopper and the Ants)
1:42:34 Gid Tanner And His Skillet Lickers – Hawkins Rag
1:44:30 Edgar Lee Masters – Lucinda Matlock
1:45:20 Amedie Ardoin – Aimez-Moi Ce Soir
(Excerpt from Here Comes the Navy)
1:47:44 Benny Goodman & His Music Hall Orchestra – Bugle Call Rag
(Excerpt from Colorful Ports of Call)
1:51:00 Fats Waller – African Ripples
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
1:54:27 Austin Coleman With Joe Washington – Good Lord (Run Old Jeremiah)
1:56:46 Sin Killer Griffin – The Man Of Calvary (Easter Service)
1:56:55 Leadbelly – Irene
1:58:05 Lightnin’ Washington – Black Gal
(Excerpt from Imitation of Life)
1:59:06 Sam McGee – Railroad Blues
(Excerpt from Twentieth Century)
2:00:58 Chick Webb’s Savoy Orchestra – Stompin’ At The Savoy
(Excerpt from The Thin Man)
2:02:48 Adrian Rollini (Vocal – Clay Bryson) – Got The Jitters
2:04:43 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers – The Continental
(Excerpt from L’Atalante)
2:06:15 Ray Noble (Vocal – Al Bowlly) – You Ought To Be In Pictures
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
2:10:02 Al Bowlly Accompanied By Small Orchestra – That’s Me Without You
(Excerpt from George Formby – John Willie At The Licence Office)
2:11:40 George Formby – Believe It Or Not
(Excerpt from George Formby – John Willie Goes Carolling)
2:13:26 Leslie Sarony – What Can You Give A Nudist On Her Birthday?
(Excerpt from Odor In The Court)
2:15:36 Michel Warlop – Presentation Stomp (Orchestre + Django Reinhardt)
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
2:17:50 Luperce Miranda – Naquele Tempo
2:19:58 Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken
2:20:58 Joe Venuti’s Blue Four – Satan’s Holiday
(Excerpt from Pathe Review of 1934)
2:22:55 Boswell Sisters – Object Of My Affection
(Excerpt from The Scarlet Empress)
2:25:30 Fletcher Henderson – Hotter Than ‘ell
2:28:24 Edgar Lee Masters – Emily Sparks
2:29:07 Coleman Hawkins (Piano – Buck Washington) – On The Sunny Side Of The Street
(Excerpt from One Night of Love)
2:30:49 Elsie Carlisle – Show Is Over
(Excerpt from George Formby – John Willie At The Licence Office)
2:32:10 Malinke Musicans, Mali – War Song, Harp with Drums
2:32:53 Percussion Ensemble Cond. By Nicolas Slonimsky – Ionisation
(Excerpt from Sadie McKee)

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James and Sean take you on a journey back to the year 1901 to listen to original, unmediated, often completely unacceptable recordings from the early days of the gramophone. This time we have rousing sort-of proto-proto-proto-jazz, stunning vocal acrobatics from a Russian soprano, vaudeville comedy which may or may not have stood the test of time, and our first recording from Japan. Some fascinating and often genuinely good stuff rescued from the vaults after 118 years – come join us!

Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To download full mixes, get early access to the radio podcast, and a get host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month, please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS James and Sean take you on a journey back to the year 1901 to listen to original, unmediated, often completely unacceptable recordings from the early days of the gramophone. This time we have rousing sort-of proto-proto-proto-jazz, stunning vocal acrobatics from a … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #9 – 1901"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only the first hour. For the full three-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.

One of the most successful theatrical productions of the 1890s was a touring spectacle called “The South Before The War.” Here is how it was originally advertised.

Those of use who knew the “Souf befo’ the Wah,” as the children of Ham put it, and who know what plantation life really was [like] before our great internecine struggle, and such of us as have not had our opinions colored by the Harriet Beecher Stowe class of literature, but can recall the happy days and pleasant nights spent by the darkies in the cotton fields and cane brakes, will have an opportunity of seeing and living over again those happy times at—theatre by witnessing the inimitable performance given by Whallen and Martell’s big South before the War company.

From our lofty vantage point it’s easy to be appalled by this description. With our 130 years’ worth of hindsight, the debate is no longer about whether this show was right or wrong, but about exactly what mix of self-delusion and cynical self-interest went into it. In truth, the main difference between then and now is that we have learned not to say the quiet part loud. Nostalgia has its claws in us more than ever, from strictly-playlisted hits radio stations, to the obsessive sequeling and rebooting of movies and TV series, to politicians telling us they will make our countries “great again” – a phrase which is itself recycled from recentish history

Nostalgia is, almost by definition, a warm, comfortable thing. Life can be very stressful, and if people want to escape that by diving into a nostalgic pool filled with their best memories, then who can really blame them? It would seem pretty churlish to insist on shocking them out of their reverie with a difficult truth, they are surely in no mood to be lectured. The problem comes when this occasional retreat becomes an addiction, when it spills out of our personal lives into the world in general, and taints the way we see not just the past, but the present.

So far these mixes have concerned years which are generally beyond all living memory, and in 1933 this seems to have shifted profoundly. From a modern vantage point we are now in the lead-up to the Second World War, a time which still looms very large in British culture, and it is becoming difficult to find any kind of popular history which covers the time from any other perspective. In the real USA of 1933, the nostalgia industry is creating itself. These may be the darkest days of the great depression, but they are also the heady heights of the golden age of Hollywood. According to the artefacts I’ve gathered here, this was a nation as addicted to escapism as any other. The style and glamour of films and music this year are so sparklingly positive that at a glance there is no depression, no looming war, but a world in the full bloom of peace and prosperity.

Under the surface, though, there is a certain sadness lurking. This hedonistic escapism leaves open the question of – from what exactly are they escaping? Fred & Ginger’s relationship to music is an all-in, devotional ritual. Tex Ritter sings a tribute to whisky, Bessie Smith prefers a pigfoot and a bottle of beer. Al Bowlly compares his love to a decadent, unhealthy indulgence. For Ethel Waters, her disappointing love-life presents itself as stormy weather to be endured. Everywhere people are jumping head-first into pleasures and obsessions, and it’s left to a handful of country and blues singers to deal with the troubles of the world as it is now. Jimmy Rodgers is in the depths of despair, and Lightnin’ Washington is, literally, a prisoner working on a chain gang in Texas, during the dust bowl.

So here’s a year-long chunk of the past, then, a place which seems dead-set on creating its own nostalgia of the present, with little in the way of soul-searching or truth. It’s basically harmless, but let’s not pretend this is a real picture of how people were feeling in 1933, “how they wanted to feel” will just have to do.

Track list

0:00:30 Maurice Jaubert – If The Kids Are United (Zéro De Conduite)
(Clip from Employees Entrance)
0:01:18 Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra – Toby
0:04:36 Mae West & Cary Grant – Clip from “She Done Him Wrong”
0:05:01 Estrellas Hababeras – Buey Viejo
(Clip from Dinner at Eight)
0:08:20 Art Tatum – Tiger Rag
0:10:33 Lightnin’ Washington – Long John
(Clip from Design For Living)
0:13:21 Ethel Waters – Stormy Weather
0:16:14 Comedian Harmonists – Ohne Dich (Stormy Weather)
(Clip from The Little Rascals – Mush & Milk)
0:17:46 Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire – Music Makes Me
(Clip from 42nd Street)
0:20:02 Casa Loma Orchestra – White Jazz
(Clip from newsreel announcing the end of prohibition)
0:23:27 Tex Ritter – Rye Whiskey, Rye Whiskey
(Clip from Footlight Parade)
0:24:56 Bessie Smith – Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer
(Clip from Baby Face)
0:28:05 Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster – Bay Rum Blues Roots
(Clip from Duck Soup)
0:32:18 Groucho Marx & Margaret Dumont – The Laws Of My Administration
(Clip from Burns & Allen Routine)
0:34:04 Billy Cotton – Skirts
(Clip from 42nd Street)
0:36:10 Sol Hoopii’s Novelty Quartette – Hula Girl
0:39:11 Kanui & Lula – Tomi Tomi
0:41:19 Noi Lane – Hawaiian Ripple
0:42:57 Carmen Miranda – Alvorada (Samba)
(Clip from Murders In The Zoo)
0:45:19 Enrique Bryon Y Su Orquesta – Las Maracas De Cuba
0:48:20 Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra – High Society / Dusky Stevedore
(clip from Bombshell)
0:52:02 Ray Noble – It’s Bad For Me (Vocal – Al Bowlly)
(Clip from Dinner at Eight)
0:53:47 Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra – Sophisticated Lady
0:57:21 Art Tatum – Sophisticated Lady
(Clip from Universal Newsreel about Cecil H. Dill doing hand-farts)
0:58:48 Rudi Schneider – Trance-Breathing
0:58:53 Maboudana & Badolo – Chant Dâ´invitation A La Danse
0:59:23 Kurt Engel – Xylophonismus
1:00:38 Miss Columbia – 19 No Haru
1:01:14 Ichimaru – Tenryuu Kudareba
1:03:40 Kouta Katsutaro – Tokyo Ondo
(Clip from Gabriel Over the White House)
1:05:03 Marianne Oswald – Complainte De Kesoubah
(Clip from Gabriel Over the White House)
1:07:10 Hoagy Carmichael – Cosmics
1:07:33 Robert Frost – Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
1:08:28 Georg Kulenkampff – Tambourin Chinois (Kreisler)
(Clip from The Invisible Man)
1:09:59 Fletcher Henderson – King Porter Stomp
(Clip from I’m No Angel)
1:11:53 Benny Goodman & His Orchestra with Billie Holiday – Your Mother’s Son-In-Law
1:13:32 Joe Robechaux – Jig Music
(Clip from Duck Soup)
1:17:15 Henry Hall B.B.C. Dance Orchestra – The Wedding Of Mr. Mickey Mouse
(Clip from Walt Disney’s Three Little Pigs)
1:20:25 Mae Questal & Cab Calloway – You Gotta Hi De Ho
(Clip from Burns & Allen Routine)
1:22:15 Boswell Sisters – Shuffle Off To Buffalo
1:24:19 Bing Crosby – Someone Stole Gabriel’s Horn
(Clip of Fiorello H. La Guardia Attacks Tammany Hall)
1:25:54 James ‘Iron Head’ Baker – Black Betty
1:26:29 Ashley & Foster – The Rising Sun Blues
(Clip of Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugural address)
1:27:44 Big Bill Broonzy – How You Want It Done?
(Clip from Franklin Roosevelt – Fireside Chat #1, On the Banking Crisis)
1:29:50 Salty Dog Sam – Lonesome Road Blues
1:30:47 Josh White – Blood Red River
1:32:40 Fernando Vilches – Flor De Petenera
(Clip of nazis burning books)
1:35:47 Paul Robeson – Swing Low Sweet Chariot
(Clip from Einstein Speech at the Royal Albert Hall London)
1:37:42 Arthur Schnabel – Sonata No 22 In F Major, Op 54 Ii Allegretto
(Clip from Morning Glory)
1:39:25 Ethel Waters – Don’t Blame Me
(Clip from Dinner at Eight)
1:42:41 Al Bowlly Acc. By Orchestra Directed By Carroll Gibbons – Night And Day
1:44:18 Ambrose & His Orchestra – Night And Day
(Clip from Calvacade)
1:45:32 Harry Roy – Bugle Call Rag (Piano Duet – Ivor Moreton & Dave Kaye)
1:48:09 Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra – Moten Swing
(Clip from Employees’ Entrance)
1:50:14 The Lone Star Cowboys – Just Because
1:51:28 Prairie Ramblers – Shady Grove
(Clip from The Private Life of Henry VIII)
1:53:02 Ashley & Foster – East Virginia Blues
(Clip from Calvacade)
1:54:53 Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band – Cold Iron Bed Dark
1:57:57 Rudyard Kipling – France
1:58:16 Guerino Et Son Orchestre Musette & Django Reinhardt – Brise Napolitaine
(Clip from Zéro De Conduite)
2:00:53 Eddie South – Nagasaki
2:02:43 Midge Williams – Lazy Bones
(Clip from The Bitter Tea of General Yen)
2:05:59 The Mills Brothers with Bing Crosby – My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms
(Clip from International House)
2:07:45 Dorsey Brothers – By Heck
(Clip from Duck Soup)
2:11:07 Cab Calloway And His Orchestra – Zah Zuh Zah
2:13:03 Spike Hughes And His Orchestra – How Come You Do Me Like You Do?
2:16:05 Wilmouth Houdini and his Humming Bird – Trinidad Hurricane
2:18:26 Lionel Belasco – The Treasury Fire
(Clip from The Mayor of Hell)
2:20:05 Blind Willie Mctell – Savannah Mama
(Clip from King Kong)
2:21:29 Jimmie Rodgers – Gambling Bar Room Blues
2:23:27 Cliff Carlisle – Mouse’s Ear Blues
(Clip from Burns & Allen Routine)
2:25:06 Carter Family – Gold Watch And Chain
2:26:32 Bradley Kincaid – Dog And Gun (An Old English Ballad)
(Clip from Calvacade)
2:28:52 Joseph Schmidt – Jetzt Spielen Hull Dich In Tand Nur (Pagliacci)
(Clip from The Testament of Dr Mabuse)
2:31:01 Wanda Landowska, Harpsichord – Variation 17
2:32:51 The Three Ginx – On A Steamer Coming Over
(Clip from Employees’ Entrance)
2:34:44 Eddie Condon – Madame Dynamite
2:36:35 Joe Robechaux – Ring Dem Bells
2:38:20 Joe Venuti & His Blue Six – The Jazz Me Blues
2:39:33 Benny Carter Orchestra – Swing It
(Clip from Laurel & Hardy – Sons of the Desert)
2:41:18 Cliff Edwards – It’s Only A Paper Moon
(Clip from Queen Christina)
2:43:22 Marta Eggerth – Ave Maria (Schubert)
(Clip from Employees’ Entrance)

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS A journey through the history of recorded sound with James and Sean. This time we reach the 1900s, and hear Arthur Collins, Vess L Ossman, Arthur Pryor, and other stars of the late Victorian era. We even have a recording of … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #8 – 1900"

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Pennies From Heaven: Soundtrack From the BBC TV Serial BBC 2008

Hot Women: Women Singers From The Torrid Regions Of The World

Soy Un Fugitivo [2013] (Import Movie) (European Format - Zone 2)

A Bill of divorcement - Doble Sacrificio - George Cukor - Katherine Hepburn.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE (Masters of Cinema) (DVD) [1932]

Anthology of American Folk Music Volume 2 Social Music

The Most Dangerous Game (Digitally remastered in c

Sidney Bechet: Petite Fleur - His 48 Finest 1923-1953

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS As we are coming towards the end of the 19th Century, I present an overview of the music and history of 1898 and 1899 – minstrel shows, vaudeville, cakewalk, the horribly-named “coon songs” and an exciting new genre called “ragtime.” Centuries … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #7 – 1898 to 1899"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only the first 55 minutes. For the full 170-minute version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be … Continue reading "2019"

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MP3 download | Patreon | Apple | Mixcloud | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS This compilation of Christmas recordings spans an era which includes the entirety of WW1 and the influenza pandemic of 1918/1919, but of course you wouldn’t guess it from the contents. The only reminder perhaps is the two … Continue reading "Centuries of Sound Presents – Deep Magic: Christmas Recordings 1902-1924"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only the first 45 minutes. For the full 160-minute version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be … Continue reading "1931"

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS James and Sean use their audio archeology skills to take you on another time travel adventure with original recordings from the distant past. This time we visit 1896 and 1897, hear the birth pangs of something not yet called ragtime, find … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #6 – 1896 to 1897"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a cut-down 60 minute mix, for the full 180-minute version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. MP3 preview download | Patreon … Continue reading "1930"

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS James and Sean continue their voyage into the distant history of sound recording. This time we cover the years 1894 and 1895, a time of popular unrest, great literature, and a burgeoning wax cylinder market, with at least two songs bound … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #5 – 1894 to 1895"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a cut-down 45 minute mix, for the full 180-minute version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. MP3 preview download | Patreon … Continue reading "1929"

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS More audio time travel adventures from James and Sean. This time we cover the years 1892 and 1893, the world’s fair in Chicago, a couple of notorious murderers, some rude jokes about Frances Folsom (the wife of the President of the … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #4 – 1892 to 1893"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a cut-down 45 minute mix, for the full three-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. MP3 sample download | Patreon … Continue reading "1928"

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS “Another journey into the history of recorded sound with James and Sean. This time we delve into the vaults for 1890 and 1891, explore the pop music of the gilded age, and hear the voices of P.T. Barnum, Florence Nightingale, Pyotr … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #3 – 1890 to 1891"

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At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a cut-down 30 minute mix, for the full two-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. MP3 sample download | Patreon … Continue reading "1927"

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS “This time James and Sean take a trip back to the 80s – the 1880s that is. Aside from the original music we have celebrity appearances from Arthur Sullivan, Johannes Brahms, William Ewart Gladstone and Queen Victoria herself (possibly) – plus … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #2 – 1887 to 1889"

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MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS For the inaugural Centuries of Sound radio podcast I’m joined by Sean Spencer (not pictured) as I delve into the first 35 years of sound recording, including lines drawn in soot with feathers, a wasp trapped in a bottle, a talking … Continue reading "Radio Podcast #1 – 1853 to 1885"

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Centuries of Sound is a monthly mix of original recordings from a single year. If you want higher bitrate downloads, a bonus podcast with discussion of the recordings, extra bonus mixes and much more, please support me on Patreon for just $5 per month, and keep the project ad-free. MP3 download | Apple | Mixcloud … Continue reading "1924"

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MP3 download | Apple | Mixcloud | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS The original version of 2017 came out very sweary indeed, and I promised to immediately upload a clean version, suitable for listening with children, with all the swears removed. Ten months later, here it finally is. Tracklist Godspeed You … Continue reading "2017 – The Clean Version"

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“The music is a matter of the ear and not of technique. None of us knows music. One carries the melody and others do what they please. Some play counter melodies, some play freak noises, and some just play. I can’t tell you how. You “got to feel” Jass. The time is syncopated. Jass I … Continue reading "1917"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) The story of recorded must prior to 1917 has been, on a personal level, a juggle with two opposing narratives. First there is of course the convoluted journey towards the explosion in jazz and blues of the late 1910s and 1920. Then there’s the other … Continue reading "1916"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) “Looking back in hindsight, 1915 appears to be a saga of such horrors, of such mismanagement and muddle, that it is easy to see why it coloured the views of succeeding generations and gave rise to prejudices and myths that have been applied to the … Continue reading "1915"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) Those long uneven lines Standing as patiently As if they were stretched outside The Oval or Villa Park, The crowns of hats, the sun On moustached archaic faces Grinning as if it were all An August Bank Holiday lark; And the shut shops, the bleached … Continue reading "1914"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) “How can we regard this invasion of vulgarity in music other than as a national calamity, in so far as the mental attainments of the nation are concerned? This cheap, trashy stuff could not elevate even the most degraded minds, nor could it possibly urge … Continue reading "1913"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | YouTube | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) Sound is the name we give to certain frequencies of fluctuating pressure waves which resonate the human eardrum and are able to be perceived by the human brain. Waves fitting this description have existed since the big bang, all of them dissipating forever … Continue reading "1853-1860"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) “Why was the phonograph valued so highly as a means of musical progress? To answer this question we must recognise two perceptions widely held in early twentieth-century America: that classical music was a powerful cultural and musical force to which Americans sadly lacked exposure, and … Continue reading "1912"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) Listening chronologically to music in this way, one of the things I have noticed is that there are sudden lurches forward in certain years. 1911, for all its quality, is not one of those years. Most of what you can hear in this mix sounds … Continue reading "1911"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) “On or around December 1910, human character changed. I am not saying that one went out, as one might into a garden, and there saw that a rose had flowered or a hen had laid an egg. The change was not sudden and definite like … Continue reading "1910"

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“On or around December 1910, human character changed. I am not saying that one went out, as one might into a garden, and there saw that a rose had flowered or a hen had laid an egg. The change was not sudden and definite like that, but a change there was, nevertheless.” – Virgina Woolf, “Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown”

Pity the author trying to conjure up the aural landscape of the world before WW1. It’s too late for Victoriana, too early for the slightest hints of jazz, ragtime (in its popular conception) seems odd outside of saloon bars, and popular song? Well, there’s plenty of that, sure, but does it evoke anything peculiarly about this particular era? I would say not.

What we’re experiencing here is the distorting effect of multiple pairs of rose-tinted glasses. The shock of the war and the flu pandemic, closely followed by the shock of jazz and blues, these things walled off the pre-war era, made them look artificially old, and ripe for reinvention as nostalgia – both in the fairly harmless personal sense and in more sinister uses by those who wished to roll back social and political progress.

Some common ways to encounter popular songs of this time are;

As “barbershop,” an invention sourced to a revival in the 1940s which pieced together several aspects of music and fashion of this era into a unified tradition which bears little resemblance to the way people actually understood it at the time. Certainly we have harmony singing quartets, but the narrow stylistic focus in Barbershop has no real predecessor.
As “standards” or even “The Great American Songbook” which is traditionally understood to date from the dawn of the Jazz age (say 1917-1922) to the birth of Rock & Roll (say 1954-1959), but by 1910 we have many of the most important figures already on the board – Irving Berlin himself appears in this mix, and Gershwin’s piano rolls are coming fairly soon.
As jazz – many of the hit songs of this time (especially those which mentioned “the blues”) were reinterpreted into jazz standards. See how many you recognise from this list – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-1920_jazz_standards – you may be surprised.
As cartoon music. These were the songs of the artists’ childhoods, the most readily available touchstones available in their subconscious, it’s no wonder that when sound cartoons began in the late 20s they gravitated towards the simpler, less swervy melodies of a simpler time. When I’m playing band music from this era to friends, “this sounds like music from a cartoon” is an almost universal response.

The common thread through each of these is, again, nostalgia. We hear these songs as interpreted by the following couple of generations. Advances in recording (particularly electronic recording) would render these originals sonically poor, encourage re-recording and reinterpretation, and yes, that’s good, it’s the heart of the constant recycling at the heart of popular music. The jarring thing is the relative lack of this re-interpretative sense in the music of 1910. The remakes of recent classics like Old Folks At Home and The Mockingbird seem to have faded away, fueled by ragtime and tin pan alley, everyone seems to be looking to the present, or even the future, and that’s kind of an amazing place to be.

Early modernism has now been so recycled as to become an abandoned cliche, but sometimes this era can throw other curveballs at you. Have a look at this device, the “chronophone”, designed to play discs to accompany short ‘phonoscènes’ in a single French cinema, but looking for all the world like a steampunk dj deck.

The biggest star in the world in 1910 is still Enrico Caruso, and for good reason too. His superb singing style was exploited by the best engineers and with the most expensive studio setups. But something doesn’t feel quite right with these recordings, they are just too good. The truth is that while the vocal is most likely from this year, the backing seems to have been added at a later date – an unsatisfactory state of affairs for my obsessive side, but making for perhaps a more comfortable easing into and out of the era.

This is the final mix made using my “driftnet” technique, which meant finding every available recording from the year in question. This worked fine in the 1890s, but at this stage I had over 3000 mp3s to listen to in a single month, most of them poor quality opera recordings, and annoyed my family by listening to them all hours of the day. From this stage on, recordings are selected from lists and compilations prior to listening, not as extensive a reach into the year as before, but continuing to use the driftnet was madness.

Tracks

Enrico Caruso & Frances Alda – Miserere (I Have Sighed to Rest Me) 0:00

Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan – I’m A-Dreamin’ of You 2:42

Sousa’s Band – Dancing Girl 4:15

Murry K Hill – Monologue on Married Life 6:07

Marie Dressler – Marie Dressler’s Working Girl Song 7:00

Ada Jones & Len Spencer – The Suffragette 8:20

Billy Murray – I’m on My Way to Reno 8:45

Jose Rocabruna – Romanza Expresiva 9:51

Aleister Crowley – One Sovereign for Woman 11:07

Belfs Rumaenisches Orchester – Yikhes 11:27

Sarah Bernhardt – Phedre 12:46

Schrammel Quartett Maxim – Slibowitz Tanz 13:39

Imperial Russian Balalaika Court Orchestra – Toreador Et Andalouse 14:23

Banda Odeon – Ze Pereira 15:54

Resurrección Quijano – Sarasa 16:40

Quarteto Da Casa Faulhaber & Cia – Chave De Ouro 18:33

Trio Instrumental Arriaga – El Novio De Tacha 20:40

Agustín Barrios – Ay Ay Ay 23:55

Jack Johnson – How I Won The Big Fight 23:37

Agustín Barrios – Jota 26:26

Fisk University Jubilee Singer – When Malindy Sings 26:27

Fisk University Jubilee Quartet – Swing Low Sweet Chariot 27:01

Bert Williams – Constantly 29:51

Sophie Tucker – That Lovin’ Rag 33:04

Steve Porter – Flanagan’s Courtship 34:53

Mr R. White – Ragtime Frolics 35:35

George Formby Sr – Standing at the Corner of the Street 39:03

Harry Lauder – We Parted on the Shore 41:45

Charles Daab – Irish and Scotch Melodies 43:10

Murry K Hill – Father’s Eccentricities 45:16

Eddie Morton – You Ain’t Talking to Me 45:56

Stella Mayhew – There Are 57 Ways to Catch a Man 47:10

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh’s Rheumatism 49:40

Ada Jones and Billy Murray – Mandy, How Do You Do? 50:15

Nora Bayes & Jack Norworth – Come Along My Mandy 52:04

Irving Berlin – Oh How That German Could Love 54:48

Billy Murray & Ada Jones – Come Josephine in My Flying Machine 57:03

H Benne Henton Saxophone – Scenes That Are Brightest 59:08

Vess L. Ossman – the Moose 59:43

Sembannarkovil Ramaswamy Pillay – Sowrashtra-Mangalam 1:01:35

Brahma Sri Tiruchendur Appadurai Aiyengar – Karaha Athi 1:02:48

P.S. Ramuloo – Harmonium Instrumental- Abhogi-Athi 1:04:18

Nagamma and Sister – Lakshmi Saraswati Samvada 1:05:28

Fatma Ben Meddah – Zeza Barkak Melbeka 1:06:44

Si Said Ben Ahmed – Yemma, Yemma 1:07:21

Nai Chon & Nai Suk, the Luang Sano Phinphat Ensemble – Lakhon Rueang Kraithong 1:08:04

Kachikuri Mimasuya – Shiokumi Kasatsukashi (Collecting Water) 1:09:03

Jere Sanford – Jere Sanford’s Yodling and Whistling Specialty 1:10:21

Stella Mayhew and Billie Taylor – That Beautiful Rag 1:13:15

Albert Benzler – Ideas and Ripples 1:15:14

Performers Not Given – Brown Wax Home Recording of Cheering and Greetings 1:16:23

Stroud Haxton – Canzonetta 1:17:07

Edgar L Davenport – Sheridan’s Ride 1:19:04

Mischa Elman Violin Solo – Melodie (Tchaikovsky) 1:19:41

Lieutenant Ernest Henry Shackleton – My South Polar Expedition 1:21:14

Roxy P La Rocco Harp – Annie Laurie 1:21:53

Victor Herbert Orchestra – Spanish Dance 1:23:53

Raymond Hitchcock – So What’s the Use 1:24:50

Arthur S. Witcomb and the U.S. Marine Band – The Premier 1:26:29

Marguerita Sylva – Habanera (Bizet – Carmen) 1:29:08

Geraldine Farrar- Madama Butterfly- Finale Ultimo (Butterfly’s Death Scene) 1:30:22

Nellie Melba – Puisqu’ on Peut Ne Fléchir Vainement Ma Bien Aimée (Lalo – Roi D’ Ys) 1:31:48

Enrico Caruso – Carmen – Air De La Fleur (Flower Song) 1:33:12

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MP3 (full mix) | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) So, were you expecting 1910? Well the bad news is that it’s going to be another month until that’s ready. The good news is that I have finally finished this mix for 2017. It has been a bit of a monster, or a menace, is … Continue reading "2017"

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So, were you expecting 1910? Well the bad news is that it’s going to be another month until that’s ready. The good news is that I have finally finished this mix for 2017. It has been a bit of a monster, or a menace, is 45 minutes over my supposed maximum running time of two hours, and contains around 150 sound samples, including the 76 tracks listed below.

How was 2017? It seems like a year of readjustment after the shocks of 2016. There is a lot going on in here, but I didn’t find that a single thread emerged this time. In a decade or so, when I get around to this year again, some of this will still seem worthwhile, some probably will not, we will just have to see.

One perhaps important thing also to note – there is a lot of rude language in this mix, and I mean a lot. I’m working on a family-friendly version, which should be out in a week or two.

The start of 2019 sees some changes at Centuries of Sound. The monthly mix will stay as it is, free to download, and without any advertisements, but there will be a variety of rewards available for anyone signing up to our Patreon. The page is up already, the rewards will start to become available in the next month. Your support can get me some half-decent microphones, proper hosting, and, most importantly, justify to my family the amount of time I spend making this thing. Our page is here.

And finally, of course, the tracklist:

Godspeed You Black Emperor! – Undoing a Luciferian Towers 0:00:00

Charlotte Gainsbourg – Deadly Valentine (Soulwax Remix) 0:01:16

Jeff Beal – House of Cards S05E03 Closing Titles 0:04:00

Danny Brown – Ain’t it Funny 0:05:27

Zimpel-Ziolek – Wrens 0:06:28

Superorganism – Something for Your M.I.N.D. 0:09:08

Big Shaq – Man’s Not Hot 0:10:57

Todd Terje – Jungelknugen (Four Tet Remix) 0:13:15

Kendrick Lamar – FEEL. 0:15:31

Blanck Mass – Hive Mind 0:18:57

Trio Da Kali & Kronos Quartet – Lila Bambo 0:21:50

The Horrors – Something To Remember Me By 0:25:13

Self Esteem – Your Wife 0:27:16

Roger Robinson – Welcome to Dog Heart City 0:29:11

Caroline Spence – Softball 0:31:16

Leif – July V 0:34:20

Cardi B – Bodak Yellow 0:37:49

Avelino (feat. Stormzy & Skepta) – Energy 0:39:05

Orbital – Copenhagen 0:40:26

Strobes – OK Please 0:42:25

Tom Zanetti featuring Sadie Ama – You Want Me 0:44:20

Justin Adams ft. Anneli Drecker – Wassoulou 0:45:34

Denzel Curry, Lil Ugly Mane – Zeltron 6 Billion 0:47:18

CCFX – The One to Wait 0:48:50

Kero Kero Bonito – Rock & Roll Star 0:52:20

Yaeji – Raingurl 0:55:15

Nite Jewel – 2 Good 2 Be True 0:58:01

Colin Stetson – Spindrift 0:59:48

Vince Staples – Crabs in a Bucket 1:01:40

Tove Lo – Disco Tits 1:03:32

Special Request – Stairfoot Lane Bunker (Minor Science Remix) 1:05:22

Baxter Dury – Porcelain 1:08:03

Antwood – Disable Ad Blocker / Sublingual 1:09:30

Chino Amobi – Eigengrau (Children of Hell II) 1:11:06

Hammock – When The Body Breaks 1:12:17

James Holden & The Animal Spirits – Thunder Moon Gathering 1:14:22

The Jungle Giants – Bad Dream 1:16:31

Rose Elinor Dougall – Stellular 1:18:08

Grace Mitchell – Now 1:20:15

Lindstrøm – Tensions 1:21:30

The Seven Fields of Aphelion – Drift (Losing Light) 1:22:57

Young Fathers – Only God Knows 1:23:30

Bjork – Arisen My Senses 1:25:53

clipping. – The Deep 1:28:23

Kelly Lee Owens – Anxi 1:30:22

Photay – Off-Piste 1:32:22

Lost Souls of Saturn vs. Mashrou’ Leila – Bint El Khandaq 1:34:43

Alessandro Cortini – Vincere 1:36:36

Nilüfer Yanya – Baby Luv 1:39:07

Kesha ft. The Dap-Kings Horns – Woman 1:41:42

KIASMOS – Blurred 1:44:03

Oliver – Chemicals (feat. MNDR) 1:46:27

Lingua Ignota – Woe to All (On the Day of My Wrath) 1:48:09

Jlin – Kyanite 1:49:32

Migos – T-Shirt 1:51:16

Ghostpoet – Freakshow 1:53:44

Meridian Brothers – Yo Soy Tu Padre, Yo Te Fabrique 1:55:33

Lanark Artefax – Touch Absence 1:57:49

Aldous Harding – Imagining My Man 2:01:06

Moses Sumney – Doomed 2:04:11

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Who I Am And Why I Am Where I Am 2:05:59

Lorde – Green Light 2:07:49

Visible Cloaks – Screen 2:10:18

Ibibio Sound Machine – Give Me a Reason 2:11:45

Mondo Grosso – Labyrinth 2:13:50

Bing & Ruth – Starwood Choker 2:15:55

Brian Eno & Kevin Shields – Only Once Away My Son 2:17:53

Rapsody feat. Lance Skiiiwalker – Power 2:20:00

Susanne Sundf›r – The Sound of War 2:23:13

SZA – Supermodel 2:25:57

Sinkane – U’Huh 2:27:55

Bicep – Glue 2:29:46

Leif Vollebekk – Elegy 2:33:36

Tornado Wallace – Voices 2:36:45

Ryuichi Sakamoto – Life, Life 2:39:27

Pippa Murphy – Small Consolation 2:40:35

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack Many people have observed that as we get older, time seems to pass more quickly – and it seems natural to apply this to civilization in general. But while it’s true that technology has had some disorientating lurches forward over the last … Continue reading "1909"

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Many people have observed that as we get older, time seems to pass more quickly – and it seems natural to apply this to civilization in general. But while it’s true that technology has had some disorientating lurches forward over the last century – going from the first flight to the first space flight in just over 50 years for example – I would say that (n terms of culture) we seem to be if anything slowing down now, partly for the simple reason that it’s difficult to shock your mum if your grandad was a punk, but also because this longevity means the careers of artists and entertainers are now significantly longer. Artists from the 1960s and even the 1950s are still touring, and plenty of young people are turning up to see them. This might seem unremarkable, but taken from the vantage point of the Edwardian era, it’s a massive shift. The popular artists of the 1900s were not the popular artists of the 1920s. Why? Well, many (if not most) of them were dead, for a start. So let’s take a look at three of our featured artists who would not be around in a few years, and one group who you can go and hear even now.

British listeners will probably be familiar with the name of George Formby, a huge star in the 1930s and 1940s, but may not be aware that his father was also called George Formby, and was if anything an even bigger star in his day. Born to an alcoholic prostitute mother and a coal miner father in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, then neglected, mistreated and malnourished, George often had to sleep outside because his parents were being held in police cells. In order to raise some money for food, he began singing on street corners for pennies, and was good enough to get real work in a singing duo in his teens. Touring music halls, George developed stage characters, including “John Willie”, described by Jeffrey Richards as “the archetypal gormless Lancashire lad … hen-pecked, accident-prone, but muddling through” – and whose costume served as inspiration for Charlie Chaplin when he was creating his Little Tramp. Formby’s health was never strong – he gained the nickname of “The Wigan Nightingale” after incorporating his bronchial cough into his act, and had to retire from music hall after a stage accident in 1916. He contracted influenza in the pandemic of 1918/19 and a bout of pulmonary tuberculosis finished him off in 1921 at the age of 45. In the 1909 recording featured in this mix, he is a mere 33 years old, but sounds much older.

Billy Williams was another big name in 1900s music hall, but his accent might be harder to place than Formby’s – it was in fact masking the fact that he was from Australia rather than Northern England. He worked with songwriter Fred Godfrey to create a “song factory” – Godfrey would create personalised character songs and Williams would perform here. The selection here has a young Billy finding a coin, buying a packet of cigarettes and lying down to smoke them on some tramway lines – this was wholesome family entertainment at the time. Billy Williams was rumored to be an overindulger, and this perhaps led to his premature death in Hove in 1915 from septic prostatitis, at the age of 37.

Across the atlantic, Polk Miller had a much longer life, but was so much of a late bloomer that his recording in this mix comes just four years before his death. The son of a Virginian plantation owner, he learned to play the banjo from his father’s slaves and took time out from his work as a druggist to fight for the south as an artilleryman in the Civil War. In the reconstruction era he became a successful businessman, launching the Sergeant brand of pet care products which survives to this day. It wasn’t until the 1890s that he began playing music professionally, and not until the 1900s that he began touring nationally with his “Old South Quartette.” This backing group consisted of four black singers and the music presented was “Stories, Sketches and Songs depicting African American life before the Civil War” – but this was no minstrel show. Nobody put on blackface and the musical content was intended to be as authentic as possible, and performed to exclusive social clubs as well as African American churches. As the ethnographic sound recordists touring the world could not find the inspiration to travel a few hundred miles south, this seems to be the closest thing we have to capturing this music, and on this evidence we are missing a huge amount. In just a few minutes we can hear harmonies, rhythms and call-and-response patterns which are notable absent from the bleak landscape of “coon songs” and which gives a clear idea of the commonalities between early blues and early country music. Before I get too carried away praising Polk, however, I should probably mention that he was not just a racist, but an apologist for slavery, whose stated aim was “to vindicate the slave-holding class against the charge of cruelty and inhumanity to the negro of the old time” – and that this song perpetuates a series of stereotypes about black people and includes multiple uses of the ‘n’ word.

A less morally mixed window into this music is provided by the Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, the latest incarnation of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University, a historically black college founded after the end of the Civil War in order to educate freedmen and other young African Americans. The group was first organised in 1871 in order to raise money to save the college from bankrupcy. Touring the USA and later Europe, the nine-member group are often credited with the popularisation of what would later be called “negro spirituals” – slave songs which were not previously heard in public. Original member Ella Sheppard said “they were sacred to our parents, who used them in their religious worship and shouted over them…It was only after many months that gradually our hearts were opened to the influence of these friends and we began to appreciate the wonderful beauty and power of our songs.” Fisk Jubilee songs like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” “Wade In The Water” and “Shout All Over God’s Heaven” are well-known to this day, and the group itself is still active – in fact you can go and see them tonight in Nashville.

Tracks

Press Eldridge – a Confidential Chat 0:00

New York Military Band – Wild Cherries Rag 0:10

Eddie Morton – Wild Cherries Rag 0:55

Ada Jones & Len Spencer – Si Perkins’ Barn Dance 2:25

Billy Murray & Haydn Quartet – Take Me Up With You Dearie 3:47

Miss Jones and Mr. Spencer with Orchestra – Zeb Green’s Airship 5:29

American Symphony Orchestra – Black and White Rag 6:21

Murray K. Hill – A Talk on Married Life 7:23

Stella Mayhew – I’m Looking for Something to Eat 8:26

Nat M. Wills – Hortense at Sea 10:31

Nat M. Wills – Parody on There Never Was a Girl Like You 12:11

Fred Duprez & Steve Porter – Blitz and Blatz 14:13

Bohumir Kryl – Du, Du 14:44

Skobelev, Sart – Survora Andizhany 16:20

Choir of Guria Province – Tsamokruli 17:11

Obercantor Sawel Kwartin – Jaale Tachnuneinu 17:55

Vladikavkaz, Ossetian – Kudari Zarond Lechi Zarag 19:57

Tiflis, Georgian – Lezghinka 21:17

William Howard Taft – On War 23:31

United States National Guard Fife & Drum Corps – On Parade 24:02

Orquesta Pablo Valenzuela – Mama Teresa 26:08

Alfredo Gobbi, Flora Rodruez De Gobbi – El Gaucho Mam 28:46

Trio Instrumental Arriaga – Predilecta- Vals 28:56

Eduardo Das Neves – Gargalhadas Isto Bom 31:42

Enrico Molinari – E Naturale 33:05

Florencio Constantino – Recondita Armonia 33:17

Enrico Caruso – Bianca Al Par Di Neve Alpina 34:49

Charles Draper – Concertino 37:14

Paul Lack – Poesies de Table 38:22

Billy Williams – Wild Woodbines 38:58

George Formby Sr – Playing the Game in the West 41:52

Steve Porter & Edward Meeker – Flanagan and Harrigan 43:24

Harry Champion – Boiled Beef and Carrots 43:42

Steve Porter – She’s No Friend of Danny’s 45:02

Edward Meeker – Clancy’s Wooden Wedding 46:07

Charley Chase – Experiences in the Show Business 49:10

Jack Pleasants – I Said Hooray 49:34

P. Molinari – Street Piano Medley 51:39

Polk Miller & Old South Quartet – Watermelon Party 52:45

Len Spencer – Arkansas Traveler 56:21

Fred Van Eps – Yankee Medley 56:54

Cal Stewart and Len Spencer – Uncle Josh at the Dentist’s 59:12

Samuel Siegel and Roy H. Butin – Waltz 59:39

Miss Ray Cox – Baseball Girl 1:02:05

Edison Concert Band – In the Hall of the Mountain King 1:02:31

Empire Vaudeville Company – Traveling Salesman 1:03:51

Olly Oakley – Oakleigh Quickstep – Danse D’Oakley 1:04:08

Professor Kaukub – Banjo Instrumental- Bhopali 1:05:27

Ma Kyaw Bala, Ma Sein Myine, and Ma Chin Yone – Untitled Trio Part 1 1:07:25

Asadollah – Reza-Qoli Shahnaz (Shur) 1:08:42

Aung Bala – Maung Sein Mida Part 2 1:09:15

Seyyed Hoseyn Taherzadeh, Habibollah Moshir-Homayun – Bayat Esfahan 1:09:50

Seyyed Hoseyn Taherzadeh, Akbar – Daramad 1:10:55

Pinto, Lufsky and Stehl – Dreamy Moments 1:12:02

Venetian Instrumental Trio – Love and Devotion 1:13:11

Sousa’s Band – Summer Girl 1:13:25

Fisk University Jubilee Quartet – Little David, Play on Your Harp , Shout All Over God’s Heaven 1:15:37

Maurice Levi Band – Frau Luna Selections 1:18:21

Ada Jones and Len Spencer – a Race for a Wife 1:20:35

Indestructible Concert Band – Oscaleeta 1:21:12

U.S. Marine Band – Maple Leaf Rag 1:22:53

Fred Duprez & Bob Roberts – Blitz and Blatz at the Sea Shore 1:25:29

Billy Murray & Premier Quartet – Little Willie 1:25:58

Albert Benzler – Two Old Songs 1:26:38

Koos Speenhoff – Spotlied Op De Jaloerse Vrouwen 1:27:09

Albert Spalding – Gypsy Airs (Zigeunerweisen) 1:28:23

Harry Lauder – Fu’ Th’ Noo’ (I’ve Something in the Bottle) 1:30:07

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I’ve lived through a couple of decades of recorded sound now – perhaps you have too – and as a result the world of 1908 seems almost entirely alien from the perspective of 1888. Recording technology has improved a great deal of course, but this year this feels incidental; there does seem to be a genuine shift in popular culture. The buttoned-up world of Victorian musical theatre and the racist formalism of the minstrel show have both largely fallen out of favour, but what do we have in their place? Films and TV series set during this era tend to feature ragtime piano music, in place of the early jazz they are clearly itching to use. Real ragtime was, however, still something of a minority interest – and when it did really take off a few years later, it had mutated slightly into the proto-jazz syncopated music which scandalised society and the media.

So when we try to put together an aural picture of this time, there’s a puzzling gap – puzzling because not only was there a great wave of popular music around this time, but because much of it still exists in popular consciousness in the way that embarrassing Victoriana and swept-under-the-carpet “coon songs” do not. The Wikipedia page on the “Great American Songbook” posits a timeframe of “1920s-1950” – but the writers of these songs were already at work, many of them in Tin Pan Alley, and some of the standards had already been written. In 1908 Irving Berlin is already working in New York, Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth have married and have published their most enduring hit “Shine On, Harvest Moon” and George M Cohan has already become such a big deal with hits like “Give My Regards to Broadway” that his two compositions in this mix have his name in the title – “Cohan’s Rag Babe” and “Cohan’s Pet Names.” Sentimental patriotic ballads about soldiers leaving their sweethearts are thankfully out of favour now, though it wouldn’t be until the electronic microphone allowed singers to croon (still 20 years away) that the laconic sophistication we tend to associate with this sort of music began to rise to prominence.

Vaudeville was not new in 1908, but it had finally evolved from a loosely adapted minstrel show into the classic style of wisecracking comics and variety performance it’s associated with today. Perhaps the last truly universal American entertainment, it showed a remarkable ability to adapt while it spread, helping to develop performing styles through sheer power of audience approval. A little-remembered Vaudeville comic called Murray K Hill features prominently in this mix – his stream-of-consciousness rapid-fire joke-telling style anticipates Groucho Marx or even Bob Hope.

One place vaudeville could not be easily transferred to was the UK. Strict regulations on theatres meant that most venues were simply not allowed to present a wide variety of material to the general public. To fill this gap, the ‘Music Hall’ came into existence. Originally back rooms of taverns and coffee houses, these venues allowed food, drink and smoking, and acts would have to work hard to make any sort of impression. This atmosphere, combined with laws about the kinds of performances that could be allowed, ensured that the music hall would rely on songs almost exclusively – there was simply not room for a Murray K Hill in London. Instead we have risqué innuendos from working class girl Marie Lloyd, male impersonators like Vesta Tilley and Vesta Victoria, who dressed as Edwardian gents and sang songs mocking their pomposity, and character singers, often from far afield, like Billy Williams, George Formby Sr and Harry Lauder – all of whom were to achieve national, and even in some cases international fame.

There isn’t any sort of revolutionary change in 1908 – these trends have been building for many years – but it’s the first time that enough of this stuff exists for it to be presented together as a vaudeville / music hall show (I could have made an hour-long mix using exclusively this material.) This is the world of my great-grandparents, and though 110 years have passed, it still sounds notably modern to me.

Tracks

Columbia Double – Disc Demo Record (Excerpt 1) 0:00

Orchestra Goldberg – Kleftico Vlachiko 0:12

Columbia Double – Disc Demo Record (Excerpt 2) 2:17

Zon-O-Phone Concert Band – The Smiler 2:50

Unknown – Sunderland Home Cylinder 34 5:15

Vess L. Ossman – Smiler Rag 5:23

Murray K. Hill – A Bunch Of Nonsense 7:25

Ada Jones & Billy Murray – Shine On, Harvest Moon 7:42

Ada Jones & Len Spencer – Henry & Hilda At The Schuetzenfest 9:46

Billy Murray & Ada Jones – Cohan’s Pet Names 10:16

Len Spencer and Billy Murray – The liars 12:53

James Lent – The Ragtime Drummer 13:04

Thomas A. Edison – Electricity and progress 14:33

A. T. Berlyavsky – A Quiet Corner 14:51

Emile Berliner – An Address At Atlantic City 15:46

Indestructible Concert Band – Torch Dance 16:10

William Jennings Bryan – An Ideal Republic 17:32

Edison Concert Band – Pure As Snow 18:16

Taft & Bryan – Foreign Policy Debate 19:44

4 Flutes And Vocal – Music For The Lela Celebration 21:52

Taft & Bryan – Economic Debate 22:14

London Palace Orchestra – The Silken Ladder – Overture 24:43

Taft & Bryan – Labour Debate 25:38

Venetian Instrumental Trio – Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still 26:33

Joseph Taylor – Sprig O’ Thyme 27:32

Harry Lauder – Hey, Donal! 28:18

Harry Lauder – The Wedding O’ Sandy Macnab 29:31

Murray K. Hill – Grandma’s Mustard Plaster 31:39

Marie Lloyd – Little Of What You Fancy Does You Good 32:19

Winifred Hare and Percy Clifton – The Plumber 33:43

George Formby Sr – John Willie Come On 35:23

Wilkie Bard – Sea Shells 36:23

Vesta Tilley – Following A Fellow With A Face Like Me 36:47

Steve Porter – He And She In Vaudeville 37:50

New York Military Band – I’m Afraid To Come Home In The Dark 38:28

Billy Murray – I’m Afraid To Come Home In The Dark 39:37

Billy Murray & Byron G Harlan & Steve Porter – Village Constable 40:51

Edward Meeker – Take Me Out To The Ball Game 41:24

Hadyn Quartet – Take Me Out to the Ball Game 42:20

Len Spencer & Gilbert Girard – Sheriff’s Sale Of A Stranded Circus 42:49

Arthur Collins – Rag Babe 43:18

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh Keeps House 44:22

Indestructible Military Band – Eppler’s whiskers 44:53

Elk’s Minstrel Co. – Elks minstrels 45:39

Len Spencer and Mozarto – Krausmeyer’s birthday party 46:08

Edison Symphony Orchestra – Suwannee River with orchestra variations 47:04

American Symphony Orchestra – By The Suwanee River 48:52

Ada Jones & Len Spencer – Jimmie And Maggie At The Merry Widow 49:41

Arthur Pryor’s Band – Georgia Sunset 49:56

Cocadorus – Postpapier 52:25

Bérard – Le retour au pays 52:37

Fréjol – Le Marin Marseillais 53:42

Grupo K. Larangeira – Só para moer 54:22

Grupo Bahianinho – Destemido 56:09

Samuel Siegel and William Smith – Castilian echoes 57:16

Banda de Policía – La Tirolesa 59:25

William Moriarity – Ain’t Dat a Shame Medley 1:00:34

Dmitry Bogemsky, acc. orchestra – Wedding in the Galley Harbor 1:01:28

Ignacy Podgorski & Jego Nadzwyczajna Orkiestra – Wesola Mania (Happy Mary-Polka) 1:01:46

Ignacy Podgorski & Jego Nadzwyczajna Orkiestra – Skowrenek-Oberek (Lark Oberek) 1:03:26

V.S.Varshavsky’s ‘Harmony’ Orchestra – Jewish Revival, March 1:04:46

Varya Panina – I Long For Gaiety 1:05:13

Moscow Chudkovsky Choir – He That Dwelleth in the Secret Place 1:05:57

Aurelia Volskaya & Zinaida Ratmirova – Cradle Song 1:06:40

Emilio De Gogorza – O Sole Mio 1:07:58

Enrico Caruso – Lolita (Buzzi-Peccia) 1:09:42

Komitas Vardapet – Gutan Yerg 1:11:16

Brahma Sri T. Appadurai Aiyengar – Jalatharangam Instrumental 1:12:16

Gopal Chunder Singh Roy – Burdwan Dist. Beggar’s Song 1:13:22

Nagaraja Rao – Rag Hamsadhwani 1:13:40

Miss Mankoo – Maro Joban Bito Jaya 1:14:22

Danakoti And Sister – Nadanamakriya-Eka 1:15:08

Booker T. Washington – Atlanta Exposition Speech 1:15:48

William Craig – Lady Binnie and shores of Lake Erie 1:16:16

Unknown – Sunderland Home Cylinder 16 1:18:10

Charles D’almaine – Violin Solo, Jigs and Reels 1:18:16

Buglers of the New York Military Band – U.S. Army bugle calls 1:18:43

Edison Military Band – Whistle 1:19:08

Billy Murray & Steve Porter – Laughing Spectator 1:20:16

John J. Kimmel – American Polka 1:21:00

Murray K. Hill – Stranded Minstrel Man 1:21:46

Chris Chapman – Dill Pickles Rag 1:23:09

Vess L. Ossman – Fun In A Barber Shop 1:24:25

Steve Porter with Edward Meeker – Sidewalk Conversation 1:25:40

Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan – My Gal Irene Indestructable 1:26:36

Billy Whitlock – Billy Whitlock’s Christmas Waits 1:28:50

Indestructible Military Band – In Darkest Africa 1:29:03

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack I’ve lived through a couple of decades of recorded sound now – perhaps you have too – and as a result the world of 1908 seems almost entirely alien from the perspective of 1888. Recording technology has improved a great deal of … Continue reading "1908"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack This week has seen the passing of Geoff Emerick, who served as sound engineer on The Beatles’ Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums, starting at the age of just 20. His death hasn’t generated as much interest as those of George … Continue reading "1907"

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This week has seen the passing of Geoff Emerick, who served as sound engineer on The Beatles’ Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums, starting at the age of just 20. His death hasn’t generated as much interest as those of George Martin or George Harrison, partly because his role was junior to other people working on the record, but mainly because even now most people are not fully aware of what the job of a sound engineer entails or why it is important. Songwriters have ideas, producers have a grand plan, musicians perform, but it’s the sound engineer who allows these things to come together to make a recording. They may view themselves as technicians, aiming to reproduce a sound accurately (though ‘accurately’ is one of those things that means very different things to different people) or they may be working to mould the sound in subtle, often barely audible ways. ‘Revolver’, for example, has been called a “concept LP about close-miking,” after Emerick insisted on breaking EMI rules to give the album that distinctively vibrant, intimate sound.

This tension between the technical and the creative has been there since the start. The father of sound engineering is a man called Fred Gaisberg, a piano player from New York who found himself working first for Berliner Gram-O-Phone, then its successor company, The Gramophone Company, later known as HMV. He viewed himself very much as outside the creative process, hoping to faithfully capture as many performances as he could with the limited time and materials available. Even with this approach, however, he managed to set up many of the standards which would be used by sound engineers for the rest of the acoustic era. Here is his description of the setup of a studio in New York, based on one of Gaisberg’s technical drawings

“Two recording horns are used, with the violins (which recorded least well) nearest to them. Squashed around them are the woodwind players, who would have been reinforcing the string parts. Behind them, but higher, were most of the brass, with the French horns facing backwards in order to direct the sound from their bells into the recording horn, the players following the conductor in a mirror. The conductor is pushed out of the way to the side where he can be seen but doesn’t obstruct the sound. Bassoons reinforce the ‘cellos, and a tuba and contrabassoon replace double basses, which would not have recorded adequately. Another surviving photograph shows Paderewski recording into a pair of horns and, unusually, it allows us to see something of the coupling mechanism. For a typical studio layout for a recording of voice with piano accompaniment, the horn is hung right in front of the singer’s mouth, and the upright piano is set above and behind the singer at a height that ensures that the maximum amount of piano sound enters the horn. Pianists were instructed to play fortissimo throughout. Singers, on the other hand, had to move towards the horn for quieter passages, and away for louder notes to avoid distortion. Inexperienced soloists were guided back and forth by an assistant, sometimes on a form of trolley!”

from “A Brief History of Recording to ca. 1950” by Roger Beardsley and Daniel Leech-Wilkinson, AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music

We have already encountered Fred’s work in a few different forms. It was he who fought to standardise releases as shellac records to be played at 78rpm, and he who set out to travel the world, recording Alessandro Moreschi and the first discs by Caruso, and doing much to set in motion recording in Asia and South America. It’s due to him that this mix has such an international feel – not only in anthropological recordings, but in capturing exciting new kinds of music from Mexico, Cuba and Argentina. The third track in this mix, from the orchestra of Enrique Peña Sánchez, sounds for all the world like a frantic early jazz recording, a clear illustration of the Hispanic influence on what was not yet even called ‘jass’, and evidence for what Jelly Roll Morton later referred to as his music’s “Spanish tinge.” How directly it connected, however, we still cannot know, for though recordings were taking place all over the world, we still have nothing from dance bands in New Orleans.

That’s a minor quibble, though. In 1907 there is a lot to celebrate.

Tracks

Enrico Caruso – Vesti La Giubba (I Pagliacci) 00:00

Unknown – Sunderland Home Cylinder 33 02:17

Vess L. Ossman – Maple Leaf Rag 02:23

Orquesta De Enrique Peña – Los Guajiros De La Yaya 05:01

Octavio Yáñez – Anita 06:27

Ángel Villoldo – El Negro Alegre 08:34

Orquesta De Pablo Valenzuela – Happy Hobbs 10:11

Steve Porter – Flanagan’s Troubles In A Restaurant 12:14

Edison Vaudeville Company – An Amateur Minstrel Rehearsal 14:25

Billy Murray – I’d Rather Two-Step Than Waltz, Bill 14:52

Peerless Trio – Three Rubes Seeing New York 15:56

Ada Jones And Len Spencer – Burying The Hatchet 17:52

Eddie Morton – That’s Gratitude 18:33

Peerless Quartet – The New Parson At The Darktown Church 21:03

Ada Jones And Billy Murray – Smile, Smile, Smile 21:34

Albert Whelan – The Miser 23:51

Arthur Pryor’s Band – The King Of Rags 24:14

Yolande Noble And Percy Clifton – Buying The Christmas Dinner 25:54

Zonophone Concert Band – The Smiler 26:22

Carl Lüdicke – Der Musikalische Clown 28:18

Edison-Orchester (Berlin) – Alarmierung Der Berliner Feuerwehr 29:57

Gustav Schönwald And Fraulein Vincent – Am Telephon 30:17

Steidl-Quartett – Katzenliebe 30:48

Gustav Schönwald – Nachtliches Abenteuer Eines Studenten 31:53

August Molinari – Street Piano Medley 32:41

Gilbert Girard And Len Spencer – The Vagabonds (Roger And I) 34:49

Antonio Scotti – Sortita D’amonasro 35:14

Emma Calve – Habanera from Carmen 36:01

Maria A. Mikhalova Acc. Boris S. Troyanovsky – Why Should I Live And Grieve Alone? 37:30

Dmitry Bogemsky – The Tossing Of The Steamer 39:30

Orchestra ‘Harmonia’, Conductor Vasily Varshavsky – Sighs 40:06

P. A. Strakhov – The Departure Of A Train 40:56

Chorus Of Terek And Kuban Cossacks Of The Guards Of The Governor Of His Imperial Majesty In Caucasus, Conductor Mikhail Kolotilin – Walking On Water 41:15

Choir Of Makvaneti – Naduri 42:09

Count Leo Tolstoy – Excerpt From ‘Guidelines For Everyday Living’ 43:46

Choir Of Tbilisi – Metiuri 43:54

Victor Orchestra – A Hunt In The Black Forest 44:43

Mme Rollini – Ne M’ Chatouillez Pas 46:59

Bérard – Chargez 48:32

John J. Kimmel – Cakewalk 49:14

Fréjol – C’ Que Tu M’as Fait 50:24

Unknown – Sunderland Home Cylinder 18 51:41

Vesta Victoria – It Ain’t All Honey And It Ain’t All Jam 52:10

Edison Vaudeville Company – At The Village Post Office 53:19

Florrie Forde – I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside 53:42

Ada Jones – I’m In Love With The Slide Trombone 55:30

Edith Helena – Cavalleria Rusticana. Intermezzo; Arr. 57:42

Edison Venetian Trio – Sonoma 59:36

Gramophone Orchestra, Conductor I. P. Arkadev – The Music Box 59:49

Picolines Duet – Two Little Finches 1:00:43

Arthur Pryor’s Band – The Lion Chase 1:01:35

Banda De Policía – Álbum Recreativo Variacones De Saxofón Soprano 1:04:55

Antonio Hidalgo – Un Meeting De Raza 1:06:48

Martin Silveira – Nueva York 1:07:15

Arturo De Nava – Décimas Del Sargento 1:08:31

Uncredited Ensemble – Khaek Lopburi 1:09:42

Albert Benzler – The Chapel In The Woods 1:11:11

Alice Shaw & Her Twin Daughters – Spring-Tide Revels 1:12:10

George Islon – Christmas Eve In The Old Homestead 1:12:57

Billy Murray – So What’s The Use? 1:13:23

Percy Clifton – Dick Whittington 1:16:27

Edward M. Favor – Theodore 1:16:47

Choir Of The Royal Court Opera With Orchestra And Church Bells, Acc. Harmonium, Bells – Silent Night, Holy Night 1:18:47

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Williams & Walker are a great deal to blame for being the originators and establishing the name “coon” upon our race. They met a white man in San Francisco by the name of McConnell, who put them on the circuit. In order to achieve success and to attract the attention of the public they branded themselves as “the two real coons.” Their names, accompanied with “coon” songs, were soon heralded North, East, South and West…. Williams & Walker and Ernest Hogan were not old enough then to know the harm they had brought on the whole race. They needed the money, what little they received, and the white people needed the laugh [and made the money]. Colored men in general took no offense at the proceedings and laughed as heartily on hearing a “coon” song as the whites. But where the rub came is when the colored was called a “coon” outside of the [theater].

“Coon Songs Must Go,” Editorial in “Freeman”, Jan. 2, 1909

Before I got through with ‘Nobody’, I could have wished that both the author of the words and the assembler of the tune had been strangled or drowned… ‘Nobody’ was a particularly hard song to replace.

Bert Williams

It’s a tough gig to be the bridge to a much-needed change. The old guard will consider you a heretic, the next generation will view you as a link to an embarrassing past. Bert Williams is not only the first black star of the 20th century, he stands alone in the world of 1900s popular music, a figure to define the decade as much as Caruso. These days perhaps that’s all the attention he gets – a paragraph in black histories, vaudeville histories, cultural histories of the progressive era, a footnote in histories of ragtime and jazz. But, here’s the thing, his music is still with us! This mix features his signature piece, ‘Nobody’, a brilliant piece of work which showcases his dry wit, laconic delivery and universally-relatable humanity in an era of grotesque, lazy stereotypes. He would go on to make several other recordings of the song, but none would capture its essence quite as well. The mix also features two other Bert Williams songs – Pretty Desdemona, performed with backing from his stage partner George Walker, and He’s a Cousin of Mine, written by Chris Smith and performed here by Bob Roberts, but made famous by Williams. We also have the final recording from the last generation’s great black singer, George W Johnson.

The other great pioneering black musician of the era was, of course, Scott Joplin, whose music has lasted a great deal better than Williams’, even if not in the form it would have been heard in at the time. Joplin was more well-known as a writer than a performer, so we have no recordings of him playing, but his ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ was already selling enough copies to guarantee him an income for the rest of his short life. Though it was composed initially for the piano, it was a popular piece with both upworld brass bands and underworld dance bands, the like of which we will later hear mutating into early jazz. Here it’s performed in a surprisingly swinging fashion (that is, perhaps 2% swinging) by Sousa’s United States Marine Band.

1906 was also an important year for the way music was consumed. For the last decade both cylinders and disc records had been played on devices with large external horns. These worked well enough, but were large and ungainly, the focus of a parlour whether in use or not, and liable to be damaged by minor knocks. Victor, by now a major player on the scene, introduced a new phonograph named the “Victrola” which folded the horn down into the base of a large, luxurious cabinet designed by the Pooley Furniture Company of Philadelphia. Though the Victrola was very expensive – more than double the price of other gramophones – it was an immediate success, and would be the standard design for the next couple of decades. In a sense it’s a minor change, but it turned the gramophone from a novelty into a standard piece of household equipment, a democratization which would broaden the audience enough to mean that recorded music was no longer the preserve of dedicated enthusiasts.

Tracklist

Herr Dr. Professor & George Donahue – Bringing In 1906 0:00

Bert Williams – Nobody 0:18

Ada Jones And Len Spencer – Bashful Henry And His Lovin’ Lucy 3:00

United States Marine Band – Maple Leaf Rag 3:24

Edison Minstrels – At The Minstrel Show no. 3 5:17

Vess L. Ossman – Medley Little Bit Of Everything 5:57

Prince’s Military Band – Destruction Of San Francisco 8:01

General William Booth – Don’t Forget 9:36

Edison Concert Band – Chopin’s Funeral March 9:54

Orchestra Of The Republican Guard – Dawn With Torches 10:15

Marianna Cherkasskaya, Nina Panina, Acc. Orchestra – Already The Evening Enfolds The Distant Fields 12:00

Alexander Davydov – Hermann’s Appearance In The Countess’s Bedroom 13:22

Mlle Korsoff – Il Bacio (Arditi) 15:24

Richard Waldemar – Der Fensterputzer- 1. Teil 18:12

Leo Tolstoy – Thoughts From The Book ‘for Every Day’ 18:50

Selma Kurz, Acc. Orchestra – The Bird In The Forest 19:05

Arthur Pryor’s Band – Carmen Selection 20:07

Siegel-Myers School Of Music – Vocal Record F 22:40

Bob Roberts – He’s A Cousin Of Mine 23:04

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh At The Roller Skating Rink 25:09

Charles P. Lowe And The Columbia Symphony Orchestra – Medley Of Popular Airs 25:20

Len Spencer & George W Johnson – The Merry Mail Man 26:31

Edison Male Quartet – Stop That Knocking At The Door 27:44

Harry Spencer – Sale Of Pawnbroker’s Goods 28:37

Albert Müller (Xylophone) With Orchestra – Katie 28:55

Ada Jones and Len Spencer – Mandy And Her Man 32:08

Ada Jones – Waiting At The Church 32:20

Two Unidentified Men – Black Wax Home Recording Of Two Unidentified Men Singing And Laughing 33:25

Ebrahim, Royal Orchestra – Bidad (Homayun) 33:44

Hopi Indians – Eagle Song 34:54

Ajukutôk’ – Kayak-song 35:36

3 women and 3 men – Traditional song 36:00

Patápio Silva – Primeiro Amor 36:08

Vengopal Chari – Laughing 37:24

Boris S. Troyanovsky – Mazurka No 4 37:35

G.Marenich, A.Leverenko, Ryabtzov – Three Paths Across The Field 38:55

John Taylor – Speed The Plow Reel 39:50

Thomas A. Edison – The Liver Complaint Story 41:08

Bohumir Kryl – Sing, Smile, Slumber 42:02

Polish Band – Down The Petersky 43:43

Dranem – Le Gardien Des Ruines 45:36

Charlus – S’ils Parlaient 46:23

Albert Benzler – Spoontime 47:44

Len Spencer And Alfred Holt – Barnyard Serenade 48:45

Helen Trix – The Bird On Nellies Hat 49:03

Edison Concert Band – Old Heidelberg 50:16

James C. Mcauliffe – The Minstrel Boy 52:20

The Scots Guard Pipers – Sword Dance 53:23

Mah Thane May – Yodaya Bwe Gyi 54:32

Miss Gauhar Jan – Hindustani Female Song 56:08

Professor N. M. Chuckerbutty Of Calcutta – Esraj Instrumental- Bahar Kawali 57:21

Nebe-Quartett – O du fröhliche, o du selige Weihnachtszeit 58:41

Nebe-Quartett – Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht 59:34

Columbia Quartette – Steamboat Medley 1:00:29

John J. Kimmel – American Cake Walk 1:00:46

Billy Murray And The Edison Male Quartet – Lazy Moon 1:02:01

Ossman Dudley Trio – St. Louis Tickle 1:03:47

Columbia Band – An Arkansaw Husking Bee 1:05:57

Edward Meeker And Joseph Belmont – Song Of The Nations 1:07:56

Eugene C. Rose – La Traviata- concert Waltz 1:09:45

Figure Five Orchestra – Lanciers From Miss Dolly Dollars 1:11:50

G. H. Chirgwin – A Few Eccentric Gaglets 1:13:40

Herbert Lincoln Clarke And Leo Zimmerman – Cousins 1:14:07

National Military Band – The Girl In The Train 1:14:47

Bert Williams – Pretty Desdamone 1:16:14

Len Spencer – Meister’s Musical Masterpiece 1:18:55

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack Williams & Walker are a great deal to blame for being the originators and establishing the name “coon” upon our race. They met a white man in San Francisco by the name of McConnell, who put them on the circuit. In order … Continue reading "1906"

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When people imagine the future, we often imagine new technologies, but we rarely take the time to consider how those technologies will change how we live our lives, or how we see the world. When the internet started becoming popular towards the end of the 1990s, who could have ever predicted what it would do to us in the next couple of decades? It turned out that connecting people in more and more effective ways didn’t lead to a paradise of self-awareness, empathy and knowledge, but did lead to content bubbles, anonymous trolling, the devaluing of not just journalism but truth itself.

Once created, a technology does not merely slip out of our control; it feeds back round into our souls. The phonograph is no exception. No sooner had it begun to record than it began to influence, and then to homogenize. As much as the spread of railways led to a unification of time zones and a dampening of regional accents, the phonograph turned an infinitely complex musical world into one where artists operated within genres, were influenced on micro and macro levels by famous recording artists, then reflected back these influences as they developed into the next generation of artists. Soon we will see genres springing up – not just in America, but around the world – with astonishing rapidity.

We are too late to witness the first examples of this in the USA, and the pig-headed refusal of the record industry to seek talent outside of a small group of professional recording artists doesn’t help matters at all. Around the world, on the other hand, academics and musicians with an interest in exploration were beginning to travel around with portable phonographs, recording in hard-to-reach places with incredibly rich musical traditions, before any of the artists involved had a chance to be affected by this turbo-charged system of influence. 1905 saw the appointment of Erich Moritz von Horn-bostel as director of the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv, the world’s first collection of ethnomusicological recordings. Professor Felix von Luschan was one of the first to take a phonograph with him on an expedition – to Sendshirli in present-day Turkey. Other members of the archive traveled to Turkestan, Mexico, Cameroon, Melanesia and many other places, armed only with a phonograph and a box of blank wax cylinders. These recordings then formed the basis of the new fields of comparative musicology and ethnomusicology.

I can tell you very little as to what these researchers thought of the music they collected – how they understood it, whether they thought it somehow inferior to the western musical tradition. All I can say is that they seem to have acted in a more scientific manner than had previously been seen, collecting music as they found it rather than in a contrived way for a pre-conceived record-buying audience. As such, the recordings are nothing short of revelatory, “world music” as we will never be able to hear it again.

This month’s mix is, then, a bit different. We start in the USA and finish there, but in the middle we spend the majority of our time traveling to a huge variety of different places, some of them with music which I hope you find as eye-opening as I do.

Tracks

Russell Hunting – Casey Listening To The Phonograph 0:00

Arthur Pryor’s Band – A Coon Band Contest 0:12

Bernhard Hagen – Walze 10: Zauberformeln Gesungen Von Malim 2:30

Edison Concert Band – Skeleton Dance 2:47

Len Spencer – The Transformation Scene From “Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde” 4:50

Albert Benzler, Henry Nesbit, And The Edison Military Band – Monastery Bells 6:12

Banda De Zapadores De Mexico – La Paloma 7:19

Juan De Dios Peza – Mi Padre 9:27

Higinio Cazón – Recuerdos 9:37

Gabino Ezeiza – Cosmopolísimo 10:59

Trio Instrumental Arriaga – La Dolores – Jota 12:17

Herrera Robinson Y Picazo – La Paloma Azul 14:20

Mario Pinheiro – A Boceta De Rapé 15:30

Los Montegrins De La Foncella Di Montegri – Queen Of The Flowers 18:47

Unknown Performer – I Lamenti De Un Venditore Di Giornali 20:41

Pablo De Sarasate – Caprice Basque Op.24 20:58

Professor A. Lloyd James – Francis Bacon’s “On Studies” 23:34

Maria A. Mikhailova, Acc. Maria Hamowetzkaya – Ave Maria 23:52

Padre Agustino – Predica Di Padre Agustino- L’addio 26:17

Nellie Melba – Lucia Di Lammermoor 26:38

Maria A. Mikhailova – Thou Brilliant Bird 28:02

Edgar L. Davenport – Lasca (Excerpt 1) 29:46

Virgilio Ranzati – Intermezzo From Op. ‘Rural Honor’ 29:58

Vengopal Chari – Different Kind Of Motor Car Noises 31:44

Edison Concert Band – The Auto Race 32:00

Ada Jones And Len Spencer – Fishing 33:53

Harry Lauder – I Love A Lassie 34:30

Arthur Collins – The Preacher And The Bear 36:19

Arthur Collins – The Goose-Bone Man 38:17

Donna & Gladys Of Albina – Souvenir Record From The Lewis & Clark Exposition 38:38

Edward M. Favor – Fol-De-Rol-Lol 38:54

Len Spencer And Parke Hunter – The Professor And The Musical Tramp 40:44

Billy Murray – Give My Regards To Broadway 41:20

Billy Murray And Bob Roberts – I’ve Got A Little Money And I Saved It All For You 42:42

Bohumir Kryl – King Carnival 43:35

Unknown – Discorso Del Tenente Generale Galliano – A Makalle 45:29

Garde Republicaine Orchestra, Clarinet Solo By Lefebvre – Fantaisie from Rigoletto 45:39

Sofie Roeder – Mazurka 46:38

G-N Marko Ivanov – Ne Plachi Maiko Ne Zhali 47:28

Harmonies Orchestra Of V.S.Varshavsky – Kamarinskaya 48:08

Nikolay Malsky – A Woman Vagabond At The Doctor’s 49:11

Professor Barkatullah Khan – Indian Guitar Instrumental- Piloo 49:19

Bangalore Nagaratnam – Nitya-Kalyani (Part III) Ragamalika 51:50

Tiruvasanallur Narayanasami Iyer – Pallavi Sankarabharanam-Adhi Talam 54:19

Pryor’s Orchestra – The Whistler And His Dog 54:50

Unknown Performer(s) – Una Prova In Orchestra- Scena Comica 56:11

Arthur Pryor’s Band – Razazza Mazzazza 57:14

Herbert L. Clarke And John Hazel – The Friendly Rivals 59:08

John Lawson’s Dramatic Company – Scene From Play ‘Humanity’ 1:00:36

Rogers And Pryor – Misere From Il Trovatore 1:01:10

Ada Jones And Len Spencer – Louis And Lena At Luna Park 1:02:27

Ada Jones – My Carolina Lady 1:02:57

Okofu From Logba – Five Proverbs, Drummed In The Twi Language 1:04:51

Nellie Melba – Good-Bye 1:05:22

Edgar L. Davenport – Lasca (Excerpt 2) 1:06:02

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack When people imagine the future, we often imagine new technologies, but we rarely take the time to consider how those technologies will change how we live our lives, or how we see the world. When the internet started becoming popular towards the … Continue reading "1905"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack One of the least thought about, but perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the way we listen to music is its loudness – that is, the quantity rather than just the quality. Modern day audiophiles will be familiar with the … Continue reading "1904"

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One of the least thought about, but perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the way we listen to music is its loudness – that is, the quantity rather than just the quality. Modern day audiophiles will be familiar with the “loudness war” of the late 1990s and early 2000s, where mastering engineers applied compression techniques to commercial recordings to ensure they sounded louder than anything else on FM radio – and radio engineers then ran software to make everything level again, between them destroying the dynamic range of music and making everything sound much more flat.

To sacrifice fidelity for volume is not a new phenomenon. While the earliest sound recordings were relayed through stethoscope-like proto-headphones, by the mid 1890s recordings were being played through brass horns of the sort you would expect to find on an old gramophone or Victrola. These acoustic horns take small sound waves (which are large pressure variations with a small displacement area) and stretch them out (into a low pressure variation with a large displacement area.) This messes with the resonance of the sound, making mid-level tones boom and high-level or low-level sounds disappear or distort, but it at least means that you can play a record to a room full of people, so long as the room isn’t particularly big. Beyond a certain horn size the distortions became too disruptive, so playing music in concert halls was at first an impossibility.

The first attempt to do something about this problem was the “Triplephone” – a device which tripled the volume by having three gramophones playing the same recording. In some cases two triplephones could be used at the same time. You may think that this would cause problems with sychronisation, and this does appear to be the case, as such experiments soon faded away. A better solution was the ‘Auxetophone’, which used an electric fan to push air through the horn and force up the volume. It was much louder and much more expensive, too much so for home use, but it found a home in dance halls and theatres.

As the horn was a two-way device, its limitations also caused problems with recording. Loud recordings with greater dynamics caused stiff playback arms to force needles to hit the sides of the groove, resulting in records becoming unlistenable after less than 50 plays – not good value if you only owned a handful of cylinders or discs. Around this time engineers in the USA began to use dampening techniques – like encouraging artists to perform further away from the horn – and consequently mainstream recordings from this time often sacrifice their vividness for a reduction in distortion.

Sound engineering was so much in its infancy that it didn’t even have a name yet, so thankfully this new norm was confined to the studios of New York. Around the world vastly different techniques continued to be used. For some reason (please tell me if you know what it is) there seem to be a disproportionate amount of French recordings available in 1904 – so much so that I was able to dedicate a whole quarter of the mix to la francophonie. Russian and Italian opera singers also seem to dominate the repositories of available music. There was a lot of this to wade through this time, but the few nuggets I’ve picked out really are something special. One opera singer to pay particular attention to this time is Alessandro Moreschi, the only castrato to ever be recorded. More about him soon.

Tracks

Edison Modern Minstrels – Louisiana Minstrels 0:00

Bohumir Kryl – Sweet Sixteen Waltz 0:05

Len Spencer – Lincoln’s Speech At Gettysburg 2:08

Vess L. Ossman – The Darkie’s Awakening 2:27

Byron G. Harlan And Frank C. Stanley – Two Rubes At The Vaudeville 4:43

W. W. Whitlock – Come Under My New Gamp 4:54

Albert C. Campbell & Bob Roberts – An Interrupted Courtship On The Elevated Railroad 6:57

Albert Sandler Trio – Kashmiri Song (Four Indian Love Lyrics) 7:30

Charlus – La Noce Du Chef D’orchestre 10.53

Grisard – Une Visite Au Jardin Des Plantes 11.35

Paul Fayol – Bonsoir Mam’zelle 12:36

Harry Fragson – L’anglais Triste 14:47

Harry Fragson – Le Flegme 15:14

Jean Péheu – Au Premier De Ces Messieurs 17:06

Léonne Et Willekens – Chez Le Dentiste 18:35

M. Bergeret – Chant D’afrique 19:16

Performers Unknown – Les Deux Pinsons 21:12

Martin Bendix – Eine Feine Familie 23:20

Kaiser Franz Garde-Grenadier Regiment Nr. 2 – Mill In Schwarzwald 23:46

Anonymous – Two Visitors to the St Louis Worlds Fair 25:11

J.W. Myers – Come Take A Trip In My Airship 25:28

Albert Benzler – Come Take A Trip In My Airship Medley 26:21

Len Spencer – Reuben Haskin’s Ride On The Cyclone Auto 27:42

Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan – Woah, Bill! 27:58

Edison Military Band – Good Humor Quadrille 2nd Figure 29:43

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh And The Insurance Agent 31:22

Unknown – Lumbering Luke (Concertina Solo) 32:00

Booker T. Washington – The Atlanta Compromise Speech 32:35

Enrico Caruso – Una Furtiva Lagrima 33:02

Alessandro Moreschi – Ave Maria 36:20

Mary Garden – Chant Vénitien 39:29

Antonina Nezhdanova – La Tenera Parola 40:40

Isabel Jay – Poor Wandering One 41:34

Gypsy Choir Of V.V.Panina – Sasa Grisha 43:25

R.H. Robinson – Jarabe Tapatio 45:24

Orquesta Tipica Lerdo – Consentida 46:30

Haydn Quartet – New Years At Old Trinity 47:28

John Hazel, Frank R. Seltzer And The Edison Military Band – Two Of Us 48:01

Burt Shepard – The Boy And The Cheese 49:31

Billy Murray – I Can’t Do That Sum 49:47

Unknown Performer – Backyard Conversation Between Two [Jealous] Irish Washerwomen 50:47

Arthur Pryor’s Band – Mignon Overture 50:58

Byron G. Harlan And Frank C. Stanley – An Evening Call In Jayville Center 53:15

Fontbonne, L – Chasse Aux Papillons 53:15

Sir Harry Lauder – Tattie Soup 54:02

Edison Symphony Orchestra – Down Tennessee – Descriptive Barn Dance 55:04

Edison Modern Minstrels – Georgia Minstrels 55:53

Frank S. Mazziotta – Bluette 56:16

Cal Stewart And Ada Jones – Uncle Josh’s Courtship 57:18

Unknown Performer – La Chanson Des Nids 57:35

Albert Whelan – Scrooge’s Awakening 58:23

Edison Male Quartet – Breeze Of The Night 58:39

Much of the research for this entry is from the always excellent Sound of the Hound blog.

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack “Under it all there’s a sort of strong, dark pulsing, the dimly recorded echo of the thundering rhythm: trombones, sousaphones (named after your man, of course), drums. The dynamics build to a controlled climax, the sound getting heavier and heavier as … Continue reading "1903"

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“Under it all there’s a sort of strong, dark pulsing, the dimly recorded echo of the thundering rhythm: trombones, sousaphones (named after your man, of course), drums. The dynamics build to a controlled climax, the sound getting heavier and heavier as the band drives it on home. The total effect is anthemic, like Led Zeppelin without all the squiggly guitar… …The main thing that the modern, post-jazz listener will miss here is solos — the squiggles. When the band’s forging ahead at full speed, there’s nobody to take the wheel and jerk it, to bring in the element of surprise, of danger. Sousa’s Band had soloists, all right, but they played set pieces: themes and florid variations all composed and pre-arranged; sheet music. These would be set against a minimal, often-muted backing, so as not to detract from the magnificence of the solo. Free improvisation isn’t part of the vocabulary.” – David Wondrich, Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot, 1843–1924

“Freedom of choice / Is what you got / Freedom from choice / Is what you want” Devo, Freedom Of Choice

One perspective on the history of recorded music goes like this – each innovation is a new artistic tool to be used. Watch the innovations, then you’ll see see new genres springing up in their wake. 1903 is awash with these new opportunities, largely due to the democratisation of music recording around the world, but instead of one big idea, there are a load of little ones. Some are really just old ideas, some really are new, but for all their merits none really anticipates the way things would swing just a decade later.

From the old (American) ideas, brass bands are still something of a default setting – though having exhausted their standard modes, they are at least beginning to branch out in a few different directions. Naturally there are still the soloists – Bohumir Kryl and Arthur Pryor continue to helm bands, but both are starting to relax into the figure of coordinator rather than star performer. For Kryl at least there are a few more of these virtuoso performances to listen to before relegation to the ranks of jobbing studio bands. For Pryor, I’m sorry to say that we’ve already had the best.

Elsewhere, Tin Pan Alley continues to churn out novelty hits at an alarming rate, wringing every last drop of inspiration out of the fin de siècle and the lastest developments of the Edwardian age. On ‘Any Rags’ vaudeville performer / manager Thomas S. Allen takes a schottische and adds ragtime elements with a typical lyric featuring a racist caricature of a black man. If you can get past that, you can see why it was a hit – it does have a certain flavour of the transgressive, especially when performed in the leering baritone of Arthur Collins.

Vaudeville was still a relatively new phenomenon in 1903, and its performers seem to have demonstrated this by their referencing of new technologies. This year appears to have been marked by the increasing visibility of automobiles on the streets (this is the year of the introduction of the original Ford Model A) – we have two comic dialogues and one song on the topic, all presenting the car as a dangerous machine driven exclusively by reckless people. The song is not technically vaudeville, but its English counterpart, music hall, and the first British recording we’ve had for quite a while.

Elsewhere in Europe, the gramophone is being largely used to record “proper” (i.e. classical) music, with the occasional ethnographic adventure. In Enrico Caruso the gramophone has found its first true worldwide star, his records selling at double the price of other tenors and being eagerly snapped up by a new creature called a ‘record collector’. Caruso is still only 28 years old, and while it looks like he’s already conquered the world already in 1903, his star still has a long way to rise.

It’s easy to dismiss this era as a dull one, but really there’s a lot going on. Whether it will really lead anywhere seems like something of a side issue. This is what we get though our narrow (but widening) viewing hole this time, and there’s plenty worth saving.

Tracks

Bohumir Kryl – Arbucklenian Polka 0:00

Collins & Harlan – Cat And The Fly Paper 2:00

Arthur Collins – Any Rags 2:21

Charles Prince’s Band – Any Rags 4:17

Len Spencer – Reuben Haskins’ Ride On A Cyclone Auto (1) 5:49

Vesta Victoria – Riding On A Motor Car 7:07

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh On An Automobile 8:50

Edison Military Band – Secret Polka (John Hazel Cornet) 9:26

Harlan & Stanley – Waiting For The Dinner Horn To Blow 11:27

Orchestra ‘Harmonia’ – Ruthenian Gopak 11:37

Fanny Cochrane Smith – Only recording of extinct full-blood Tasmanian aborigine 13:26

B.S. Troyanovsky – Mazurka 13:32

Romanchenko Duet – Nastya And Vanya 15:02

Natalia Tamara – Troika 16:17

Ivan Ershov – Ho-Ho, Ho Hei, Forging Song With Anvil 17:56

Antonio Vargas – Toreador Song From Carmen 18:20

Enrico Caruso – La Donna E Mobile 19:18

Enrico Caruso – Tosca, E Lucevan Le Stelle 20:24

Nellie Melba – Chant Venitien (Bemberg) 21:43

Pope Leo XIII – Ave Maria 23:12

Gilmore’s Band – Introduction To 3rd Act (Wagner – Lohengrin) 23:43

Harlan & Stanley – Two Rubes In An Eating House 24:33

Edison Symphony Orchestra – A Lucky Duck 24:49

Grisard – Les Canards Tyroliens 26:00

Len Spencer – Making The Fiddle Talk 27:28

Vess L. Ossman – Razzle Dazzle 29:07

Dan Leno – Going To The Races 31:08

Dan W. Quinn – The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous 31:58

Aeolian Piano Roll 3113 from The Wizard Of Oz – Poppy Song 33:03

Haydn Quartet – Camp Of The Hoboes 34:00

Lillie Langtry – On The Margate Boat 34:14

William A. Moriarity – Llewellyn March 35:53

Peerless Orchestra – Ma Ragtime Baby 38:02

Sam Mayo – Bread And Marmalade 39:02

Julian Rose – Hebrew Vaudeville Specialty 41:50

Anon – Bondei Xyolophone Piece (Tanganyika) 42:24

Qasim – Lagu Nuri Terbang Malam 43:01

Bahiano – Lundu Do Baiano 43:36

Damrosch Orchestra – Toreador Song 45:11

Russian Chorus Of E.I. Ivanov – The Volga Troika 46:27

The Imperial Court Ensemble – Seigaiha 47:42

George J. Gaskin – The Bassoon 48:58

Bohumir Kryl – National Fantasia 50:54

Leo A. Zimmerman – Leona Polka 52:47

Len Spencer And Parke Hunter – The Banjo Evangelist 53:56

Zonofone Orchestr – 740 54:20

Harlan & Stanley – Scene In A Country Store 55:40

Albert Bode Trumpet & Columbia Band – Seashell Waltz 55:58

British Military Band – Intermezzo (Mascagni – Cavalleria Rusticana) 57:33

Len Spencer – Reuben Haskins’ Ride On A Cyclone Auto (2) 59:40

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1902 is the year everything started to explode. Not particularly in the world of music, not really in the world in general, but very much so in on my computer in 2018. Suddenly there is just so much out there to listen to, and the idea of listening to everything starts to recede, swiftly, from my sight.

The fault here lies with a variety of engineers, who had recently perfected techniques to reproduce gramophone records and phonograph cylinders without any great loss in sound quality. No longer would performers have to play in front of a great bank of horns again and again – one single best performance was all that was needed, and so was born the profession of recording engineer – though nobody seems to have talked of it as a profession for quite a while.

With this came stars who were able to achieve fame on an international level – for example Enrico Caruso and Billy Murray, who are both featured here for the first time. Vaudeville troupes would come by the studio and lay down a version of their most famous routine, virtuoso instrumentalists would make definitive recordings of set pieces, and around the world, from Japan to Brasil to the Vatican City, recordings were being made for mass distribution. From the last of these we have some of the only recordings from a castrato, Alessandro Moreschi.

This is all good news of course, but it’s all starting to be a bit much for me to get through. I’m happy to say that I personally love all the music featured in this hour-long mix – but this is perhaps just 2% of what I listened to. From the rest perhaps 30% is maudlin sentimental ballads about brave soldiers going off to meet their doom, and maybe 40% is badly-recorded, unremarkable recordings of solo opera singers. A good half of my month is involved in downloading, listening to and deleting these, just to pull out the occasional nugget of gold. So much time does this take, in fact, that I haven’t had time to write a proper blurb. So here we are – an hour of sounds from 1902. Enjoy.

Tracks

Charles D’ Almaine – Down At Finnegan’s Jamboree (Excerpt 1) 0:00

Sousa’s Band – Trombone Sneeze 0:10

Campbell & Roberts – An Interrupted Courtship On The Elevated Railway 2:13

Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan – I’m A-Dreaming Of You 2:35

Collins & Harlan – Two Rubes In A Tavern 4:35

Bohumir Kryl – Carnival Of Venice 5:03

Charles P. Lowe – Carnival Of Venice 6:57

Len Spencer And Gilbert Girard – Daybreak At Calamity Farm 8:44

Edison Military Band – Lizard And The Frog 9:11

International Phonographic Language School – Spanish Lesson #9 11:12

Vess L. Ossman – Darkies Awakening 11:30

Charles D’ Almaine – Down At Finnegan’s Jamboree (Excerpt 2) 13:42

Billy Murray – Under The Anheuser-Bush 14:58

Len Spencer – 23rd Psalm 16:46

Choir Of A. A. Arkhangelsky – Axion Esti 17:11

Salomea Kruszelnicka – Vissi D’arte (Puccini) 18:50

Alessandro Moreschi – Crucifixus (Rossini) 20:09

Enrico Caruso – Una Furtiva Lagrima (Donizetti – Elisir D’ Amore) 22:40

M.A.A.Mikhailova And A.Semenov – Serenada 24:20

Len Spencer – The Lord’s Prayer 27:05

Instrumental Trio – Abkhazuri, Kabardinskiy Tanetz 27:23

Abdal Ali – Death Lament 28:32

Peking Opera – Old Valet Carries Master’s Letter 29:25

Performer Not Given – Japanese Song 30:17

American Quartet – A Meeting Of The Limekiln Club 30:55

Edison Symphony Orchestra – Down On The Old Plantation 31:23

Invincible Quartet – On Board The Oregon 32:44

Edison Symphony Orchestra – Old Folks At Home (Suwanee River) 33:05

Burt Shepard – Parody On ‘Suwanee River’ 34:44

Byron G Harlan & Joe Belmont – Merry Farmer Boy 36:09

Joe Belmont – Bird Imitations 37:40

Georg Tramer – Czardas 38:11

Cal Stewart – Fire Department 39:14

Arthur Collins – Under The Bamboo Tree 40:06

Invincible Quartet – Fireman’s Duty 42:10

Dinwiddie Colored Quartet – Poor Mourner 42:50

Dinwiddie Colored Quartet – Down On The Old Camp Ground 43:53

Haydn Quartet – Owl And The Pussy Cat 44:44

International Phonographic Language School – Italian Lesson #7 45:38

Little Russian Choir Conducted By A. Romanchenko – Since The Time I Got Married 45:47

Byron G. Harlan And Frank C. Stanley – The First Rehearsal For The Huskin’ Bee 46:43

Columbia Band – Arkansaw Husking Bee 47:00

George P Watson – Alpine Specialty 48:33

William Tuson – Nellie Gray 49:42

Victor Minstrel Company – On The Levee 51:12

J. Frank Hopkins. – Medley Of Reels 51:24

Invincible Quartet – Night Trip To Buffalo 53:31

Banda Da Casa Edison – Hino Nacional 53:48

Columbia Band – Reminiscences Of Scotland 54:11

Len Spencer – Arkansas Traveler 54.53

Will F Denny – Parody On ‘ Widow’s Plea For Her Son’ 55:08

Len Spencer – Arkansas Traveler 57:13

Prof D Wormser – Heimweh 57:22

Bohumir Kryl – Russian Fantasia 58:19

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack 1902 is the year everything started to explode. Not particularly in the world of music, not really in the world in general, but very much so in on my computer in 2018. Suddenly there is just so much out there to listen … Continue reading "1902"

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Escaping a blinkered view of early 20th century recorded music sometimes seems like an impossible task. If the Edwardian era is often viewed as a blissful unknowing summer before the long winter of the First World War, its music is too easy to mentally group into the precursors and the Victorian hangovers, destined for confluence and extinction respectively. For the Edwardians, however, this is all utterly alien; their music, art and culture were modern to them, and the artistic movements they could sense were rooted in their own present and near past as much as ours are. The best artists of this time seem to be reaching forward towards something, but in most cases its a future which they couldn’t make happen. The most interesting things here are heading for a cul-de-sac. That doesn’t mean they are without value, just that they are more more distant, harder to place in a simple narrative.

In America, bands and soloists are still at the cutting edge. Separated by an ocean and a music industry from the classical tradition, musicians grow up playing the stomping rhythms and building-block melodies of Sousa and Gilmore in small-town brass bands. At the dawning of the Progressive Era, soloists are increasingly trying to break out of this straight-jacket while remaining wedded to the musical establishment which promoted them in the first place. Some, like Arthur Pryor, would give up their position to become bandleaders themselves, going on to direct music of a much more conservative bent than their free-ranging solos.

In Russia, on the other hand, the classical tradition and folk music are very much alive and immediate. Three of “The Five” (Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin) were still alive, and their mission to popularize Russian national traditions in classical music continued to be hugely influential. With the collapse of Berliner Gramophone a host of new record labels were springing up, many of them releasing recordings of opera and folk songs. The medium being well-suited to peacocking, as demonstrated by soprano Maria A. Mikhailova as she performs in a dizzying musical battle with a flute.

Then there’s the world of the stage – vaudeville, Broadway, and the host of regional theatres running touring shows. Much of their output consisted of mildly updated variations on the old minstrel-show theme (a couple of higher quality examples of this from Silas Leachman and S.H. Dudley appear on this mix – a warning that they both feature the disgusting racist language that was endemic at the time) but one double-act were breaking through the consensus to present something with more of a honest, human face. George Walker and Bert Williams were two black performers who started their careers in the usual blackface minstrel troupes, before meeting in San Francisco in 1893 and deciding to set up a highly-original show called “The Gold Bug,” which consisted of songs, dance and sketch comedy. Minstrelry at this point had become highly ritualised, with stock characters performing in a set of predictable routines. Williams and Walker, aside from their jettisoning of these conventions, wrote songs about the realities of life without either the cheerful chuckle or the sardonic wink that was expected in popular entertainment, and it’s a complete breath of fresh air to hear.

We are no closer to the jazz age in 1901 than we were in 1898, but I’m not sure I mind. Mainly due to a vast increase in the pool of available recordings, this is the first mix which I find a joy from start to finish.

Tracks

Arthur Pryor with Sousa’s Band – The Patriot 0:00

Bert Williams – All Going Out And Nothin Coming In 3:04

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh’s Huskin’ Bee Dance 5:46

Kendle’s First Regiment Band – Cotton Blossoms 6:11

Dan Leno – Huntsman 8:55

Orkestr Garmoniy – Vo Sadu Li v Ogorode 9:18

Chanté Par Polin – La Dernière Carotte 10:48

Sousa’s Band – Pasquinale 11:27

Len Spencer – Scene At A Dog Fight 13:23

Gilmore’s Band – Poet And Peasant Overture 14:34

Steve Porter – Backyard Conversation Between Two Irish Washerwomen 16:43

Burt Shepard – When The Gentle Breezes Blow 16:55

Silas Leachman – Truscalina Brown 18:44

Chimes – Nearer My God To Thee 21:46

Columbia Band – El Miserere (Il Trovatore) 22:50

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh At The Opera 25:45

Leonid Sobinov – La Donna è Mobile 26:10

Irene Abendroth – 5 Romanzen Und Lieder, Op. 84- No. 4. Vergebliches Standchen 28:04

Maria A. Mikhailova – Charmant Oiseau 29:53

Feodor Stepanov & Mikhail Volf-Izrael – Nocturne, Op 56 No 4 32:47

John C Martin – Arbucklenian Polka 35:42

Len Spencer & Gilbert Girard – The Imperial Minstrels 36:52

Metropolitan Orchestra – Impecunious Davis 37:03

Edison Concert Band – Commercial Traveller’s March 39:10

Hager’s Band – Oriole Polka 40:31

Len Spencer – Con Clancy’s Christening 42:37

S.H. Dudley – The Whistling Girl 42:48

Polin – La Boiteuse Du Régiment 44:58

Peter Nevsly – Polka / Kamarinskaya 47:56

Gryunert, S.I.Bol’m – Fantaziya 50:37

Kin’nosuke – Tokiwazu ; Modoribashi 51:27

Peerless Orchestra – Birds And The Brook 53:02

Williams & Walker – I Don’t Like That Face You Wear 54:09

Edison Quartet – Sleigh Ride Party – Jingle Bells 56:58

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Psst – come and join my Patreon here – https://www.patreon.com/centuriesofsound – and get access to our radio podcasts in January! MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack Escaping a blinkered view of early 20th century recorded music sometimes seems like an impossible task. If the Edwardian era is … Continue reading "1901"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack Is this a new century? Difficult to get agreement on this one, but it’s certainly a new decade, and changes are very much in the air; changes that haven’t quite filtered through entirely to the mix you’re about to hear, but which … Continue reading "1900"

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Is this a new century? Difficult to get agreement on this one, but it’s certainly a new decade, and changes are very much in the air; changes that haven’t quite filtered through entirely to the mix you’re about to hear, but which are about to turn everything upside-down – the beginning of a “music business” or “music industry” in terms which are much more familiar to us than anything seem so far – all due to the kind of duplicitous shenanigans which will also seem typical of the business in the 20th century.

The story of the technology so far was a friendly-ish war of two competing standards – Edison’s wax cylinders (still the dominant form) and Emile Berliner’s flat discs. Born in Hanover in 1851, Berliner emigrated to the USA in 1870 to avoid being drafted for the Franco-Prussian War, and found work for the sometime Edison-affiliated Bell Telephone after inventing an improved telephone transmitter. In the 1880s he developed his disc recording system, which produced playable discs by (probably even earlier than) 1889, when he went into business with Kammer & Reinhardt, a German toy-maker with whom he made 5-inch hard rubber discs, though this venture did not last long.

In the early 1890s, Berliner tried to start his first companies – The American Gramophone Company, which failed before issuing a single machine or disc, and the United States Gramophone Company in 1894, which had a slightly more success selling machines and 7-inch hard rubber discs. These were replaced in 1895 by shellac discs, which remained the standard until the 1930s. Through the next few years, production slowly increased, until on September 29th, 1897, his mastering plant in Washington, D.C., burned down, destroying his record manufacturing equipment and masters of recordings.

This wasn’t the end, though – Berliner managed to resume production within a few months, but in 1898 he was beset by further problems as various companies began to copy his invention. He had already shut down two of these operations when he found that one of his agents, Frank Seaman in New York, was manufacturing identical copies of his Gramophone labelled the ‘Zonophone’. He immediately cut off all supplies to the city, but was hit by a lawsuit for breach of contract from Seaman, and in 1900 an injunction was granted, ceasing all operations for the United States Gramophone Company. All attempts to have this injunction lifted were fruitless, and Berlinner eventually quit the business entirely, transferring his assets to Eldridge Johnson, who then launched the hugely successful Victor Talking Machine Company.

In 1900, the Gramophone’s patent being unenforced, recorded sound is effectively in modern terms “open source” – anyone could open a record company, and many did. In the coming years we will hear recordings from all manner of labels around the world, and when we get to the 1910s the hegemony of the Edison Cylinder and the conservatism it brings with it will be truly cracked open.

There are also another couple of interesting developments taking place in 1900. To open the mix we have a recording of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria made on Valdemar Poulsen’s telegraphone, a device which recorded sound magnetically on a thin piece of steel wire. The sound produced is remarkably different to the cylinder and disc recordings, and despite being neglected for nearly half a century, magnetic recording will become vitally important after the second world war. Another item to note here is the excerpt from a 1900 production of Cyrano de Bergerac, which is the earliest bit of film dialogue I’m able to use. But more about that soon.

Tracks

Emperor Franz Joseph – Oldest Magnetic Recording On Poulsen 0:00

Edison Concert Band – Champaign Gallop 0:09

Film Soundtrack – Cyrano de Bergerac 2:11

Edison Grand Concert Band – Mr. Thomas Cat 2:36

Arthur W Haddon – Brown Wax Home Recording Of Talking 4:41

Vess L Ossman – A Coon Band Contest 5:03

Sousa’s Band – A Coon Band Contest 7:18

American Quartet – A Night Trip To Buffalo (Excerpt 1) 9:05

Arthur Collins – The Mick Who Threw The Brick 9:26

American Quartet – A Night Trip To Buffalo (Excerpt 2) 10:31

Charles P. Lowe – Brilliant Gallop 11.08

Len Spencer & George Schweinfest – The Arkansaw Traveler (Excerpt 1) 13:15

Will F. Denny – Doing His Duty-Ooty 13:27

Len Spencer & George Schweinfest – The Arkansaw Traveler (Excerpt 2) 15:41

George Schweinfest – Robin Adair 15:54

Len Spencer & George Schweinfest – The Arkansaw Traveler (Excerpt 3) 17:12

Charles D’ Almaine – Polish National Dance 17:28

Aumonier – Le Cor 19:36

Paul Daraux – Les Myrtes Sont Fletries 22:01

Choir with Alessandro Moreschi – Tui Sunt Coeli 23:26

William Jennings Bryan – Imperialism Speech (Excerpt) 25:48

Peter Dawson – The Miner’s Dream Of Home 26:10

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh In A Chinese Laundry 29:54

Oppakekepei – Kawakami Noburo Isao 31:04

Siam Theater Ensemble (Berlin) – Kham Hom 32:30

Harry Spencer – The Absent-Minded Beggar (Kipling) 34:22

Edison Male Quartet – Vesper Service 35:30

William F. Hooley – A Record For The Children 36:38

Arthur Collins – Mandy Lee 37:18

Frank Kennedy – Schultz At The Paris Exposition 40:51

Peerless Orchestra – Hail To The Spirit Of Liberty 41:26

Wilson Gabo, Cora Gabo And Unidentified Accompanists – Brown Wax Home Recording Of Harmonica Solo Talking 43:40

Vess L Ossman – The Old Folks At Home 45:04

Performer Not Given – Brown Wax Home Recording 47:27

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“There probably has never been a sweeter, more naturally musical baritone voice than his… …Arthur Collins managed invariably to get into the wax the impression of a warm, lovable personality. The unctuous sound of his chuckles in dialect work is unfailingly charming. His negro [sic] heroes usually were in hard luck, but they bore up bravely and saw the funny side of their own misfortunes.” – Jim Walsh, in the December 1942 issue of “Hobbies”

“No, I’m not the first king of controversy / I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley / To do black music so selfishly / And use it to get myself wealthy / (Heyyy!) There’s a concept that works” – Eminem, Without Me

The aim of this site is to provide an audio history of sound. The history of the site itself can be traced back to the day I decided to pick a song for every year using rateyourmusic and archive.org, and realised that the first song I found predated the 20th century. It was ‘Hello, Ma Baby!’, familiar to most people as sung by Michigan J. Frog in the 1955 cartoon One Froggy Evening, but here performed by someone called Arthur Collins, who, according to Wikipedia was the biggest selling recording artist of the 1900s. Who was this man? What sort of music was this? What was this entire era of music, long before the start of the Jazz age and why had I heard nothing about it in three decades of listening? The answers to these questions stretched until they had to be hemmed in by the site in front of you.

As described last time, Arthur Collins was “King of the Coon Songs” – then “King of the Ragtime Singers” when people finally started feeling embarrassed about using appalling racial epithets as genre names. Already I’m sure you can see why people treat him as an embarrassment and nothing else, but let’s add to that another couple of things; his main singing voice was a racist impression, he used it to propagate lazy and offensive stereotypes by singing songs written by white people to cash in on a boom in black music, and the black musicians he was replacing couldn’t get anywhere near a recording contract. It’s no wonder that this once-huge star has yet to see a single release on LP or CD. But, as so often in these days, you have to work with what you have. Collins is far from the worst of his kind – unlike with Billy Golden his impression of a black man never seems to be deliberately condescending or mocking, and in the passion he put into his performances always comes across as a genuine enjoyment of the form.

Arthur Collins was born in 1864 in Philadelphia, the oldest of ten children. By 17 he was singing at church festivals and concerts, and he soon joined a number of unsuccessful touring companies, and sang in a number of summer operas, eventually giving up showbusiness to study bookkeeping, and later work for a cigar company when he got married in 1895. It wasn’t long after that that he received a letter from Edison’s National Phonograph Company inviting him to make a trial recording on May 16th, 1898. It was evidently a success. Between 1898 and 1912 he made at least 227 other solo cylinders, 50 Berlinner discs and many collaborations as part of groups like The Peerless Quartet and duets, most usually with Byron G Harlan. Both large, burly tenors, they were once introduced by Billy Murray as the ‘Half-Ton Duo.’

Collins most popular song was “The Preacher and the Bear,” written by George Fairman, and first recorded in 1905. The song was one of the all-time best-sellers, and Collins would go on to record it for virtually every record company in existence. Though his solo career soon seemed to fade away, this recording continued being pressed up until the 1940s. We will be seeing a fair amount of both his solo work and that with Byron G Harlan, including “That Funny Jas Band From Dixieland” – the first ever record to mention Jazz.

A serious accident with a trapdoor during one of Edison’s ‘Test Tone’ demonstrations (where a singer would mime to a diamond disc recording before the curtain was raised to reveal the gramophone playing) led to him being out of action for a while, and after a single tentative attempt to get back into the game, he retired to Florida, dying on August 3, 1933, sitting on a bench under his beloved orange trees, with his head on his wife’s shoulder.

Joe Howard and Ida Emerson were a married couple, and one of the most successful writing partnerships on Tin Pan Alley. Joe had a difficult early life, being raised in gang-era New York, with no mother and a violent alcoholic for a father. He ran away to St. Louis, Missouri, and joined a touring theatre company, where he met a young singer called Ida Emerson. Together they wrote “Hello, Ma Baby!” which sold over a million copies in just a few months and set them up as a career as songwriters. Through the first two decades of the 20th century they wrote a string of hits, including “Goodbye, My Lady Love,” “What’s the Use of Dreaming?,” “I Don’t Like Your Family,” and “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now”.

Howard and Emerson continued to perform on the stage throughout their careers, and in In 1939, Howard starred in a radio program called The Gay Nineties Revue, which revisited his hits from the turn of the century, this time as nostalgic entertainment for those old enough to remember the time before jazz, in 1947 a movie was made based on Howard’s biography called ‘I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now,’ and from 1948-1949 The Gay Nineties Review became a television show. He died on stage in Chicago while singing “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” during a curtain call in 1961.

“Hello, Ma Baby!,” then, is a standard-enough standard of its time, not particularly notable, but catchy enough to be remembered half a century later, unlike its more objectionable peers “All Coons Look Alike To Me” and “A Coon Band Contest.” Thing is, though, it’s really not that different. There may not be racist terminology thrown around in the title, but it fits very much into the popular mode of the time – that is, white people performing ‘humourous’ caricatures of black people. In this case the joke is… wait for it, this is a good one… people who use African-American Vernacular English using a telephone. Now this might not be the source of hilarity to anyone born after 1910 or so, but you can sort of imagine the logic – people with low social status using the latest technology. It still stinks, of course, but take a look at almost any music from this era and you’ll find something similar. Even ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’ is guilty of the same condescension.

The reason for continually dwelling on this stuff it that it is so prevalent, so embedded in every nook and cranny of popular culture at the time, that avoiding it entirely would involve cutting almost everything, and yet it would be an insult to those who suffered if we were to just sweep it all under the carpet. Arthur Collins, Joe Howard and Ida Emerson seem to have been decent enough people, they were absolutely complicit in the racist culture they benefited from, but remembering that doesn’t mean dismissing their work entirely. And ‘Hello, Ma Baby!’ is still a great tune, a song about technology, recorded on technology, using the latest technological jargon (the word “hello”). It’s positively futuristic, and the 20th century is just around the corner.

Note: Biography of Arthur Collins abridged from Tim Gracyk’s excellent book POPULAR AMERICAN RECORDING PIONEERS: 1895-1925 – which can be found here

Tracks

Len Spencer – Promotional Message On The Edison Phonograph (Extract 1) 0:00

Arthur Collins – Hello, Ma Baby! 0:58

Len Spencer – Promotional Message On The Edison Phonograph (Extract 2) 3:26

Vess L. Ossman – Little Bit Of Everything 4:33

S. H. Dudley & Arthur Collins – Three Minutes With The Minstrels (Extract) 7:00

Edison Concert Band – Second Connecticut March 7:24

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh And The Lightning Rod Agent 8:53

Jean Moeremans And Jacques L. Van Poucke – Polka Variata 10:20

B. Russell Throckmorton – The White Man’s Burden (Kipling) (Extract 1) 11.51

Anton Arensky – Arensky- An Der Quelle In A, Op. 46, No. 1 12.16

B. Russell Throckmorton – The White Man’s Burden (Kipling) (Extract 2) 13:00

Columbia Orchestra – The Lime-Kiln Club 13:46

Edison Minstrels – Minstrel Potpourri (Extract 1) 16:27

Edison Quartette – Sunshine Will Come Again 16:39

Edison Minstrels – Minstrel Potpourri (Extract 2) 18:56

Will F. Denny – You Can’t Think Of Everything 19:11

Billy Golden – Rabbit Hash (Extract) 20:08

A. L. Sweet – Arbucklenian Polka 20:16

Imperial Minstrels – Upon The Golden Shore (Extract) 21:39

Columbia Drum, Fife and Bugle Corps – the Girl I Left Behind Me 21:54

Peerless Orchestra – Admiral Dewey’s Arrival In New York 22:47

Orchestra – The Mosquito Parade 23:49

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh At A Baseball Game 25:43

James C. Mcauliffe – Mrs. Mccloud’s Reel 26:14

Peerless Orchestra – Ma Ragtime Baby 27:39

Len Spencer – Auction Sale-Household Goods (Extract 1) 29:44

Unidentified Barrel Organist – Street Piano Number Two 30:29

Len Spencer – Auction Sale-Household Goods (Extract 2) 31:55

Dan W Quinn – Glorious Beer 32:32

Len Spencer – Auction Sale-Household Goods (Extract 3) 33:34

W. C. Townsend – The Pixies 33:54

William Jefferson (Len Spencer) – Cinderella (Extract 1) 35:43

Albert Benzler – Tell Me With Your Eyes Medley 36:25

William Jefferson (Len Spencer) – Cinderella (Extract 2) 37:23

Jacques L. Van Poucke – Fantaisie Variée 38:02

William Jefferson (Len Spencer) – Cinderella (Extract 3) 39:18

Joseph P. Cullen And William G. Collins – Twin Star March 40:11

Sig. Adamini – Los Ojos Negros 41:26

Vess L. Ossman – Whistling Rufus 44:24

Peerless Orchestra. – Whistling Rufus 46:58

Roger Harding & Steve Porter – The Imperial Minstrels (Extract 1) 49:24

Joseph P. Cullen And William G. Collins – Twin Star March 49:38

May Kelso – Because 50:52

Roger Harding & Steve Porter – The Imperial Minstrels (Extract 2) 52:36

Jean Moeremans – The Little Speranza 52:53

George P. Watson – Snyder, Does Your Mother Know You’re Out? 54:27

Orchestre Boldi – L’amour Et La Vie À Vienne 56:48

Unidentified Chimes – Home, Sweet Home 59:35

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack “There probably has never been a sweeter, more naturally musical baritone voice than his… …Arthur Collins managed invariably to get into the wax the impression of a warm, lovable personality. The unctuous sound of his chuckles in dialect work is unfailingly charming. … Continue reading "1899"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack “The country is awakening to the real harm these “coon songs” and “rag-time” are doing… It is an evil music that has crept into the homes and hearts of our American people regardless of race, and must be wiped out as other … Continue reading "1898"

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“The country is awakening to the real harm these “coon songs” and “rag-time” are doing… It is an evil music that has crept into the homes and hearts of our American people regardless of race, and must be wiped out as other bad and dangerous epidemics have been exterminated. A person once innoculated with the ragtime-fever is like one addicted to strong drink! Ragtime is sycopation gone mad, and its victims, in my opinion, can only be treated successfully like the dog with rabies, namely, with a dose of lead.” – Edward Baxter Perry

We’re finally getting to the point where music is the story rather than the technology used to record it, so that should be a cause for celebration. In reality, though, it’s so damn complicated. There is certainly a change in the air, but not only is it unclear what it should be called in 1898, it’s not even going to become remotely clear at any point in the future, not until historians start to discuss it in the 1970s, under the general heading of “early days of ragtime.” Blues and projo-jazz are for the moment out of the picture. So here’s an overview of what we have to deal with in 1898.

Minstrel shows

The dominant cultural form of 19th Century America, minstrel shows are naturally mainly remembered today for being deeply offensive towards black people. A product of first a slave-owning society, then a society nostalgic for the days of slavery, minstrel shows featured white performers performing as hideous blackface caricatures, who were by turns stupid, lazy, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky. None of this is remotely excusable nowadays, and it would be tempting to consign it all to a dark cupboard, if it weren’t for the fact that it also contains most of the popular music that lives on to this day – “Dixie”, “Turkey in the Straw”, “Camptown Races”, “Old Folks at Home” (“Suwanee River”) and “My Old Kentucky Home” – the last three of these written by the “father of American music” Stephen Foster. Separating baby and bathwater at this stage is nigh-on impossible – these songs would continue as standards right through to the jazz age, and a ragged version of “Old Folks at Home” appears in this mix.

Vaudeville

By the end of the 19th century, minstrelry had morphed into Vaudeville. Instead of a highly structured routine, vaudeville had a loose collection of acts – singers and comedians of course, but also dancers, trained animals, magicians, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, one-act plays , athletes, and celebrity appearances. Singers in blackface were still common, and the musical repertoire has so much in the way of overlap that it may as well be considered the same thing. These days we tend to think of the term “Vaudeville” as referring primarily to the comedy element of the show, but the musical side was if anything more of a draw.

Cakewalk

The story goes like this – slaves would have dancing competitions where, dressed up in formal wear, they would perform a free-flowing mockery of white society dancing, the best performer winning a cake. How much of this is true, and how much a later invention is a matter of (sometimes furious) debate – but in any case the name stuck, first for a dance, and then for the variety of music that could accompany it. This style of music was also known as…

Two-step

The musical innovation of cakewalk / two-step was a layer of syncopation slotted into the marching music of the time – an extra level of rhythm playing off and around the main beat. This wasn’t a new invention – examples can be found in all kinds of composers – but the bringing of both syncopation and (quite likely African) polyrhythms to the forefront of the music was a fundamental change in focus from the often slow, melody-driven music that dominated the Victorian age. However, these were still primarily considered to be dances rather than musical genres.

Ragtime

From the early 1890s references start to appear to the “ragging” of music (adding syncopation to existing songs in order to make them suitable for dances) and towards the end of the decade sheet music began to appear with “ragtime” in the title. Initially this seems to have referred only to the syncopated rhythm, but from 1898 onward the name seems to have stuck – only after which a host of other signifiers started to be drawn into the definition, including the “smears” added by soloists – Arthur Pryor’s trombone solos in Sousa’s band are a great example of this. Vess L. Ossman’s “A Bunch of Rags” is perhaps the first explicitly “ragtime” recording available, and naturally is an excuse for a virtuoso soloist to show off their skill. Scott Joplin was just getting started at this point, but even when his songs start getting recorded in a few years, they will still be performed on the banjo or by full bands. The idea of ragtime as a style of piano music is largely an invention of the mid 20th century. As we move on towards the 1910s, all kinds of music from dance pieces to popular songs will start to be referred to as “ragtime” – but in 1898 the main term to refer to popular vocal songs is, unfortunately…

“Coon Songs”

A natural progression from the minstrel shows, “coon songs” are the inevitable result of an uncomprehending music business trying to get in on some of the magic coming out of black America. This idiotic mistranslation largely followed the formula of self-consciously edgy mistrelry (knife-wielding, womanising “Zip Coons” instead of docile, subservient “Jim Crows”) with an upbeat, syncopated backing, and was performed by wealthy white performers from the North-East doing the most outrageous version of Deep-South Black speech they could muster. So far it sounds terrible, and to a certain extent it is, but as for much of this the picture is nowhere near as simple. Take for example the most famous “coon song” of all, Ernest Hogan’s “All Coons Look Alike to Me.” The most rotten title possible, surely, and yet Hogan was a trailblazing black performer, the first African-American to produce and star in a Broadway show, and the song itself was an unstoppable hit which did much to bring ragtime into public consciousness. The title was, ironically enough, changed in the name of decency from “All Pimps Look Alike to Me.”

The “King of Coon Songs” was Arthur Collins, and this mix features his first available recording, Zizzy Ze Zum Zum. He will become easily the most popular recording artist of the next decade, by which time he will have been re-branded as the “King of the Ragtime Singers” as the term “coon song” mercifully fades from use. The songs themselves, and quite often elements of the offensive racial stereotyping embedded within, will remain present right up until the start of the jazz age, with some of them (usually those with less offensive titles) going on to be standards, their lineage forgotten, perhaps deliberately so. Many of these same songs are now thought of as being from…

Tin Pan Alley

Which many of them are. Tin Pan Alley was originally a specific place: West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in the Flower District of Manhattan, the small music-publishing district of New York. From the late 1880s to the end of the 1920s this small area was the driving force for American popular music. Most of the songs here are from this street in one way or another, and while it produced a range of music, its influence as a hub of innovation, appropriation and the forces of the musical establishment cannot be overstated.

Tracks

A. L. Sweet – Bugle Call – 00:00

Vess L. Ossman – Bunch of Rags – 00:08

Garrett A. Hobart – Words Of Welcome – 02:32

Arthur Collins – Zizzy Ze Zum Zum – 02:44

Harry Spencer – Side Show Shouter – 03:28

Edison Brass Quartet – At A Georgia Camp Meeting – 04:05

Dan W Quinn – At A Georgia Camp Meeting – 04:42

Gilmore’s Band – At A Georgia Camp Meeting – 05:35

William Jennings Bryan – Crown Of Thorns And Cross Of Gold – 06:45

George Rosey’s Orchestra Of New York City – Cotillion March – 07:01

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh On A Street Car – 08:05

Sousa’s Band – Love Thoughts Waltz (Trombone – Arthur Pryor) – 08:49

Buffalo Bill – Sentiment On The Cuban Question – 12:02

Columbia Orchestra – Charge Of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders – 12:21

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh Comments On The Spanish Question – 14:39

Edison Concert Band – Medley Of War Songs – 15:09

Chief trumpeter Cassi of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders – Bugle Calls – 17:24

Otto Mesloh – Tyrolienne – 18:07

Russell Hunting – Casey As Umpire At A Ball Game – 19:28

Columbia Orchestra – The Darkey’s Dream – 19:44

Ruby Brooks – The Darkies Dream (Banjo Solo) – 21:12

T. De Witt Talmage – Sermon On The Mount – 22:21

Frank C. Stanley – A Hundred Fathoms Deep – 22:36

W. F. Hooley – Ingersoll At The Tomb Of Napoleon – 24:40

F. Jardella – Spaghetti Polka – 24:55

Dr. B. Sunderland – Lord’s Prayer – 26:45

Jennie Hoyle – Musin Mazurka – 27:03

Unknown Performer, Possibly Russell Hunting – The Whores’ Union – 28:29

Joseph Pizzarello – Nocturne – 28:55

Sandra Droucker – Etude In F-Sharp – 30:58

Edison Symphony Orchestra – Donau Weibschen Waltz – 32:20

W. F. Hooley – Talmage On ‘Infidelity’ – 34:38

Sousa’s Grand Concert Band – The Jolly Coppersmith – 34:52

Frank S. Maziotta – Old Folks At Home – 37:27

August P.Stengler – Old Folks At Home – 39:09

John Terrell – Casey’s Address To The G.A.R. – 41:05

Otto Mesloh – Tyrolienne – 41:46

Cousins & Demoss – Who Broke The Lock – 43:08

Vess L. Ossman – Pretty Little Queen – 45:20

The Greater New York Quartette – The Sleigh Ride Party – 47:50

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“He told them he wanted a certain cylinder containing a particularly obscene song. He claims in his affidavit, on which the warrant was issued, that Hunting sold this cylinder to him and then in his presence made him another equally objectionable record, and offered to provide still worse productions… …When the warrant was executed the police officers seized fifty-three cylinders, said to contain bad records, and also took a phonograph instrument found on the premises.” – Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 25th 1896

The pattern is all too familiar. Experiments are conducted into a new medium, engineers work on it to make it a viable product, entrepreneurs invest and roll out mass production, the great and the good attempt to claim it for high culture, then the rabble inevitably take over. It’s 1897, and for the first time the gramophone isn’t the preserve of the self-elected tastemakers. Unfortunately this does not mean that someone’s gone down to New Orleans to record Buddy Bolden, more that the ability to record your own cylinders is leading to the arrival of the audio equivalent of b-movies (or perhaps even stag films.)

Much of this mix is made up of short clips from a CD called “Actionable Offenses: Indecent Phonograph Recordings from the 1890s” issued by Archaeophone Records in 2007. A compilation of unofficial recordings, the dates were understandably guesswork at best, so putting them in here is the kind of messy compromise we have to maker quite a bit in this decade. Most of the clips are performed by one Russell Hunting, a very popular recording artist of the time who founded, Phonoscope, the first independent magazine for the recording industry and set up one of the first phonograph shops, in New York. On request he would reproduce bawdy monologues or dialogues from an illegal book (which he may be the author of) called “The Stag Party.” On one of these occasions he was set up by an undercover police office, and the resulting court case ended up with him being sent to jail. Some of these recordings are genuinely shocking in their obscenity, to the extent that this mix is probably unsuitable for playing at work or around small children, and I didn’t even include the strongest examples. Russell Hunting spent three months in prison, and suitably chastised set sail for England, where he immediately found work as the recording director of Edison Bell Records – he had quite a spectacularly successful career, setting up offices for Pathé and Zonophone, and lived long enough to see the second world war.

The other big takeaway from this month’s mix is ‘virtuosity’. Trombone player Arthur Pryor had by 1895 been promoted to assistant conductor of Sousa’s Band, and as Sousa would have nothing to do with recording studios, they were entirely his domain. On their tours of Europe, Pryor had put himself forward as a soloist, producing not only elaborate displays of lightning-fast trombone playing, but also incorporating the kinds of slides and smears that would later be a hallmark of early jazz – and which went against everything expected of regimented military music. This combination of peacock-like display of talent and occasional plunges into joyous self-expression was labelled a “Yankee trick” by astonished European audiences. While its link to the underexposed world of black music is unclear, the connection is certainly no co-incidence, and can be sensed in the work of banjo king Vess L. Ossman and piccolo player George Schweinfest. While we’re undoubtedly still in the stone age, something wonderful is bubbling up.

Tracklist:

Students at Cornell University – New Years Day Party

Sousa’s Band (Trombone – Arthur Pryor) – Blue Bells of Scotland

Believed to Be Russell Hunting – Did He Charge Too Much

Vess L. Ossman – Old Folks at Home

Harry Heath – Speech With Church Chimes

Al Sweet – L’elegante [Élégante Polka]

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh on a Bicycle

Edison Brass Quartet – Come Where Lilies Bloom

‘Willy Fathand of New York City’ [Believed to Be Russell Hunting] – Sim Hadley on a Racket

Edison Concert Band – El Capitan March

‘Manly Tempest’ [Unknown Performer, Possibly Russell Hunting] – the Rascal Detector

The Columbia Orchestra – Sea Flower Polka

Len Spencer & Vess Ossman – Hot Time in the Old Town

N. R. Wood – Morning on the Farm

Edison Male Quartette – Annie Laurie

Drum Corps – Spirit of ’76

Garde Republicaine – Marche Des Petit Pierot

‘Charley Smith of Kankakee’ [Believed to Be Russell Hunting] – Out of Order

Fraulein Vioni Eidner – Der Vogelhandler, Act I- Die Nachtigall

Robert Green Ingersroll – On Hope

Cousins & De Moss – Poor Mourner

Harry Heath – Speech

Arthur Pryor – the Palms

Frank S. Mazziotta – Sleighride

‘Manly Tempest’ [Unknown Performer, Possibly Russell Hunting] – Gimlet’s Soliloquy

George Schweinfest – Bob White Polka

Russell Hunting – Casey’s Political Speech

Peerless Orchestra – My Babe From Boston

‘Charley Smith of New York City’ [Believed to Be Russell Hunting] – Reilly as a Policeman

George J Gaskin – Best in the House is None Too Good for Reilly

Charles P. Lowe – Leonora Waltz

The Columbia Orchestra – I Thought I Was a Winner, Or, I Don’t Know, You Ain’t So Warm

Billy Golden – Listen to the Mocking Bird

Thompson River Indians – Dance Song of Thompson River Indians

Joseph Norrito – Original Schottische

Sousa’s Band – Stars and Stripes Forever

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack “He told them he wanted a certain cylinder containing a particularly obscene song. He claims in his affidavit, on which the warrant was issued, that Hunting sold this cylinder to him and then in his presence made him another equally objectionable record, … Continue reading "1897"

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MP3 direct download | Itunes | Mixcloud | Feedburner (RSS) | MP3 pack In a tiny, bare-walled back room a man sings into a huge metal horn. The sound causes vibrations in the air, which travel down the horn, compressing into a smaller point, causing a diaphragm to vibrate. The diaphragm pushes a metal stylus, … Continue reading "1896"

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In a tiny, bare-walled back room a man sings into a huge metal horn. The sound causes vibrations in the air, which travel down the horn, compressing into a smaller point, causing a diaphragm to vibrate. The diaphragm pushes a metal stylus, which cuts a minuscule groove in a brown wax cylinder turned by a clockwork mechanism. No electricity is involved – the force cutting the groove is the sound wave itself. As the cylinder turns, the wax shavings have to constantly be blown away to avoid the device skipping.

The cylinder is made of “brown wax” – actually a metallic soap. With time it becomes extremely brittle, and can split or shatter if not handled with care. Even stored carefully, oxides or oils tend to migrate to the surface, and this attracts a black mold which eats away at the wax, making playback impossible.

To play the sound back, the operation is reversed – a lighter stylus moves through the groove, vibrating a diaphragm which resonates out of the horn. It is a matter of cutting edge precision engineering to get any sound out at all, so the reproduction of voices and instruments is still something of a miracle. 120 years later, with all the wear and tear that means, sticking a needle into these artifacts seems downright insane. But still, the sounds are sitting there, and it’s a race against time to get them out.

There are a few different ways that these recordings can restored. The best way is to use a microscopic range scanner to make a 3d image which can then be reconstructed on a computer. This costs an impractical amount of money and is only done for a small number of historically important recordings – for everything else the cylinder is actually played, and the sound imported into a computer. Purists will leave it there, pointing out that any further recovery is liable to do further damage. I can sympathise with this, but feel that the mixes are challenging enough in this area already, and any improvements in listening quality are welcome.

The easiest way to get better quality is with graphic equalisation. Cylinders only recorded on a narrow band of frequencies, so removing anything outside that area is a good start. If the noise or the music is focused in on certain frequencies then even better. Higher-impact restoration involves taking a ‘noise print’ of a section at the start of the track and running a program to identify this sound throughout the track. The problem here is that even the best technology is significantly worse than our own ears. Where noise is removed, edges are smoothed out, and even a moderate amount of this sort of treatment can give the recording an unnatural, robotic, underwater quality. Unfortunately many of the mp3s available on archive.org have had excessive treatment of this sort, and are consequently unusable. Here is an example of the worst uploader on there – I had to eventually exclude all of his uploads from my song-gathering phases.

Preservation efforts always involve difficult compromises. Let’s say we could use a time machine and a state of the art recording studio – would the resulting recordings be a better historical record than what we have now? While I am in a constant war with noise, the noise holds the sound as much as the sea holds fish. Mitigation must be balanced by acceptance and ultimately appreciation.

I hope you are now ready for quite a noisy mix (though to be fair the middle section is much clearer.) We start with the usual minstrel show opening, followed by George W Johnson’s other big hit, The Laughing Song. Of the tens of thousands of recordings he made of this piece in the 1890s, this sadly seems to be the best-preserved. With Ragtime now emerging, Johnson’s street-corner entertainments already seem outdated, but his laugh is still hearty and infectious even after so many performances, and he could rest assured at being the biggest-selling performer of the decade. His story, including his trial for the murder of his common-law wife, is covered well in Tim Brooks’s ‘Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry’.

After a short clip from soon-to-be-US-President William McKinley on the disastrous recession currently being suffered by the country, we have another virtuoso banjo performance from Vess L. Ossman, and a parody of political speeches on economy from George Graham.

Now onto some Ragtime, or more like Cakewalk, and mediated through the white musicians of the Columbia Orchestra, who felt the need to add minstrel-style imitations of black speech throughout, and name the thing after the original and most famous white minstrel troupe. Still, it’s one of the loosest, most expressive performances I’ve heard from one of these groups.

The rhythms of the auction house were often reproduced as a novelty in these days – here the appeal is increased with toy noises. Then more lightning-paced violin virtuosity, this time from Steve Clemens.

Cal Stewart was one of the most prolific pre-WW1 recording artists, and we’ll be hearing quite a lot more of him. A friend of Mark Twain, he performed his Uncle Josh routines (a sort of vaudeville Garrison Keillor) around the country for a decade or so before Edison Records got him in to put some of them down on wax in 1896. His monologue about a trip to Coney Island is broken up with an instrumental excerpt from a French ‘opera-comique’ and followed by an instrumental excerpt from an American ‘musical comedy’.

Next we have a home-recorded monologue from a Bill Nye (not that one) about how much he hates eating tripe, followed by a performance from one of America’s greatest cornet players (and later band leader) William Paris Chambers. The cornet was the foremost brass instrument of its day, and would be even as far as the start of the jazz era. Then another beautiful Wagner piano piece from Josef Hofmann, on a Julius Block cylinder.

A couple of cheeky vaudeville skits – a John Terrell monologue on drinking, and another bit of Irish ethnic comedy from Russell Hunting – are mixed around a less beautiful brass band attempt at a Wagner piece, a comic song about hair restorer from Dan W Quinn, an obscure overture from the Edison house band and another comic song from Russell Hunting.

In our final section Sousa’s Band AKA The United States Marine Band make their inevitable appearance, there’s another novelty auctioneer (this time played by the ubiquitous Len Spencer), a bit of the old civil war marching music from the Peerless Orchestra, a bit more from Sousa’s Band, this time with an unfortunate racist title, George Graham does another of his slightly-comic imitations of real life, and Dorothy Hoyle performs a well-known piece for cello.

In the end we sink back down into the noise from which we came, dust to dust, scratches to scratches. See you next time.

Tracks

Imperial Minstrels – The Old Log Cabin

George W. Johnson – The Laughing Song

William McKinlley – Speech to Republican Convention

Vess L. Ossman – The Stars and Stripes Forever

George Graham – Talk on Money

Columbia Orchestra – Virginia Skedaddle

W.O. Beckenbaugh – Sale of Toys, Dolls and So Forth on Christmas Eve Night

Steve Clemens – Darkys Patrol

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh’s Trip to Coney Island (Excerpt 1)

Brand’s Concert Band – Chimes of Normandy

Cal Stewart – Uncle Josh’s Trip to Coney Island (Excerpt 2)

Empire State Concert Band – Belle of New York March

Bill Nye – On Tripe

William Paris Chambers – The Seraph

Josef Hofmann – Wagner-Brassin- Magic Fire Music From Die Walküre

John Terrell – a Few Words in Regard to Drinking

Gilmore’s Band – Grand March From Tannhauser

Russell Hunting – Casey at the Telephone (Excerpt 1)

Dan W. Quinn – Still His Whiskers Grew

Russell Hunting – Casey at the Telephone (Excerpt 2)

Edison Concert Band – Ouverture to ‘Der Tambour Der Garde’

Russell Hunting – I Wonder Why

United States Marine Band – the Directorate March

Len Spencer – Sale of Pawnbroker’s Goods (‘by Harry Spencer’)

Peerless Orchestra – Yankee Doodle Dandy Lancers

Sousa’s Band – The Darkie’s Temptation

George Graham – Street Fakir

Dorothy Hoyle – La Cinquantaine

Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 (Music in American Life)

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“Music is so helpful to the human mind that it is naturally a source of satisfaction to me that I have helped in some way to make the very finest music available to millions who could not afford to pay the price and take the time necessary to hear the greatest artists sing and play.” – Thomas Edison, 1921

Mid-way through the decade, and where are we? On the up, on the whole. Developments in technology like clockwork motors and commercially viable disc recordings mean that the volume of surviving recordings is increasing exponentially. Faced with competition on multiple fronts, Edison has finally done the unthinkable and accepted the reality of the demand for a music industry, with artists producing recordings for discerning listeners.

Therein lies the catch, of course. Edison, his competitors and the vast majority of record buyers still resided in what David Wondrich refers to as ‘Upworld’ and their tastes naturally reflect the most conservative, middlebrow elements of what has elsewhere been called the “naughty nineties.” At best this meant collectable curios, at worst more of those interminable sentimental ballads – what it certainly didn’t mean was artistry, either of the sophisticated European sort or the perhaps more interesting Underworld variety.

So what could be more middlebrow than the banjo? Originally an adaptation of traditional African instruments made by slaves in plantations, it had taken a bizarre route via touring minstrel shows and parlour lessons to become the instrument of choice for middle class white amateurs. Our selection starts with the “king of the banjo” Vess L. Ossman, a performer who was skilled and accomplished enough that he would later become the first recorded musician to venture into the world of ragtime. After a fuzzy clip from a Russell Hunting monologue we have the great bulwark of middlebrow America, John Philip Sousa, or rather a performance of one of his greatest hits, The ~~Monty Python Theme Tune~~ Liberty Bell March.

Then, after a number from unadventurous Vaudeville star Edward M Favor, there’s a selection from touring “actual black artists” The Oriole Quartette – sort of proto-gospel in that it’s quoting a bible verse, then after something from Sousa’s Band (without Sousa himself of course) we have possibly the most risky selection for 1895, a recording of “Dixie” by Edison house band Issler’s Orchestra. It’s mercifully an entirely instrumental version, but still carries a whole host of connotations.

Aristide Bruant is perhaps best known these days as the subject of this Toulouse Lautrec poster, but he was also responsible for the chanson réaliste genre and the modern cabaret. ‘Le Chat Noir’ is the name of the first cabaret, and this is its theme song.

Next we have a marching band version of a popular opera overture, a more developed version of the ‘Streets of Cairo’ theme first heard in 1893, and two versions of maestro demonstration piece ‘Carnival of Venice’. Then there’s the other extant recording from the Unique Quartet, not really up to the standard of ‘Mama’s Blakck Baby Boy’ but worth a listen at least, and a clip from the first sound film, which will be covered separately in more detail.

The usual selection of Russian cylinders from the collection of Julius Block again succeed in effortlessly outclassing the competition. This time we have the old guard, represented by Paul Pabst, only two years before his sudden death, and the future in the shape of 19-year-old Josef Hofmann – both playing sublime piano music with the spoken words of Leo Tolstoy mixed behind from time to time.

The final section has a Québécois national song, a solo from the cornet player from Issler’s Orchestra, the overture from a popular Austrian operetta, some more whistling from George W Johnson, our first song in Spanish (there will be quite a lot of these in about ten years’ time, but until then they are very thin on the ground), another snappy marching-band number, a maudlin ballad from George J Gaskin, a mysterious cornet solo from a Berlinner disc credited to “Miss Alice Raymond,” Issler’s Orchestra performing a song named after a sadly unrecorded black singing troupe and a sardonic old-fashioned-sexist-humour look at married life from Dan W. Quinn.

Then to finish, Sousa’s biggest hit, The Stars And Stripes Forever. You will almost certainly know this one – I remember first encountering it as “Be Kind To Your Web-Footed Friend.”

This feels like the first time that we’re genuinely getting something like the greatest hits of the year. That’s not what I’m really aiming for, but even if it represents a tedious middle-brow spectrum of taste, at least the stage is starting to be set for genuine innovation.

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Tracks

Vess L. Ossman – Cocoanut Dance

Russell Hunting – Casey As A Hotel Clerk

Baldwin’s Cadet Band Of Boston – The Liberty Bell

Edward M Favor – My Best Gal’s A New Yorker

Oriole Quartette – Brother Michael, Won’t You Hand Down That Rope

Sousa’s Band – Yazoo Dance

Issler’s Orchestra – Dixie

Aristide Bruant – Le Chat Noir

Holding’s Military Band – Overture Semiramide

Dan W. Quinn – Streets Of Cairo

Charles P. Lowe – Carnival Of Venice

Jean Moeremans – Carnival Of Venice

Unique Quartet – Who Broke The Lock?

Dickson – Dickson Experimental Sound Film

Leo Tolstoy – Spoken Word [14 February 1895, Russia]

Paul Pabst – Chopin-Pabst- Waltz In D-Flat, Op. 64, No. 1, “minute”

Josef Hofmann – Anton Rubinstein- Contredanse B, No. 3 From Le Bal, Op. 14

Paul Pabst – Tchaikovsky-Pabst- Paraphrase On Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66

Eugene Danton – Vive La Canadienne

David B. Dana – Evening Star

Baldwin’s Cadet Band Of Boston – Overture, Poet And Peasant

George W. Johnson – Listen To The Mocking Bird

Arthur B. Adamini – Caramba

Foh’s 23rd Regiment Band Of New York – The Melon Patch Schottische

George J. Gaskin – Sidewalks Of New York

Miss Alice Raymond – Love Me Little Love Me Long

Holding’s Military Band – Overture Semiramide

Issler’s Orchestra – Kentucky Jubilee Singers

Dan W. Quinn – Married Life

Sousa’s Band – Stars And Stripes Forever

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“Music is so helpful to the human mind that it is naturally a source of satisfaction to me that I have helped in some way to make the very finest music available to millions who could not afford to pay the price and take the time necessary to hear the greatest artists sing and play.” … Continue reading "1895"

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The classic minstrel show is refracted through just about every aspect of American entertainment since. As a ritual, the minstrel show was as formalized as an exorcism. Each of its set parts has its own afterlife, appears peeking through a different window in American culture like a leering, priapic idiot glimpsed through a heavily barred attic dormer. The show had three main parts. Originally, it would begin with a sheaf of songs. By the 1870s this evolved into a full-blown mockorchestral overture, swerved only by the rather unsettling rattle of Mr. B’s bones. As this dies down, Mr. I steps to the fore and says, “Gentlemen, be seated.”

David Wondrich – Stomp & Swerve; American Music Gets Hot

We’re a few decades into recorded sound now, but so far the field has been the preserve of innovators and hobbyists. In 1894 this is fundamentally still the case, but things are beginning to open up. This year saw the launch of the Graphophone G, the “Baby Grand” – the first machine designed for home entertainment. It sold for $75, or $100 with a horn, a listening tube and a set of records, and allowed the playing of both competing standards of cylinder, Edison and Columbia. Then in November, Berliner disc recordings finally went on sale to the general public. Very little of this would have filtered through into the average household, but for well-off, forward thinking types, having this device in your house was now at least an option. So the piano still has its place in the drawing room, for now, but the shift from home musicianship to mass consumption of recorded sound has begun.

And the actual sounds being recorded? Slim progress on that front, I’m afraid, but greater volume of production at least makes more to choose from.

Minstrel shows were still just about the dominant paradigm of American entertainment in 1894, and the obvious way to tap into this for the wax cylinder market was to produce cut down taster menu versions which could fit into the two-and-a-half minutes available. Our mix starts with the opening overture and first joke from one of these, complete (of course) with the usual racist slurs being thrown around, an unfortunate fact of the time. This is followed by another representation of commercial entertainment – a reproduction of a dance number performed by Edison’s in-house band to promote Edison’s electric lights.

Daisy Bell is one of the few hits of the 90s which is still well-known today, and is included more for reasons of familiarity than quality of performance or recording. After that we have the first of two recordings of Native American “Ghost Dances” collected by noted anthropologist Professor James Mooney. It’s unclear who is actually recorded on the cylinder, but it’s very likely to be Mooney himself. Then we have a clip of a grandfather using the phonograph for ins intended purpose, the dictation of letters – in this case to his grandchildren.

Nostalgia for the pre-Civil War South might seem at best distasteful today, but it was the very definition of a safe topic in the 1890s, and for that matter the only real way for black artists to gain a mass audience. The Standard Quartet were stars of a touring show called “The South Before The War” which presented the era of slavery as “happy days and pleasant nights.” A single recording of the group still exists, and it’s better than might be reasonably expected.

After the chimes of Harvard Clock Tower, and more from the unknown grandfather, we have some recordings from famed Russian violin player and composer Jules Conus, pianist and composer Anton Arensky, tenor Lavrentii Donskoi and pianist Vladimir Wilschaw. The Wilschaw piece is particularly interesting for its almost furious speed which seems to prefigure certain aspects of 20th century piano music. Then, after a very brief bit of speech, we have an excellent piece from a trio of two famous pianists and a violin player and a spooky sample of soprano Maria Ivanovna Gutheil. All of these recordings come from the archive of Julius Block.

Next we have a sentimental story about ‘Old Jim’ going off to war, backed with a mournful piece from “The World’s Greatest Cornetist” Jules Levy, then something from noted bagpipe player John MacColl. The Brilliant Quartette seem to have been blackface singers, but their singing on ‘Blind Tom’ is at least a tad more respectful and lacking in racist stereotypes than most of their peers.

After another “Ghost Dance” excerpt, we have an example of that other staple of the age, pre-vaudeville ethnic music hall performance, here a song and monologue about an Irish wedding. Then in our final stretch we have three songs from the understandably ubiquitous Sousa’s Band (twice called the U.S. Marine Band, but quite possibly exactly the same people), plus one similar piece from the 23rd Regiment Band. Of these the “Enthusiast Polka” is perhaps the best, featuring astounding cornet playing from a young Arthur Pryor, who will doubtless become a fixture of these mixes in the next decade. Then to finish there is some very accomplished stroke-style banjo and proto-country vocals from Charles Astbury and a brief bit of harmony singing from the Bison City Quartet.

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Tracklist

Spencer, Wiliams And Quinn’s Imperial Minstrels – Minstrel First Part

Issler’s Orchestra – Electric Light Quadrille

Edward M. Favor – Daisy Bell

James Mooney – Arapaho No. 73. Ghost Dance

Unknown – Personal Message from a Grandfather to his Grandchildren (excerpt 1)

Standard Quartet – Keep Movin’

Harvard Clock Tower – Chimes

Unknown – Personal Message from a Grandfather to his Grandchildren (excerpt 2)

Jules Conus – Chopin-Sarasate- Nocturne In E-Flat, Op. 9, No. 2

Anton Arensky – Le Ruisseau Dans La Forêt In G, No. 15 From 24 Morceaux Charactéristiques, Op. 36

Lavrentii Donskoi – Rubinstein- O Pechal I Toska From Nero

Vladimir Wilschaw – Godard- En Courant In G-Flat, No. 1 From 6 Morceaux, Op. 53

Joseph Sawyer – Birthday Speech, October 22 1894

Anton Arensky, Jan Hrímalý And Anatoly Brandukov – Arensky- Piano Trio No. 1 In D Minor, Op. 32- Second Movement – Scherzo- Allegro Molto

Maria Ivanovna Gutheil – Rubinstein- Sail

Russell Hunting – The Old Man And Jim

Jules Levy – The Last Rose Of Summer

John MacColl – Campbells Are Coming

Brilliant Quartette – Blind Tom

James Mooney – Caddo No. 2. Ghost Dance

Dan Kelly – Paddy’s Wedding

Sousa’s Band – The Crack Regiment

U.S. Marine Band – The Enthusiast Polka

23rd Regiment Band – New York Herald

U.S. Marine Band – The Directorate March

Charles Asbury – Haul The Woodpile Down

Bison City Quartet – Mill Medley

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The classic minstrel show is refracted through just about every aspect of American entertainment since. As a ritual, the minstrel show was as formalized as an exorcism. Each of its set parts has its own afterlife, appears peeking through a different window in American culture like a leering, priapic idiot glimpsed through a heavily barred … Continue reading "1894"

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When looking back into the past, it’s important (but difficult) to remember that for everyone concerned it was just the present, especially at times like these when technology was making the world strikingly different. For Americans born into the civil war era, the gilded age of the 1880s and 1890s must have been a dizzying sprint up a mountain of advances, with the 1993 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago taking place right at the summit, opening four days before the worst stock market crash America saw until the great depression. Set over 690 acres, the fair set the tone for the next twenty-five years of architecture, arts, culture and the electrification of the world.

It was a bit too late for recorded sound, though, or a little too early. Edison’s wax cylinder “phonograph” and Columbia’s wax cylinder “graphophone” had been around for half a decade, and had lost much of their novelty value, while Emile Berliner’s disc-based “phonograph” was not quite ready to go on sale, and it would be another few years before the inception of the record business as we know it. All the same, in 1893 we can start to see more in the way of “hits” – music produced with an eye to selling, even if only as a souvenir or a fun novelty.

Our mix opens with the oddest of all curios, a song written and performed by a genuine group of black professional musicians. Not that there was a shortage of black music out there, of course, but the endemic racism of the time and the philistinism of the people in charge of recording meant that their name “Unique Quartette” was particularly apt. It would be a bit of a stretch to claim “Mama’s Black Baby Boy” as in any way proto-blues; it’s a show tune from a group who clearly knew what white audiences wanted. But despite its clear taint of racial stereotyping, it does appear to at least reflect something about their lives, and for this it’s an invaluable record.

After a brief (basically indecipherable) clip from the only surviving record of Louis Vasnier performing as his character Brudder Rasmus (which apparently was listenable as recently as the 1980s), we move onto the usual business, a stomping marching band piece from the 23rd Regiment Band Of New York, and the first of two pieces of “artistic whistling” which apparently sold well at the time and seem marvelously odd with nearly 125 years’ perspective.

As we move on through the years, there will be a certain tension between representing what was popular at the time, presenting a wide spread of what was happening around the world and making something which is enjoyable to listen to. I would say the last of these is the most important, followed by the second, but the first also has a part to play, especially when choices are as thin on the ground as they are this year. 1893’s biggest hit was ‘After The Ball’, a particularly lugubrious sentimental ballad. The rendition here by “silver-voiced Irish tenor” George J. Gaskin epitomises the best and worst aspects of the genre, having a clear, singable melody, a rousing, emotional vocal performance, and an overwhelming, oleaginous droning quality, apparently designed to put an end to any unseemly high spirits.

A better sampling of the year may perhaps be found in Issler’s Orchestra’s “On The Midway” – a 140-second sampling of the Chicago World’s Fair which pitches itself as neither comedy nor advertisement – just a souvenir. The most interesting part of the recording is perhaps the end, where the “hoochie coochie” belly dancers are leeringly described while a tune known variously as “The Streets of Cairo” “The Poor Little Country Maid” and “The Snake Charmer Song” plays. This melody was improvised by showman Sol Bloom, who brought the belly dancers to the fair, and has since served as a shorthand for Middle-Eastern exoticism throughout western culture. You definitely know it.

Next up is the first recording from Ada Jones, easily the most prolific female recording artist of the pre-WW1 era, here singing another huge hit of the day, sentimental romantic ballad “Sweet Marie” without thinking of doing any sort of lyrical gender-swap. Then a clip of a speech in Afrikaans leads into our first Julius Block cylinder of the mix – a delicate, accomplished piano duet from Sergei Taneyev And Leo Conus. Then a monologue from Russell Hunting, nobly describing an apparently momentous game of baseball.

A brass-band waltz from Sousa’s U.S. Marine Band leads into “A flute solo played by Mr Arthur Houston of Norwalk, Ohio” – who he was and why this recording was made are complete mysteries, but the multi-layered harmonies he manages to produce are truly astounding.

To finish off the mix we have a trio of popular songs – a rendition of The Commodore Song from Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, a fairly lighthearted tune from George H. Diamond, and another bit of whistling from John York Atlee, this time accompanied by verses in which he sings an explanation of “why should I keep from whistling? As it isn’t any sin.” Quite.

Tracks

Unique Quartette – Mamma’s Black Baby Boy

Louis Vasnier – Adam And Eve And De Winter Apple (Excerpt)

23rd Regiment Band Of New York – A.O.O.S. March

John York Atlee – Anvil Chorus

George J. Gaskin – After The Ball

Issler’s Orchestra – On The Midway

Ada Jones – Sweet Marie

Unknown – Brown Wax Home Recording Of Speech In Afrikaans

Sergei Taneyev And Leo Conus – Leo Conus- Suite For Piano Four-Hands

Russell Hunting – Casey At The Bat

United States Marine Band – The Kiss Waltz

Arthur Houston – Flute Solo

Edward M. Favor – The Commodore Song

George H. Diamond – When Summer Comes Again

John York Atlee – Why Should I Keep From Whistling?

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What was recorded sound for; historical record? dictation of memos? the arts? At this point nobody is really making the case for any one purpose. The phonograph is out there in the homes of the wealthy trend-setters, recording studios are being set up in major cities, and popular entertainers are being sought out to make recordings, but still, there is no sign of anything approaching a recording industry. Cylinders are recorded in spare moments in back rooms, and duplication is still impossible. The line between professional and amateur simply does not exist.

What does this mean? Well firstly that quality control is poor at best (but hopefully my job is to deal with that issue) and secondly that the moderating influence of standards and rules is out of the window. Everything is to some extent strange and experimental, unfiltered by clear ideas of what will sell, and as the medium is as yet uncensored, crude and openly sexual cylinders exist alongside the anodine and sentimental.

Our first selection is of neither type, but another military marching band (Holding’s Military Band, of whom I can find no information at all). Then we have Russell Hunting in his comic Irishman persona ‘Casey’ performing a vaudeville routine about conducting a door to door survey. This is underscored with a Julius Block recording of a young Jules Conus, a violinist and composer who survived as long as the second world war.

Next a trio of recordings about Grover Cleveland, who won the election of 1892 to become the only US president to serve two non-consecutive terms. A burly, mustachioed fiscal conservative, he presided over the great crash of 1893 which put his party out of government for a generation. The first recording is of the man himself, reciting a campaign speech convincingly in front of a handful of people in a studio. Then we have the Grover Cleveland march, performed by Patrick Gilmore’s band. Finally, a shockingly rude set of jokes about Grover and his wife Frances Folsom, who had married in the White House during his previous term, Folsom being 21 and Cleveland being 49 at the time.

A clarinet piece by William Tuson is followed by a couple of novelty songs – Take Your Time Gentlemen, about a parrot, and Saving Them All For Mary, an otherwise undistinguished ballad with a fairly interesting bit of proto-country banjo playing. The something more familiar – “Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me A Bow-Wow” – generally taken as a childrens’ song these days, but full of smut and innuendo when presented on the vaudeville stage.

After another piece from a vocal group (the sort of thing later called “barbershop”) and a marching band’s attempt at a waltz, we have some more Julius Block cylinders, piano workouts from Arensky, Taneyev and Pabst, and a short excerpt of a Tchaikovsky operatic work. Finally there is another sentimental ballad, presented largely for the odd timbre of the singer’s voice and the melancholy of the accompaniment, and Walt Whitman finishes off the mix with a few lines from “America”, recorded shortly before his death this year.

Tracks

Holding’s Military Band – The Night Alarm

Russell Hunting – Michael Casey Taking The Census

Jules Conus – Sarasate – Zigeunerweisen, op. 20, no. 1

Grover Cleveland – The Cleveland-Harrison Campaign Speech

Gilmore’s Band – Grover Cleveland March

Unknown – Boarding The Folsom

William Tuson – Esquimeau Dance

Press Eldridge – Take Your Time Gentlemen

Al Reeves – Saving Them All For Mary

Silas Leachman – Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me A Bow Wow

Manhansett Quartette – Sally In Our Alley

Issler’s Orchestra – Cannon Waltz

Anton Arensky – Improvisation in E-flat

Sergei Taneyev and Paul Pabst – Suite no. 2 For Two Pianos, op. 23 no. 1 – ‘Le Savant’

Eugenia Jurjevna Werdan – Tchaikovsky – Legend, no. 5 from 16 Songs For Children, op. 54

Russell Hunting – Michael Casey At The Telephone

Richard Jose – The Blind Boy

Walt Whitman – America

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One of the main problems with making this Centuries of Sound thing is representation. The 1890s are the birthplace of ragtime and the blues, Buddy Bolden was playing proto-Jazz down in New Orleans, and over in Europe figures like Dvořák, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Puccini, Sibelius, Grieg, Saint-Saëns, and Rachmaninoff were leading classical music’s last great popular era. And what do we have in the way of photograph cylinders for this golden age? Marching bands, sentimental ballads, novelty instrumentals and nothing much else.

When I was about 10 I had a “Portable Action Replay Player and Keyring” which played 30-second clips from blockbuster movies, or monster trucks and dirtbikes.

Imagine for a second our civilization was destroyed and this was all that remained.

This is the narrow aperture which sound recording gives us at this point. Without a duplication process, every cylinder had to be an original, played into a brass funnel by at most five or six artists. These recordings were then consumed almost entirely in a small number of “phonograph parlors” which fed recordings to customers through a stethoscope-like device. Why would any fan of the arts consider this to be worth their time when the real thing was infinitely superior? And why would any serious performer take such a thing seriously?

The answer, of course, was that it was a living to be made. In this mix we meet (possibly) the best-selling artist of the decade and (maybe) the first million-seller, George W Johnson. Johnson was born in the South before the civil war, made his way to the streets of New York and found a living as a street performer, soon building enough of a reputation performing at the ferry terminal that both existent recording companies signed him up. Soon he was sitting in a “studio”, singing the same two songs into a bank of gramophones up to fifty times a day, for limited financial returns. “The Whistling Coon” is offensive all the way down the line from awful title to much worse lyrics, but apparently this is what the public wanted, and it made a black man the first star recording artist in the particularly racist post-reconstruction era of the USA. It’s included here as ignoring it would be an insult to his memory.

Also he can whistle very well, and that seems to have been a big deal in the early days of the record industry. Our mix starts with another example, “artistic whistler” John Yorke Atlee with the bird noise vaudeville staple “Listen To The Mocking Bird.” Then we have Sousa’s U.S. Marine Band with another of their jolly marching band anthems, followed by cylinder catalogue staple George J. Gaskin with “Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill,” a novelty song about Irish workers drilling holes in rock to blast out railroad tunnels. Just before George W Johnson we have a much more offensive item from blackface performer Billy Golden, presented for historical reasons but with a serious warning about its content.

Another U.S. Marine Band recording follows, this one allegedly a “Mexican dance” and providing a deal more subtlety than usual. Then we have Welsh baritone J.W. Myers with a bit of light operetta, an unknown singer called Will White with another bit of light operetta, a mournful trumpet solo from D.B. Dana, then the first of many selections from the 1890s foremost spoken word artist, Russell Hunting, here barely audible in his Irish ethnic stereotype “Casey”. This fades out into a pair of Julius Block recordings, firstly of noted Russian pianist and composer Sergei Taneyev, then of soprano Maria Klimentova-Muromtzeva, with Taneyev accompanying. Mixed into these we have the final words of C.H. Spurgeon, a British Baptist preacher whose influence was massive at the time. The words were, of course, not recorded at his bedside, but later by his son Thomas Spurgeon.

Tracks

John Yorke Atlee – The Mocking Bird

U.S. Marine Band – Farewell to Dresden

George J. Gaskin – Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill

Billy Golden – Turkey in the Straw

George W. Johnson – The Whistling Coon

Hager’s Band – La Media Noche

J.W. Myers – Bell Buoy

Will White – Third Verse of Mary & John

D.B. Dana – Cujus Animam

Russell Hunting – Michael Casey as Physician

Sergei Taneyev – Mozart: Fantasie in C Minor, K. 396

Thomas Spurgeon – C. H. Spurgeon’s Last Words

Maria Klimentova-Muromtzeva and Sergei Taneyev – Schumann: Widmung, no. 1 from Myrthen, op. 25

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We’re a bit stuck in between ages here. The experiments are now fading into the background, phonographs are being introduced into the world, but the nascent music business still hasn’t really taken off. 1890 sees our last recordings from Edison’s British agent, Colonel Gouraud, and the first attempts, in Russia, to capture performances from classical musicians. What we don’t have that much of so far is the popular music of the time, though that was soon to change.

Tracks

P.T. Barnum – Personal Speech To The Future
U.S. Marine Band – Washington Post March
Florence Nightingale – The Voice Of
Consolidated Quartet – My Old New Hampshire Home
Trumpeter Landfrey – Charge Of The Light Brigade At Balaklava
Alfred Lord Tennyson – The Charge Of The Light Brigade
Madamoiselle Nikita And Pyotr Schurovsky – At The Fountain
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky And Anton Rubinstein – 4-10 January 1890, Moscow
Ben Davies – To Mary
Miss Ferguson & Graham Hope – Big Ben Clock Tower Of Westminster
U.S. Marine Band – The Thunderer
Emile Berliner – Whist The Bogie Man
Karl Bernhardt – Wacht Am Rhein
Edwin Booth – Most Potent, Grave… (From Othello)
Vasily Samus – Dargomizhsky – I Am In Love, My Maiden, My Beauty

Our mix starts with a speech from P.T. Barnum directed at us, listening to him in the distant future. He is most famous these days for his circus and freak-show, but was a progressive activist and anti-slavery campaigner too. Next we have the first recording from the biggest star of the day, John Philip Sousa, though of course he is not playing here (Sousa dismissively called the phonograph “canned music” and refused to appear on recordings.) As leader of the US Marine Band, Sousa’s marches inspired local bands across America, and the “stomp” of these two-minute hits will perhaps surprisingly provide our first pointer in the direction of the Jazz explosion 27 years in the future. We also have The Consolodated Quartet giving an example of the vocal harmonies which would eventually morph into the Ragtime-era “barbershop” singing troupes of the early 1900s.

The second section of the mix is made up of three recordings made by General Gouraud in aid of the pension fund for the survivors of the charge of the light brigade. First Florence Nightingale, who seems to have known better than anyone else how to project her voice into a phonograph horn, then trumpeter Martin Leonard Lanfried sounding the charge on the same trumpet that was used on the day, and finally Alfred Lord Tennyson himself, reading the poem which made the charge so famous. A good blog post on the history behind these recordings can be found here.

Next we have the first of what will be quite a few selections from the collection of Julius Block, a Russian businessman who managed to get a prototype phonograph from Edison and bring it back to Russia. A keen music fan, Block counted some of the most important musicians of late 19th century Russia among his friends, and he was able to hold regular “phonographic salons” where they would come to be recorded. Block’s extensive collection was believed lost in the second world war, and has only been recovered within the last decade. Our first selection from these recordings features Mademoiselle Nikita, a singer from Kentucky who was at the time hugely popular in Russia. Then we have a clip of Tchaikovsky, unfortunately doing nothing more than clowning around in front of the machine. At the end of the mix we have Tenor Vasily Samus with a piece from mid-19th-century composer Alexander Dargomyzhsky.

Also in the mix; Ben Davies sings a surprisingly rare 1890 example of the sentimental ballads I will find myself wading neck-deep through by the end of the decade; Gouraud’s assistants’ recording of Big Ben’s chimes; another test disc from Emile Berliner – this time singing (in a sort of lugubriouly sinister fashion) one of the hit songs of the era; another uptempo number from Sousa’s U.S. Marine Band; a hearty rendition of the famous patriotic German anthem “Die Wacht am Rhein”, and a excerpt from Othello performed by Edwin Booth – then America’s most famous actor, but now better remembered as the brother of Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth.

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1889 is by no stretch of the imagination a golden year for recorded music. A blip on the otherwise upwards trajectory in terms of both sound quality and things being recorded, it is, frankly, the worst possible starting point for anyone dipping in. With little in the way of technical improvements, it’s notable only for the presence of a handful of famous names (probably more than for any year until the 1910s) and the inclusion of a Berliner disc recording.

Tracks

Effie Stewart & Theo Wangemann – The Pattison Waltz
Benjamin Harrison – Speech Excerpt
Issler’s Orchestra – The Fifth Regiment March
Otto von Bismarck – Spoken Words, October 7, 1889
Ludwig Karl Koch – Birdsong of Indian Sharma
Johannes Brahms – Hungarian Dance No. 1 (Excerpt)
Robert Browning – Passage from How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix
Peter Schram – Leporello Aria Excerpts
Emile Berliner – Zahen, a, b, c

After a fluffed introduction, the mix begins with Effie Stewart, a soprano soloist at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, accompanied by Edison technician Theo Wangemann on the piano. This is followed by the first recording of a US president, the often forgotten Benjamin Harrison. Then a return from Edison house band Issler’s Orchestra, this time playing something with a name, and a speech from another world leader, Otto von Bismarck, who would remain as the German chancellor (a role and a country that he created) until the following year. Another German is responsible for the following clip, the first recording of birdsong, recorded by 8-year-old Ludwig Karl Koch, already a pioneer in nature recording. Then a few words from Johannes Brahms and a frankly unbearable (but mercifully short) excerpt of his piano playing. Then another world-renowned artist, the apparently drunk 77-year-old Robert Browning, who is unable to remember the words to one of his most famous poems. He died later in the year, and the playing of this cylinder represented the first speech from beyond the grave. Then we have 70-year-old basso cantante Peter Shram running through some of his greatest hits, and finally a reconstruction of Emile Berliner reading the alphabet.

None of this is hugely exciting, and not much of it is listenable, but at this stage there’s little choice.

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The gramophone and phonograph had been experimental toys for a decade, their inventors deciding to tinker with them from time to time in between other, more immediately lucrative projects. In 1887, aside from Edison’s occasional developments, Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Labs had developed significant improvements in both cylinder and disc recording, and Emile Berliner filed his first patent for what he called a “gramophone” – though the invention he launched a few years later would bear little relation to the patent. Most importantly, on March 28th, a group of businessmen from Philadelphia created the American Graphophone Company, in order to produce and sell phonograph machines – this eventually evolved into Columbia Records.

It would be nice at this stage to cite these developments as the birth of the recording industry, but that’s still a couple of steps away. These inventions, whether using cylinders or discs, were merely private prototypes of dictation machines, intended for listening on a stethoscope-like device – interesting in a vague way, but needing a showman to get people excited. This came in the form of civil war veteran (and medal of honor recipient) Colonel George Gouraud, who was employed as Edison’s agent in Europe.

On 14 August 1888, Gouraud called a press conference to introduce the phonograph to London, including playing a piano and cornet recording of Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord“. Sullivan (of ‘Gilbert & Sullivan’ fame) was one of the luminaries invited to Gouraud’s residence in South London for dinner parties where the phonograph was introduced to the great and good of English society as a parlour trick par excellence. The guests would listen to phonograph recordings, then record their greetings to Edison, to be shipped back to the USA. And that dinner, for the most part, is our audio record of 1888.

Our mix, then, begins with a recording of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, made by the Edison company for a frankly terrifying talking doll in 1887. Then we move on to arguably the oldest extant musical recording, the duo performing “The Lost Chord”, and Gouraud introducing the after dinner speakers. After an interlude from a white wax cylinder marked as “Piano Solo by Miss Eyre” we have the guests taking their turns to speak; Postmaster General Cecil Raikes, Edmund Yates, Sir Arthur Sullivan and A.M. Broadley – followed by a somewhat inebriated final toast from Colonel Gouraud.

After the party we have a few other surviving recordings from 1888 – first an unnamed performance from Issler’s Parlor Orchestra, a quartet led by Edward Issler who acted as Edison’s in-house band for their first few years of operation. Then we have a brief section of whistling from a Mrs Shaw, and a first sample of Edison himself speaking. Here he is testing out his device by describing a trip he would like to take around the world, obviously ad-libbed as it would make little or no sense to anyone with a map of Europe to hand.

Next we have a fantastic piece of history, if not a great example of sound recording; Gouraud took his phonograph along to record a performance of a choir or thousands singing Handel’s ‘Israel in Egypt‘. Three of these cylinders survive, but this is the only part where the voices manage to come through the wall of white noise.The real thing must have been stunning, but hearing it now takes a bit of imagination.

Finally we have Gouraud’s recording of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone – a scratchy mess which unfortunately yields little in the way of comprehensible content. A recording of Queen Victoria, made around the same time, is apparently in existence, but is little more than a noise, and whether it is or is not actually Victoria speaking is still debated. This is not in the mix, but can be heard here.

Track list

Unknown – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Unknown Performer & Miss Eyre – The Lost Chord
Colonel Gouraud – Introduction & Toast
Miss Eyre – Piano Solo
Colonel Gouraud – Introducing Messages To Edison
Postmaster General Cecil Raikes – Message To Edison
Edmund Yates – Message To Edison
Sir Arthur Sullivan – Message To Edison
A.M. Broadley – Message To Edison
Colonel Gouraud – Toast
Issler’s Parlor Orchestra – [Title Unknown]
Mrs Shaw – Whistling by Mrs Shaw
Thomas Edison – Around the World On The Phonograph
4000 Voice Choir Conducted by August Manns – “Moses and the Children of Israel” from Handel’s “Israel In Egypt”
Willam Ewart Gladstone – The Phonograph Salutation

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MP3 download | Patreon | Apple | Mixcloud | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | RSS The gramophone and phonograph had been experimental toys for a decade, their inventors deciding to tinker with them from time to time in between other, more immediately lucrative projects. In 1887, aside from Edison’s occasional developments, Alexander Graham Bell’s … Continue reading "1887-1888"

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https://centuriesofsound.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/1878-1885.mp3

Nearly two decades have passed, and Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s experiments with recording sound have so far not resulted in anything replayable. On the other side of the Atlantic, however, development are taking place which will eventually turn these ideas into commercial recordings. On on November 21st, 1877, Thomas Edison announced that he had invented a device which would be able to play back recorded telegraph messages. The next few years saw frantic experimentation with various media – single-use tinfoil sheets wrapped around cylinders (nearly all of which have unfortunately not survived) and discs of different materials, some of which have proved to be readable (if not particularly listenable) by the people at firstsounds.org.

The first sound you will be able to hear is the vibrations from the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad in Manhatten, the result of an experiment by Charles Batchelor to adapt a phonograph to trace waves on lamp-blacked paper so they could be examined visually. If you can make anything out of this aside from a spooky wind then you’ve done better than I have. Next we have the only substantial bit of tinfoil to be recovered, a brief musical performance of some sort, a recitation of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” (probably not by Edison), some laughter and indistinct speech sounds. Then there’s an oddity, an ambitious attempt to create a talking clock by French-American inventor Frank Lambert, the oldest sound recording replayable on its own device. You should be able to make out “twelve o’ clock, five o’clock” and a few other hours.

After these early experiments Edison moved his energies to developing the electric light, and the project was put on the backburner. The second half of this mix has some of the experimental Volta labs disc recordings of the early 1880s, all recorded by Charles Summer Tainter and Chichester Bell, two engineers employed by Alexander Graham Bell. The first of these is little more than a noise, the second a recitation of Hamlet’s soliloquy, the third a man repeatedly saying ‘barometer’. The glass plate recording after is slightly more interesting as it contains the following monologue;

It’s the eleventh day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty five. [Trilled R] How is this for high! Mary had a little lamb, and its fleece was […] as […], and everywhere that Mary went — oh, fuck.

The machine breaks, and the first recorded obscenity of history is etched into a glass disc. The final two Volta Labs recordings apparently contain dull descriptions of business, the target market for this invention being rich businessmen who wanted to save time in dictating notes.

I won’t spend a moment pretending that this mix is even halfway listenable, but it’s only four minutes long (too short for mixcloud) and it sets us up nicely for next time, when we’ll start to shift focus to things being recorded and not just artifacts of the process.

Links:

Most of the sounds here were recovered by the brilliant people here at firstsounds.org

A video of Edison operating his original tinfoil cylinder machine

In-depth research into Frank Lambert’s talking clock

An article on the birth of sound recording

Tracklist

Charles Batchelor – Metropolitan Elevated Railroad from 40 feet away
Thomas Edison – Schenectady Museum – 22 June 1878 in St Louis, Missouri
Frank Lambert – Recording for an experimental talking clock
Charls Sumner Tainter – Lateral Electroplated Disc
Unknown artist – Green wax disc – Hamlet’s Soliloquy
Volta lab – November 17 1884 “Barometer”
Tainter / Rogers – Photographic glass plate recording
Chichester Bell – Disc on Japan wax, April 1885
Chichester Bell – Wax disc, summer 1885

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https://centuriesofsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/1878-1885.mp3 MP3 download | Apple | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | Radiopublic | RSS . Nearly two decades have passed, and Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s experiments with recording sound have so far not resulted in anything replayable. On the other side of the Atlantic, however, development are taking place which will eventually turn these … Continue reading "1878-1885"

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The story you may have heard about the birth of sound recording goes something like this; Thomas Edison, alone in the lab after a hard day’s work, manages to record a recital of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” onto a wax cylinder. You may have even think you have heard the recording, but you haven’t. The recording in circulation comes from a 1927 recreation for the Golden Jubilee of the Phonograph ceremony, the original being lost on a sheet of re-usable tinfoil fifty years earlier.

But it really doesn’t matter. The real start date for us is seventeen years earlier than that, on the 6th of April 1860, when French printer and bookseller Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville decided to add a tuning fork to his experiments with recording the acoustic properties of the human voice. This is what he used – his own invention, the phonoautograph

The phonoautograph was essentially an artificial ear. The barrel worked as an ear canal, a parchment membrane stretched over the end was the eardrum, then a pig bristle or piece of feather functioned as the ossicles, drawing a line of lampblack on a roll of parchment. The result looked like this:

It wasn’t intended to be played back, and it wasn’t – not for another 149 years at least. The story of how the sounds were extracted from these scraps of paper is best told by the people at firstsounds.org who made all of this possible. In 2012 PRI radio show Studio 360 ran a feature on the recovery of the audio, the extended version of which is the best possible sub-10-minute primer on the subject.

http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/PHONAUTOGRAM-Extended_Edit.mp3

…and finally, of course, the actual mix! Consider yourself warned that this is very far indeed from easy listening. Instead of scratches we essentially have slightly tuned white noise, through which you can hear something; not enough to really make out much, but unmistakably a human voice.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/lastnightadjkilledmydog/1859-1860.mp3

mp3 download link

…and both MP3s in a single package on Mixcloud, who apparently don’t agree with 2-minute mixes

Tracklist

Diapason at 435 Hz–at sequential stages of restoration (1859 Phonautogram)
Au Clair de la Lune – By the Light of the Moon (April 9, 1860)
Excerpt from Ducis’s Othello (April 17, 1860)
Au Clair de la Lune – By the Light of the Moon (April 20, 1860)
Opening lines from Tasso’s Aminta (undated, probably April-May 1860)
Gamme de la Voix – Vocal Scale (May 17, 1860)
Jeune Jouvencelle (August 17, 1857)
Vole, Petite Abeille – Fly, Little Bee (September 15, 1860)
Vole, Petite Abeille – Fly, Little Bee (undated, probably September 1860)

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podcast – Centuries of Sound: Recent Episodes

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