To provide examples of all types of historic musical taste, mostly from the acoustic recording and some early electrics designed to play on mechanical phonographs. I will try to provide music that if given a chance though listening will provide audio pictures of what our ancestors loved as much as well appreciate some of the music of our time. Its a glimpse of the time before you needed a 50 page brochure to operate your music producer of choice. A simple turn of the crank and a horn to project the sound and your stepping back in time, often to nearly a hundred years ago. I hope you will enjoy some of the more obscure selections, melody is always a gift to the listener when your able to hear it. I have concentrated on Edison for now as I find it has the most realistic sound produced acoustically. Unfortunately some periods of production were effected by the World War 1 as well as quality control issues during that time. I am also the producer of the True Tone Diaphragms.
I think a lot of the Cylinder records were also dubbed on to the disc or maybe the other way around, I am not exactly an expert on the history of how all that went. Personally I haven't really ever had much desire for cylinders but obviously they are quite popular among machine collectors. I found the cylinders to often have too much wow and flutter to the sound being slightly out of round. I know there are exceptions though.
I have a lot of various 78's from the acoustic period but am always blown away by how real Edison Disc can sound, despite his problems with surface noises. Glad you took the time to let me know.
Sadly what I think your hearing is the lousy surface that Edison often endured. So far a the piece its self for three two pianos with three artist probably was a bit difficult.
Nice that you enjoyed it. The cabinet is rather large and heavy and actually in person needs the finish restored which is on my list of things to do. Takes two men to move the thing however and the sound is very fine for a mechanical phonograph.
I recall with fascination, as a small child, being taken to visit one or two 'old fashioned ladies, whose homes smelled of baking, or good old fashioned home cooking. How times have changed, their modern counterparts often being adept on android phones & laptops & if fit enough, capable of dancing the night away! Poor old dad rarely gets a mention in such songs, frequently being lampooned for his DIY disasters, as in the music hall classic 'When Father Papered The Parlour'
I find that Joseph Phillips has the kind of voice that brings out the best in songs of this era. His clarity is quite good, and yes the piano player is a great back up.
Yes I have the Columbia 800 which rivals the Credenza but not sure where this record is since I moved. I cut back on a lot of records I may not even own it any more? Oddly those portable machines, due I think to the way they project the sound more openly sometimes aren't too far off the sound you would get on a much larger phonograph.
Its what was called a Reproducing Piano which works like a player piano only it has extra holes on the sides of the roll which come close to recreating the actual artist. They were popular from the early teens to around the late 1930s. There were several major brands that were installed in all makes of pianos. This is and Ampico B system with was the updated version of the A system. It is highly sought out for its abilites to produce a selection well. Normally a Steinway was a Duo Art reproducing brand but in the late 30s when the Ampico and Duo Arts had merged the Duo Art Factory burned down. A few customers who Purchased a late 30s Steinway and wanted a reproducing piano had what was left of the Ampico Factory to install that B system them.. This one is from a 1941 piano and the mechanism was added in 1942 , making it among the last Ampicos built. And one of only two Steinways found so far with the installation.
Larry… This sounds incredible! What a pleasure to listen to. This sounds every bit as good as a Victor Orthophonic . Warm tones and such clarity! I can picture you spending hours enjoying your collection played through this machine. I know I listen to the 810 that you passed along to me more than any other machine I own. Great post!
Nice to hear your opinion of the Columbia. I still have to decide what to do about the finish now that its in the living room rather than the basement.
What an expressive & romantic song. Quite happy about organ (or orchestra/piano), playing parts that would otherwise be vocal, especially if its a chorus that would otherwise have been repeated. I note a stray sound at 2:06. Perhaps a throat clearing or rush of air from the organ. Tho' not uncommon on other companies earlier acoustic recordings & rare on early electric recordings, have never heard such sounds on any format of Edison record. Gut feeling is the company would be very strict about silence in their recording rooms.
@@acousticedison Just tried it again with headphones to be sure & detected a sort of "Hmmph!" sound. Sharp & perceptive hearing runs in our family. When it was my dad's turn to wash the dishes my mum would say things like: "Your dad's used too much detergent again" or "He's hung up that pan without drying it properly" all based on the sounds she heard from the kitchen!
@@tiga4180 It could have been the cat, he likes to come in and sit on a chair next to me while I am recording or perhaps I moved in the chair enough that it picked it up?
They had superior sound, too bad Edison got in his own way with square recordings and crazy control over sales. Can you imagine if the likes of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith did their earliest recordings using the Edison disc process? They have better sound, but the man had truly corny taste in music.
Your right his ability to produce clear vocalist is tops. But he made some progress even in that as the later acoustic recordings are stronger in the vocals than some of the early one. Then too I have read where he wanted them to use the master stamping records longer than they should have and it resulted in some weak sounding copies at times. As to what he recorded he was from the period where the sort of descriptive vocals and about romance and home sweet home seemed to appeal to a lot of the public. Yes when the music got alot more modern sounding it took him a while to decide to do more of it. But I have to say that the very late popular acoustically recorded records are almost breathtaking in their force and wide ranging dynamic sound.
Its a Columbia 800 model.. They made two of their largest acoustic phonographs in the same cabinet, the 810 has a few painted flowers of the front that sets it off from the one I have. I believe they were only produced for two years in the late 20s. The idea was to have a phonograph that would reproduced as much sound as possible without electrical service for the new electrically recorded records called Viva Tonal Recordings. Victor had their Credenza which was a similar idea but not quite so large as the Columbia model. The sound of each is similar and the Columbias are far less seen than the Victor machines of the time. By the end of the 30s most companies had given way to electrical reproduction which had a larger frequency range, but for its time the Columbia was a far cry from the previous small horn machines for acoustically recorded records. Probably to get around Victor Patents Columbia had two horns one on top of the other each directing the sound somewhat to each side rather than the straight forward sound Victors used.
Also imagine how people felt when this was invented. Nowadays everyone is freaking out that AI is replacing musicians but here we are with an example of mechanical playing that didn't take off so much (I'm assuming these grand player pianos are rare)
In the teens an though the thirties these were very popular. This one is perhaps the last of the reproducing paper roll pianos installed at the Ampico Factory in 1942, A year after the official closing of company. And one of only two Steinways to have this system that to the best of our knowledge still exist. The advances in phonographs and then radio pretty much killed the demand for a piano that could play by it self.
Funny some people enjoy it and others try to talk over it which in person is quite difficult. I am happiest when someone comes who loves piano music and will listen to it.
Perhaps the best version I've heard of this well known & atmospheric classic. Thought duets were for established couples, or those getting together rather than parted, but it works so very well & is beautifully arranged.
@@acousticedison Yes indeed. Have even come across vocals on crystal clear recordings where the odd word or short phrase was difficult to catch. Perhaps it was Edison's deafness that led him tomake clear vocals a priority.
An 1891 tearjerker, but my collecting experience suggests there was an appetite for such songs so many years later. My grandmother sang so many of them, perhaps sparking my interest in early records. Thank you Larry, knew of this song, but first time I've heard it.
@@acousticedison Strangely, there are several popular old songs that are hard to find because the original artist didn't record them. Maybe cover singers had problems with ownership/copyrights. Its always been a puzzle to me. Marie Lloyd, one of UK's most famous music hall singers made only a few records & for some reason did not record some of her best known.
Thanks, I thought it was decent to say the least. Oddly its had a negative which reduced its overall score, don't know why unless some people just like to see your score drop.
AND Cool that it was added with vocals and sung by Slim Whitman - Indian Love Call in 1952 - A favorite of mine.....The movie Mars Attacks comes to mind ...
So sorry to learn this roll was destroyed in re-rolling! This brings back wonderful memories of my good friend here in Australia, Denis Condon, who had a world-famous collection of similar rolls, including Adam Carroll. Denis died in 2012 but his collection lives on at Stanford University, California. Thank you for putting this on RU-vid.
Seems like 100 year old paper perhaps stored in poor conditions just falls apart under stress such as the rewinding. The two spools are adjusted about as well as can be expected but it still wants to tear up right a way in rewind on the left side flange. I looked up this title and the only other version of it on you tube was a 78 record recording of it. So I am glad I got to save it for others to hear.
Thanks to you as well, I try to represent all aspects of musical life in the early days of recording. Some choose one type which is fine, but then you miss people who may enjoy them for other reasons.
Paul, the more pieces I put up and record the more impressed I am with the ability of Edison to create such depth with a horn recording. Depth but with fantastic projection of sound at the same time. When I worked on my diaphragms I always wanted to hear the surrounding instruments so that they all were coming though as recorded originally.
@@tiga4180 I guess as a trade off for the best acoustic sound you get used to the noise of the surfaces, which in reality often are worse at the start of the selection and somewhat less toward the end for some reason.
@@acousticedison In years of listening, unconsciously ignore it. The greatest noise on DD's is before the stylus drops into the groove. On conventional shellac, there's sometimes a rough start, often caused by turning needles round in the hope of getting more wear out of them.
Love this! My dad was a piano technician. I started rebuilding player/reproducing pianos in his shop in the late 1960s when I was about 14. I've rebuilt several "Model A's" but only one "B". In our shop, we had a 1923 Chickering 5'6" "A" which was in rather poor, but nevertheless running, condition (who has time to work on their own stuff?!). I would never have the patience for rebuilding anymore, but it was great fun at the time!
Interesting history of your families work on Pianos and Reproducing units. I rebuilt a couple pump players but when it comes to the sophisticated systems of the reproducing pianos then its a totally different ball game. This one has been worked on three times since we obtained it in the 60s. The people who know how to rebuild them is quickly fading away as the older people have retired or we lost them. There do seem to be several rather promising young people on these groups who have the instinct and patiences to restore them properly. I always wanted player pianos since I was a teen ager but never even thought owning a rare specimen such as this one.
The song by it self I knew from a old roll years ago long since probably tore up. When I got the long play roll at first I didn't appreciate the way the melodies sounded, but after a few more plays I find them to grow on me.
According to the Edison Catalog it featured Lauri Kennedy on the Violoncello. She played both sides. Don't recall how old this record was, but a the beginning Edison didn't want put the artist names on the record. His consideration was it would keep them from demanding more for their popularity.
I see its a black label which would be in the time period of not saying who the arist is. Glad you liked the sound, I worked hard to get the most out of the Edison Records when others were offering diaphragms that sounded like you had a wet towel stuck in the horn. Mine projects the instruments as it should. He had the finest reproduction in the horn recording era by far.
A truly gorgeous version & love the saxophone intro. I posted an instrumental version, so its nice to put words to it. My grandmother may have known it too, but she did sing 'Let Me Call You Sweetheart' Songs like this must have been written from experience, for who doesn't remember their first love? Long story shortened, but I 'called back' my first love whom I first met at a school dance, Christmas 1964. We got back together at Christmas 2020, with all the magic & romance of those bygone years still there!💕
A good post as to the meaning behind the songs of yesteryear. You have to consider also no phones, no radio, no talking movies. Vocal performances were a big part of life and one of the ways as you say to transmit your feelings. A lot of home songs, mother songs, and love songs persisted during that time.
