78s for a Fourth of July mood

The wait is over--those of you dying to hear how 78s sound on my new turntable will get the chance with this post. These rips run the gamut from near-perfection (Sweet Emalina, My Gal) to near-groove-extinction (Liberty Bell), and all archival-survival points in between. And these selections relate to the Fourth of July, how? By their quality of Americana. And I've always wanted to type "by their quality of Americana." It makes for a handy label, given that I, the musical director, get to define what I mean by Americana.

The Little Wonder 78s are teeny-tiny (5" in diameter) discs whose music was provided by such artists as "Band," "Dance Music," and "Male Trio." I couldn't play these on my Dual 1229, given that turntable's tendency to either eject or start repeating halfway through these, but my Stanton T.92 has no such issues. And, so, we will get to hear the Little Wonder wonders Boomerang Rag (Band), Liberty Bell (Dance Music--not the Sousa march), and 20th Century Rag (Band, again). Just listen to that Band.
























And we'll hear, from 1917, Sergeant Markel's Orch. playing the exact same arrangement of Sweet Emalina, My Gal that Earl Fuller cut for Columbia. Only the percussion comes through way better on this label, Victor. The sound is clear and solid--in a word, Stanton. Also, two 1938 sides by Andre Kostelanetz (as "Andre Kostelanetz Conducts"), and I still can't believe how good these sound. Bugle Call Rag has moments of Spike Jones, though it predates Jones' RCA Victor days by three years. The flip side, Turkey in the Straw, is equally jazzy easy listening. All that's needed is more echo and an augmented string section, and we have elevator music as we know it from supermarkets and department stores. (You thought I was going to say elevators, right?)


























Young America (We're Strong for You) is a typical diversity-celebrating patriotic title of the time (1916), demonstrating that the attitude is older than the reality. We'll Never Let Our Old Flag Fall rates a 10 on the rousing-number scale, even if the singers sound like a modern barbershop quartet played at 16 rpm. The arrangement is filled with patriotic interpolations, demonstrating that the practice was old news years before Paul Whiteman, Andre Kostelanetz, and The Boston Pops. My job at this blog is to point out that nothing in pop music is remotely new AND to prove it with examples. Don't complain to me--complain to history.

Anyway, my Stanton T.92 DJ turntable turns out to be a wise 78-playing investment, though please remember that I got rid of the enclosed cartridge ASAP and replaced it with the Stanton 680 Hi-Fi. Results with the cartridge and styli provided would have been nice, but not nearly this nice.

To the 78s: 78s for a Fourth of July mood


PLAYLIST

BOOMERANG RAG--Band (Little Wonder 473; 1916)
SWEET EMALINA, MY GAL--Sergeant Markel's Orch., 1917. (Victor)
20TH CENTURY RAG--Band, 1914. (Little Wonder 9)
BUGLE CALL RAG--Andre Kostelanetz Conducts, 1938. (Brunswick)
TURKEY IN THE STRAW--Same.
YOUNG AMERICANS (WE'RE STRONG FOR YOU)--Peerless Quartet, 1916. (Columbia)
LIBERTY BELL--Dance Music (Little Wonder 826), 1918.
WE'LL NEVER LET OUR OLD FLAG FALL--Albert Wiederhold and the Broadway Q., 1915. (Columbia)

Note: My copy of Liberty Bell is so hammered that I resorted to my MAGIX program's "DeNoiser" feature, which I normally avoid, due to the sonic "artifcacts." But it worked out pretty well here. I used a touch of it on Young Americans, too. It doesn't make its presence as obvious as I thought it would. Using this feature involves sampling a portion of the record's hiss and creating a filter from same. If not applied very, very lightly, the results sound like sonar returns played backwards. Every time you hear an mp3 of a 78 that sounds hollow, swishy, and metallic, you're hearing careless application of de-noising. At which point, the DeNoiser becomes what I've dubbed the Sound-All-Gone. If you love 78s, don't do that to them.

Lee