This is a Wilcox-Gay Recordio Type 3A variant 1. It spins at 78 RPM with an outer edge start, paper core, 6.5 inches in diameter. This one bears no date but other similar discs date to around 1947. It is perhaps the most common brand and make of home recording blank. But this one is more promising than most, because despite the lack of labeling it still bears one single very promising word "testing." It was even better and weirder than I expected.
Testing
The Disc is recorded on Both sides. Side "A" has two tracks the first is a woman singing in a foreign language, the clarity and amplitude indicate that it's directly into a mic. The other track is recorded from the radio, the first of which has part of a station break, but no call sign. I haven't identified that song. The second is Benny Goodman's version of String of Pearls. It was originally a Glen Miller tune, Benny started covering it around 1949 I think. The "B" side is all some strange sort of jazzy pipe organ music, but the bed noise is intractable. I have no idea what it is...
Hi. Just bumped into your blog. This is the just the kind of arcane stuff I get into. I even have a few Voice-O-Graphs of family and friends. So FYI, the beginning of your recording has not one but two women singing. It's Spanish, a Mexican song called Alla En El Rancho Grande. Here's a video of it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ecjq6mKsU&feature=related
ReplyDeleteIf you watch the whole two minutes, you'll probably be joining in by the end. I was and I don't even speak Spanish.
Awesome. Glad to be of service.
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