Transcription Mystery Disc #252

I have now digitized half of the Frank L. Eulau sides. I'm actually savoring it a bit since it's so rare to fine such well-recorded good material from this kind of media. I'll try not to drag this out too much longer. I've promised to donate them to his family when I'm done.

Frank L. Eulau

This disc was recorded on December 23rd 1954. Interestingly it was the date of the first kidney transplant. I'm sure this recording has nothing to do with that event. they're just randomly concurrent. The piece this time is a solo string instrument played with a bow. It sounds like a rebab.. but there are certainly other possibilities. A second rebab joins in harmony about 2 minutes in which  is more bad-ass than dual guitar.

Transcription Mystery Disc #247

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.This is another recording by Frank Eulau. I have not tired of ripping these sides, it's clear Frank was a man with his ear to the asphalt like some long lost A&R guru man. The last of his mojo is cut into these grooves and this unknown Turkish band with him.

More from Frank Eulau



I really need to get about to digitizing the rest of these...

Transcription Mystery Disc #239

I've posted some of Frank L. Eulau's recordings before. It's quality stuff, low noise bed, good levels. He clearly knew his way around a lathe and around his recording gear. His daughter was kind enough to tell me a bit of his history. Frank was born July 4th, 1921 in Germany. He was a German Jew and in 1939 shortly after Kristallnacht his family left Germany on one of the last boats allowed to leave and they went to the Philippines.

There he worked at a hi fi store and built and worked on short wave radios. In 1952, he went to New York  and his parents returned to Germany. Frank worked for Audio Exchange and Harvey Radio for many years, managing the stores until he opened his own high end hi fi store, Audio Experts in White Plains, NY. He was a collector of 78s and had a sizable personal collection. He died in 2005, he was 84 years old. His family still has the record cutter he used to make the records that I've been digitizing here.

Frank Eulau - 02-17-1955
 
This recording is of a man and a fiddle and it's more of the same mysterious sounding Greek-klezmer something-or-other. It's on the dazzling side of amazing... these are the kinds of acetates collectors dream of finding.

Transcription Mystery Disc #235

Jose Fritz archives

I was recently contacted by a descendant of Frank L. Eulau. You may or may not know that name, but a few years back I stumbled upon a short stack of his discs in a junk shoppe. I digitized and posted one here perviously. The brand of the disc is uncertain but I suspect it is an Audiodisc. The blank is a 10-inch, metal-core, 78 rpm acetate recording, with an outer edge start.  The sides are numbered 1- 6, but there are two discs bearing the sides 3 and 4, leading me to believe these are a mix of at least two different "sets."

Frank Eulau - 02/17/1955 (3:20)
*****audio expired**** 

The music seems to be Greek... possibly Turkish the capital letter appear to be Cyrillic. as is the rest of the labeling. Thankfully the dates are legible. The home made labels indicate that Frank was an amateur engineer of some kind and that he probably had a bit of practice before he recorded any of these. The only problem is that they have been played. They haven't been played to death, but enough to create some surface noise. I reduced the tracking weight and gave the disc a good wipe-down before giving it a go. It came out quite nicely.

Transcription Mystery Disc #145

This is one of the best discs I've ever found. It's a 10-inch 78 rpm acetate recording, with an outer edge start. It's in nice shape, and recorded very competently with a good signal-to-noise ratio. the bit of surface noise now barely detracts. The recording is of a truly amazing musician(s) A man is singing in a language I don't recognize over truly masterfully fast fiddling. It reminds me of some Banat, Raga and Sarangi music I've heard. The text on the label looks a bit like Greek, but what the hell do I know?

Frank Eulau,  02/17/1955

At first the playing was so fast I thought I had incorrectly adjusted the speed, but the vocals sounds dead on... so it must be right. The recording is dated clearly to 02-17-55,  and in big block letters on the hand cut label is the "brand" Frank L. Eulau. There is a notion lower as to the name of the engineer but I can't read whatever language it is in. It also describes itself as a "tru-tone record" so that may be the brand of blank below the label. There is a further detail here. The disc is labeled "5" on one side and "6" on the other... indicating at least 2 more discs by this genius. I have in fact three more, with the same recording date discs 1/2 and 3/4. But I also have one recorded in 1954, with the same make. I can only hope they are all as good.