This is a 6.5-Inch 78 rpm metal-core transcription disc. This week I have an actual radio recording. It's a short 5 minute recording from an episode of the Roy Rogers Show. The program was a 30 minutes long so we're missing some 25 odd minutes. The show first aired in 1944 and ran into 1955— a nine year stretch that produced 348 episodes most of which have been lost. This could be one of them... but it could be difficult to prove.
The clip opens with men singing in harmony, probably the The Riders of the Purple Sage. It's the very end of a song. There is part of a skit, and more music. At the end Roy Rogers keys up his mic and signs off "That's all for now folks. This is Roy Rogers saying to all of you from all of us, goodbye, good luck and may the good lord take a liking to you." Then after a nod to Quaker Oats they cut to the song "Save a Smile for a Rainy Day."
Roy Rogers Lost Episode
But some key details. The Quaker Oats spot lists off Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gabby Hayes and the Riders of the Purple Sage. Not all of those members appeared on every season. Dale and Rogers were only married in 1947, and met perhaps as early as 1946 and she is not assumed to be on episodes before 1948. It's also notable that Quaker Oats cereal was the sponsor only for the 1948 season of which only ONE episode has ever been found out of 138. So odds are this is a "lost" episode. More here.
This is an 8-Inch, metal-core, Duodisc home-recording acetate. It spins at 78 rpm and has an outer edge start. These are very standard. As is also common, it is totally unlabeled: no date, no name, no engineer, no nothing. It is in it's original brown paper sleeve, which is also unlabeled.
Unknown Cowboy "kentucky Waltz"
The recording consists of a single male vocalist accompanying himself on guitar. The audio is a bit muddy so I spent some time tweaking the EQ. The vvocals are still hard to make out. It still could use improvement if anyone wants to tackle that. Strangely I've had readers do that before on their own. I sometimes even find my discs on Youtube. (I don't mind it at all for the record.)
The song is The Kentucky Waltz, written in 1946 by the one and only Bill Monroe. While it was his biggest hit, it was also a number 1 record for Eddy Arnold in 1951. This recording is probably pre-1950 and primarily influenced by the original Monroe version.
This is yet another 8-Inch, metal-core Duodisc that spins at 78 RPM. This one in particular has a nice sound, good levels and low noise. It's an instrumental, and unlabeled so for me there is no hope of identification. But like the others I assume it's from 560 WFIL-AM in Philadelphia. I've seen dates on this type of acetate blank from 1948 to 1954. It's a broad range.
Lap Steel Instrumental
It's got some serious lap steel playing, some more competent accordion and some acoustic guitar. This is clearly a practiced trio.. possibly even an accomplished one.The steel player isn't Curly Chalker, but he's very good. You can hear voices intermittently shout, even clap but nothing clear, no station ID nothing Googleable. But the song sticks with me, there are a couple guitar licks that sound familiar... so maybe there is hope among my audiophile readers.
This is an 8-inch, metal-core duo disc. It spins at 78 rpm and has the common, outer-edge start. It's totally unlabeled as its par for the course. But this was a gem of a recording, high levels, low noise and a nice arrangement: accordion, guitar, and two vocalists in harmony.. very similar to the original version. Original version? Yes. On to the audio!
Sweeter than the Flowers
The song is a public domain classic "Sweeter than the Flowers." You can read all the lyrics here. This version isn't quite verbatim, but very similar. If you ever had any debate about the relation of British folk music to American country music.. dispel that now. Jean Thomas was right [source].
The song was recorded by Kitty Wells, George Jones, Gene Pitney, the Stanley Brothers, Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff and even Moon Mullican who first cut the track in 1948. The tune was originally penned by Ervin Thomas Rouse just a few years earlier. Note: Rouse also wrote the Orange Blossom Special. More here. If that interests you I'd recommend his biography, Orange Blossom Boys: The Untold Story of Ervin T. Rouse by Randy Noles. There are a scant few recordings of Rouse from 1939... I doubt this is him.. but I'd still like to ID it.
This is an 8-inch, metal-core duo disc. As is frustratingly often the case, it is totally unlabeled: no names, no numbers no notes. We are left with only the audio recording to render any kind of guess as to it's origin. The first side I ripped has two tracks. The first was a high-speed, twangy polka instrumental.. no hope of identifying that... unless one of my readers is a serious polka enthusiast.
I'd Trade All Of My Polkas
But the second track is the song "I'd Trade All Of My Tomorrows." that song I know. It was famously covered by Merle Haggard in 1965 but it had already been covered by Slim Whitman, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Narvel felts, Marty Robinson, and Willie Nelson. It was a big hit for Eddy Arnold back in 1952. But he didn't write it either. Elton Britt and the Skytoppers first recorded that tune in 1947 for RCA Victor. I have not confirmed but I believe that he was it's author.
Elton's version was a real spare cowboy song.. with a bit of needless clarinet. For what it's worth Britt was on WWVA, WATV, WCOP and the Louisiana Hayride on KWKH. But this version is not his, nor is it Johnny Cash, Merle, Narvel, Marty, or Willie. This is yet another unknown country singer. But I'd date this acetate to about 1952 because of the huge popularity of the Eddy Arnold version.
This is a metal-core, 8-Inch Duo disc. It's from that mysterious batch that seems to be connected to WIP-AM. The recording is very good again but is also clearly live and in a studio-setting with no crowd, or background noise. I did a very little bit of audio editing removing some pops and clicks. but didn't even need to noise-gate, or filter. It is as it was.
Both sides are unlabaled much like the rest of the stack. the first side is a recording of "I'm Picking Up The Pieces of a Broken Heart". This is the original version first recorded by Red Foley and the Cumberland Valley Boys back in 1948. Don Estes tried again with the tune in 1956. Joel Whitburn doesn't list either version in either artists Billboard Top Country singles. In other words: the song has never hit as a single. But someone felt the need to dub it onto this acetate. I am curious if I'll find a cover version on another side of another disc.
The second side is a radio recording of "Wear a Little Sunshine in Your Smile." I'm totally unfamiliar with this tune. At the end of the track you can hear the DJ cut in for a moment. "It's your farm and family..." It cuts out right before he gives the station identification. Clearly it's some kind of country or farm radio program... we may never know which one. But it probably aired around 1948.
This metal-core Duodisc is 8-Inches in diameter and spins at 78 rpm. It has 2 tracks on one side, and one on the reverse. I ripped both sides and edited them together with a beep to separate the sides. Neither side is labeled at all and one side is flat out missing the label.
Unknown - Trouble In Mind
The first track uses the melody of back in the saddle again, but the lyrics are completely different. It appears to be an original. The second cut is a cover of Trouble In Mind." The song can't be used to date the recording. It dates to at least 1924, first recorded by jazz pianist Richard M. Jones and vocalist Thelma La Vizzo. It's since become a blues standard.
The third cut is "Can't You Take It Back And Change It For A Boy." Strangely I've actually found that song on another acetate from this batch - here. I recognize the voice, it's clearly the same performer. The other recording is superior to this one. The song dates to before 1912 and was written by Thurland Chattaway. The recording ends and a bit of a live swing radio recoding comes on briefly. This explains the lower fidelity as well... it's the second pass of the cutting needle on the disc.
This is an 8-inch, metal-core Duodisc brand acetate recording disc. Both sides are recorded, but only one side is labeled. The markings are in pencil and cursive. I think it reads "Tumble Weeds, Buch + Rory, Dutch Band" On the sleeve in more of the same script is the name Earl B. I believe Earl is the recording engineer. I also note that Earl didn't quote get the blank centered so it has a little wow to it. I can't guarantee the sleeve and the disc belong together but the similar handwriting makes that a fair bet.
When the recording opens you can hear Earl say "And we're rolling..." The volume slowly fades up and you can clearly hear Butch and Rory singing in harmony with an acoustic guitar singing the song "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." The song was first recorded by Bing Crosby in 1940 but this sounds more like the Sons of the Pioneers version in 1940. That's a pretty pedestrian find... but not the next track.
Buch + Rory Dutch Band
But the second track is amazing. I've never heard anything like it before. It opens with fast quarter-notes arranged like walking bass on an acoustic guitar. In the background you can hear people. Instead of that breaking into a country song, the crowd, at least 5 people break in singing nonsense and banging on trashcans. I can hear a banjo and a violin being miss-used... people shout, stomp, clap, talk among themselves, a woman "sings" the melody from the old "Snake Charmer" song, (which turns out to actually be American in origin... more here.) But it's chaos until the groove runs out.There is nothing "Dutch" about this band. If you want to get to the noisy bit skip ahead to 2:00!
This is an 8-inch metal core, Duodisc acetate. It spins at 78 rpm and has an outer edge start. It consists of a single track well timed to fit, probably through practice. It's labeled in pencil "Take It Back + Change It For A Boy" Then another word... might be Greta. But there is an accent over the "a" and that "G" might be a "Z." I really hate cursive. The recording is in nice shape and required no clean up so there is good news.
Take It Back and Change it For A Boy
The song is about the foibles of exchanging an unwanted female offspring for a male heir. The singer is a young man with a practiced voice, his guitar work is simple but consistent. In the background you can hear a household, mom and the kids making a racket while he's trying to record this demo. There is no date, and no other information. This make of disc seems to date to the late 1940s so I'm going with that wide net in lieu of other information.
This 8.5 inch Duodisc has an outer edge start and spins at 78 RPM. It's wholly unlabeled but at least it's in nice condition. It's clearly a radio recording but the diligent dubber skipped over the dialog to the live music leaving us very few clues indeed.
Golden Dew
The song appears to be named Golden Dew. It may or may not be an original but is probably a take off of Mountain Dew By Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1945. That date adds little to the conversation so this one remains a mystery.
I picked this 12-inch metal-core acetate disc up at a thrift store in Englewood, FL. But as we all know that doesn't mean it originated there. The recording is in French, which presents a problem. I don't understand French at all. The disc is in decent shape, a little dirty, some scratches a little warped... all par for the course. It spins at 78 rpm and has an outer edge start. But the speed sounds a little off, a little too far into the chipmunk range. I suspect the recording speed was off a tad. The blank is a red Duodisc Type 2 if you follow the Phonozoic nomenclature. Prior to this I've seen dates on this type anywhere from 1951 to 1954. This one is the oldest I've found, clearly dated to April 20th 1949.
Notre Dame ***Audio Expired***
The writing on the label is pretty clear.. for French cursive. It looks like it reads "Le mot de l'accueil Jubile [something] de notre dame mere seu Jeanne de Valois." This translates in English to "A Welcome Message for the Jubilee [something] from Our Lady Mother, Sister Jeanne de Valois."
It seems to be a speech from an event at Notre Dame. Since it's in french I assume that it was recorded at Notre Dame de Paris, not the Catholic University in Indiana. Unless one of my readers is fluent in French I don't expect to get any further with this one.
This is a 7-Inch, 78 rpm Duodisc. Like many others it has no markings of any kind, nor does its crumbling sleeve. It sounds similar to another in my collection. It too was unlabeled but it's sleeve had a single marking. I cannot firmly date the recording based on the brand of blank. I have found ones attested to anywhere from 1945 to 1952 depending on the label. I still suspect this whole batch originates with some member of the 560 WFIL-AM Barn Dance also called the "Hayloft Hoedown." I further suspect that some of these and perhaps this one is Texas Jim Robertson.
Unknown country instrumental
Unlike other recordings from this set, this one is an instrumental, and clearly not from a broadcast. You can hear the engineer pot up and down during the recording and breaks within the tracks as if they are rehearsing. I have inserted 3 beeps to separate the two tracks. The fidelity is quite good, superior to most of the others.
It has been many moons since I digitized an acetate recording. The last one was on July 5th [here], that's 2.5 months or 77 days to be specific. I moved, and until recently I had no unpacked my TC 750-LC phono pre-amp... the magic device that makes it possible to input such low signal into a PC sound card. I was inspired to complete my unpacking by an interview request from Discuts, an audio-geek magazine in France. (Apparently I'm big in France.) So I dedicate today's post to my new friends at Discuts.
Todays' post is unique in that the writing is legible and it still makes no sense.We are fortunate enough to have a date as well. Both sides are clearly marked 1-11-51, January 11th 1951. The sides are marked "VIOLA" and "ROSE Mil" respectively. Rose Mil
VIOLA
The recording on the VIOLA side is much clearer, louder and with a better signal to noise ratio. I presume it was recorded second. Generally, an amateur engineer learns something from the first take. Despite that improvement, he did not learn how long the discs are as they both end abruptly with the groove impacting center label. Phonozic refers to this type of Duodisc as "Duodisc Type 2 Red." It does not suggest a data range, but an analogous type "Duodisc Type 2 Purple" dates to 1948. For that reason I am confident that the 1951 date is accurate.
The song marked VIOLA is (at least in part), a popular song titled "I dont' know why I just do." It's been performed by Kate Smith, Sinatra, and Dean Martin among others but the Andrews Sisters version was cut in 1946... much closer to the recording date. I suspect it's a take on that version. On the flip side she screws up and makes two takes, the second in harmony with another woman I presume her mother. In the brief interval you can hear dad urge her to sing more. I cant identify that first take, but the second is "It's a Sin To Tell A Lie" most famously recorded by Billie Holiday.
As for the strange labeling, it occurs to be those might be the names of daughters? It's just a guess.
This 7-Inch 78 rpm Duodisc bears no markings of any kind. But the crumbling sleeve had a small scribble in pencil. It appears to read "Earl B" in flowing cursive. I despise cursive. Cursive is is designed for writing notes and letters quickly by hand. It's not particularly quick, and then it's very hard to read so it's more like scribble that can only be read by the writer. Please, engineers of today, write clearly and legibly on your master tapes!
I have never personally certified the recording date of a Duodisc. I have found ones attested to anywhere from 1945 to 1952 depending on the label. Like many acetates there is no available labelography. These red labels seem to be early 1950s, possibly as late as 1954. I found a fellow via Flickr who ripped a set and posted them online here. He did a great job cutting the bed noise, it's a set of nice rips. His also date from 1954 and 1955. Those are worth browsing.
This song is a country tune of unknown origin, clearly recorded from the radio. Then he tells a joke about Bessie who I believe is a dairy cow. The B-side is a badly recorded room, many voices, lots of racket pretty unintelligible. It was probably recorded at a party. Age and origin remain unknown but as always with this batch I continue to suspect the WFIL-AM Barn dance.
This is a duo disc acetate recording of a woman singing acapella. It has a center start at 78 rpm. I applied a low pass filter to clean up the noise a tad, and edited out the skips first dubbing at a slow speed to reduce them, then digitally splicing. I also bumped up the EQ between 170 and 220 Hz because it's a woman singing to improve clarity a bit. She actually can really sing, but I do not recognize the tune. there's a strange echo effect I cant quite place that may or may not be deliberate on her part.
The other side of the disc was largely unrecorded except for some failed recording attempts with 2 or three rotations each. These all seem to have a tone or a few syllables but are largely unintelligible. It sounds like the words "testing" and "hello." The tones are brief and definitely not recorded at 78 rpm it is some other odd speed probably achieved while testing the recording unit.But inexplicably some of it appears to have been recorded in reverse...
Not knowing the tune all I can say for certain is that it was recorded around the time this make of duo disc blank was in circulation. Phonozoic gives a late 1940s date.
This is a Duodisc transcription disc. It's double sided and each side has a short advertisement for a show on December 17th at Little Falls, NJ. Each is about 45 seconds. Both start at the outer edge and spin at 78 rpm. the disc is a tad bit bend so there's that telltale pop noise in the audio as the needle leaves the lacquer. Sorry about that.at least there was no flaking.
In this case the artist is clearly labeled. On one side It's the Bergen Crooners, on the other side is the Bergen male Chorus & Bops. I suspect that if they are not the same group they share members. There is no information online to indicate it's origin or the year it was made.I suspect it refers to Bergen county New Jersey as I found this disc not too far from there but I have no proof. Phonozoic gives the date of one Duodisc at 1948. I'll date this one to late 40s early 50s on that notion. I wish I knew more. The group is surprisingly good.
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