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DECCA 1

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:41 am
by CDBPDX
I always thought the DECCA label started at 100 (I've led a sheltered life). Here is DECCA 1. Is it a USA issue?

Re: DECCA 1

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 12:35 pm
by gramophone-georg
Cliff, "I'll Never Smile Again" was written in 1940 and the Decca label in USA predates that by at least six years. I've often wondered about that odd blue label. Maybe it was a special series.

Both those sides have "regular" Decca issues, but on different couplings. This is one of those little mysteries I've discovered in nearly five decades of record collecting I've never found an answer to.

Re: DECCA 1

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 7:54 pm
by bfinan11
Just a wild guess but might it have had something to do with the Petrillo ban? It looks to me like a hybrid of the blue and black labels, that combined with the low number suggests a reissue to me

Re: DECCA 1

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:21 pm
by OrthoFan
gramophone-georg wrote:Both those sides have "regular" Decca issues, but on different couplings. This is one of those little mysteries I've discovered in nearly five decades of record collecting I've never found an answer to.
I checked the matrix numbers, and here's the information from http://www.78discography.com/Dec3000.htm
Decca Info.jpg
As you noted, each side has a different label number, which means each selection was issued on a different record, and conventional label numbers were, indeed, used for pressings sold to the public:
Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (45.49 KiB) Viewed 1909 times
FROM -- https://archive.org/details/78_ill-neve ... ia0012207a (The flip side--3304B--is "GOODBYE, LITTLE DARLIN', GOODBYE"

I don't supposed 1A & 1B, a re-coupling, could have been intended for an album set that was never issued? (Just a guess.)

OrthoFan

Re: DECCA 1

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:54 am
by CDBPDX
Here is what I found out, thanks to some Facebook folks:

"Harold Aherne This brief series was intended as a revival of the blue label in 1947-48, with a lower price point than Decca's main pop issues (the "personality" block, which was originally a prestige series but had since become the default for popular releases).
Cost for the new blue-label discs was 50 cents, while the black-label ones were 75 cents and the red specialty series (40000s) were $1 each.

Russell Shor After that, they revived the Vocalion label for their cheaper issues

Re: DECCA 1

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 1:54 pm
by gramophone-georg
CDBPDX wrote:Here is what I found out, thanks to some Facebook folks:

"Harold Aherne This brief series was intended as a revival of the blue label in 1947-48, with a lower price point than Decca's main pop issues (the "personality" block, which was originally a prestige series but had since become the default for popular releases).
Cost for the new blue-label discs was 50 cents, while the black-label ones were 75 cents and the red specialty series (40000s) were $1 each.

Russell Shor After that, they revived the Vocalion label for their cheaper issues

I wonder if they're a bit off on the dates though. You'd think that both Dick Robertson and the tunes would be old hat by then, so why reissue on a special label?

But.. who knows? Wonder where they got their info.

Re: DECCA 1

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 2:54 am
by CDBPDX
gramophone-georg wrote:You'd think that both Dick Robertson and the tunes would be old hat by then, so why reissue on a special label?
A special 'cheap' label...

Re: DECCA 1

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:31 pm
by CDBPDX
I found another from this series, No 3, this one a reissue of some Bob Howard tunes, RAGGEDY BUT RIGHT from Decca 1698 (2/7/38) and DAPPER DAN from Decca 1958 (6/27/38). Pretty cool!

A comparison of matrix numbers for the DAPPER DAN side shows this record as 64233 and the original 1938 issue as 64232. Apparently, not a clerical error, this really a different take! The RAGGEDY BUT RIGHT matrix numbers on this record matches the original 1938 issue.

Here is a YouTube video of the original 1938 issue with 64232 matrix number:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayYKLlx6gjw

Here is a YouTube video of this record matrix 64233:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gk0Jc5 ... e=youtu.be

Re: DECCA 1

Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:46 pm
by bfinan11
For what it's worth, I found 2, to continue the series.

2A - Terry Shand and his Orchestra - Wabash Cannon Ball
2B - Terry Shand and his Orchestra - The New River Train.

I'd say with what we know of 1, 2, and 3, it's very unlikely to be an album set, unless it was meant to be an eclectic set of reissues to give away with new phonographs a la Amberol Specials.