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Hi, I don't have any good reference material for Columbia records. I have quite a lot on Victor. Specifically I am looking for information on the Columbia Royal Blue records. I have a Richard Tauber record on a Columbia Blue G-4044-M "Dein ist mein ganzes herz" that I can find no information on the internet or YouTube for. I suspect it was recorded in 1929 and then released around 1932 on the blue record, but that is just a guess. Would Columbia have released European Parlophone or Odeon recordings?

Is there a good source either in book or online for Columbia records?

Thanks for any info you have.

Columbia certainly did issue Odeon Tauber recordings (as did Decca later on with Odeon and Parlophone issues). I've got several, some pressings actually say "Odeon Recording" very blatantly on the label, although I believe this practice was rather short lived. I'm really not aware of any good online info for Columbia issues of that era, though, but someone else may be.

Sean

A lot of earlier Columbia records continued to be pressed in Royal Blue Shellac well into the Depression. I have seen IRCC issues from the turn of the 20th century pressed on Royal Blue as well.

I could be wrong, but it seems Columbia kept records available in their catalogs far longer than Victor.

And you are correct- there is quite a dearth of info on Columbia vs. Victor. A little OT, though, I've always been curious as to why there were several different versions of the Victor circular non- commercial use label circulating in the 1940s. It mainly has to do with the circles. In gold print, there are two versions of circles- one where they're even, and the other where the inner is shorter than the outer. But in the silver print version they also do both... and then add a version where the circles are even but broken into three sections.

Odeon and OKeh were twins, and when Columbia acquired OKeh here in the USA I'm pretty sure Odeon was not part of the deal.

Later Odeon originals show up here in USA on Decca if I am not mistaken. Or was it Capitol? I think it was Capitol in the early LP era but was Decca before that. Odeon and Parlophone were joined at the hip for quite a long time too, it seems. I had early Beatles recordings on Parlophone from the UK as a kid along with a couple Dutch issues that were Odeons.

Lots of even seasoned collectors are not aware that there were USA pressed Parlophone and Odeon records in the late 20s- early 30s. They are rare. They look like OKehs and usually have alternate takes of contemporaneous OKeh issues under pseudonyms... but also sometimes under the correct names.

It's difficult to keep straight, even for a geek.

Hmmm, I am pretty convinced that my Tauber record on Columbia is from a Parlophone 1929 recording. I just wish I could be absolutely sure of that. The columbia record says it is a German-Imported recording on the label. I found one source for blue records with number slightly higher than this was that were said to be 1927 records released in 1932. I kind of believe that of mine as well though originally from 1929. Here is a picture of the label. I didn't expect such a mystery.

The Parlophone matrix is Be (Berlin) 8597- (take number). Does that number appear in the dead wax anywhere on your copy?

I don't see it...

Well, that doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't the same recording- it would have just been easier to trace. The Columbia could have just been assigned its own matrix number. I found an Odeon matrix number database but it skips from 128XXX to 133XXX.

It's entirely possible that you are correct after all, though.

Well, here is a YouTube recording of it with all my assumptions in the notes. Perhaps someone will be able to clear it all up when they see it.

https://youtu.be/NR8yLvfShG4

Matrix Be8597 was released in the UK as Parlophone Odeon Series RO20107 in 1929/30, and the label shows that the Berlin State Opera House Orchestra was conducted by Franz Lehar.

Tauber later recorded the song in English, Matrix E10772 released as RO20500 in 1940/41. The un-named orchestra was conducted by Henry Geehl.