Woolworths UK little records (Crown, Eclipse, Victory etc)

[2Bdecided]

The Woolworths Museum has a fascinating section about records made for and sold by Woolworths, from the Little Wonder 5 inch discs of the 1920s, to the Embassy cover versions of the 1950s and 1960s.

http://www.woolworthsmuseum.co.uk/musichome.htm

The "Overview" is the best place to start. There is an amazing amount of information, and several "jukeboxes" where you can listen to discs from each era.

I was worried this site had disappeared with the Woolworths stores themselves, but the person who originally created it as a hobby while working for Woolworths online is continuing it as a fan site.


I have lots of these records. I was always surprised by the excellent sound quality (if not performance quality) of the 1950s Embassy discs - they were at least as good as the best Decca FFRR issues of the time. I didn't know (until reading this website) that many of the Embassy cover versions outsold the original recordings in the UK (they were soon banned from the charts!).

In contrast, the 1920s and 1930s issues are typical of cheap recordings of the time - i.e. often quite muddy (Eclipse), or brash and distorted (Victory) - of course the smaller diameter doesn't help! However they often contain enjoyable (if sometimes pedestrian) performances.

Cheers,
David.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

This is fascinating. Thanks for posting this. A few of these sides even turn up here, although I don't think they were ever sold by Woolworth in Canada.

JRT