Teens decade Music... Boring?

[Victrolacollector]

I seem to pass over music from the 1913-1922 era, especially on Victor and other 78's labels. It seems I collect mostly 1923-1930 era music. Is it just me or how do others feel. I am more into the 1925-1930 music country, jazz and those Victor Scrolls., but unfortunately music from this era is rarer and more expensive.

[FloridaClay]

That is not a question that can be objectively answered. It is all a matter of personal preference. Beauty is in the ear and brain of the listener.

Personally, I am probably fondest of jazz age and big band, but I like having a sampling from all eras because it teaches me about those eras and how music has evolved over time. Listening to a wide variety of music has also enabled me to find genres, composers, and performers I really like that I would not have otherwise discovered.

Clay

[Valecnik]

That is not a question that can be objectively answered. It is all a matter of personal preference. Beauty is in the ear and brain of the listener.

Personally, I am probably fondest of jazz age and big band, but I like having a sampling from all eras because it teaches me about those eras and how music has evolved over time. Listening to a wide variety of music has also enabled me to find genres, composers, and performers I really like that I would not have otherwise discovered.

Clay

I'm pretty much aligned with Clay. I have favorites recorded throughout the teens. There was plenty of sappy stuff too, not very good, recorded on all labels from the beginning right through the thirties & beyond. I really wonder what they'll be saying about the recordings of Lady Goo Ga and Miley Cyrus in the year 2113 and beyond...

[howardpgh]

Talking about musical tastes is like talking about politics and religion-It can start a nasty fight!
I used to only collect only the jazz and blues stuff from the 20s and 30s, but as I have grown older my tastes have expanded. I don't buy every record, I buy the ones I like or look interesting. I buy software appropriate for my Victor IV. That can include classical, opera, comedy records, marches, and dance music (ie:waltz, one step, foxtrot). My cutoff is pre WW2, but I do have some postwar material too. Of course these don't get played on the Victor!!

I also look at who wrote the song as well who performed it.(Berlin, Kern, Romberg)
It is interesting how many jazz "standards" come from this era.

[Harold Aherne]

I think the 1910s and early 20s had some of the finest popular music ever written:

They Didn't Believe Me (1914)
The Ladder of Roses (1915)
The Perfect Song (1915)
I Ain't Got Nobody (1916)
Poor Butterfly (1916)
Till the Clouds Roll By (1917)
Till We Meet Again (1918)
Smiles (1918)
Beautiful Ohio (1918)
After You've Gone (1918)
I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (1918)
A Good Man is Hard to Find (1919)
Swanee (1919)
A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody (1919)
My Baby's Arms (1919)
Waiting for the Sun to Come Out (1920)
The entire score of Sally

I could go on, but the above group is sufficient. Liking the *songs* from that era might not always translate to liking the *recordings*, but I think very highly of the arrangements found on records by the Victor Military Band, Joseph C. Smith and other dance bands. Their subtlety and taste rewards careful listening. So do the vocal records by established stage celebrities and studio vocalists.

-HA

[VintageTechnologies]

I generally like instrumentals more than vocals. Besides marches and early fox trots and jazz, I like snappy dance music, like one-steps and two-steps. Jaudas' band recorded some good stuff on Edison.

[Phonofreak]

Most of my records are pre-1930, though I also have big band and later. I really like marches, ballads, comic, quartets, and yes, Hawaiian,country-western, and others that will take forever to list. This is such a diverse hobby, that there is something for everyone.
Harvey Kravitz

[welshfield]

I agree with Harold Aherne. Some of the finest music of the modern era comes from this period....and was caught on record.

World War I--come-on, Tipperary, Over There, Oh Frenchy: rousing marches, plus all the humorous vaudeville songs of this era.
Red Seals--this era covers the golden age of opera. Play a well recorded Sembrich, Alda, Schumann-Heinck, Ruffo, Ferrar, and of course Caruso, while sitting across the room with the lights low and your eyes closed.
Ragtime--what more can I say? Some fantastic performances.
Hawaiian--highly discredited but I maintain that some of these performers slipped in some great chord structure and improvisation, as good as anything in modern times. Frank Fierara (sp?) was way more than just a "hawaiian guitar player."
Barbershop--while outdated by the teens era, these were no doubt recorded for the enjoyment of grandpa and grandma of the time. Peerless Quartet, for one. Personally I truly appreciate the musicianship of the vocalists.
Prohibition--"Alcoholic Blues" and similar. What a fantastic view of this strange period in American history.
religious--particularly the Trinity Choir and Fisk University choir. Not only personally inspirational but also so well performed.

One evening (during a snowstorm and back when I had far fewer records) I played every Victor record I owned in numerical order. This turned out to be a fantastic review of modern history and well worth the time.

I understand that the "Billy Murray" and "Cal Stewart" fan clubs are strong among collectors, but these performers offer only a tiny glimpse into the vast musical repertoire of that era. PLEASE do not discard unwanted records from this era just because you personally do not appreciate them.

John

[De Soto Frank]

Just of the top of my head, here's a few Teens selections that are worthy (in my humble opinion):


"The Spaniard that Blighted my Life" - Al Jolson - Victor Black Label

"Second-hand Rose" / "Mon Homme" - Fanny Brice - Victor Blue Label

"The Little Ford Rambled Right Along" - Billy Murray - Victor

"Gasoline Gus and his Jitney Bus" - George O'Connor - Columbia Black "Notes" Label


Plus these generalities:


ANY Billy Murray (with or without other singers)

ANY Harry Lauder

(Almost) ANY John McCormack

ANY Sousa, Prince's, Pryor's Band recordings

ANY good Cake-Walk / Rag-time Stuff

ANY Victor Light Opera Company "Gems from ---" records

ANY "good" comedy record - Cal Stewart (Uncle Josh), Vaudeville notables (Weber & Fields, Bert Williams, etc.)

Better WW-I patriotic stuff...

And so-on...


Personal taste in music has so much to do with this...

Personally, I don't think I see myself actively seeking any of the following (from ANY of the Talking Machine Era):

> Hawaiian Guitar stuff

> Xylophone / Banjo solos

> Chimes

> Hmyns / Religious (at least not the prolific Rodeheavers !!!)


I realize that the above have a place in the history and development of recorded music, and reflect the tastes of the era, but I do not share all of those tastes !

[CptBob]

Generalisations are frequently wrong. To write off a whole decade is a bit drastic. I veer more towards instrumental music rather than vocals, and yes there is something rather mawkish about a lot of the songs. But there were some great singers recording then. Peter Dawson for instance. I do find the instrumental records more interesting - including the xylophone and bell solos, and the hawaiians, not to mention melodeon and concertina solos. I'm always on the look out for good tunes, waltzes, mazurkas and polkas - and there are some cracking tunes played by the xylophonists.

It's a good thing we're not all after the same thing.