The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

OrthoSean wrote:OK, Curt, well, I'll be glad to take any non "Red Star" discs you don't want by the Georgia Melodians, Golden Gate Orchestra, Duke Yellman, B.A. Rolfe, Tennessee Happy Boys and The New Yorkers. I'll even pay the postage!

Frank, you beat me to Will Oakland!

Sean

Sean,

I told Will Oakland what you said, and he's coming to your house to sing for you a medley of sentimental "mother" songs!


Rocky

I happen to like Will Oakland.

So there.

Will Oakland rocks! BTW, Who is Will Oakland? Is he someone who if you knew who he was you wouldn't admit it? How about those Sibyl Sanderson Fagan whistling records such as Sundown in Birdland backed with L'Arditi Magnetic Waltzes, 80453! And it's considered light classical yet!

FloridaClay wrote:

Wagnerian wrote:Anything with "Ireland/Erin", "Mother" or "Heaven" in the title.

BA3013 therefore wins the top prize with "Ireland Must be Heaven Because Mother's There" - ugh!

Tim W-W

Yes, bless his soul, Edison did not pass by much that was Victorian maudlin.

Clay

Not quite the case, in this instance. This song was also recorded by Victor, Columbia, Emerson, Majestic, Decca, Albany Indestructible, and probably others. Correct title is actually "Ireland Must be Heaven, For My Mother Came From There". Maudlin, yes. Example of T.A.Edison choosing arcane, old songs to record, no.

ps - Theo Alban also did a bunch of 'vocal refrains' for B.A.Rolfe & Al Friedman on Edison.... unfortunately. If he sang an octave or two higher, he coulda been another Tiny Tim. "You could throw a cat through his vibrato" .

Interesting discussion. Yes, Edison didn't have a corner on 19th century sentiment--and did produce quite a few hot titles even outside the Red Stars.

I think Edison's company was capturing a pretty even representation of musical tastes of the 1920s, which were all over the place. I think of Willa Cather's statement: "The world split in two in 1922, or thereabouts." I think she meant cultural tastes and social mores. The old pre-WW I cultural consensus broke apart, with some groups going with Jazz and others holding on to traditional forms.

Just a side thought. People go on about how revolutionary the 1960s were. They don't hold a candle to the 1920s. The cultural and social revolutions of the 1920s were temporarily obscured/muted in the 1930s and 1940s by the Great Depression and World War II, when people had to refocus on duty, not pleasure. But come the maturing of the baby boomers in the 1960s, the 1920s were reborn. I'm sure that many of you agree if that you really want to understand America in all its aspects, you had better understand the 1920s. But people chase after sideshows, either before (Civil War) or after (WWII, Vietnam, the 1960s)--perhaps because they are easier stories to understand.

"That's the way it is" -- Walter Cronkite

Ralph

pughphonos wrote:People go on about how revolutionary the 1960s were. They don't hold a candle to the 1920s. The cultural and social revolutions of the 1920s ...

I agree. The 1920s witnessed great social, cultural and technological changes that are overlooked today. After the horrors of World War One, I guess a lot of people wanted to lighten up and forget past troubles and they went on a national binge. The 1920's was some party, and the Depression was some hangover.

52089 wrote:Aloha Oe by Frieda Hempel. Bad enough on Diamond Disc but on Royal Purple Amberol? Yuck!!

How about her rendition of "Mammy's Little Alabama Coon", also on Royal Amberol? It's hard to imagine anything worse.

Uncle Josh, all of them.

Amberola wrote:Uncle Josh, all of them.

or should that be "heeee heeee hawww hawww hawwww"

I'm not really a fan, either, although there are a couple of his that I do enjoy hearing once every five or six years!

Sean

OrthoSean wrote:

Amberola wrote:Uncle Josh, all of them.

or should that be "heeee heeee hawww hawww hawwww"

I'm not really a fan, either, although there are a couple of his that I do enjoy hearing once every five or six years!

Sean

You are doing better than me. I can't listen to 15 seconds of that crap. And to beat it all, I collect negro songs, Ada Jones number 588 for example.