The 78's you always find.

[De Soto Frank]

Surprised no-one mentioned things like:

The Rodeheavers singing "old-timey" hymns

Hawaiian Guitars

Xylophone solos

Vernon Dalhart Ballads ( Baggage car ahead, Floyd Collins, Scopes Monkey-Trial, etc.)

Moran & Mack: Two Black Crows



That's the kind of schlock I usually run-across...

And I have it in stacks...

[Wolfe]

Two Black Crows is a really good one as far as naming specific records.

[Nat]

I went up to my local second-hand bookstore yesterday, and I think they must have been reading these posts: the Rigoletto quartet, and about 50 Columbia red labels of people I'd never heard of!

Still, I hope the fact that they have 78's at all could be taken as a good sign.

[Wolfe]

Joe Reichman Piano Reveries

I saw that one again in one of my local haunts.

The kind of thing you tend to find in a bookstore that sells 'old records.'

[marcapra]

Red Columbias are so plentiful, that there is guy in my phono club who lets us go through his many boxes of red Columbias and Deccas and take what we want free! I look for the big band ones like Harry James and Woody Herman. My friend kept looking through box after box of red Columbias until he found I Love Lucy sung by Desi Arnaz.

[welshfield]

I have found some of those "hawaiian guitar" recordings have some fantastic chord structures and even some great jazz licks. There is more there than meets the ear. At the right price I buy up every one I find, hoping for about 1-in-5 lucky find of some really nice creativity.
Besides that, it's a bit ironic that we restore our machines to be accurate down to the last screw and washer, but play only recordings that our machines may never have heard in their original lifetime. While those Hot Five and Bessie Smith records may be fantastic today, they were just as rare originally as they are today. The Hawaiian fad lasted throughout the twenties and I bet most of our machines originally played these recordings regularly. I usually try to play at least one hawaiian and/or Dahlhart record in each playing session just to make the machine feel at home.John

[De Soto Frank]

I have found some of those "hawaiian guitar" recordings have some fantastic chord structures and even some great jazz licks. There is more there than meets the ear. At the right price I buy up every one I find, hoping for about 1-in-5 lucky find of some really nice creativity.
Besides that, it's a bit ironic that we restore our machines to be accurate down to the last screw and washer, but play only recordings that our machines may never have heard in their original lifetime. While those Hot Five and Bessie Smith records may be fantastic today, they were just as rare originally as they are today. The Hawaiian fad lasted throughout the twenties and I bet most of our machines originally played these recordings regularly. I usually try to play at least one hawaiian and/or Dahlhart record in each playing session just to make the machine feel at home.John

John,

Hadn't looked at it that way...

Some of my Hawaiian Guitar and old-timey Hymn / religious records look like they are unplayed... I guess I should give 'em all a listen...



De Soto Frank

[Chitown Slim]

My husband and I found six boxes of 78's in album books in our alley last summer. There are a lot of red label Columbia's and tons of Frankie Laine and classical and various pop and some country from those older decades, John McCormack, Paul Whiteman. A real variety.

But, I did find two copies of Wabash Blues by The Benson Orchestra of Chicago.

[Wolfe]

M

But, I did find two copies of Wabash Blues by The Benson Orchestra of Chicago.

I wouldn't say that title is one I always run into, but it's not uncommon, as Benson Orchestra records in general are common.

[2Bdecided]

The things I see most often by far "in the wild" are the easy listening UK number ones from the early 1950s. Oh Mein Papa (Eddie Calvert) and Let's Have Another Party (Winifred Atwell) are everywhere. There are other discs which pre-date the introduction of the UK record charts in November 1952 which (by their ubiquity) were clearly number ones (in some cases sheet music charts back this up), e.g. The Harry Lime Theme (Anton Karas) (usually pressed in particularly bad quality shellac, even for Decca).

Strangely other contemporary "number ones" don't turn up nearly so often. I think the rockier discs were more likely to be worn out + broken, while the discs that appealed to older listeners were more likely to be cared for, then put up in a loft when LPs took over, then sent to a charity shop when the original owner died.

People who bought 78s from new before the 1950s are getting rarer year-by-year. Occasionally collections turn up that have survived an extra generation...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COLLECTION-OF ... 0648483224

Cheers,
David.