The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

By the California Ramblers (as the Seven Blue Babies)

Recorded in May of 1929, given the Blue Amberol no. 5728 but never released on cylinder. It is one of the very last recordings made at the Edison studios just before the Edison Phonograph Company went out of business. Recently transferred to cylinder from an Edison test pressing by the Berlin Phonograph Works, http://www.berlinphonographworks.com. This is take N920-B which was is not mentioned in current catalog references.

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhu9Xs8uac[/youtubehd]

Very nice transfer! I suspect that if this recording had been issued on cylinder back then, it wouldn't have sounded as good, given the indifferent treatment the transfers were getting during the last years of production. In my opinion the late cylinders are valued for their jazzier titles and rarety, not for their sound!
Thanks for posting!
Bob

I agree with you, Bob. I bought this same cylinder from Norman and it sounds just fantastic, this and the others I've bought from him are top notch in every way.

The few very late 5000 series BAs I have are all pretty lousy dubs. Come to think of it, I can't recall any of the 5000 series BAs at all that I have that are of decent quality except for one: Vaughn DeLeath's "My Blue Heaven", which is pretty good, but nowhere near as nice as these new ones from Norman are!

Sean

I've never had a clean original of such a late cylinder with the same title that one could compare with Norman's but I would agree, based on the original electrically recorded cylinders I have heard, even if in near mint condition, the sound is just okay.

These cylinders of Norman's sound great. I'm sure that if played with an electrical pickup, they would sound every bit as good as any electrically recorded disc of the late twenties. They test the limits of a diamond B.