Capitol 78's Shellac vs. Vinyl

[Wolfe]

I have what seems an oddity to me. Capitol 371 Ain't Misbehavin' / We Could Make Such Beautiful Music by Billy Butterfield. Black label record from 1947, which is vinyl.

I know Capitol pressed white label promos on vinyl, and made very late regular pressings vinyl in the later 1950's. I've not been aware that they pressed non promo vinyl 78's in the 1940's.

Any info on this one?

[syncopeter]

Shellac still was in relatively shorts supplies, as it was also needed in the aircarft industy. By 1947 leightweight pickups became available, so records were sometimes offered in both she;;ac and vinyl. Most V-discs are vinyl too.

[Wolfe]

Shellac still was in relatively shorts supplies, as it was also needed in the aircarft industy. By 1947 leightweight pickups became available, so records were sometimes offered in both she;;ac and vinyl. Most V-discs are vinyl too.

That's true.

Except I don't have any any commercial 78's from ca. 1947 or before that are vinyl, save for V-Discs which don't really count, and RCA Heritage red vinyl pressings from about the same time.

I thought maybe Capitol had some records pressed at another plant which led to some records being pressed vinyl. In spite of the fact their 78's remained shellac at least until 1956 or so.

[OrthoSean]

When I cleaned out a Syracuse NYs radio statio library out about 8 years ago, there were an incredible number of black Capitols from the 1940s in vinyl and let me say this, what a way to get them! Nice quiet pressings, nothing like the shellac they were using at the time. Also a number of purple Capitols on vinyl as well. They look the same otherwise, no notations for DJ use or anything. I was told later on that Capitol did press small runs on vinyl even though they weren't sold to the public (obviously). Decca seems to have done the same thing. The white label promos seem to start around 1948 with Capitol pressings.

The only 78 on a later Capitol commercial pressing I have that are on vinyl is "Fever" by Peggy Lee now that I think of it. My copy of Be-Bop-A-Lula is still shellac.

Sean

[Wolfe]

A vinyl 78 of that Peggy Lee record would be a nice little item to have, that record is from 1957.

I have a small handful of late purple label Capitol vinyl 78's, I think that in the end, close to when they stopped producing 78's they pressed some that way for general sale.

The sonics of those classic Capitol mono pop singles of the 1950's are very good, and heard powerfully via wide groove 78 RPM cuttings, even on shellac. Which is why I sometimes like to find them, even if they're not necessarily all that rare or collectible.

[OrthoSean]

I'm with you there, in nice shape they sound pretty damn good, IMO much better than what has been reissued on CDs by Capitol.

Sean

[Wolfe]

Yes, there's quite a bit of classic Capitol material reissued on CD's in bad sonics.

However, one notable exception are the old Capitol Collector's Series series of CD's which reissued singles collections on Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mercer, etc. Whether sourced from lacquer disc or tape, the transfers were well carried out. Pity that 20 years later, they seem incapable of the same good work, preferring to mire things in excessive noise reduction, wacky EQ, and such.

The current '20 bit remastered' series of Frank Sinatra's albums, which were mastered by a guy named Bob Norberg, are completely abysmal, far inferior to the old 1980's CD's which were mastered by Larry Walsh.

[Henry]

Things just haven't been the same at Capitol since ol' Johnny M. passed! And they don't make 'em in Scranton anymore....

[syncopeter]

And that while Capitol were famous for their excellent sound, thanks to the great acoustics of their studio in Capitol Tower.

[Wolfe]

They did indeed make good sounding records at the Tower since recording commenced there in 1956.

But also they did before, at the old Melrose Avenue studio, and elsewhere. They were a progressive young (ish) company with talented people working within, and manning the recording booth controls. They had an Ampex tape machine in 1949, right on the edge of when everyone else did.