Early Recordings

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What are some of the earlest recordings of music available on cd? (or anything pre20s that's really good)

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 14 April 2003 04:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought this was an Opal thread

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 April 2003 04:53 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, me too - i only have Early Recordings on cassette. Jim? Re: Tasha Lee - could I put it up on-line for you? I can email you my soulseek name - not hard to figure out - and you can download it?

― Sonny Tremaine (Sonny), Monday, 14 April 2003 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

The Folkways label actually released a couple lp compilations of Thomas Edison's earliest cylinder recordings, but I have no idea if they were ever transferred to cd.

Regardless, I think you can order CDR copies of the stuff if you go to the Smithsonian (current owners of the Folkways catalog) site.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 14 April 2003 04:57 (twenty-two years ago)

(I mean, if that is what yr actually looking for, i.e. the earliest examples of recorded sound)

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 14 April 2003 04:58 (twenty-two years ago)

ok Sonny - sounds good to me. i have Early Recordings shared and will be online later today

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 April 2003 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i'll be online tonight....cool?

― Sonny Tremaine (Sonny), Monday, 14 April 2003 05:01 (twenty-two years ago)

yepski!

on topic, there's the Futurism & Dada Reviewed CD on LTM which features recordings from as early as 1912.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 April 2003 05:02 (twenty-two years ago)

This thread was made for me but I have homework right now. I'll try to get to it tomorrow!

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 14 April 2003 05:18 (twenty-two years ago)

This is very elaborate, but also very good. I think the first 2 or 3 discs are pre-'20s, but I could be wrong.

― willem (willem), Monday, 14 April 2003 06:11 (twenty-two years ago)

"This thread was made for me but I have homework right now. I'll try to get to it tomorrow! "

ok, cool. I'm looking forward to what you have to say.

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 14 April 2003 13:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I just got John Scott's Shuffle Play: Elegy For a Recording Angel which has a bunch of really old recordings with saxophones, flutes, and percussian recorded on top. I like how it sounds, but I think I would rather just have a cd of the old recordings by themselves. There is one untouched track on this cd of the recording of a Handel choir piece that was made on June 29, 1888. (The liner notes said this was the oldest recording of music.)

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 14 April 2003 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

That Allen Lowe set (Minstrel to Mojo) is beyond terrific and I believe the first 20 or so songs date to before 1920. This site sells tapes and CDRs of numerous recording stars from the 1910s and 1920s. Not nearly the earliest stuff but it gives a sense of popular music in the early days of the 20th century. There's a label named Saydisc who have been around forever and have reissued some very early recordings. Some of their stuff is on CD for example:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000451Y.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000451W.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000E7QP.01._PE_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000452V.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000004524.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000451P.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

The Pearl/Flapper label has a lot of stuff in this vein as well, most notably the series of four 3-CD box sets entitled Music from the New York Stage which is probably the best survey of early 20th century American popular music on CD outside of the Lowe set. I've had a hard time tracking these down though. Bear Family released a box set of English music hall recordings from this era--it's called 'Round the Town: Following Grandfather's Footsteps--but I can't afford it. Luc Sante wrote a review for the Village Voice not long ago.

You might also want to see www.tinfoil.com, which sells CDs.

The stuff from cylinders typically sounds like crap, and 78s from before 1927 or so are often pretty rough as well. Enough to be a real impediment to enjoyment.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 14 April 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry for the huge images. I thought they would come out smaller.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 14 April 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

'moreschi - complete vatican recordings of the last castrato 1902-1904' is one of the most bizarre recordings I own.

he's drastically out of tune by any standard, evidently he wasn't one of the 'better' castratos. but there's just something impossibly compelling about this recording, if you're into the odd things.

― milton, Monday, 14 April 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

the earliest CD recordings goes back to the early 80's. I am exactly not sure of the specific date, howver somewhere in the early 80's. The oldest CD I have is from... I can't find it, but it's from early 80's I believe.

― Michael Jatas, Thursday, 28 August 2003 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

The earliest recording that I have ever seen or heard is John Phillip Sousa conducting the U.S. Marine Band in 1896. It is available on the Sony Music "Soundtrack For A Century" box set (which I believe is no OOP)

― Jack howard, Tuesday, 25 November 2003 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

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