First Electrical Recordings.
 

I'm trying to get a solid insight, as to when the first electrically recorded records were made.
They played "Rhapsody In Blue", Paul Whiteman and George Gershwin at the piano, recorded Feb, 1924. This recording is 8 1/2 min long, long before "Light My Fire".
I heard acoustical recordings, but this doesn't sound like it at all. :scratch2:

the 1924 Paul Whiteman R.I.B was acoustic, the later 1927 re-recording was electrical. I think Victor switched during 1925, some other companies switched a bit later. a few pioneers, such as marsh labs in Chicago did it earlier, but were not as good sound wise. Victor's first electric recoding were made with Western electric division of bell labs/Phone company

Victor switched to electrical recordings in the spring of 1925. The early electrical recordings still had the "bat wing" label that the acoustical recordings were issued on. Look for the initials "VE" in the deadwax. The scrolled label with the words "Orthophonic Recording" on them appeared in November of 1925 which is when they introduced their line of Orthophonic Victrolas designed to play electrical recordings. The release of the discs 6 months earlier than the machines was part of a marketing strategy. The recordings sounded rather harsh and strident on the older machines designed for acoustical recordings, so therefore when the Orthophonic machines were introduced they sold like hotcakes.

The copies of the recording, I have is on a Mono LP and another is on a 45, naturally a re-release. The LP, I have, also has the "Prisoner's Song", which is definitely a acoustic recording and really sounds like it. The records were sold by Avon Products and were RCA special products.
The record is titled: "Music Avon Grew Up With". I don't have the original album covers. They were mixed in with some other record collections.
I guess, everyone including Readers Digest was in the record selling game.

If it's the Vernon Dalhart recording of The Prisoner's Song it's an acoustic recording as he recorded that in 1924. It was the first country record ever to sell a million copies.

I dont think the 45 of Rhapsody in blue is the 1924 recording, I know they put out the 1927 version on a 45 in the early days of the 45rpm format, I have it on 45 and 78, and the acoustic recording on a Victrola lp from the 60's is different.

I'm pretty sure, that's the one. I remember hearing about the million copies!
I heard this morning, the Bing Crosby " White Christmas" was the biggest selling record ever, 50 million copies. :scratch2:

I'd have to look again at the 45. I know, it's an early issue. IIRC, it's on the Decca label??? :scratch2:

I'll have to go look... it should be on 45cat.com Decca does sound right. Decca released a lot fo vintage stuff, like Louis Armstrong's 1920's recordings.

this is the one I have, is an RCA collectors re-issue on 45, released in '49 or '50.
http://www.45cat.com/record/270149
i found this one on Decca, http://www.45cat.com/record/940160 but I didn't know what recording that is, Whiteman's orchestra recorded it a number of times. The 1927 recording has Gershwin himself on piano, maybe the 1924 also. if another pianist is listed, its not a 1920s recording. there were also 1950's re-recordings, but those seem to be the more orchestrated version, not the original 1920's arrangement for jazz band.

the original acoustic 78 was on a blue label, appropriately. http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/55225.
this is the 1927 version on 78. http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/35822 (later pressing shown, original is on the scroll label) When I get my 1927 Victor credenza running, this will be the first record I play on it.

In 1938, Victor reissued the 1927 RiB... (or so they thought). I have found Canadian and U.S. issues which have the 1927 electric version on side A (part 1) and the 1924 acoustic on side B (part2).

These are fairly common records. Has anyone else come across this?

I think one of mine is the re-issue, i'll have to dig it out and check sometime.

The 1927 version of Rhapsody In Blue was also issued on a 33 1/3 RPM "Program Transcription" disc in 1931. This was RCA's short-lived series of long-playing records which were only around for a shot time.

My oldest record is an acoustic recording of Sergei Rachmoninoff playing one of his compositions. While noisy...it is a very vibrant recording.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1455040429

I just wish Caruso had lived a little longer...Even the acoustic recordings we have of him are REMARKABLE. Too bad he only lived to be 48, passing in 1921.

Caruso would have been around a few years or more if it weren't for one thing. He survived surgery for cancer and was recuperating. A country doctor examined the healing wound and it turned out that his hands weren't sterile. He was done in by the resulting infection as antibiotics didn't exist yet.

The first electrical recording released was Joan Of Arkansas by the Mask And Wig Club of the University Of Pennsylvania, which was recorded on March 16,1925 and issued as Victor No. 19626.

Many years ago at a gathering of recording fans we sat around and listened to an elderly man who had worked for one of our oldest record stores talk about the night, when as a very young shop assistant, he was told to stay back after the store closed... and promised something special.

It had arrived earlier that day by special delivery to the boss.

It was an electric record.

Well there was a hush as the boss put the record (uncertain now what it was) ...on the turntable of the best Victrola in the shop and played the record.

Apparently it was a revelation... a full orchestra... and to use the old man's words ...sparkling.

The assembled staff were told to sell as much stock as possible as fast as possible before the old recordings were obsolete. (Nothing changes in retailing it seems).

Early electrics were sharper and sometimes rather brittle and sounded less than pleasant on some gramophones.

But everyone recognised this was the future. The ability to record a whole orchestra was new.. the dynamic range was a massive improvement.