Corrections
& Additions
to the Invicta & Guardsman Label Listing.
The
first printing of 30 copies is now exhausted. There will be a reprint in due
course. Please email if you would like to reserve a copy of the second edition.
There is no obligation on your part.
Please send your corrections
& additions &c. to:
or by post to:
Norman Field,
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IMPORTANT NOTICE.
It must be emphasised that though Frank Andrews
allowed his name to appear on the front cover of this book, he did so at my
request, on the grounds of his long-standing partnership with Arthur Badrock. Their work indeed provided the majority of the
listing itself; but Frank did not have editorial control over the book: that
fell to me, as typist and co-ordinator of the project. I have apologised to
Frank for unintentionally placing him in an ambiguous position. All I sought to
do was to pay tribute to Frank as a Master of British Discography. Frank has
pointed out that it is necessary to set out in detail the changes of ownership
of the name ‘Guardsman’ which occurred circa 1920-1921. That information only
appears in truncated form on pages 16 & 17 of Frank Andrews’ articles
‘Nippers Uncle’ on the CD-ROM, and was written many years ago. We are hoping
that Frank will write an updated summary of this period, which will later
appear as a supplement here, and in the second printing of the book, the first
print run of 30 copies now being exhausted.
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Corrections & additions are numbered, in the order
in which they were reported or discovered. In the case of additional
information on a particular disc, the whole updated entry for that disc is
given. If that catalogue number was a complete blank, the new entry is printed
entirely in bold. As remarked in the text, all errors are my responsibility.
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1. Illustrations facing page 24. The first paragraph
contains the cryptic xxxx and xcxxx. Info. should have been
inserted here; ‘~380’ in the first case, and ‘about May or June 1913,’ in the
second.
2. It is stated in the book that the Red white and Blue Invictas did not reveal their country of manufacture. This
is incorrect. The labels did not
reveal this, but ‘Made In Germany’ was stamped in the wax. Accordingly, John
Abrahams’ stock would have become unsaleable on the
declaration of war on 4th August 1914. This helps even more to explain their
scarcity.
3. A catastrophic error occurred in the Artiste Index, resulting
in the omission of all artistes between Carrie Glover and Sammy Jones. The
missing section is available as a Word Document (one and a bit sides) by clicking here ; or, the complete
Artiste Index as a Word Document (7 sides) by clicking
here .
5. 2065 (12"). ANGELO ROSELLI Tenor Master numbers courtesy of Eddie
Dunn from a black-label copy.
1220-X Recit., Lungi de Lei &c., - ‘La Traviata’
1223-X Questa O Quella
– ‘Rigoletto’
6. The last page of illustrations, between pp 202 and 203 is the
wrong way round. Obviously, the screen shots should have faced page 203, where
the relevant text occurs.
7. The
test pressing opposite p 152. (1) This was furnished by Robert Girling, and not by Graham Farnell
as stated. My apologies to both. (2) This is really an Aco
test, and originally just had a plain white label. The disc formerly belonged
to Mike Thomas, and it was he who typed out the info. onto a round blank gummed
label and stuck it over the original plain label, noting ‘Guardsman 2092’ in
script. Thanks to Mike for pointing this out. There would have been little
point in illustrating a blank white label! In fact, Joe Moore had supplied a
scan of an Aco (?) test of Joe Candullo,
seen here, with an original titling slip, but this was somehow passed over. Again
the band name has been written on later, probably by Joe.
8. ‘Melody Record’. Illustration facing page 153. Frank Andrews
points out that the Melody Records were derived from Guardsman masters
specially recorded for Morgan & Scott. These Melody Records first appeared
in December 1918. Only later did the masters appear on Guardsman itself – e.g.
the side shown was on Guardsman 1048, issued around the end of 1920.
9. 883: JACK CHARMAN
1526-X I’m Going Back To The Girl I Left Behind
(P Bernard)
1527-X K-K-K-Katy (H O’Hara)
Composer
credits courtesy Eddie Dunn, from a black-label copy.
10. The Chantal label facing page 153 should be credited to Dr.
Rainer Lotz.
11. 769: NATIONAL CITIZEN ORCHESTRA
799-X A Watteau
Picture (Laurence Sturdy)
801-X Tristesse d’Amour (A Tellier)
12. 787: EDGAR OSBORNE Tenor w orch
1250-X Smoke Clouds (Herman Darewksi)
1253-X Waiting (When I hear the gate a-swinging)
(Leo Croke)
13. 705: H. M. SCOTS GUARDS BAND
1015-X Peer Gynt Suite
(Grieg) Part 1: Morning
1018-X Peer Gynt Suite
(Grieg) Part 2: The Death Of Ase
14. 706: ARCADIAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
1017-X Peer Gynt Suite
(Grieg) Part 3: Anitra’s
Dance
1016-X Peer Gynt Suite
(Grieg) Part 4: Dance Of The Imps In The Hall Of The
Mountain King.
Both the
above courtesy of Derek Pain. There was some confusion about the couplings of
these 2 discs, which now seems resolved. Still, a different band credit has turned up.
It is likely that the pair may be found with either credit. Presumably the
Arcadian credit came first; both discs
are credited to the Scots Guards in the 1920 catalogue.
15. Many
masters are given an –X suffix. This is purely for convenience; it is not a
suffix as such. The X actually appears under the master number, as illustrated
here. It probably simply denotes that the master was made for the Invicta Record Co. (=Guardsman). It only appears in stylo in the wax—in between the groove & the label as
here, or under the label. Only the number appears on the label, not the X. This
probably accounts for the erratic appearance of the X in the listing. Many
numbers will simply have been reported from the labels. A very few examples are
known with the number in type. These will presumably be recordings brought in
as metalwork, which cannot be written on with a stylo.
16.
Though we were able to illustrate a German Invicta
record in the listing, it never occurred to us to try to find a Berolina disc. Happily, one has turned up - and turns out
to be part of a reciprocal arrangement that must have existed. This record of
‘Temptation Rag’ and its other side ‘Policeman’s
17. Michael Aylward was somehow omitted
from the list of contributors. I apologise for this
serious error, which will be rectified in any reprint.
18. 1982:
G-489 Old Comrades - march (Teike) c.12-23
GA-7497 National Emblem - march
(Bagley) c.
08-21
(1)
Probably Aco G-15318 Royal Artillery Band (2) Gnt 4734 Knights of Columbus Band (mx
7497-A)
19. Mike Comber kindly reports the 12” Guardsman 2136. This is
fully 21 numbers after the highest in the book, 2115. It only underlines how
little is known of the 12” issues!
2136 (12”)
1663-X Peace Perfect Peace (- - -)
1664-X Saved By Grace (- - -)
Complete
to 19th November 2010.