Scans of British 78 rpm record labels.

 

 

All of us 78 rpm record fans enjoy, above all, listening to our discs, right? But it is also interesting, sometimes, just to look at the labels of 78s, be they common, or – better still! – rare!

 

Below are links to .jpgs of several hundred labels. Alas, many of them are in very poor condition. This is because (a) the only example of a label I have is in bad shape; (b) earlier scans I made were with an old scanner, not very good. Or both. And probably I don’t have the records any longer, so a better scan cannot be made. But still: a faded, dilapidated scan of a rarity like a ‘Neptune Record’ is better than no scan at all?

 

The noted discographer Dr. Rainer Lotz of Germany, advised me several years ago (when this page was first started), to adopt ‘the broad approach’ to what constituted a ‘British’ record. I was very happy to adopt his wise counsel, as he set it out in his superb “Discography” ‘German Ragtime’ (Storyville, 1985). I quote from Rainer’s introduction, only changing ‘Germany’ to ‘Britain’:

 

“… this [web-page] deals not only with items actually recorded in Britain, but also with:

 

- all items manufactured in Britain irrespective of the country of recording;

- all items manufactured in Britain irrespective of the country of destination, i.e. even series made exclusively for export;

- all items which, although recorded in Britain, have never been available on media made in Britain.”

 

To which I can add very little, except: - all items that were sold in Britain, even though they were recorded & manufactured elsewhere. E.g. the single-sided Imperial discs and Edison Diamond Discs, both of which were recorded & manufactured in the U.S.A. and then imported to this country.

 

Ironically, these two special cases are by an incalculable margin outweighed by the number of records that were recorded and pressed in Germany, and imported to Britain during the “European-based Gramophone Boom”, which occurred about 1908 – 1914. This period is of great interest to many enthusiasts, and no apology is made for their predominance here. Literally hundreds of labels are to be found in this short but fascinating time period!

 

Accordingly, no especial attempt is made here to illustrate labels much after the mid-1930s, and hardly at all for those existing after World War II (1939-1945). In any case, these are very well covered by many websites.

 

(Still, a number of exceptions exist below which violate the above rules… hopefully these will gradually be rectified, and assigned to the ‘World Wide Labels’ web-page. Also, many of the descriptions should have been revised as another example of the label was added, but I had to give up on that one as ‘painting the Forth Bridge’, sorry!)

 

CAUTION! Unless otherwise credited, all dates, attributions and opinions are those of the author, and may be incorrect. Also, I have made every attempt to give proper credit to the kind and generous people who have donated scans for use on this website; and also to those have made comments & clarifications on my often muddled notes. If I have made any error or omission, please let me know, and I will correct the entry as soon as possible. Thank you all very much!

 

When new labels are added (including world-wide ones), they are added here, at the top of the list, printed in dark green; this saves you having to trawl through the whole lot to find the new ones. After some time, they are shifted to their correct page and alphabetical position.

 

British Labels A - I.

 

ACO G-15650                                    A cheaper label manufactured by Vocalion (Aeolian COmpany); it was around from about 1922 to 1927. The label is very nice, a kind of ‘inverse design’ of the basic Vocalion label. Earlier issues used the smaller size label (nominally 3” (7.5cm)) but later the larger (3.5” (8.9cm) size was used, this illustration being one such. By courtesy of Dave Parsons).

 

Actuelle 11280                                  British Actuelle began about 1920 and finished in 1928. The ‘popular’ catalogue series began as such at the very ‘binary-looking number’ of 10101; apparently 10100 was a dealer promotion disc. There were about 1,200 issues in this series! None, of course, could ever be described as common; quite a few of the Jazz items are only known by one or two copies! Just seeing any Actuelle in a junk-pile used to ‘make the day’ for us is the days when there were such things!

 

Actuelle 11349                                  A British Actuelle of 1926. The combination of pink, green and gold filigree makes them hard to scan.

 

Actuelle 15167                                  Just to underline the perversity of this label, here is a British dance band recording dating from about 1923, but in the 15000 series. The diameter of this record is 11.25” (28.6cm). Don’t ask me what diameter any other 15000s are: this is the only one I’ve ever found in nearly 50 years of messing around with 78s!

 

Aerial B-3                                          An incredible rarity. Akin to the first thin unbreakable Duophones of 1927 (see below), these were produced by that same company; but who for, or where they were to be sold, is unknown. Only a handful are known. By courtesy of Arthur Badrock. On 29th June 2004, Eddie Shaw kindly pointed out that I have inadvertently quoted the matrix number (U-2128) as a catalogue number! The cat. no. is in fact B-3, and the link has been amended accordingly.

 

Aerona 187                                        These were manufactured for sale in Australia. The ‘DC’ master prefix indicates that they are a (British) Crystalate product, 7” (18cm) diameter, and closely related to Victory, q.v. (as Rust says…) below; and dating from around 1928. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.  

 

Albion 1112B                                    Gramophone Boom.

 

Apollo 20                                            Gramophone Boom

 

Ariel K-312                                        Gramophone Boom. A different series to those shown below. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Ariel 40337                                        Gramophone Boom. Sold by Graves, a department store in Sheffield that did mail order: a kind of micro-Sears Roebuck. Mind you, the label carried on until about 1936!

 

Ariel 14423                                        Gramophone Boom. A smaller size label of a good cakewalk tune.

 

Ariel 337                                            Here’s an amazing Ariel! I’ve seen scores – probably hundreds – of Ariels over the past forty-odd years. ALL of them had brown labels with gold printing, substantially the same label design. They were around from maybe 1912 to 1937. But here is a BLUE Ariel, with a different sort of label. The title indicates that it belongs to c. 1919. It looks as though it’s pasted over something else… A great oddity. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Ariel 3557                                          I had not been sure that Ariel continued through the 1914-18 War, but this record seemed to prove it. By this issue, they were being produced for Graves by the Zonophone wing of HMV. The master of this side is y20535e (I think: it was hard to read, but certainly y20xxxe) which would give a date in late 1916. Their label, as you will see, was to remain pretty constant over the years. However, it does not necessarily mean that a disc bearing a 1916 master was issued in that year, of course! More information is necessary!

 

Ariel Z4494                                       Also issued on a Parlophone R500 series, this roughly 1930 Ariel bears masters recorded in Australia, an A200 series. British Parlophone masters were in an E four figure series. Ariel continued until 1936, still being pressed by Parlophone. The appearance of an Ariel with a ‘modern’ eccentric run-off groove is quite disconcerting, on the rare occasions on which the later discs turn up!

Ariel 4392                                          There are already a lot of Ariel labels up here, but what the heck. This is the Joe Venuti OKeh, and as they were produced by Columbia at the time, the laminated pressings are really good; almost as good as the music, actually.

 

Arrow A-53                                        Gramophone Boom. On 9th August 2006, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: This is from Beka 555 (matrix 41597), rev; from Beka 526 (matrix 41529) (from Frank Andrews).

 

Arrow A-137                                      Gramophone Boom. A different colour to the scan already here.

 

Beatall 373                                        Gramophone Boom.

 

Beka 48                                              Gramophone Boom.

 

Beka Grand 676                               The Gramophone Boom. The German company Beka ended up being established in Britain in its own right. Having British managers and directors, they even survived well into the Great War, but finally were taken over following an Act of Parliament which outlawed ‘Trading with the enemy’. This disc, however, is well pre-war; about 1912. By courtesy of Dave Parsons. On 9th August 2006, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: This was issued April 1913 (from Frank Andrews).

 

Beka Grand 708                               The Gramophone Boom. This Beka, contrary to 676 shown nearby, claims to be of All British manufacture. True? Who knows! By courtesy of Dave Parsons. On 9th August 2006, Williams Dean-Myatt kindly commented: This was issued June 1913 (from Frank Andrews)  Only he would know whether this is really all British.

 

Belcanto 5131                                   Gramophone Boom.

 

Belcanto 5326                                   Gramophone Boom. It’s the same design, but one can’t really have too many of these beautiful labels, can one?

 

Bell Disc 6                                         This is an Edison Bell product, not a German stencil. C.1910

 

Bell Disc 233                                     This one is later: green with gold lettering.

 

Bell Disc 488                                     By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Beltona 120                                       This is the very rare ‘first incarnation’ of the Beltona label, William Dean-Myatt has kindly provided the following details as well as this scan. (Incidentally I would mention here that one of Bill’s major discographical projects has been on the Beltona label – which has an unusually complex history. See his website for more details: www.beltonaproject.co.uk ) Bill only knows of three examples of this label:

 

                                                                             “THE BURLINGTON OCTETTE”

                                                            113          3038 Whispering

                                                            3041        You Made Me Happy For A While

                                                                             (Both these sides are on Popular P-1114)

 

                                                                             “STAR” HARMONISERS (as shown here)

                                                            120          3078 Borneo

                                                                             I’d Love To Fall Asleep And Wake Up In My Mammy’s Arms

                                                                             (Both these sides are on Popular P-1135 as ‘Premier Hamonists’)

 

                                                                             BILLY WHITLOCK, xylophone or bells

                                                            150          728x On The Lake

                                                                             614x Fairy Kisses

                                                                             Side 1 from Aco G-15090 (C-325) via Guardsman 575 (as Fred White)

                                                                             Side 2 from Aco G-15106 (C-338) via Guardsman 664 (as Fred White)                

 

                                                            Bill goes on to say: “I think the material on the first two records was made about 1920/21, whilst the material on the third was recorded about 1915/16 (I don’t know much about dating these). As I said, after the most extensive research into the Beltona label (I’ve reconstructed the entire catalog of some 3000 x 78s) I still can’t find out anything about what market these Beltonas were intended for. With one turning up in Australia (120 belongs to Don Taylor in Tasmania), one in France and one in Britain, it’s hard to know where they were sold. I know that John G. Murdoch & Co. Ltd., to whom the label belonged, had had an agent in Australia since the 1880s, but extensive enquiries have failed to reveal any further information. It’s hard to believe that 50 (let alone 150) issues were made – where are they all?” By courtesy of Don Taylor and William Dean-Myatt.    

 

Beltona 666                                       Like Coliseum, this was a Vocalion-produced label. It began at 101 around 1922 but then has a red-and-cream colour scheme. These colours were soon abandoned, and the ‘familiar’ greeny label appeared. I put ‘familiar’ in quotes because much as we would like to keep finding Beltona records, they are consistently scarce! Later in the 1920s the label passed from the province of Vocalion to Edison Bell, with at least one label re-design. During its Edison Bell tenure it was transmuted into a vessel for Scottish material. From thence it proceeded to Decca (~1934) and carried on with its Scottish connection right up until the end of 78s in 1959! (And doubtless beyond…)

 

Beltona 1541                                     When labels are unusual – or simply look very nice! – we can’t resist having more than one example, so here is another gorgeous red, gold and white label from the period when Beltona were pressed by Edison Bell. Circa 1931. By courtesy of Danny Letham. On 14th July 2004, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: Bob Smith. Recorded Peckham, April 1930.  This record was reputed to have sold 60,000 copies. Certainly it is one of the easiest Beltonas to find.  It must have amused the purchasers as every copy I've ever seen has been played to death

 

Beltona 1607                                     This isn’t your ‘common-or-garden’ Beltona; not at all; it’s from a very rare period around 1931 when Beltona records were produced by Edison Bell., and producing solely Scottish material (which it continued to do for at least another 25 years…) This record would have – indeed has had – collectors of very rare British Dance Bands drooling! You almost never see Beltona records with catalogue numbers over 1,000! On 27-04-03 Bill Dean-Myatt kindly added that Bob Smith played drums, banjo and hammered dulcimer. He was born in Hamilton, Scotland on 13th April 1885. He ran local dance bands and recorded extensively for Beltona. Fram at east 1933 until 1947 he had a shop that sold bicycles, photographic information and gramophone records. He died Glasgow, 19th March 1947.

 

Beltona 1761                                     A label re-design, and a much smaller size of label, as the centre hole shows. But still, I think, in the Edison Bell Period. By courtesy of Danny Letham. On 14th July 2004, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented:  James Hiddlestone, .  Recorded Peckham 15/16 October 1931.  He was a railwayman from Rutherglen, Glasgow, who had won prizes in several mouth-organ competitions

 

Beltona 1841                                     Another similar one. By courtesy of Danny Letham. On 14th July 2004, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented:  Harry Gordon & Jack Holden. Recorded Peckham, February 1932.  Gordon from Aberdeen (1893-1957) recorded 160 sides for Beltona (He also recorded for Actuelle & Parlophone) and was their best selling pre-war artist.  As popular in Scotland, if not more so, as Fyffe and Lauder.  Jack Holden (1893-1955) was Gordon's usual straight man, but was actually a 'serious' actor.  (I know lots about Gordon)

 

Beltona 2111                                     For all that these Scottish records are hard to find, they certainly kept up a good flow of issues: the catalogue numbers are marching on quite quickly. This one may now be from the early part of the Decca period. Decca took over Edison Bell in 1933. By courtesy of Danny Letham. On 14th July 2004, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: Robert Reid (1895-1965). Recorded Edinburgh, late 1933/early 1934.One of the great pipers of the 20th. Century.  Won dozens of prizes for his piping. Had a very adventurous lst. World War in the Highland Light Infantry, and was a Sergeant Major with the Royal Artillery in W.W.II. (I know much more about Reid)

 

Beltona BL-2396                              Now a BL- prefix has arrived, and quite a large jump in time… The copyright legend includes a reference to ‘copying’; this wording did not appear, I believe, until after 1945. Before then, the ability – of the general public at any rate  - to copy records was virtually unknown. By courtesy of Danny Letham. On 14th July 2004, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: Jimmy Shand. Recorded London, Jan/Feb 1939

 

Beltona BL-6184-a                          

 

Beltona BL-6184-b                            Danny Letham kindly sent both sides of this disc as they are printed in different colours, and only the ‘B’ side actually carries the suffix! Decca master numbers at around DR-12100 would indicate a date of ~1948. This ‘new’ 6000 series was presumably reserved for Scottish Country Dance material. By courtesy of Danny Letham. On 14th July 2004, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: Tim Wright. Recorded London, 5th. April 1948. He died in 1960

 

                                                            On 14th July 2004, William Dean-Myatt also made the general comment:  Beltona records belonged to John G. Murdoch & Co. Ltd. Their first contract recording company was Vocalion, the Edison Bell Winner.  When Winner went bankrupt they were succeeded in quick succession by three different outfits, but about July/August 1933 the recording and pressings was taken over by the Crystalate Company who were, in turn, taken over by Decca in March 1937.  Decca continued with the recording and pressing until February 1941 when Murdochs got into financial trouble and passed the trade name over to Decca who carried on with the recording and pressing until the labels end. The BL prefix was introduced at BL-2446 and BL-6182 at the end of 1941, any earlier records that were re-pressed had the prefix added.  Its all a bit more complicated than this of course, but there's a limited to how much info' the layman wants.

 

                                                            If you have any Beltona records, and would like to help William Dean-Myatt with his project, please check out Bills’ website! There, apart from much more information on this fascinating label, you’ll find a list of Beltona numbers for which Bill still needs some information. If you have any of these, even just one, please email Bill with the details he requires. Many thanks! Email Bill via: www.beltonaproject.co.uk

 

Besttone 167                                     Gramophone Boom. What is the significance of ‘Rifanco Brand’ and ‘Marble Brand’? Another of these inscrutable 1910-1914 labels. It’s rare though; I’ve never found one after nearly 50 years.

 

Beta 360                                            These were made (rather obviously) for export to Australia by Edison Bell. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Bob 288                                              “A rare Scots label from before 1914. George “Pamby” Dick (1864-1942) of Edinburgh was one of the best Scottish melodeon players. This particular item used masters produced by the German ISI Company in March 1913; it was also issued on the American label “Symphony Concert Record”, which was a rare thing. They issued items recorded in London by a Scottish artist, which were pressed in Germany and shipped to the States to be sold for $1. These masters also appeared in Britain on Invicta.” Scan and comments by courtesy of William Dean-Myatt.

Bouwmeester 474                            Dating from about 1923, this British made record was presumably made for sale in the Netherlands. Its British equivalent is probably the quite rare Scala-Ideal record. The label has a slightly different design and colours, but the underlying concept is the same. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

BRC B-146                                        This is a new label to us. It has the ‘look of the early 1930s’ and of British Homophone… can anyone help with more info., please? By courtesy of Mike Jones. On 9th August 2006, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented:  I have one of these, BILLY COTTON AND HIS BAND:

R-3450      I promise you               B.R.C. B-103

R-3451     I have eyes                    B.R.C. B-103

This comes from Rex 9529 recorded 3rd. April 1939. Also, Steven Walker kindly commented that this was by far the highest catalogue number he had ever seen. And that, as usual, very obscure labels, thought only to have existed briefly, can still surprise us by producing catalogue numbers far beyond those we expected! Anyhow, I was way out in my estimate of early 30s… (NF).

 

Britannic 5372                                  This is the proud precursor of the other style of Britannic as shown below. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Britannic 2330                                  Gramophone Boom.

 

Britannic 115                                    Gramophone Boom.         

 

Britannic 1212                                  Gramophone Boom. I left the original bad scan here because the implication is, that if there were catalogue numbers like 115, 1212 and 2330 in use on what is essentially the same label, are we to believe that over TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED Britannic records were issued in their own short period? This cannot possibly be the case, surely. More likely is that blocks of numbers were used for different kinds of repertoire.

 

Brunswick 2438                                This will be a ‘short survey’ of Brunswick popular issues in Britain! The earliest Brunswick issues are extremely rare! I have never ever found one. They bore the same catalogue numbers as their American counterparts, but it is inconceivable that every U.S. Brunswick was issued here. This is a really ‘sober’ design, but beautiful in its austere dignity! 1923.

 

Brunswick 3215                                This is the second type of Brunswick Cliftophone label. The origin of the word Cliftophone is not known to me. John Hobbs of Nottingham has suggested that a well-known gramophone shop in Clifton Street, Nottingham, gave this name to a type of machine it produced or designed, which was taken up, possibly by Chappells, and manufactured as the Cliftophone. In these machines, the sound-box was mounted at a shallow angle to the record, and arranged rather like that for a hill-and-dale record. The machines are rare and so command good prices when they appear. Incidentally, all early Brunswicks were pressed at the British Pathe factory! 1926 (these dates are fairly approximate, by the way!)

 

Brunswick 15061                             All through the 1920s Brunswick produced a de-luxe range of usually gold-label records, but sales seem always to have been minimal Here is an early-ish Cliftophone (recorded in late 1923) of Claire Dux. What a lovely label! The thin edge of red must have made it very difficult to punch out the labels, and indeed on the other side of this disc the red line is badly broken. But the whole effect is one of luxury… 

 

Brunswick 3039                                There eventually appeared the ‘shield’ label, which in Britain was only ever small as opposed to the U.S.A. where it was large at first. Indeed, they stayed large in continental Europe until around 1934! Actually, there is an exception to every rule, and I have seen a large-shield British(?) Brunswick which had a very strange catalogue number: something like 5-1017, where the 1000 number was an American Vocalion Race Series number… but the more I think about that sort of thing, the more I think I may have dreamed it! Can anyone help? Perhaps it was some highly esoteric custom pressing? Also, note that the record illustrated here is a re-pressing of one which would originally have been a Cliftophone. It is indeed reassuring to see that such was the demand in England for records by the Original Memphis Five that re-pressings were necessary! (Pressing circa 1927?)

 

Brunswick 147                                  Hitherto, all issues on British Brunswick were of American origin. However, the redoubtable Fred Elizalde made practically all his important records for Brunswick, and the modestly-numbered ‘100’ series contains many superb gems by this much-neglected musician. Note that the star visiting Americans are credited on the label; possibly Brunswick copied this from Parlophone. In any event, fairly consistent label credits to band members seems to me to have originated in Britain. 1928.

 

Brunswick 1068                                Brunswick fell apart here (probably more than once), but was re-floated and began again at 1000. We now have 4 scans of the same record (Duke Ellington’s ‘Mood Indigo’) which we will also use as an illustration of the appearance of the ‘O’ prefix, which has occasionally given rise to confusion. This label is an early pressing: the catalogue number appears at the bottom of the label, where it always had done with the shield label. This is ‘Mood Indigo’ with its original titling.

 

Brunswick 1068                                Off at a tangent, the pressing is later: the catalogue number is to the right of the centre-hole. Moreover, the band credit has been made correct. However, the song still retains it old title! (Sorry that this label and the next are in black and white… I photographed them many years ago using 35mm orthochromatic film, when the luxury of scanners – let alone computers! – was but a wild fantasy!)

 

Brunswick 1068                                Aha! Now, both band and tune have the correct title!

 

Brunswick 1068                                Finally, on a horribly-printed (and ineptly-scanned!) post-WW2 label, the issue with the ‘O’ prefix. Well, from 1931 the issues had come thick and fast, and the 1000 series notched itself up quickly. By April 1933 it had already reached 1499. (This information by courtesy of Malcolm Rockwell, via the 78-list). At this time Brunswick became part of Decca and an ‘O’ prefix was then adopted. Whether this was the letter O or the figure 0 (zero) is known, but I’ve forgotten which it is. (I am reminded of what used to be a standard British Data Book on valves (tubes), which remarked forlornly in its preface: ‘Often, with valve types that begin with O or 0, it is not possible to determine which is intended... therefore all are listed together....’) Anyhow, when records prior to 1500 were listed in the catalogue, and hopefully, orders for them flooded in requiring re-pressings, the O was retrospectively added. Thinking about it, this must remain a fairly unusual occurrence for a record label. There must be many instances where there is actually no record such as, say, O1303. If nobody bought any more after the first run and it was never re-pressed, there actually exist only copies of Brunswick 1303, assuming, of course, that there are any copies of it left at all. Accordingly, as Brian Rust always lists British Brunswick 1000-onwards  with an ‘O’ prefix (doubtless to help distinguish them from the many other (and, alas,  frequently much better-pressed) sorts of Brunswick), he is quite possibly listing records that do not exist. (However, nobody in their right mind would complain at this exceedingly trivial infraction: after all, without Rust, lots of us would know far less about 78s that we do!) Oh: the labels scans! Sorry; I was starting to drift off into rambling…

 

Brunswick 1234                                Just to show another illustration of O and non-O records, consider these two. The first is exceedingly rare, and I count myself lucky to own it. Moreover, this very copy of it was claimed by its vendor (to whom I would entrust my life), as having once been the property of Jack Hylton. Greatly as I admire the work of Jack Hylton down the decades, I find it difficult to detect much of the influence of Jimmie Noone in his music. Perhaps the relevant sides remain unissued.... Anyhow, if somebody will show me a copy of this one labelled O1234, I will buy them several pints of best bitter.

 

Brunswick 1235                                While right next door, so to speak, is a record that survived all vicissitudes and was deservedly re-pressed many times until the 1950s, which is when I bought it new ‘over the counter’. Hence such records bear their endorsement of ‘O’ as a badge of Long Service!

 

Brunswick RL283                            In the meantime, Brunswick had become part of Decca, (a cheap label buying up an expensive one (Brunswick had always sold at top-price) a reversal of former procedures…) But, in the face of the mid-1930s depression, and probably in the wake of EMI introducing the cheaper HMV BD series, the Columbia FB series and the Parlophone F series, Decca introduced (gasp!) a cheap Brunswick record! Like those series named above, it had a red-based label but unlike the deep red-maroon of HMV or the plum of the FB and F series, the cheap Brunswick had a defiant sort of scarlet red colour. In the event, it might as well have been chartreuse or eau-de-nil, because they are really very hard to find! There is even the fabulous ‘accidental issue’ of a Ted Lewis master on RL Brunswick, that was rejected because of a fantastic ‘wow’ fault on the master. Somehow, we understand, it slipped out over here on RL Brunswick, so the fanatical Ted Lewis collectors are compelled to search for this abomination, of which probably only a few dozen copies were ever pressed, but which still counts as ‘an issue’!

 

Brunswick 02200                             The shield label held sway well into the 1950s. Indeed, I am reliably informed that early pressings of Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’ actually appeared on the shield label, though I have never seen one. I have, of course, seen many dozens of copies of that record on the ‘modernised’ Brunswick label… But I choose to illustrate that last Brunswick popular series label with an ‘out-of period’ record. Namely, King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band’s ‘Dipper Mouth Blues’ from Gennett, recorded in 1923 and dubbed by American Decca and issued here in the mid-1930s. It was still available virtually up to the end of 78s in this country. Not a bad life-span for a record! (See an advert for this set in the entry for Brunswick 02501 below.)

 

Brunswick 02501                             1936 was a pivotal year for the enthusiasts of Classic Jazz. Various important articles appeared in magazines; the book ‘Rhythm On Record’ – the first attempt at a Dance/Jazz discography in Britain – appeared. In the U.S.A. Victor issued the superb 7-disc Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Album. Decca got its American counterpart to find and transfer early Gennett recordings by King Oliver, The New Orleans Rhythm Kings and The Wolverines. These were issued only in Britain in the first instance. Click here to see an advert. for them from ‘Rhythm On Record’. These reissues were extremely successful, and Brunswick carried on with an album ‘21 Years of Swing Music’. This scan is one of the discs from that album, which bears yet another Wolverines side.

 

Bull Dog 505                                     Great War period. Hard to date in the absence of lists, we often have to fall back on the repertoire for clues. Even this is of little help if it’s standard material, e.g. Mendelssohn’s ‘Spring Song’! But popular songs can be useful, provided we know their dates. Alas, ‘Frisky Old Herbert’, as sung by Billy Whitlock on this particular ‘incarnation’ of Bull Dog (there are at least three..) is not much help. Perhaps a clue lies in the colour of the paper used for the label! Check this one, then compare with this Lyceum record. Just maybe they were produced in the same factory around the same time? We still don’t really know when that time was, though. But often tiny clues like this will give us an insight as to how to proceed with our investigations, just as archaeologists use potsherds and coins to date sites. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Bull Dog 513                                     Just post-Gramophone Boom British label, during WW1. By courtesy of Arthur Badrock.

 

Bull Dog 528                                     Strangely, Bulldog seems to have suddenly abandoned the use of paper labels. Certainly, during the Great War economies in the printing of labels was practiced. To abandon the label altogether, then, was a stroke of inspiration! One cannot help admire the patient work of the engraver. Surely he didn’t work on the wax master itself; he must have use a combination of stamps, cast impressions and so on. I have never seen any writings on how this sort of ‘label’ was made.

 

Bull Dog 583                                     Here is an etched ‘label’, but this time infilled in white instead of red, as seen elsewhere. By courtesy of Arthur Badrock.

 

Bull Dog 631                                     Bright and cheerful is this label in orange and dark blue. Perhaps this represents the end of the Great War? Composer Melville Gideon came over as pianist with the American Ragtime Octette before the War. By courtesy of Arthur Badrock.

 

Bull Dog 672                                     We are actually into circa 1920 here. The label has become a drab green and grey. Bull Dog is fascinating because it is one of the minor labels that seem to have run through the 1914-18 war period, and survived for some time afterwards.  Therefore it is an important label for the transitional period of ragtime into Jazz, 1918 – 1920. A complete listing of Bull Dogs, especially towards the end, would be very interesting indeed! By courtesy of Arthur Badrock.

 

Butterfly P-299                                 We’re back into the 1912 ‘Gramophone Boom’ era with this one, which is a ‘Popular’ record, not-very-subtly disguised by the over-stuck Butterfly label. I once saw this same ‘Butterfly’ sticker over an early 1920s blue Imperial label. It’s hard to guess what ‘Registered – Express – Reserve Stock’ actually means, but it definitely sounds impressive! I imagine somebody just bought up remainder records and stuck the Butterfly stickers on them. But if my Imperial was a ‘proper’ Butterfly record, then the Butterfly guy was active for around 10 years; we can only hope he at least made a few quid! By the way, I found this Butterfly record on Phil Pospychala’s stall at his Centenary ‘Bix Bash’ at Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.A., in late February 2003. I wondered how this piece of British discographical incunabula might have got to North America, and asked on the 78-list. It turned out that Malcolm Shaw had found a couple of this sort of Butterfly records in Wyoming, and someone else knew of one that turned up even further west, in Washington State if I remember correctly! Amazing. There are other ‘Populars’ in their right place on this page. Like Bull Dog, that label survived, vaguely anachronistic, until about 1922 or even 1923…

 

Celebrity 4390                                  An extremely rare British label, circa 1930. I have only ever seen one of these. They seem to have drawn from Dominion (q.v.) masters. A major find, one of these! It is rumoured that certain Len Fillis Hawaiian sides with vocals by Al. Bowlly only appeared on Celebrity. Alas! for Bowlly collectors; you have our deepest sympathy! By courtesy of Mike Hart.

 

Champion G140                               Gramophone Boom. A Label of Gamage’s – a famous department store in London. Later they had a label just called Gamage – see below.

 

Chappell 12                                       By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Chappell 16                                       Gramophone Boom.

 

Chappell B3                                      Gramophone Boom.

 

Cinch 5090                                        A product of the Gramophone Co (i.e. H.M.V.), in reaction to the floods of low-price records. This one seems to use an existing Zonophone master, but they recorded hundreds of new sides to launch Cinch. C.1913.

 

Cinecord 014                                     This short-lived label dates from the early mid-1930s. Though the discs were 10” in size, the labels were quite small. I believe they were produced by British Homophone.

 

Clarion 108                                       This was a British Cylinder company. They produced both vertical and lateral cut discs. It is believed they continued to produce 2-minute cylinders as late as 1923!

Clarion 135                                       Clarion was a cylinder company, who sensibly diversified into discs, using at first the phono cut & then going on to lateral cut. The lovely labels of their discs were an adaptation of the design of their cylinder boxes. Come to think of it, was that a ‘first’ for Clarion? At any rate, the discs soon folded, and Clarion discs to this day must be far outweighed by the number of Clarion cylinders that still exist in collections. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. On 9th August 2006, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: I think the masters for these emanated with Popular/Grammavox.

 

Coliseum 430b                                  Gramophone Boom.

 

Coliseum 386                                    The Gramophone Boom. Alas, green and gold labels are hard to scan: this should be a dark green.

 

Coliseum 1847                                  Coliseum was a label that began pre-WW1, and was revived in the early 1920s. It was then produced by the Vocalion group, and is thus allied to 1920s ACO, Guardsman, Homochord, Beltona etc. They existed in this form between about 1922 and 1928. This master, because the label has a G. series (control number), is probably from American Vocalion. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Coliseum 1992                                  Not long before the label vanished, it underwent a colour change as shown here. From 2 shades of blue it went to a sort of russet and pink. Very nice, but it didn’t stop the label going away. These of course were lovely records to find in the 50s & 60s, because then nobody had sorted out properly what was on them, and you might find an Original Memphis Five, or even a Fletcher Henderson! (I never did, though!) The C-###-E format of the master indicates a British Vocalion Electrical recording. (The acoustic series C- prefix was ‘vested’in ACO, and ran to around C-8000 before beginning again at C-1-E in August 1926).

 

Columbia Test                                  Black label and green label American Columbia discs were imported into this country before they were pressed here. This test label is of that early period. C.1905-6. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

Columbia 1241

Columbia 1242                                 As yet, we have not attempted to systematically document the Columbia label in Britain. Here are couple of early-ish discs, which may form the nucleus of a complete set. Though this and the following disc are numbered consecutively, they have different labels. The early history of Columbia in Britain is fairly complex – I for one freely admit I have little grasp of it – but it involved Columbia apparently ‘retrogressing’ into Rena records, then re-emerging. 1241 is a Rena ‘Double Face’ record, while 1242 is a ‘Columbia-Rena’ record. The one thing I do know, is that this so-called 4-part minstrel show is a fake! It is nothing but a re-hash of four earlier single sided records. Otherwise, there would not be the announcement: ‘Gentlemen! The Introductory Overture!’ on each side. They appeared about 1910. Still, I was very pleased to find these discs in fine condition, as some of them seem to date to as early as 1903.

 

Columbia CB-72                               Many labels carried on into the Depression just as before, hoping it would soon end. Columbia in particular continued to produce beautifully pressed, well recorded discs. This is a smaller label, and dates from 1930-1; it’s also from the time when they indicated the tempo of the record. 42 bars per minute in this case.

 

Columbia D-7379                             An Austrian issue probably from around 1910-12. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Columbia DH-32                              This design of label (the frame shape, that it…) started during WW1 and was retained afterwards until about 1920-21 in the U.K. There aren’t many ‘Christmas label’ discs, come to think about it. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Columbia U-101                               A kind of  ‘custom pressing’ for a music store or supply company in the Netherlands. I’d guess a date of ~1911 for this. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. On 29th June 2004 Al Simmons kindly commented: …sez in Dutch...... Distributed by the Netherlands Association of Musical Instrument Dealers Association Record  (Bond Plaat)  (Dutch Bond not like German Bund) "Old Dutch Childrens Songs" 

 

Columbia                                           A demonstration disc made at the time of the re-launch of the Savoy Orpheans, about 1931. By courtesy of Dave Parsons.

 

Columbia 5282                                 A standard British Columbia of 1927. Len Fillis was a South African who played banjo, guitar and Hawaiian guitar. He was considered to be ‘the man’ for ‘hot’ bands, and played for some time with Fred Elizalde and his Orchestra at the Savoy Hotel in 1928. (Please, NOT Fred Elizalde’s Anglo-American orchestra: that, while being a description of it (to some extent) was not what it was actually called).

 

Columbia 9572                                 This is the standard 12” (30cm) Columbia series for most of the 1920s. The superb concert arrangement of ‘Sweet Sue’ by Paul Whiteman, which features a Bix Beiderbecke cornet solo of awesome poise and authority did not, unfortunately, sell well here. Indeed, this copy of the British disc was evidently exported to, and sold in, France, as the copyright stamp attests.

 

Columbia S-10003                           In late 1949 and early 1950, a series of about 14 Japanese Columbias were issued, headlined: ‘History Of Jazz’. The reverse of this Bix Beiderbecke item is ‘Potato Head Blues’ by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Seven. A magnificent coupling, if ever there was one! Unfortunately, both sides are dubbed – rather fuzzily – and the material in which the record is pressed is rather noisy, so the disc is more of an interesting curio than a Prime Source of these sides. (Info. courtesy of Julian Vein).

 

Columbia 19009                               Made in Britain for export, obviously…. But not sure to where! Looks circa 1929. On 1st April 2004 Kevin Yandell told us that this side also appeared on Australian Columbia 0774.

 

Columbia D-15552                           Ah! Now you tell us, please, where this label comes from? Hungary, maybe? I wonder what the ‘Splendid Jazz Band’ sounded like! Dating these exotic labels is a dangerous business: it looks very 1927 to me, but that’s only in relation to a British Columbia! By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. On 15th November 2002 Mike Harkin of Plovdiv agreed that this appeared to be a Hungarian issue. He has dated the master (H-1459) provisionally to Jan – July 1927, using Peter Copeland’s dating guide (which is a new work to me! Sounds great!)

 

Columbia D-34022                           Ditto….but more like 1929! By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. Again, on 15th November 2002, Mike Harkin of Plovdiv offered to date this master: Mike thinks it’s Vietnamese, and states that if so, the highest master number in Peter Copeland’s work is 64683, Dec 1928. The master of this side, however, at 64734, must be a little later…

 

Columbia D-6230(a)

Columbia D-6230(b)                        Here’s a coupling of the French and Belgian National Anthems… but it’s strange to me in that the label design looks very 1930s, but the label clearly states ‘Speed 80’; can anybody date and place the L300 series masters? By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. On 15th November 20002, Mike Harkin of Plovdiv kindly quoted a recording date of January to July 1927 for this item, which would accord with the 80 rpm speed, while this issue (or pressing) is indeed some years later.

 

Columbia DB-1351                          Here’s an interesting later Layton & Johnstone record. It’s presumably been broadcast from Radio Lyons; one of the French commercial stations that transmitted sponsored programmes intended for reception in Britain. Preservene is – or was – a brand of soap. The date looks like 8-9-37…

 

Columbia DB-1883                          This is the normal, standard British Columbia label for issues from the mid-1930s to nearly the end of 78s. Except that in this example, the Western Brothers have the singular distinction (afforded to hardly anybody else) of their own ‘logo’ (a school or college tie) superimposed on the label. The record is evidently concerned with the shortcomings of William Joyce, an Irish-American Nazi sympathiser who made propaganda broadcasts in English from Germany during WW2. He was colloquially known here as ‘Lord Haw Haw’. (I understand that when captured at the end of the War by American forces he was handed over to us. He was charged with High Treason, found guilty and executed by the British Military Authorities. Although he was not actually a British citizen, he nevertheless fell under British jurisdiction on the grounds that he had enlisted in the British Army at an early age, & was therefore still bound by the Oath of Loyalty to the British Crown he would have taken at that time). By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. Bill Myatt commented on 24-04-03: The Western Brothers, Kenneth & George, were actually cousins. Both sang, but Kenneth played the piano.

 

Columbia DB3267                           By way of contrast, the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 called forth many commemorative labels, just as British royalty had always periodically done. I imagine this one co-ordinated with her coronation, June 2nd (as far as I recall…) 1953. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Columbia DC-435                            Circa 1940s. These DC series are relatively common here as there were some Jazz issues that were sought out by collectors. William Dean-Myatt says that you could get any export item to special order through your local EMI agent. Of course, you first had to know that it existed! Certainly, DC Columbias were obtained, and HMV B-4800s, JF-, JO- series turn up with some frequency, but not, by any means, all of them! E.g. the Charlie Johnson, and the master pressings of Morton’s ‘Tank Town Bump’ and ‘Steamboat Stomp’ (plus many others) are in the hen’s teeth class! The regular HMV B- series used dubbings of these! On 15th November 2002, Mike Harkin of Plovdiv commented: “Columbia DC.435 -- WERM sez "British, for export" on its label/numbering schematic.  Prob for Spanish or Latin American market; Augustin Lara is Mexican or Argentinian, IIRC.” On 27th April 2003, Bill Dean-Myatt kindly added: Augustin Lara (1897-1970) played piano and sang, and was Mexican. Eva Garza, vocal, died 1966 and was also Mexican. The record was made in New York, 1946/47.

 

Columbia DF-684                             As far as I know, this is a normal French issue, but manufactured over here for some reason. Perhaps because it’s ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, and used for educational purposes? A leaflet with the text accompanies this disc. It has a large label, but with the 1940s ‘rational’ face for the catalogue number. No idea of date. On 15th November 2002 Mike Harkin of Plovdiv kindly supplied a recording date of ‘the first half of 1931’ for this item. On 28th April 2003 Bill Dean-Myatt confirmed Paris, July 1931.

 

Columbia EO-425                            Somewhere, in a small office lost among the labyrinth of EMI HQ, there was The Officer Of Prefixes. At least I will cling to that romantic concept. Where else, for instance, could one come up with the EO- prefix? Does it actually mean anything? Pre-EMI Columbia were much given to prefixes using the letter D, for instance. Did this signify anything, other than, perhaps, innate conservatism; a fear, possibly, that the promiscuous use of prefix letters would cause, one day in the future, a drastic shortage of unused letters? Who knows? Indeed, who cares? Anyhow, in this presumably 1950s label, pressed in the U.K. but sold in an African colony, Uganda maybe, the EO- prefix served out its probably brief but hopefully constructive existence. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. On 27th April 2003 Bill Dean-Myatt kindly informed us that the disc was recorded in Mombasa (Kenya), September 1945.

 

Columbia MC-3162                          Note that this has DF-2129 in small type below that catalogue number. Perhaps that is a normal French Columbia catalogue number. 1940s, I guess.

 

Columbia RS-550                             Large label but ‘modern’ type face for the catalogue number puts this label in the mid to late 1940s, maybe later. No idea of intended distribution. On the 14th November 2002 William Dean-Myatt kindly informed us: Columbia RS-550 was recorded in Barcelona in April 1928.  This singer (r.n. Pastora Pavon) is superb, the best flamenco singer of all, in my opinion.  Her records must have sold really well as they seem reasonably common here in Britain.

 

Columbia WE-168                            More of the same. Only this time in Tanganyika and Zanzibar. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. On 14th November, William Dean-Myatt kindly informed us: Columbia WE-168 was recorded on 17th. February 1939, possibly in Kampala.

 

Columbia LCX-88                            I don’t know anything about this prefix, except that it is obviously part of a large set, possibly automatically coupled; and I had never seen an ‘LCX-‘ prefix Columbia before this one arrived in my mailbox from Rainer 6 months ago. (In case anybody reading this doesn’t know about ‘automatic couplings’… These were made because if you have a long work, spread over say 20 sides, that’s 10 discs, right? So you have to play side 1, then get up and turn the record over and play side 2, etc., etc. But when auto-changers arrived (late 1920s on…), they would play six, eight, or even ten records one after the other… but only the ‘A’ side. OK? So, obviously, what you needed was a specially-pressed series of discs that had side 1 pressed with side 20 on the back, side 2 with side 19 on the back, then 3/18; 4/17; 5/16; 6/15; 7/14;  8/13; 9/12; 10/11. You see? The stack of 78s would play from side 1 to side 10, without you having to intervene. Then, you would irritably deposit your very large gin and tonic on the small table by your armchair, get up just the once and turn over the entire stack of 10 discs on your autochanger, and activate ‘Play’. The machine would then obediently play sides 11, 12, 13, etc., etc., up to 20! Voila! Simple, eh? It must have been very irritating to the connoisseur if the mechanism failed (as it sometimes did) and allowed 2 discs to fall instead of 1. What would you do? Go back to the beginning of the opera? Mess about splitting the stack of slippery 12” 78s? Ignore the lapse but pour yourself an extra-generous new gin and tonic? By Jove, the arrival of the CD has solved any number of problems for the music lover!)  Scan by courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. On 15th November 2002, Mike Harkin of Plovdiv kindly informed us that this would seem to be a post WW2 series, though all the records he has seen on it comprise issues of earlier material…. In this case, Mike comments: “This particular one is from D.15156-73 rec Dec 1928 (PCDG).  Also recall Claudia Muzio, Madeleine Grey and 1927-30 Bayreuth stuff issued thus.” My assumption that this is an ‘automatically coupled series’ may well be wrong, but I’ll leave the explanation of what automatic coupling actually is in place in case it’s news to anyone…

 

Columbia YB6                                  This group of 4 scans could well form the basis for a useful article in a Learned Journal. It (the article) might be called: ‘The Columbia YB Series: Some Problems in its Conception and Continuation.” Take this first label, for instance. About the only thing right about it is the ‘Y’ in the prefix. OK, so the label is yellow. But then it all starts to go wrong. (a) The label is upside down! But that’s really great, actually! I mean, why should labels always be the same way up? OK, it’s kinda weird at first, but we could learn to live with that. But then,  (b) It’s got this ridiculous master prefix, CWA. I mean, once, we thought we knew what these things meant. ‘W’ meant ‘Western Electric’, royalty payable and all that sort of thing. By 1930, Columbia had their own system, prefixed (not unreasonably) ‘C’: meaning, ‘We’ve got our own system now and don’t have to pay you the royalty any more!’ (‘A’ of course is just Columbia’s actual master series at that time anyhow).  So I suppose, just possibly, this bizarre prefix might involve a dubbing in which a Columbia-system recording was dubbed onto a Western Electric cutting lathe? Or vice versa? Finally, (c) we come to the content of the record itself. Fond as I am of the expression ‘Those were simpler times’, I find it difficult to believe that even a child in 1929 would believe that this was really a recording of a steam train. It is obviously a very poor studio imitation of a train. The reverse, by the way, is entitled: American Train, and is virtually the same except that the whistle is replaced by a bell. No: the whole record is futile in the extreme, and, had I not discovered this copy at a record bazaar about a fortnight ago, I would never have believed in its existence, unless told by someone in whom I had absolute trust. As you can see, it runs at 78 rpm.

 

Columbia YBX7                                I mention 78 rpm, because this one runs at 33 rpm. You may say that YBX7 may not follow YB6; it may be the next record after YBX 6. Why then, I do not argue with you: does anybody out there have any more of these? ‘X’ of course means a 12” (30cm) record, which would be fine, and this one is in the series of centre-start 33 rpm cinema records, as its label proclaims, and compatible with the 16” (40cm) 33 rpm discs on which the sound tracks of films were recorded for a period in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Though dubbed on both sides, the sound quality of this item is absolutely superb, and is a tribute to the recording system employed, and the engineers operating it. From the master number (WAX-D12) you will see that it is a Western Electric recording, a Columbia master ‘A’, and 12 “ size ‘X’, and evidently the twelfth in the ‘D’ sub-series, which we claim probably stands for ‘Dub’. This is in all ways a very fine record, and one which may fittingly represent the pinnacle of the YB series, from the four examples of it which we possess.

 

 Columbia YB13                               The yellow label has turned to blue, which I suppose is quite in order with this apparently erratic series, and we’re back to 78 rpm as well. We have a slightly different master series, too, prefixed WAD. Western Electric, Columbia, Dub. No problem there. The recording of Big Ben is rather distant, and, though I no longer have the disc, it’s by no means as atmospheric as the Big Ben record issued on HMV. However, the HMV deliberately recorded the sound of London Traffic as well, with motor horns and so on, so that disc would, when played in distant Colonial Outposts, Refresh and Invigorate the stalwart upholders of the British Empire. The Columbia was doubtless meant for less exalted purposes, such as sound effects for theatre and broadcasting use. In that role, it would, admittedly, have served adequately.

 

Columbia YB23                                By 1937, the gradually mounting public outcry against the pathetic inadequacies of YB6 had clearly borne fruit. EMI presumably despatched their Recording Van to places where actual real steam locomotives could be recorded. The results are generally highly commendable.

 

Criterion                                            This is a weird one, circa 1920. (a) There was a paper shortage in Britain at the end of WW1; at least of the sorts of papers used for record labels – remember, the paper and inks had to be able to withstand the heat while being pressed. (b) Whoever it was who had stickers made saying ‘Registered – Express – Reserve Stock’ (see Butterfly - stuck over Popular - above) also had them made saying ‘Criterion Record’. However, in this case, it is stuck over a blank label, and the title has been hand-written on the label. This label came from an album of labels that Tony Houghton compiled many years ago, by simmering the disc in acetic acid: eventually, the upper label would float off. He stuck them in the album with double sided sellotape, which seemed all right at the time, but the gook has finally soaked through the label, accounting for the dark bands you see on many of the labels, especially early ones, on this page. However, in this case it was good, because the gook revealed reversed printing underneath. Accordingly, I removed the label from the album, and tweaking the image….

 

Criterion (reverse)                            …revealed a Guardsman label underneath. Note that this is not an impression of the label over which the Criterion ‘label’ was pasted. Were that the case, the image would of course be reversed. No, this label is actually an unused Guardsman label that has been used just because it was a round piece of paper with a hole in it. Who made these things and where they sold them remains unknown. Even more tantalising, what was the record from which Tony Houghton removed this label? Was it stuck down over a Popular or something similar? If so, we would have a record that involved three labels, which is great, though pretty silly!

 

Curry 250                                          This is an Edison Bell ‘stencil’.

 

Curry 135                                          Another example of this mid-1920s label, made for the cycle-shop chain, by Crystalate. By Courtesy of Dave Parsons.

 

Curry 200                                          Currys (already a well-known chain of cycle shops) had records produced for them by different companies, both pre-1914 and later. This example is derived from the Piccadilly label, circa early 1929. It bears the same catalogue number. The Curry label is pasted over the Piccadilly. Curry’s still exists as an important chain of domestic electrical and audio retail supermarkets.

 

Curry 317                                          Despite its later number, this record is earlier, and produced by Imperial. The tune indicates a date of 1927.

 

Curwen                                              This label is dealt with as part of an inter-related ‘family’ of labels; all ten appear grouped together at the bottom of the J - Z label page.

 

Dacapo 322                                        Gramophone Boom. This label should be dark green. On 9th August 2006, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: This was issued February 1912. (from Frank Andrews).

 

Decca F-2978                                    A special Decca label of 1932, issued in connection with the Eucharistic Conference in Dublin.

 

Decca M-70                                        Decca started out with the cheap F- series, selling at 1/6d (7.5p) in 1929. Soon they introduced the ‘up-market’ M series. This is a white label review copy. Decca must have distributed them very generously, as they turn up fairly often. There are of course a good many fine Ambrose records on M- series Decca, but most of them are hard-to-find; so having a few ‘promo.’ copies floating around is a bonus! By courtesy of Dave Parsons.

Decca M-94                                        Although British Decca began as a cheap label, they almost immediately began to make more ambitious, exalted recordings. This ca.1930 version of Walton’s ‘Portsmouth Point’ overture is quite exhilarating. On 9th August 2006, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: Recorded 11th. October 1929.

 

Decca MW-198                                  During WW2, Decca issues a series of records for background music purposes, playing in factories and so on, when it had been noticed (to the eventual chronic frustration of many of us!) that suitable music played in the background helped people to work more efficiently. It was obviously inspired by the regular BBC radio programme called ‘Music While You Work’: but whether there was a formal connection between the BBC and this Decca series s not known to us. On balance, I’d say probably not, as the BBC tended to use EMI as their ‘record company when they needed one.

 

Decca PO-5019                                 The Decca Polydor series. Presumably 5019 is a Polydor catalogue number? Kristjan Saag of the 78-list stated that the arrangement began in 1932. This disc, or at least its label, looks late 1930s.

 

Diploma A14                                     Gramophone Boom. On 9th August 2006, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: These came from 10¼" Bell Discs.  The Catalogue prefix indicated the type of material.  A were bands, B were 'serious' singers, C were comic songs, D were instrumental solos, E were 'serious songs', F were serious duets or vocal groups, G were comedy sketches (from Frank Andrews).

 

Diploma C-119                                  The Gramophone Boom. Normally, the Diploma record had an ‘ordinary’ label as shown nearby. This special flag design might be associated with the Coronation of King George V, which was in 1911. By courtesy of Dave Parsons.

 

Dominion A174                                Introduced in association with the American company Cameo, autumn 1928, Dominion records, though manifestly a ‘cheap and cheerful’ label, sold fairly well for some time. This issue was recorded by Jay Wilbur in July 1929. His name was also sometimes used for issues stemming from American labels.

 

Dominion C-307                               This is one of the ‘other’ series of Dominion discs, as listed by Arthur Badrock. Of course this Williams – Waller ‘My Man O’ War’ is a very unusual example of the later sort of ‘double entendre’ song to be recorded in Britain at this time.

 

Duophone B5090                             This is, I believe, the earliest manifestation (of three) of the Duophone record, and it began as a company who made a novel form of gramophone. As you can see from the picture on the label, it had two sound-boxes, and as one had a longer linkage than the other, the audio frequencies were meant to be divided between the two, each of which had its own tone arm. An early form of mechanical ‘cross-over network’ in fact! The discs, in this manifestation, were made by Vocalion, circa 1925.      

 

Duophone UB-2043                         This is the second incarnation of Duophone. These were thin, relatively indestructible pressings; but as usual, there were problems, in that the surface noise was pretty high. Of course, it may have been less when they were first pressed, but I wasn’t around in 1926 to see. Over time, the actual surface has often acquired a craquelure that would look marvellous on an Old Master painting, but sounds absolutely awful when played back with a modern pick-up! Brian Rust has related that sometimes, the needle in a heavy sound-box would act as a ‘parting tool’, and cut down through the bottom of the groove. If this catastrophic event occurred, a thin ‘turning’ consisting of two neighbouring groove walls separated by the ridge in between was produced, and would spiral off the disc. The record would still actually play, but in the process, produce several hundred feet of black swarf, leaving only the white cardboard foundation of the disc. This incipient ‘sacrificial’ tendency cannot have been appreciated by the people who bought them. Thus, they are fairly rare.

 

Duophone UB-2127                         Yet quite a few issues were made…. This one has a commendable hot trumpet solo.

 

Duophone D-4005                            A fresh incarnation was clearly called for: a much thicker disc was used (though still with a ‘paper’ centre) and initially most material was secured from American Brunswick. This disc is in fact by the Paul Specht band. The series by the ‘Wabash Dance Orchestra’ has always been sought after by U.S. collectors interested in Red Nichols; he and other important colleagues were present on these sides. These records too were moderately indestructible, and the surface noise was much lower than their predecessors. It seems that all these black-label indestructible Duophones were issued first, and then some  - but not all – were re-pressed….

 

Duophone D-4034                            …in a conventional shellac material. So the higher-numbered black Duophones are not to be found in this violet shellac series. Another naughty thing that Duophone did was to re-use catalogue numbers! This is of course the discographer’s ‘nightmare scenario’, as, in the absence of company files, one can never be sure that one has found all the issues!

 

Duophone D-522                              Besides the D-4000 series (which I believe consists entirely of U.S. Brunswick material and which is by far the commonest series found), there was a series of local recordings. Pete Mandell, the American banjoist with the Savoy Orpheans, made his ‘Take Your Pick’ tenor banjo solo for Duophone in the D-500 series, which must have sold really quite well, as I have had 3 copies of it over the years. Zaidee Jackson, too, recorded spiritual numbers. Here is a piano solo of Billy Mayerl’s best-known composition; I have no idea who W. Harris is, though. Courtesy of Dave Parsons.

 

Durium                                              Allied to the American label ‘Hit Of The Week’ these were pressed on one side only of a stiff card laminated with a layer of plastic material. They were hence light and fairly unbreakable. They appeared around 1931. There is an excellent website, with many images, run by the enthusiast Hans Koert, devoted to this and other similar flexible discs, e.g. Goodson, Filmophone. Just click here: http://www.people.zeelandnet.nl/koerthchkz 

 

Eclipse 358                                        Gramophone Boom.

 

Eclipse 20

Eclipse 58                                          A Woolworth’s 8” (20cm) ‘store’ label, following on from Victory (see below). This black overprinting was soon abandoned for this standard design, which remained in force for the main series until 1935. They issued around a thousand different records in about five years, and they are still seen around all over the place at record bazaars today, just like batches of them used to turn up in junk shops years ago. For some reason, Eclipse is absolutely the ‘King of the alternative take’ in this country, and alternates are almost the rule rather than the exception! Besides, they would often re-record sides, with different vocalists and a different arrangement. An example: I like the tune ‘Time On My Hands’ and have had the dance band Eclipse for many years. Recently I saw what I thought was a better condition copy and bought it. It turned out to be a totally different version, recorded a month later, with a banjo instead of a guitar, plus an accordeon, but omitting the really nice verse, which was present on the earlier version. A discographer’s paradise! (Covered very well by the late Sandy Forbes in ‘BDB’, of course!)

 

Eclipse SC10                                     If you sell all your records at 2.5 pence (as Woolworth’s did), you can hardly have a ‘Celebrity’ series. But Eclipse did run a blue-label ‘SC’ series. It was thought that might signify ‘SaCred’, as there are numbers of popular hymns on the SC series… but I also have a banjo solo on blue label, so that theory falls rather flat!

 

Edison Bell 6271                              This series of Edison Bell was made for sale in The Netherlands. It would date from about 1923 or 1924, and the side illustrated is pressed from a Gennett master. By courtesy of Leo Van Der Splinter.

 

Edison Bell Electron 0183              Though the Edison Bell company made its bread and butter from cheap mass market records, it always aspired to better things. They made an ambitious recording of Sir Edward Elgar’s ‘The Dream Of Gerontius’ for example. The ‘Electron’ label appeared in 1927, and was evidently meant to be an up-market version of Winner. In practice, although the surfaces are rather better than the usual Winners, and there are a number of remarkable issues (e.g. the 14 sides recorded by Chas. Remues New Stompers, a top-notch Belgian ‘Hot’ Band who were brought over specially to record for Electron), their comparative rarity is in itself eloquent of its failure.

 

Electron Test                                     The ‘up-market’ end of the Edison Bell concern in the mid-late 1920s was their ‘Electron’ label (as opposed to the ‘cheap and cheerful’ Winner). Here is an undoubtedly rare test pressing of one of their bands, noted on the label quite laconically as ‘Carlton Hotel Band’. The actual issue, on EBE O170 (I don’t know whether it’s a letter ‘O’ or the digit ‘0’) was as Leslie Norman and his Carlton Hotel Band. By the way, there are 2 tunes in this period called ‘Sweetness’; this is the first one; the other appeared a couple of years later, and for once, the Rust/Forbes ‘British Dance Bands’ discography hasn’t differentiated between them. However, this one, being the first, obviously has primacy in the claim to its title! Courtesy of Dave Parsons.

 

Edison Bell Winner 2255                This set of 13 scans will give you an idea of the life of Edison Bell Winner from its appearance in 1912, to its protracted – but unavoidable – démise in early 1935. Thanks to Karlo Adrian and Arthur Badrock’s excellent Edison Bell Winner listing, published by Ernie Bayly, we can give you the release date of all these discs. This one was issued in January 1913. Winner was of course established at a time when the British market was dominated by the labels produced by several large German manufacturers, and the ‘stencil’ labels derived from them. Hundreds altogether! The labels were brightly coloured and the records sold well. Courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Edison Bell Winner 2285                Here, thanks to the generosity of Rainer Lotz, who provided this scan, is the first known label variation of Winner. The horse now gallops partly towards us, a much more dynamic picture. The bystander has been modernised too, now wearing a bowler hat and displaying an alert, even wary demeanour! After all, the original picture, with its tent in the background and the top-hatted onlooker was almost mid-Victorian! 

 

Edison Bell Winner 2765                This totally different label was used for various sacred recordings. I have never ascertained it definitely, but I would assume the horse-and-jockey design was considered too ‘profane’ for records of this nature. It was issued in February 1915. Also by now, due to the Great War, the flood of German imports had almost disappeared. The competition being removed enabled the remaining labels to flourish, even in Wartime conditions.

 

Edison Bell Winner 2831                A further re-design on the horse-race had occurred by 1916. In some ways it’s less impressive than that it supplanted, in that it has less sense of impact. One thing that was destined never to change, though, was the horse galloping with all four legs stretched out at once, an fallacy that had existed from earliest times but had been ‘blown out’ by Eadwerd Muybridge’s famous sets of sequenced photographs of moving things (including horses!) many years before.

 

Edison Bell Winner 3096                By 1917, when this record was issued, the more ornate ‘twiddly bits’ of the label border had been abandoned, giving it a cleaner appearance.

 

Edison Bell Winner 3275                ‘Wartime Economy’ measures now caused the colour printing to be abandoned for this 1919 utility version. Not just Edison Bell put such measures into operation. Even mighty HMV changed their dog from colour to sepia to save money!

 

Edison Bell Winner 3379                As HMV returned the dog ‘Nipper’ to colour (by the way, I possess an HMV of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band that has the coloured label on one side, and the sepia on the other), so did Edison Bell, at the same time changing the ground colour from black to bright red, or perhaps scarlet would be a better word. Accordingly, it now quite closely resembled the basic HMV design. The thing that lagged behind was the economy material used for the pressings. Originally, Winner pressings were quite reasonable quality. Like many other labels that deteriorated during the war owing to lack of imported materials, but took some time to return to an even barely adequate standard, so that even into 1923 they were still bad. This March 1920 issue looks great but sounds pretty bad!

 

Edison Bell Winner 3862                Later in 1923, however, a complete change of design occurred. The label got rather larger, but the border, for the time being, was merely left wider. The paper was textured and he whole effect is very elegant. The pressings improved greatly too. This disc is the first non-British recording in these scans: it’s from Gennett 5005, and is by Bailey’s Lucky Seven. I don’t know whether you will be able to see it on the web, but ‘BL7’ and ‘Ge 5005’ are written on the label in Arthur Badrock’s meticulous handwriting. I bought this 78 nearly 35 years ago, from Derek Hamilton-Smith, but it had not managed to elude Arthur’s ever-vigilant eyes! By the way, it was issued in October 1923.

 

Edison Bell Winner 3948                But the brown label was short-lived, and was changed back to red, which preserving the ‘unframed horse’. Issued in February 1924, this is the only Ladd’s Black Aces (The Original Memphis Five when on Gennett) side to be issued in the U.K. It’s proper title is ‘Down Hearted Blues’. I do not know why the title was changed: two other recordings of ‘Down Hearted Blues’ were issued here, and they were under the correct title.

 

Edison Bell Winner 4297                By October 1925, the design had been ‘fiddled with’, but not a great deal. We apologise for the variations in shade on these scans, but in some cases the lettering of the title would be unreadable if the colour was not adjusted. This British studio band’s version of the classic ‘Charleston’ is in fact very rare, and if you have Rust & Forbes’ British Dance Bands Book, you can fill in the space on page 196! Put it like this, if Sandy hadn’t got it, it was bloomin’ rare!

 

Edison Bell Winner 4572                Electrical recording arrived. So did the demise of the horse, which galloped wrongly, as it always had, right to the end. Instead the Bell appeared as a trade mark. In March 1927 was issued this recording of the studio band dutifully ‘reading off’ DEEP HENDERSON, without, I suspect, many of the musicians having a clue as to how the score ought really to be played! I love it, though!

 

Edison Bell Winner 4907                Welsh language records were made by many companies from the earliest times. By the time this record was issued in 1928, Edison Bell had been involved in this market for some years.

 

Edison Bell Winner 5500                Very much time has now passed. It was in June 1932 that this record appeared, and the writing was appearing on the wall for Edison Bell; if, indeed, it had not already done so. The depression meant that nobody had any money to spend on records. Edison Bell’s venture with their ‘Electron’ label was not a success, and though they did well with the 8” diameter Edison Bell ‘Radio’ records (which we shall illustrate later), the profits made by them were probably eaten up by continuing the main 10” Winner label. The label design is simpler, and of smaller diameter. The shade of red is quite wrong on this scan, but otherwise the printing could not be made legible.

 

Edison Bell Record 5677                 We now come to the very twilight of the label. A strange thing happened in that Decca bought up the moribund Edison Bell Winner, mostly in order to gain control of important patents it held. But a new Edison Bell Company was started, and carried on issuing records in the original series. But, as the name ‘Winner’ had been sold to Decca, these are now just called the ‘Edison Bell Record’. With the result that Edison Bell Records and Edison Bell Winner Records were both being issued at the same time!

 

Edison Bell Winner W75                In fact, this Decca Winner (if you see what I mean!) was issued in February 1934, while the Edison Bell 5677 above was issued as late as October 1934. The public doubtless found it all very confusing, but as they had less money than ever to spend on records, it probably didn’t matter. The last issues of both Edison Bells appeared in January 1935.

 

Edison Bell W1026                          This strange, transient & very rare Edison Bell series is dealt with as part of an inter-related ‘family’ of labels; all ten appear grouped together at the bottom of the J - Z label page.

 

Embassy WB391                              Of course Woolworths (stores.. originally the ‘five and ten-cent’ store) had sold records for many years. Woolco, Victory, Eclipse, Crown appeared roughly between 1925 and 1938. After WW2, a 10” label called Embassy was launched, probably around 1953/4? They were pressed by Oriole. Mostly, as far as I can remember, they issued cover versions of current hit tunes. Also, when the ‘majors’ phased out 78s in 1959, Woolworths carried on with them for a little longer, as shown by the date of 1960 on this label. By courtesy of Matthew Duncan. On 14th November 2002, William Dean-Myatt kindly informed us: Embassy WB-391 was released in April 1960, and as these records had to be produced very quickly it was probably recorded only a week or two before.  The series started at WB-101, released November 1954 and ended at WB-678 (released January 1965) (By which time they would, of course, only have been 7” 45 rpm discs. NF)

 

Empire 1564                                     Gramophone Boom. An Edison Bell Winner ‘stencil’… possibly for the ‘Empire Stores’, a  chain of shops?

 

Empire (Type 1)                                This (much later) label is dealt with as part of an inter-related ‘family’ of labels; all ten appear grouped together at the bottom of the J - Z label page.

 

Empire (Type 2)                                This label is dealt with as part of an inter-related ‘family’ of labels; all ten appear grouped together at the bottom of the J - Z label page.

 

Encore 552a                                      Gramophone Boom. One of the very few labels to have a different colour scheme for each side, besides having two selections per side!

 

Encore 552b                                      This is the other side of the same disc.

 

Era 2464                                            The Gramophone Boom. This was an early-ish, short-lived and therefore rare label, though a lovely one. By courtesy of Mike Jones & Son.

 

Exo 427                                              An Edison Bell ‘stencil’, alone attested by the round, punched out copyright stamp, which I believe is totally unique to early Edison Bell Winners.

 

Exo D6                                               I couldn’t believe my eyes when I junked this record in Gloucester about 5 years ago. Exo is an unbelievably rare label anyhow. At last I’d found one, but it was different! I turned it over and…

 

Exo D6                                               another side A/B colour change disc! Now known to have been made for Morehouse by Grammavox, indeed bearing the same catalogue number as the Grammavox original.

 

Famous 279                                      Gramophone Boom. This should be dark green.

 

Famous 356                                      Gramophone Boom. This one is a more accurate scan.

 

Favorite 1-65402                              Gramophone Boom. The ‘serial number’ should really be the catalogue number, but these things are rather hard to decide! On 9th August 2006, Williams Dean-Myatt kindly commented: Was issued in December 1913 and given the catalogue number 663 (from Frank Andrews).

 

Favorite 1-77597                              Gramophone Boom. This shows the punched out shaped holes that appear in some Favorite labels, and stencils derived from Favorite (e.g. Lyric, below).

 

Fetherflex 61                                     Apparently a distant precursor of Piccadilly, at least it would appear so from the label design. Otherwise there is little in common: these rare discs were pressed into a thinnish flexible material, and date from around 1922/3, as far as I know. They flourished not!.

 

The Flag 80a                                     Gramophone Boom.

 

Frascati                                              Alan Selby was the established bandleader at the famous Frascati’s Restaurant in London. They recorded for Metropole and the associated Piccadilly, but this ‘freebie’ record is rather earlier, to judge from the tune title, which was current around 1926. The label colouring proclaims a product of Crystalate (Imperial); Steven Walker affirms that this side did not appear on a regular Imperial issue.

 

Gaelfonn GLA-1005                         “This Scots label dates from the 1950s. They have at least 10 different catalogue number prefixes, a system designed especially to confuse discographers. All of their material was of Scottish interest and most was in the Gaelic language. They recorded many notable singers when no one else had any interest in the genre. Their best selling record was a 1960s LP – “Learn to Speak Gaelic”. Scan and comments by courtesy of William Dean-Myatt. On 9th August 2006, Bill commented further: This label is even more complex than I thought.  I have now identified 26 different series of 78s and 24 series of 45s.  I now realise that every artist had their own catalogue number series.  Listing everything in table form I can see that certain series must exist in order to fill gaps in various sequences.  The problem is that we will never know when the catalogue is complete - I need help.  Incidentally, catalogue number prefixes starting with a 'G' are Gaelic language, whilst items prefixed 'S' are Scottish (i.e. in English, Lallans or Doric,). 

 

Gamage G-570                                  Made by the Vocalion group for Gamage’s, the famous London department store, circa 1922-25. Gamage’s had ‘stencil’ records before WW1. I don’t believe they had any more after this one, though I may be wrong.

 

Gamage G-697                                  However, this later one was plainly made for Gamage’s by The Gramophone Company, as the YY- master number shows. This is in fact a Zonophone number. But the pseudonym ‘Eugene Brockman’ is normally only found on the Homochord label… This is the sort of label you dream about. By this, I don’t mean it’s a desirable disc you know exists and simply want to find a copy. Rather, it’s the sort label you dream about while you’re asleep: you enter a junk shop, and the record on top of the pile is something like this one, something that should not exist… but in defiance of all accepted principles, actually does! This label was sent to me, and I have lost the name of the donor, sorry.

 

Globophon 995                                 Gramophone Boom.

 

Goodson                                             Another ‘indestructible’ record, appearing in 1928. They were made from a cream coloured plastic. An excellent website exists dealing with this label and other flexible, indestructible records: http://www.people.zeelandnet.nl/koerthchkz 

 

Goodson 140                                     We just illustrate two basic Goodson records here, as Alex Revell very kindly gave me a few recently. They have becomes quite scarce nowadays. They first appeared around 1930. They were made of a flexible cream plastic material called ‘Rhodoid’ and were ‘unbreakable under normal use’ as the saying goes. They made many issues, which were nearly all drawn from American Grey Gull. This scan is of the whole record, as they had no labels! There were two basic designs used for these discs. This is the first one.

 

Goodson 176                                     This is the second type. These may be found without catalogue numbers, which gets very confusing; a rather scuffed one we have here couples ‘masters’ 31250, ‘Together’ credited to Lou Gold’s Orchestra with 31210, ‘Talk About Heaven’ credited to The Pennsylvania Melody Syncopators. There is no catalogue number. Also, the title information is shown only once on this record, as opposed to four times as on those records illustrated here.

 

Great Scott A-540                             “… they are very rare indeed.  Chris Hamilton gave a history of the label in "Hillandale" no. 184 and listed what he knew in issue 185.  This number is missing - not surprising as a lot of issues were for private purposes and not for general sale.  They had a numbering system that must be unique. The lower matrix number became the catalogue number, so a sequence would be like this -

                                                            Matrix 100  Highland fling       Great Scott A-100

                                                            Matrix 101  Sword dance           Great Scott A-100

                                                            Matrix 102  Eightsome reel      Great Scott A-102

                                                            Matrix 103  Foursome reel        Great Scott A-102

                                                            Most of their output was of Scots material but there were a few dance band sides lurking there.  They were all made between 1933/34.

                                                            John "Dancie" Reid was a very important figure in Scots music.  Born in 1869 he became a 'dancing master' in 1892.  He played the fiddle and when giving lessons carried a 'kit fiddle' in the tails of his coat.  If he disapproved of how someone was dancing he used to hit them on the shoulder with the fiddle bow.  He won a gold medal at the national mod held in Edinburgh in 1898.

                                                            He recorded under his own name for Winner (5436/37) and as The New Tyle Trio (5426/27/32/33).  He died in 1942.” Scan by courtesy of Danny Letham. Comments courtesy of William Dean-Myatt. 

 

Guardsman 765                                The successor to Invicta, I think. Also this is post-1914; a British company. Incidentally, the bandmaster pictured on the label was a real person, though I can’t remember who he was. Logically, he would have been the bandmaster of a Guards regiment.

 

Guardsman 860                                A propos of the paper shortage at the end of WW1, a number of records appeared with ‘Emergency Labels’. Mostly, these seem to be products of The Sound Recording Company, which pressed (though did not own, as far as I know) Guardsman and Popular records. Why this company in particular was short of paper is not known; maybe it was just in a financially weak position, and it was considered expedient to make records with cheaper labels than not make any at all! Anyhow, the labels are austere in the extreme, and just bear a title, hand-written in this case. And though the catalogue and matrix numbers are given, there is no artist credit! By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz. 

 

Guardsman 872                                Here is another one. As ‘Inspiration Waltz’ is presumably an instrumental number, the buyer must have been puzzled as to what sort of performers the record would have. Would it be a full band, or maybe just a bell solo with piano accompaniment? But perhaps the retailer had a catalogue and could inform the prospective purchaser? We wish we could find such a Guardsman catalogue today! By courtesy of Arthur Badrock.

 

Guardsman 889                                This sorry, tatty example is included because it is the only example of a black label Guardsman I have seen. It would appear that they finally started printing labels again, but only had black paper. Before and during WW1, they had used red, blue and violet paper for their labels. I don’t know what period each is from, or whether they overlap, or signify different sorts of material… probably not. But the black label does seem to be quite exceptional.  

 

Guardsman 1007                             ‘Fresh-risen From The Wreck Of War’, the plain-ness of the design reflecting the uncertainties of the strange era into which they had survived, this new Guardsman is pressed from Gennett masters, a great many of which were destined to appear in this country, though, alas, hardly any of the legendary Jazz sides!

 

Guardsman 1700                             By the time Guardsman pulled clear of the uncertain period from 1918-1920 or so, it acquired what is generally regarded as its ‘classic’ label, which is very nice… and was very exciting when you found one in a junk pile, because by 1925, when this one dates from, quite large quantities of delectable Jazz and Hot Dance music were appearing from American Vocalion. Such as this one, actually by the Tennessee Tooters. By courtesy of Ian Rance.

 

Guardsman 1833                             As also is this one. The number of fanciful pseudonyms employed by the inter-related labels such as Beltona (at this period), ACO, Coliseum, Scala, Meloto &c., are wonderful in the extreme. But, dammit, the records themselves seldom turn up.

 

Guardsman 1908                             By about 1922, Guardsman records were being produced by Vocalion, and, though we said above, little from the classic Gennett repertoire appeared here, the converse is the case with respect to Vocalion! Although the issue illustrated here is pleasant enough, (and incredibly rare: even Sandy Forbes did not possess this disc!), Guardsman’s chief claim to fame must lie in their remarkable 7000 ‘Negro Race Series’ which appeared around 1925-26. Just over 30 issues (this was the label design used) ranged from Fletcher Henderson, via the Tennesse Tooters, yea, even unto the Old Southern Jug Band. There was also a 6000 Hebrew series, which is rarer still than the 7000 series!

 

Guardsman 6018                             The normal catalogue series for Guardsman in the 1920s was of course 1000. They got up to the early 2000s before the demise of the label in 1927. They also had the famous 7000 ‘Negro Race Series’ of just over 30 issues containing many superb sides drawn from U.S. Vocalion. These are extremely rare. Rarer still is this 6000 Jewish series!

 

Guardsman 7001                             The Guardsman 7000 Negro Race series (circa 1926) are rightly regarded as Holy Grails by British record collectors… at least those interested in Jazz and Hot Dance music! Elsewhere you can see a 6000 Jewish series, and I know, thanks to Arthur Badrock, that Guardsman advertised Russian and Polish records. These may all have come from American Vocalion… the 6000 one certainly did, but in the case of the Russian & Polish issues, it is necessary first to find one in order to examine it; and that, alas, has not yet occurred, as far as we know! By courtesy of Arthur Badrock. 

 

Grafton 9103                                     Some Graftons were derived from American Pathé. This one, if I remember right, is from the American label Federal. 1925?         

 

Heart 52                                             Gramophone Boom.

 

His Master’s Voice (HMV)              It is only fitting that ‘Mighty HMV’ should have its own dedicated place! This link takes you to a page devoted to the many variants (over 20) of the basic HMV label as used on the 10” (25cm) ‘B’ series, which ran from 1912 to 1959. The classification, kindly devised by Han Enderman, is based on the 17 types outlined in the monumental listing of this series made by Frank Andrews and the late Ernie Bayly. 29 different labels are to be seen here!  

 

HMV 03240                                       The many festivities celebrating the Coronation of King George the Fifth included this stirring rendition of the National Anthem by the formidable contralto Clara Butt.

 

HMV B1778, No.2 Catalogue         HMV retained in catalogue a great deal of the early material they had recorded, being aware, from earliest times, that they were ‘God’s Wonderful Record Label’, a phrase I have coined based on satirical references to the Great Western Railway (GWR), who fancied itself above all other railway companies. ‘God’s Wonderful Railway’, you see! These Dan Leno sides were obviously reissued on B1778, possibly as a ‘regular’ reissue (I don’t know) in early 1924, but were later promoted to the ‘No.2’ catalogue that usually appeared as a built-in supplement to HMV catalogues in the 1930s. Dan Leno was of course a famous comedian, but who unfortunately became mentally unbalanced, and was institutionalised, soon dying, about 1910? These sides were recorded in November 1901. The other side of this disc, ‘The Tower Of London’, had already been reissued on HMV B464, probably about 1914.

 

HMV GV-174                                    Pressed in Britain for export to Spain, I should think, and dating from the late 1940s or early 1950s? On 9th August, William Dean-Myatt kindly commented: The GV series was made for export to British West Africa but ended up going to most of West Africa and parts of East Africa.  GV-1 was the seminal Latin American record, "The Peanut Vendor" by Don Azpiazu & his Havana Casino Orchestra, recorded NYC, 13th. May 1930.  GV-150 was the last issue. Over the course of the series they issued some fantastically good Cuban Bands as well as material from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Porto Rico.

 

HMV EG-2102                                  British HMV (EMI after 1931) could not use the dog label in Germany. (Somehow, after the 1914-18 war, what had been the Gramophone Company in Germany managed to become independent and, retain the rights to the dog trademark). So, doubtless muttering darkly, the Gramophone Company started the Electrola label in Germany with its basic EG series. However, when they made records derived from Electrola for export to countries other than Germany, they did indeed use the dog label, as shown here. If I’ve managed to get this right, then Electrola EG-2102 may well be the same as this disc.

 

HMV EG-3985                                  And just for good measure, here’s another, later one. 

 

HMV JOM-69                                   Clearly labelled for once with a date – 1953 – and a place – San Remo - this issue is the only one with this prefix I’ve seen. Note however, that like Columbia MC-3162 above, we have HN-3091 in small print below JOM-69. This, I guess, is another catalogue number: I’ve seen the odd HN- series HMV; Rust says they’re Italian (would you believe!), and who are we to argue!

 

Homochord 4088                              The Gramophone Boom. By courtesy of Dave Parsons.

 

Homochord 4146                              Gramophone Boom. Should be dark green.

Homochord H-536                            One of our standard British Homochords, from American Vocalion masters made in late 1923. What’s special about this, is that it’s probably the first appearance over here of ‘The Charleston’, which is embodied – without mention on the label – in this rendition.

 

Homochord H470                             Always a sight to raise the hopes of a jazz-orientated ‘junkshopper’, Homochord was, at this period, pressed by Vocalion. Oddly, they were also later pressed by Pathé, using Pathé masters of course, but were issued in the same numerical series, but with a different prefix, namely C-. I’ve never seen a Homochord numerical listing, but, if one exists, it would be very interesting. This company used quite a few prefixes, H-, C-, D-, P, HD-, HR-, HN and so on. They must certainly have known what they were doing. As for me, I haven’t a clue, especially in the later years! However, this 1923 issue is from American Vocalion: Ben Bernie, I think.

 

Homochord HR20                             This is just the sort of thing I was talking about above! They kept the same numerical series for a long time, though different prefixes occurred. Then suddenly it was abandoned. Maybe by this time, as they were being produced by British Homophone (makers of Sterno records), that company swept all away and began again. However, it availed them but little, as 78s such as the one illustrated here are excessively rare! Circa 1934.

 

Homophon 6435                               Gramophone Boom.

 

Hudson WE-1810                             Dating from the early mid-1930s, Hudson is somewhat in the way of being a ‘Library Music’ label, yet its products were available to the public, and so it counts as a ‘normal’ record label. It is rare, though.

 

Hudson WF-860                               This is a rare early 1930s label. This particular disc seems to be a dubbing of Cab Calloway’s side recorded for Banner in March 1931, it appeared first in Britain on the flexible Filmophone label. This Hudson issue is not shown in Rust, by the way!

Imperial 45350                                 Imperial was an important cheap label in Britain between about 1920 and 1933. This, however, is its first appearance here, much earlier: around 1908?  It shows its influence on our later, and prolific, Imperial label. Single sided, these records were imported from the U.S.A. for sale here. A handsome but rare label.

 

Imperial 45560                                 Just for luck, here’s another one, which turned up in a pile of otherwise junk 78s recently…

 

Imperial 1010                                   Interestingly, when the Imperial marque reappeared around 1920, they adopted the same label design as the American import, though much debased and crudely printed. Probably the same company that imported the American discs was involved. (An account of the U.S. Imperial label was written by Frank Andrews and appeared in a magazine here some years ago). A very curious catalogue series was adopted.  The company had at their disposal some sides originally recorded for other, now defunct labels. Bull Dog was one. They put these out on Imperial, and gave them numbers running down from 1000. New recordings, logically, went up from this number.

 

Imperial 1572                                   Definitely a ‘cheap & cheerful’ product, with fairly gritty material and labels often off-centre, Imperial is the British equivalent of Banner in the U.S.A, I would think. Indeed, many sides from that label appeared in Imperial in the 1920s. It is said that Fletcher Henderson’s ‘Everybody Loves My Baby’, represents the first appearance on record of Louis Armstrong in this country.. This is a re-design of the original label, c.1925.

 

Imperial Test                                    This faded item (from Tony Houghton’s album of 78 labels removed from the discs) is included just for interest. If the tune referred to is ‘My Castle In Spain Is A Shack In The Lane’ then it must date from 1928, but I guess this must be an earlier song of that name. 

 

Imperial 1699                                   By 1925 a new design had appeared, using two-tone sort of mauve and violet, and remained standard for a year or two..

 

Imperial 2044                                   This new colour combination appeared briefly around 1929, but had a relatively short life. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz, who sent this to replace the much inferior example we had before.  

 

Imperial 2333                                   The general quality of the product  gradually improved: observe the tidy printing of this new label design. The surfaces, too, were quite commendable at this time. They tend to have a steady hiss as surface noise, which as we all know, is far more acceptable to us today than the horrible crackle of HMV!

 

Imperial 2545                                   A further re-design had occurred by 1930. The surfaces remained quite good, with only a slight tendency to grittiness.

 

Imperial 2677                                   By 1931, the results of the Depression were in evidence. Famous bandleader Jack Payne had left the BBC, and developed a very efficient showband. He left prestigious Columbia and became involved with the Crystalate company, putting money into it. As you can see, his own records carried his miniature picture and autograph. However by 1933 the Imperial marque was no longer viable and it disappeared.

 

Imperial Broadcast 4036                These early 1930s records turn up from time to time but I’m not sure who made them, or where the material came from, except obviously from a continental European source.

Imperial Junior 27                           Here’s a rare label for the enthusiast of ‘mini-discs’. I have not seen this colour combination before and I wonder whether this series was made for export? The size of the disc was, I think, 6” (~15cm), but I’ll need to check with Rainer on that. Date ~1927. By courtesy of Dr. Rainer Lotz.

 

Invicta 112                                        Gramophone Boom.

 

 

Click here to go to labels J - Z. (Plus the section on the Synchrophone family.)

 

 

Page revised 16th January 2007.