John Marks’ Bookshelf for Lovers of Recordings
a dozen books reviewed, one a week for the next twelve
Here are notes on a selection from my favorite books on the history of recording technology, the history of the record business, and the interactions between recording technology, the record business, and the art of music. One example of what I mean by all that is, in the late 1920s, piezoelectric “crystal” microphones supplanted carbon microphones for radio broadcasting.
Crystal microphones had a better signal-to-noise ratio than carbon microphones. Therefore, the live singers on radio could sing more quietly and intimately. They no longer had to shout to be heard. However, the quartz, mica, or other crystal elements were also more fragile than had been the carbon microphones. So, “shouters” like Al Jolson were out; and “crooners” like Rudy Vallee were in. (Trivia bit: Rudy Vallee graduated from Yale, with a degree in Philosophy.)
This list will be presented as a series of weekly installments. Rather than attempt to rank such diverse books from “Best” to “Somewhat Less Best,” this list is organized both chronologically and categorically. JM
The Bookshelf:
1. The Fabulous Phonograph, 1877-1977
2. The Label: The Story of Columbia Records
3. Do Not Sell at Any Price
4. The B Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song
5. Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation
6. Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977
7. Temples of Sound: Inside the Great Recording Studios
8. Goodnight, L.A.: The Rise and Fall of Classic Rock -- The Untold Story from inside the Legendary Recording Studios
9. Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album
10. Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport ‘56
11. A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album
12. The Vinyl Frontier: The Story of NASA s Interstellar Mixtape
The Fabulous Phonograph 1877-1977
by Ronald Gelatt
London: Cassell; 2nd revised edition 1977. Softcover, 349 pp. ISBN: 0020326807.
This amazingly detailed book is one of the standard reference works in the field. Its author was the then-Editor of High Fidelity magazine. The Fabulous Phonograph was originally published in 1955. But that is not a disadvantage, in that its coverage focuses first on the early acoustical cylinder and disc reproducers of Edison, Berliner, and their contemporaries. Not just the technology and the music; but also the legal battles, marketing strategies, social “reception history”—everything.
The focus then shifts to the age of electrical recording that was ushered in, in the late 1920s. The revised second edition adds postscript chapters covering from 1955 to the 100th anniversary of the phonograph, in 1977. Recommended.
Ironically enough, saxophone wizard Archie Shepp’s On Green Dolphin Street was recorded in New York on November 28,1977. That LP, released as Nippon Columbia YX-7524 in May 1978, was the first digital recording commercially released in the U.S. By the time the Compact Disc arrived in 1982, Denon had more than 400 digital recordings in their vaults. Therefore, by the phonograph’s 100th anniversary in 1977, the handwriting already was on the wall (Coincidentally, I bought this book recently, before John contacted me about submitting these reviews, but I've not yet had a chance to read it_ed.)
About John Marks:
John Marks is a multidisciplinary generalist and a lifelong audio hobbyist. He was educated at Brown University and Vanderbilt Law School. He has worked as a classical-music record producer and label executive, music educator, recording engineer, and as a music and audio-equipment journalist. He was a columnist for The Absolute Sound, and for Stereophile magazine. His consulting clients have included the University of the South (Sewanee, TN), Grace Design, Fountek Electronics Company, Ltd., and Steinway & Sons.
