If cruising on the River Thames, the highlight of the trip is passing through Tower Bridge as it opens exclusively for your party – literally stopping the traffic.

Now there’s a selling point. “Look how terribly important we are, chaps, the Tower Bridge is opening exclusively for us! Pity the yobs who have to sit in traffic watching us cruise by. Ha ha.”

I heard about the SB Will from the Tower Bridge itself.

[Robert] Putnam [a Harvard political scientist] likes to imagine that there is a triangle, its points comprising where you sleep, where you work, and where you shop. In a canonical English village, or in a university town, the sides of that triangle are very short: a five-minute walk from one point to the next. In many American cities, you can spend an hour or two travelling each side. “You live in Pasadena, work in North Hollywood, shop in the Valley,” Putnam said. “Where is your community?” The smaller the triangle, the happier the human, as long as there is social interaction to be had. In that kind of life, you have a small refrigerator, because you can get to the store quickly and often. By this logic, the bigger the refrigerator, the lonelier the soul.

There and Back Again: The Soul of the Commuter. Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker.

And Mita said: “Why do I have to poach from the third world in order to get appropriate technology?”

These two German physicists discovered during experiments with sound recordings in the 1920s that, if a beam of light is thrown onto a disc record, the grooves produce an effect suggesting the branches of a Christmas tree, with the root at the last groove. They further discovered that the length of the “branches” is in direct proportion to the amount of sound recorded in that particular groove or grouping of grooves, and that the brightness and clarity of definition of the “branches” is also in direct ratio to the brightness and clarity of the sound from the relative grooves. Thus, a recording depicting a sharply defined image of a Christmas tree will give an excellent performance, no matter how improbable this might seem from a cursory examination of its surface in normal or subnormal light. And, if part of the “Christmas tree” image is dull and the rest bright, the bright part will provide an excellent reproduction of the recorded sound. A record giving only a vague, blurred outline, barely recognizable as a Christmas tree, will thus give only a very poor sound reproduction, and some records have been found with the grooves so badly worn by constant playing with blunted needles or styli, probably with heavy pickups or soundboxes, that they are almost ground smooth and give no Christmas tree (Buchmann-Meyer effect) at all. (Rust 108)

According to Foreman, the effect is “best seen from a 45° angle across the diameter of the record with a small but bright source of light on the same side as the viewer” (29).

Rust, Brian. Brian Rust’s Guide to Discography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1980.

Both Foreman and Rust (especially Rust) seem more interested in early recording, mainly 78s. Rust makes it clear that this in part because his musical interests focus on that era, but consider this:

A truly comprehensive world discography will probably now never be compiled, but through a large number of ad-hoc subject discographies. . . access to the history of performance in the twentieth centuryas it took place is gradually being made possible. (Foreman 11)

Imagine trying to do a full discography of a contemporary artist whose work exists in umpteen digital formats. The very obsolescence of the LP makes it a tempting target for discography, only because it will stand in one place. And I imagine, in the 70s, discontinued formats from the early 20th century would have been tempting in the same way.

My notes from Foreman and Rust are below the fold.

history

• [In 1948] CBS. . . introduced their revolutionary [no pun intended] long-playing record, with minute grooves, playing speed of 33 1/3 revolutions per minute. . . . RCA, Decca, and the relative newcomer, Capitol, followed suit, producing also a seven-inch disc playing at 45 rpm principally for popular music. (Rust 12)
• In the 1960s and after, a new form of discography has made its appearance: the label listing. It may be appropriate to term this “pure” discography, since its primary concern is with the recording of all kinds of music and sound, not with the music and sound themselves. (Rust 44)

principles

• The starting point for any discography must be, of course, a combination of at least some of the records themselves, and the publicity material announcing them. . . . (Rust 23)
• Four sources may be regarded as primary for the purpose of the discography of published recordings.
1. The records themselves
2. Manufacturers’ catalogues
3. Manufacturers’ unpublished documentation
4. Manufacturers’ advertisements (Foreman 39)
• It might seem to be a simple matter to acquire a set of catalogs of the company or companies known to have recorded the subject of the discography, but because human nature is what it is, and the catalogs of yesterday. . . cost little or usually nothing at all, those who possessed these catalogs. . . tended to destroy them as out-of-date waste paper once a new edition had been published. (Rust 23)
• Having established at least a framework of what records were made of a given artist and issued. . . the next step is to track down a copy of each of the records and note all the numerical details shown on it. (Rust 25)
• The description of the work as it appears on the documentation with a recording. . . is therefore only to be taken as identification of the contents, and not the way in which the entry will be made. [Hence, something like a uniform title should be used.] (Foreman 46).
• To understand the nature of the material on which the recording is preserved is important. The discographer should be able to exercise his judgement to ensure that he is not merely listing material, but is a vital link. . . in the chain that ensures the preservation as well as the dissemination of the recorded sound. (Foreman 18)
• In the matter of performance, we find one of discography’s most important contributions to scholarship. (Foreman 36)
• Many problems arise in the dubbing of music from 78rpm discs to LP. When entering such transfers in the discography, it should be possible to indicate the source of the dubbed sound (ie record and matrix number), and whether it is a faithful transfer. (Foreman 42)
• (Foreman has a lengthy chapter on options for how to arrange a discography; this doesn’t seem relevant in a digital environment where indexing is possible on any number of access points, although it might need some though if one were to produce a printed version)

key sources

• Atlantic Records. Michel Ruppli, Greenwood, four volumes (1979)
• Bibliography of Discographies. (1977-??) Bowker, four volumes.
• Bielefelder Katalog. (1960-??; biannual) Originally Der Grosse Schallplaten Katalog (1953-1959) and known familiarly as “Die Langspielplatte’; German
• The Gramophone Classical Record Catalogue. (1953-??; quarterly) Originally The Gramophone Long Playing Classical Record Catalogue. Functions as an index to reviews in The Gramophone; UK
• Historical Records. Roberto Bauer, rev. ed. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1946.
• Music on Records: A Critical Guide. Peter Gammond and Burnett James, originally published by Hutchinson in four volumes (1962-63), reissued in paper by Arrow Books in five volumes (1963-64)
• Penguin Guide to Bargain Records. Greenfield, March, and Stevens (1966-??)
• Schwann Record and Tape Guide. (1949-??; monthly) First Schwann Record Catalogue, then Schwann Long Playing Record Catalogue; American
• The Stereo Record Guide. Greenfield, Layton, March, and Stevens; The Longplaying Record Library Ltd, eight volumes (1960-72)
• Voices of the Past series, J.R. Bennett, Oakwood Press, nine volumes.
• World Encyclopedia of Recorded Music. Francis F. Clough and G.J. Cuming, Sidgwick and Jackson (1952, and subsequent editions)

periodical sources (reviews and discography)

• Antique Records (UK)
• The Art of Record Buying (UK)
• Audio Record Review (UK, defunct)
• The Gramophone (UK)
• Hi Fi News and Record Review (UK)
• Hi-fi Stereo Review (US)
• High Fidelity (US)
• International Piano Library Bulletin (US)
• Journal of the Association of Recorded Sound Collections (US)
• Notes (US)
• Phono Record (UK)
• Phono Trader (UK)
• Phonograph and Talking Machine Weekly (US)
• Record Advertiser (UK)
• Record Collector (UK)
• Recorded Sound (UK)
• Records and Recording (UK)
• Sound Wave (UK)

whole-part relationships

• hierarchichal and fairly obvious; quite common in musical compositions which are often in segments that can be performed independently of the whole
• can be a relationship involving a specific physical entity, such as a song in an anthology
• more importantly, a physical part can be related to a work as an abstract whole; this concept of the work is used to create the primary element in a uniform title
• in principal both part and whole can be abstract, although you wouldn’t normally find this in a library catalogue
• a whole-part relationship can be either inclusive or extractive
• an inclusive relationship exists when the part is contained entirely within the whole
• an extractive relationship exists when the part is removed from the whole to exist as a separate entity
• a part can be extracted vertically from the work, such as when a segment is excerpted to be a complete, performable unit; Vellucci gives the example of a chorus from an opera
• or a part can be extracted horizontally, such as when the music for one instrument is extracted from the complete score; in bibliographic terms this would normally occur in the publication of a score “with parts”, but one could imagine a performance of a single instrumental part from a larger work (although this might be more accurately described as a derivative relationship)

derivative relationships

• a derivative relationship “exists between any new conception of a work and its original source”
• a derivative relationship is normally considered to involve some kind of modification; however, a recording of a musical performance should be considered derivative even where the performers carefully follow the score
• new editions are considered derivative, but subsequent printings of an edition, facsimiles, etc. are not; I’m not sure if this means a CD release of an original LP is derivative, although probably yes if it’s “digitally remastered”
• an amplification is a derivation that adds to an original
• includes arrangements, involving a change in either the medium of performance (e.g. with different instrumentation) or the musical intellectual content (e.g. a simplified version for the beginning musician)
• also includes adaptations (where the intellectual content of a work is so altered as to be considered a new work), translations (not of interest to music per se, but relevant where choral works might involve translation), and notational transcription (e.g. from a medieval to a modern notation)

accompanying relationships

• the relationship between a primary musical item or work and complimentary material that accompanies it
• may be physically separate from one another, or may share the same container
• restricted to the function of augmentation, not a continuation
• for sound recordings, examples would include booklets and other inserts, and might even be extended to include liner notes; such items might also exhibit a descriptive relationship to the primary material

sequential relationships

• embody a chronological and sequential relationship
• include series, serials, and sequels
• exclusive of derivative relationships

equivalence relationships

• exist between exact copies of the same manifestation of a work
• reproduction is a mechanical rather than intellectual process
• the reproduction is normally intended to serve as a substitute for the original
• related to derivative relationships, except that in an equivalence relationship absolutely no alteration is made to the intellectual content
• examples include exact copies, microform copies, manuscript reproductions, issues/reissues/impressions, photocopies; Vellucci studied only scores and gives no specific examples for sound recordings

descriptive relationships

• exist between a work and a criticism, evaluation, or description of the work
• includes annotated editions, commentaries, analyses; may or may not include the musical work being described

Critics and music enthusiasts, for whom the performance is often more important than the recording, may feel that the electronically processed stereo effect is less satisfactory by far than the original, but it seems that many collectors will no longer consider buying any disc that is admitted to be monophonic. Indeed, many public libraries have found that their single channel discs are shunned by the majority of borrowers, however great the merits of a performance, however good the recording and however satisfactory the general condition of the record. The time may well come, however, when there will be some slight swing in the pendulum of fashion, in the way that there is now a small but quite lively market for 78rpm discs, with as many youthful collectors as elderly ones.

Despite this, a library is currently unlikely to buy any of these old shellac discs except in special circumstances. Gifts of coursegroove recordings may be offered to a library. For some years the general response was to reject them; indeed, where a collection of discs had been started before the LP era, there was a widespread tendency to withdraw and scrap all the coarsegroove recordings during the 1950s. Belatedly, it is being recognized that almost any old record in playable condition is likely to have some historic and artistic value (or, one imagines, it would never have been issued in the first place [!]), so that the possible importance of an archival collection is slowly being recognized; this matter will be raised again later in the chapter. (273-374)