Is anyone out there an expert on the failed 1907-08 Columbia experiment, the Marconi Velvet Tone discs? I have some conflicting information and I can't find any decently extensive information on the things.
Nauck/Sherman's book, Note The Notes, says Marconi's potrait on the label started out with a receding hairline, and that later issues show him sporting a lovely new hairpiece (tongue in cheek, that, as they both appear to be artist renderings and not portraits). This goes opposite the 6 Marconi's I possess according to their catalog numbers (which match the matrices), but it goes with the Grand Prize markings along the bottom of the label; the one receding hairline Marconi I have lists 1900 and 1904, while the other 5 hairpiece Marconi's add the 1906 award. (In fact, the picture they show of the receding hairline label is the same recording/matrix/release/number as one of my hairpiece labels.) Nauck/Sutton's book, American Record Labels and Companies, says the records started with No. 01 and reached into the low 400's, and that most issues were pressed from ordinary Columbia masters. Would they have issued the biggest Columbia sellers first, or was it common to issue records non-chronologically? I'm just trying to figure out why my (lowest) No. 06 is on the later label while my (highest) No. 169 is on the earlier label, and why my No. 32 is on the later label while the one in the book is on the earlier label. I didn't pay attention much to the one Marconi I've had for years, quite beaten up and greyed-out, but I did remember thinking it sounded pretty amazing and wondering if it was electric or acoustic. It's a march with lots of drums, and the bottom end is astounding, worlds ahead of any acoustic record I'd ever heard (and certainly better than any acoustic Columbia's), even better than many early electric recordings I have. So all this time I haven't bothered to find out when they were made. Then I just grabbed 5 more Marconi's from eBay a week ago, 3 of which are an easy EX, the other 2 VG+ and VG, and they sound AMAZING. My favorite is No. 169, Stabat Mater, a cornet solo "with Band Accompaniment" (EX condition), and it's the warmest, richest pre-1930 band recording I've ever heard. The low brass sonority is to die for. And at the climax of the piece, no strain, no stressed grooves, no harsh upper mids. Frankly, that's an accomplishment for even modern orchestras and engineers. I was astounded to discover they were 100 years old. So is it just me, or are the Marconi Velvet Tone's the most sonically superior acoustic recordings out there? It was a failed project because they were standard Columbia issues that needed expensive gold-plated needles and slipped on the turntable, but I'd venture there was no technological failure in their manufacture. Opinions? Thoughts? Anyone know what order the numbers were released in? (By the way, there are apparently a scarce few Fonotipia masters on Marconi out there. Fonotipias are near the top of my list for sonic pleasure from acoustic recordings; I bet those on Marconi must've sounded unbelievable when still fresh.) Thanks in advance for any further information, Robert
