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Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercurial pressings
Those early Mercury pressings were on some polyunsaturated pressings, at
least one side of which often turned to melba (small M) toast with the
passage of time. Grind, grind. I just ditched a Billy Daniels LP with this
symptom. Their cover fabrications suffer from splotching, what the fellow
who lists for me on ebay calls "cover cancer."
Steve Smolian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dick Spottswood" <dick@xxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 7:02 PM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Mercurial pressings
Wasn't Mercury the 1st label to press everything on flexible (or at least
semi-flex) pressings around 1949-50? The compound was called Mercolite or
something like that, and the 33s looked and hefted about the same as the
78s.
Dick
Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent by: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx>
07/09/2006 05:23 PM
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Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercury co-founder Irving Green passes
Hi Roger:
The guy who probably knows most about this is Michael Gray. I know very
little about pre-original
Mercury classical records. They were mostly taken out of print quickly
after Mercury started rolling
their own. I have a few of them from the very dawn of LPs. They're in
78-style album jackets and
seem to be made of shellac or something much thicker and heavier and less
flexible than typical
vinyl. I've never played them, just keep them for historical reasons. Not
even sure what titles I
have since they're deep in the shelves.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger and Allison Kulp" <thorenstd124@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercury co-founder Irving Green passes
I was going through my pre-Living Presence Mercury Classics
Lps,yesterday,and I had forgotten,they
had put out the (only ?)US pressings,of the early Sixten Erhling, Swedish
Lps.The ones that predate
the EMI monos.(I own two of these.)But one noteworthy record I own,is the
Mercury-sourced,American
Broadcasting Company Quartet,recording of "Death and The Maiden".A quick
Google,only mentions the
recordings with Reginald Kell,who is obviously not part of this record.I
am not sure if this has
ever been reissued.
Roger Kulp
Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 07/07/06, Tom Fine wrote:
You are correct. There were probably 50 more CD's that could have been
done (perhaps more if one considered being completist on the mono
stuff, which was an unlikely track because there was specific and
limited interest in the pre-1956 catalog and that interest was
addressed with the handful of mono reissues). Universal decided to
discontinue the reissues in 2000 after scaling back the previous two
releases. Many of the titles are still in print in the US but seem to
be taken out of print in most other markets, which is pretty idiotic
since they sold extremely well in the Orient and Europe. A good
classical issue is like an annuity -- keep it in print and it will
keep sending checks to the home office.
While there are probably some on this list who are passionate about
small-group and chamber music, in Mercury's case it never sold as well
as the orchestral and band recordings, so it was considered at the
bottom of the pile for reissues. Solo and concerto stuff like Janos
Starker and Byron Janis were big sellers originally and were big
sellers on CD. Point is, the reissue was a commercial undertaking (and
was very profitable), so what was reissued and in what order was
considered very carefully.
It seems to me it is time some of the classic recordings (in all genres)
were recognised as cultural treasures, so that reissues like these could
be subsidised by UNESCO, the big Foundations, or Governments in various
countries, just as art galleries and opera houses are subsidised.
While there may sometimes be a profit to be made from reissues, often
there is not. Or only enough to support a one-man-and-dog record
company,
with consequent poor distribution.
There are many recordings that should be permanently available to all,
in the highest possible engineering quality, for the same reason that
anyone can walk into the National Gallery and look at the pictures.
Regards
--
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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