Re: [ARSCLIST] Soapbox

[Michael Biel <mbiel@xxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Dave Lewis <dlewis@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
> There are lots of reasons to take the following with a grain of salt,
> especially considering the source:
>
>  
>
> http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/090204-NL-decca.html
>
>  
>   
Most Americans have never heard of him and don't know how controversial 
he is in England.  Last year he lost a libel suit to the owner of Naxos 
and the entire book was removed from sale in the U.K.   I got the U.S. 
edition under a different title, and note that he included mentioned my 
research on the Rach 2 although not crediting me by name. 

> And the technical milestones he ascribes
> to Decca are inaccurate, at least in the sense that he makes the point
> here - it would have been nice if Stormin' Norman would spend a little
> time supporting his broad claims, rather than grinding his axe because
> these folks wouldn't cover the tab for his coffee at some meeting or
> another.   
> David "Uncle Dave" Lewis
>
>  
>   
I have submitted the following comment and we'll see if he allows it to 
be posted.

"Interesting but quite historically inaccurate.  Bing and Louis recorded 
for the unaffiliated American Decca company, and their 78s appeared on 
in the U.K. on Brunswick.  Decca didn't introduce the LP, American 
Columbia did in June 1948, and both Edison and RCA Victor had previously 
introduced LP systems in 1926 and 1931.  Decca's stereo system was 
specifically rejected by the industry, and Cook Records had been issuing 
stereo discs since 1953.  Soundstream and Denon were doing digital 
master recording before Decca.  And Decca's post-war FFRR quality had 
been equaled and surpassed a dozen years earlier by Western Electric's 
Wide Range Vertical Recording system used on broadcast transcriptions."

Mike Biel  mbiel@xxxxxxxxx