November 13: 60th Anniversary for Stereo LP's

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Bob Furmanek, Nov 13, 2017.

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  1. Bob Furmanek

    Bob Furmanek Forum Resident Thread Starter

    November 13, 1957: the first stereo album is pressed by Sid Frey of Audio Fidelity.

    I've always had an interest in the first stereo LP releases from each label. I've put this page together documenting the first year of 45-45 Westrex stereo groove album releases.

    You'll also find articles on stereo TV broadcasts, singles, EP's and jukeboxes. I hope that you find it interesting and if you have any additions or corrections, please let me know.

    Thank you very much and enjoy the article!

    Stereo Discs - 3dfilmarchive
     
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  2. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Cool! Thanks, Bob.
     
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  3. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Bob, nice job (!) on that web page! From the site:
    Screen shot 2017-11-14 at 3.59.10 PM.jpg
    and
    Atlantic-Nov-8-1952-Billboa.jpg .
    I'm glad to see this represented here, as I've posted about the historical release many times. I do not have the original binaural LP on Atlantic, but do have a 7.5 IPS tape from, I think, 1955, and a licensed CD that came out several years ago. Regarding the tape, see two consecutive posts, starting here.

    Some early stereo recording stuff here and here. (Please make any corrections, if needed.)

    Here's a pic of the Atlantic label:
    [​IMG]
     
  4. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    The vertical compliance issue, brought up -- anonymously! -- here:
    Screen shot 2017-11-14 at 4.22.04 PM.png
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2017
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  5. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Funny to see this blurb from Howard Holzer in 1958:
    Screen shot 2017-11-14 at 4.43.11 PM.png
    ...considering that about 10 years later he was pushing this: Haeco-CSG - Wikipedia .
     
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  6. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    From the site:
    [​IMG]
    Largely the result of Bill Putnam tracking sessions in stereo "under the radar?" Then selling the stereo tapes back to Mercury? (I think the David Carroll album may be an NYC recording, maybe at Capitol, not Putnam.)
     
  7. Chris C

    Chris C Music was my first love and it will be my last!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Thanks Bob for the thread and PLEASE, tell your brother Ron that we want more of his infamous stereo remixes! I'm still loving his work on that Herman's Hermits disc on Bear Family!
     
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  8. AnalogJ

    AnalogJ Hearing In Stereo Since 1959

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    I had thought that LaVern Baker Sings Bessie Smith was the first Atlantic stereo LP?
     
  9. Very nice thread and link. Thank you. :tiphat:
     
  10. DRM

    DRM Forum Resident

    Stereo: Worth celebrating and a leap forward.

    Great documentation.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2017
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  11. John B

    John B Once Blue Gort,<br>now just blue.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    This!
     
  12. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    Had a blast going thru the site. Kudos!

    In case anyone is wondering what the inflation-adjusted equivalent of 1957 prices are in 2017 dollars, multiply by 10.

    So 70 bucks for that Harmonica Gang album and 800 for a Fairchild cartridge, early adopter!
     
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  13. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Gotta love the early Stereo LPs pinging and ponging back and forth... the novelty years; for the refined adult listener's teak hi-fi system... some really good stuff if you dig (dig?)... The Three Suns (Charles Albertine produced ones that is), Arthur Lyman (with the foil sticker), Los Machucambos (even pre-'Phase 4'), Santo & Johnny, Los Indios Tabajaras (in Living Stereo), and various African percussionist numbers (Guy Warren Sounds, Eddie Cano, and The Shangaans).



    :love:
     
  14. Veech

    Veech Space In Sounds

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Wow, lots of scantily clad women in those ads. ahh.. the good ol' days of advertising.

    My Dad was an early adopter of stereo music, he was fascinated by the technology. He used to love playing stereo demonstration records at full volume and impressing everyone in the room. My avatar was one of his favorites. I recall this happening many times as early as 1958 when I was 6 yrs old. My Dad loved new technology.

    I still have some of his old LPs, Johnny Puelo, Al Hirt etc. I also have an original boxed Bel Canto multi-color stereo demonstration record. Dad used to play side one and blow people away.

     
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  15. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    ^^^^^^^^ I have that album! Love the variegated color.
     
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  16. swandown

    swandown Under Assistant West Coast Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Wow, a double stylus! I wonder if the records always managed to stay in sync?

    Did any companies try to do the same thing but with 2 separate records (each playing on a separate turntable)?
     
  17. Veech

    Veech Space In Sounds

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I can't wrap my head around that. I guess if they were cut that way it would work but wouldn't the styluses (styli?) have to float to prevent major groove wear?
     
  18. gregorya

    gregorya I approve of this message

    Finally! Something older than me!...

    :)
     
  19. Hamhead

    Hamhead The Bear From Delaware

    I collect those things, I have at least 100 different demo LP's from the 50's and 60's.
    The best ones were from the budget labels like Tops/Mayfair and Somerset, the ones where they pan a mono signal back and forth and the announcer announces.....

    This is STEREO!!!


    Besides the usual recordings of ping pong games, trains, and cars.

    The first stereo LP from 1957 (AFLP 1872)

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. JohnO

    JohnO Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    The industry (RIAA, when it was an industry association only for forming standards for the industry, and RCA was the #1 elephant that basically set the standards with Columbia as #2) had agreed to embargo Stereo LPs until a certain date when all the kinks were formally worked out and standardized, and manufacturers had product - stereo record players - ready to sell. The story goes that Sid Frey requested a stereo master to be cut from his stereo tape for his testing, so Westrex did that. Sid Frey pressed it ahead of the embargo and the race was on.
     
  21. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    Oh, the irony.

    BTW, @Bob Furmanek, I'm not sure about anyone else, but I'm having some issues loading the images on this end. It looks like everything is loaded corrected now, but I had to reload a few times. FYI.
     
  22. Byrdsmaniac

    Byrdsmaniac Forum Resident

    That's an excellent article! Thanks very much. I'm surprised at how many of the early stereo classical and jazz recordings I have.
     
  23. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    This is interesting:

    "A new system of stereo recording being shown employs a standard - but necessarily high-quality - monaural cartridge which plays a groove on which one channel derives from a frequency-modulated carrier which is recorded along with the conventional lateral recording. While this system would not require a stereo cartridge, it does need a converter unit to unscramble the FM signal, which the converter said to range around $30 in cost."

    That sounds suspiciously like what would be employed over a decade later for CD-4.
     
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  24. Sterling Cooper

    Sterling Cooper Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    "The story goes that Sid Frey requested a stereo master to be cut from his stereo tape for his testing, so Westrex did that. Sid Frey pressed it ahead of the embargo and the race was on."

    That concurs with the account in the 1977 revised edition of Roland Gelatt's book "The Fabulous Phonograph". It also says that when Sidney Frey released the demo disc AFLP-1872 on the Audio Fidelity label in late 1957, there wasn't even a stereo cartridge on the market yet. The Fairchild Recording Equipment Company came out with one in short order.
     
  25. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    Another somewhat ironic comment, regarding Atlantic's introduction of stereo:

    "The diskery will use the slogan "Sound in the Round," which, according to a spokesman, denotes Atlantic's recording philosophy that a full, overall sound is more desirable than an extreme effect of stereo separation. The spokesman added that for three years the label has recorded everything in stereo, entire catalog."

    I guess by 1964 they had changed their minds?

    [insert stereo mix of "I Believe To My Soul" here]
     
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