November 13: 60th Anniversary for Stereo LP's

Also relevant, from RCA:

Living Stereo

 

This film ties in with the RCA Living Stereo demonstration record in my avatar. The film opens with Lieutenant Kije Suite which is on the demo record.

I realize now that hearing this and the Bel Canto demonstration records at such an early age exposed me to a wide variety of music. Seriously, the Rite of Spring followed by Rag Mop? wow...

SOUNDS IN SPACE (Stereo Demo Record, 1958)

 

Great stuff.

I have this box set, complete with the inserts:

 

While I think there were some experiments in two channel grooves in the 1930s, combining lateral and vertical cutting for the two channels, but the vertical channel had rumble, the lateral channel had overloads. Nobody thought of the 45/45 system for a long time.

But in the 1910s through the early 1920s there were several small phono record companies who could not get in to the patent trusts of Victor/Columbia with lateral cut discs, and Pathé and Edison with vertical cut discs, so they cut - acoustically - a 45 degrees groove and advertised their records as "compatible" to both or "plays on any phonograph". The little seven inch Emerson 78s are of this type. It's odd to play one in stereo now - the sound is like at the 25% or 75% point across your stereo speakers, not centered.

The big phonograph companies were certainly aware of that 45 degrees cut at that time but considered those little companies to be fleas. It took decades until someone realized you could do a 45/45 groove for two channels, balancing the rumble and overloads to both channels.

(This is why it is good to know some history, else some new little company will come up with something "new" and "first" that was done 40 years earlier.)

 

praise the date!!! with the endless mono gushing around here you'd think that date was a crime...LOL...lest remember every stereo album in existence was an afterthought! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

Thank you so much for your very kind words. They are certainly appreciated and I'm very happy to share the research.

I tried to find a documented, chronological listing which spelled out the specific dates and titles from each label during this first year of stereo albums, but had no luck. In fact, I found lots of wrong information online so I decided to compile it myself!

I found the best results were achieved by using multiple sources. Many times, data that is reported in one publication is missing in another. In order to make the information as complete and accurate as possible, I did my research in Billboard, Cash Box, Audio Magazine, Saturday Review, High Fidelity, HiFi & Music Review plus vintage newspapers at newspapers.com

Even with those excellent publications, some data has been elusive. Can anyone help with the following?

Titles for the 95 London LP releases announced on August 5, 1958?

Release dates for the 8 Jubilee stereo singles?

Dates for the RCA, Stere-o-craft and Disneyland EP's?

Regarding the 4 Bel Canto stereo singles listed as June online; the earliest documentation I could find is September 14, six days after MGM sent the Joni James promo single to DJ's. That makes sense chronologically as Wurlitzer had announced their stereo jukebox on September 6 and June seems much too early for Bel Canto to have issued four stereo singles. Can anyone provide documentation for the earlier date?

Also, I put this page together rather quickly when I realized the 60th anniversary was the next day. I have more visuals to add - with better scans of some ads - and my plan is to have it finalized by the end of December. I hope to include at least one first-printing sample cover from each label.

Thanks again!

 

I just found documentation on the four Bel Canto stereo singles. They were released the week of June 23.

 

Must've been revolutionary back in the day. Very great that stereo exists! (Doesn't mean I wouldn't love mono... or surround.^^)
Also interesting to see those double tonearm machines, didn't know about this before.

 

Or just a few years later as Stereo FM radio.

 

I was trying to find that again, glad someone did!

 

I'm a sucka for coloured vinyl, and for unusual records, so this ticked the boxes, and I'm £13 poorer in monetary terms, but much richer in experience. Love this record on first play, and the copy I got sounds breathtakingly good.

 

Lots of new data has been added, including the correct release date for the first Bel Canto sampler. It's not late 1957 as reported online; it's October 1958.

Another myth-busted by doing original research in primary source documents - the first stereo release of Fantasia on the Disneyland label: it's October 25, 1958.

 

I've just added more information on the binaural Emory Cook records, stereo television broadcasts (Lawrence Welk, George Gobel) plus the stereo 45's and EP's.

I'm pleased to say that all of the missing dates mentioned in my earlier post have been found!

This has all been accomplished by doing new research in documented primary sources. I'm much more comfortable working that way as opposed to searching in books or online. I've got a few more vintage catalogs on the way which will help to flesh out some data.

The first stereo rock and roll album? Jack Scott on Carlton (STLP 12-107) released October 18 and reviewed in Billboard on November 10, 1958.

 

Can't remember details (I was a kid in early 60s) stereo LPs were more expensive than the 'regular' versions, and I suppose players more so.

 

I love all those vintage adverts for Stereo, I bet it blew people's minds back in the day. Still blows my mind to this day! Admittedly my appreciation stems from only a handful of artists but I reckon some of those early stereo recordings are just fantastic with all that gorgeous <W-I-D-E> separation and clarity of depth. Three cheers for those early engineers and a BIG Happy Birthday! to 'LIVING, 360, VISUAL SOUND, FULL DIMENSIONAL, PANORAMIC' STEREO! Great Topic!

 

I hope that audiophile's will have a new respect for the great Lawrence Welk now that his contributions to the birth of stereo have been properly documented. Thanks to his weekly TV shows in dual-channel sound, more people were exposed to his stereophonic music in that first year than anyone else.

Lenny Herman was The King of Tape Stereo but I'm still not sure who the King of Disc Stereo might be.

Research is ongoing but I suspect it's going to be either the 101 Strings, Enoch Light or Mantovani. They're in a close race to determine which one had the most releases in that first year.