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ARSCLIST  April 2011

ARSCLIST April 2011

Subject:

Re: TOPS Records WAS:true stereo 78s; was: First high-fidelity recordings released in 1944?

From:

David Lewis <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:54:08 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (142 lines)

Thank you Roger -- I hadn't heard that and I really enjoyed it.

Uncle Dave

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Roger Kulp <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Speaking of Nervous Norvous and TOPS
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGDdHG6hzxo
> I think a number of those "budget" labels sold out to Pickwick in the 60s.I
> know Eli Oberstein did..TOPS also put out their share of pseudonymous
> classical Lps
>
> Roger
>
>
>
> --- On Fri, 4/29/11, David Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: David Lewis <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] TOPS Records WAS:true stereo 78s; was: First
> high-fidelity recordings released in 1944?
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Friday, April 29, 2011, 8:39 AM
>
> TOPS was indeed a wonderful label, recording some artists temporarily down
> on their luck (Mel Torme, Lena Horne), some established figures
> under-recorded to that time (Scatman Crothers) and some on their way out
> (James Melton). In the case of Melton, I'm pretty sure that album -- which
> is horrendous, by the way -- was a master created at RCA Victor that they
> understandably didn't want, and it surfaced on Tops. So to a small extent
> they may have contributed to the mainstream important recordings we would
> not otherwise be able to hear. Some of the sound-alikes are even good; as
> much as I like Nervous Norvus' "Transfusion," I wouldn't want to be without
> Scatman Crothers' version, which moves the rock n roll novelty into a
> gently
> jazzy context.
>
> http://www.box.net/shared/96ub0beqjv
>
> Carl Foshay, who headed Tops, tells its full story here:
>
> http://www.bsnpubs.com/pri/tops.html
>
> To answer DrG's question, it was sold off to Pickwick, which is sort of
> like
> saying it ended up in a black hole -- apparently Pickwick or a successor
> still exists, but dealing with Tops masters would hardly be a priority in
> 2011, even if they still have them. They did, however, keep those Golden
> Tone reissues in circulation a long time, and some have slightly different
> contents from the Tops issues. So there was some awareness of the vault and
> mixing and matching of material, at least when the Tops-derived issues were
> still in production.
>
> Uncle Dave
>
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 1:20 AM, Stewart Gooderman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > The TOPS history is documented on the internet:
> >
> > http://www.bsnpubs.com/pri/tops.html
> >
> > Two of their Lp's I've had since I was a kid:
> > L 1506 Cole Porter/Irving Berlin favorites
> > L 1519 Music from the Movies
> >
> > The former has been embedded in my brain for over 50 years. My original
> > copy has been worn white. I was recently able to make a CD of the
> recording
> > by locating two different TOPS discs (as the original L 1506 was changed
> in
> > later pressings), used, but in pretty good shape.
> >
> > I also recently acquired a CD of a TOPS recording of the late, great
> > Lillian Roth.
> >
> > Does anybody know who owns the masters of these recordings? Do the
> masters
> > even exist today?
> >
> > DrG
> >
> >
> > On 4/28/11 9:16 PM, Roger Kulp wrote:
> >
> >> From: Roger  Kulp<[log in to unmask]>
> >> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] TOPS Records WAS:true stereo 78s; was: First
> >> high-fidelity recordings released in 1944?
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Date: Thursday, April 28, 2011, 10:14 PM
> >>
> >> I don't think that TOPS really gets its due.This is the label,after
> >> all,that gave us "Von Hutch The Mad Martian Pinstriper","Voodoo" by
> Robert
> >> Drasnin,and the only solo record by longtime Jascha Heifitz accompanist
> >> Emanuel Bay.They put out some incredible records,well loved over fifty
> years
> >> later.
> >> Discuss.
> >> Roger
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --- On Thu, 4/28/11, Stewart Gooderman<[log in to unmask]>  wrote:
> >>
> >> From: Stewart Gooderman<[log in to unmask]>
> >> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] true stereo 78s; was: First high-fidelity
> >> recordings released in 1944?
> >> To: [log in to unmask]
> >> Date: Thursday, April 28, 2011, 7:51 PM
> >>
> >> In the 1950's, I think the label was "TOPS." I have a few
> >>  of them. They
> >> were not only on 78s, but 45s as well.
> >>
> >> DrG
> >>
> >> On 4/28/11 10:56 AM, Tom Fine wrote:
> >>
> >>> This is somewhat similar to how Enoch Light got started in the record
> >>> company business. In the late 40's, he would get a studio band in and
> >>> make copycat covers of a few current hits, then put them out on
> >>> "extended play" 78's (I think they had smaller-than-normal grooves or
> >>> were cut at very low levels or something), usually 4 hits per record (2
> >>> per side) and peddle these things in dime stores, street-vendor racks,
> >>> supermarkets, wherever. I think he even had people going door to door
> in
> >>> the NY Metro area, like the Fuller Brush man! This kind of gusto
> evolved
> >>> into the crazy themes, bold cover art and over the top marketing
> >>> language for Grand Award and then Command records. Never a dull
> >>> descriptor or claim of best-ever or first-ever. I forgot the label
> >>>
> >>  name
> >>
> >>> he used for the "4 Hits Per Record!!!" 78's.
> >>>
> >>> -- Tom Fine
> >>>
> >>
> >>
>

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