I thought I had read that RCA had destroyed *all* of its metal parts from the 78 RPM era, and collectors were frantically running through the warehouse saving whatever important masters they could find.
This was brought to light when RCA was trying to create their Rachmaninoff release and actually had to borrow pressings from collectors as they had destroyed whatever originals that were not saved by collectors.
I didn't know that Columbia had done it as well, though not to the same degree.
Sad. So very, very sad.
DrG
On Dec 4, 2013, at 7:11 AM, Michael Shoshani <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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> Just to note, Sony Music only holds whatever Victor parts BMG had, which is woefully incomplete. Back in the 1960s, I believe it was, Sarnoff's RCA demolished some of the Camden complex, including the buildings where metal parts were stored. They invited some collectors to pick through the holdings before whatever was left was basically plowed into the Delaware River.
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> I made a telephone call over 20 years ago to EMI in Manchester Square, trying to find out if they had any plans for CD reissues of Jack Hylton. I forget the name of the man with whom I spoke, but he told me that unfortunately they didn't have much in the way of metal parts from that era. He did volunteer that for some time EMI and BMG had been doing a mutual exchange project, whereby if one had a hole in their inventory and the other had the missing metal parts, whoever had the parts would electroplate (he said "grow") new parts from them, and send them to the one whose inventory needed it. (This, of course, would only potentially cover material up through 1957 when RCA and EMI stopped exchanging matrices.)
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> Michael Shoshani
> Chicago
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