chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 need help: heres the 411: got this 78 today its SEVEN INCHES. its a 7'', the size of a 45. label: BELL RECORD. title: almost all worn off....but i can make out.....*****O*****AR...... artist- jimmy carroll and his orchestra featuring the saxophone of jerome richardson (now you know why i got it) -------- side b; 'stood up' tony wilson, backed by the same orch., no mention of richardson on this side --------- what in the world is this? is this a commerical disc? Quote
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted February 17, 2012 Author Report Posted February 17, 2012 looked it up and found out its called BIG GUITAR. and the disc is from 1957. but why is it so tiny? Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 7in 78s were quite common waaaay back (in the 20s) but admitedly much less so in the 50s. However, as there were a number of other oddball formats in the 50s (e.g. 7in records spinning at 33) I don't think it is inconceivable that even things like this existed then to some extent, especially with budget labels. At any rate, Jimmy Carroll was a common name on these cheapo Bell records that covered then-current hit tunes. Without even having heard that particular record, I'd venture a guess that "Stood Up" is a cover of the Ricky Nelson song. Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Jimmy Carroll was also involved in some of the Bird With Strings recordings. Quote
jeffcrom Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Bell was a discount label distributed by Pocket Books, a company that issued cheap paperback books. There were issued from 1953 to 1959, and are actually pretty common - I come across them fairly frequently in my 78 hunts. The two above are from my collection. They're basically microgroove 78s - the narrower grooves allowed a full three minutes of music to fit on a 7" 78. Why so tiny? Well, they would have been cheaper to produce, for one thing. And folks who still only had a 78 RPM record player could feel like they were buying something a little hipper than an old-fashioned 10" 78. Quote
Clunky Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Bell was a discount label distributed by Pocket Books, a company that issued cheap paperback books. There were issued from 1953 to 1959, and are actually pretty common - I come across them fairly frequently in my 78 hunts. The two above are from my collection. They're basically microgroove 78s - the narrower grooves allowed a full three minutes of music to fit on a 7" 78. Why so tiny? Well, they would have been cheaper to produce, for one thing. And folks who still only had a 78 RPM record player could feel like they were buying something a little hipper than an old-fashioned 10" 78. I see that these 78s are to be played back using an LP needle !! Are they shellac or vinyl ? Quote
jeffcrom Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 I see that these 78s are to be played back using an LP needle !! Are they shellac or vinyl ? They're not shellac - they're vinyl-ish. They actually seem to be similar to the kind of hard plastic pressings Decca/Brunswick used in the 1950's, if you've ever seen any of those. Quote
jazztrain Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 According to information here, they were made by an injection molding process using polystyrene: Bell Records I have at least one of the Artie Shaws on Bell. I'll try to pull it out this weekend. I see that these 78s are to be played back using an LP needle !! Are they shellac or vinyl ? They're not shellac - they're vinyl-ish. They actually seem to be similar to the kind of hard plastic pressings Decca/Brunswick used in the 1950's, if you've ever seen any of those. Quote
JSngry Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Jimmy Carroll is a name I remember from some of the Little Golden Records I had when I was a kid, 78s that weren't even 7" in diameter. Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 (edited) There were issued from 1953 to 1959, and are actually pretty common - I come across them fairly frequently in my 78 hunts. Actually they seem to have been fairly common almost everywhere. I have close to a dozen of the Bell 45s too - all of them bought at local fleamarkets through the years (and I know I missed out on others and passed up a few that were all too "non-rocking" , judging by the songs). And I know a few friends of mine from France have a handful of them in their collections too. How come they were arund here at a time when import records (i.e. not local license pressings) sold at a premium? Who knows ... maybe souvenirs left behind by G.I.'s doing their army stint over here? Am now spinning Edna McGriff's cover of Huey Smith's "Dont You Just Know It" (backed by the Jimmy Carrol orchestra again). Amazing how they go about aping the N.O. sound ... BTW, thanks for the explanation of why there were 7in 78s in those years, Jeffcrom! Edited February 17, 2012 by Big Beat Steve Quote
JSngry Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Jimmy Carroll is a name I remember from some of the Little Golden Records I had when I was a kid, 78s that weren't even 7" in diameter. Quote
jazztrain Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Presumably the same guy who played clarinet on the Alec Wilder Octet recordings? Jimmy Carroll is a name I remember from some of the Little Golden Records I had when I was a kid, 78s that weren't even 7" in diameter. Quote
JSngry Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Could be...and to take it to the next phase... Quote
jeffcrom Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Yes, Alec Wilder wrote lots of the music that came out on those kids' Golden Records. Quote
JSngry Posted February 17, 2012 Report Posted February 17, 2012 Enough for a Mosaic set? On 6" yellow plastic 78 RPM records? Please? Quote
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted February 18, 2012 Author Report Posted February 18, 2012 Bell was a discount label distributed by Pocket Books, a company that issued cheap paperback books. There were issued from 1953 to 1959, and are actually pretty common - I come across them fairly frequently in my 78 hunts. The two above are from my collection. They're basically microgroove 78s - the narrower grooves allowed a full three minutes of music to fit on a 7" 78. Why so tiny? Well, they would have been cheaper to produce, for one thing. And folks who still only had a 78 RPM record player could feel like they were buying something a little hipper than an old-fashioned 10" 78. oh god! i was WONDERIN how it could be full length and still be so tiny. wowzers!well ive certainly never seen one before Quote
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