Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom .
134-587: Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company , it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a management buy-out after the parent company went into receivership. In 1925, it acquired a controlling interest in its American parent company to take advantage of a new electrical recording process. The British firm also controlled the US operations from 1925 until 1931. That year Columbia Graphophone in
268-669: A $ 500,000 investment which subsequently earned the company some $ 32 million in profits. In October 1958, Columbia, in time for the Christmas season, put out a series of "Greatest Hits" packages by such artists as Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, Guy Mitchell, Johnnie Ray, Jo Stafford , Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Frankie Laine and the Four Lads ; months later, it put out another Mathis compilation as well as that of Marty Robbins . Only Mathis' compilations charted, since there were only 25 positions on Billboard ' s album charts at
402-603: A brilliant blue laminated product with matching label. Royal Blue issues, made from late 1932 through 1935, are particularly popular with collectors for their rarity and musical interest. The Columbia plant in Oakland, California, did Columbia's pressings for sale west of the Rockies and continued using the Royal Blue material for these until about mid-1936. As southern gospel developed, Columbia had astutely sought to record
536-414: A catalog of blues and jazz artists, including Bessie Smith in their 14000-D Race series. Columbia also had a successful "Hillbilly" series (15000-D) with Dan Hornsby among others. By 1927, the "Sweet Jazz" bandleader Guy Lombardo also joined Columbia and recorded forty five 78 rpm's by 1931. In 1928, Paul Whiteman , the nation's most popular orchestra leader, left Victor to record for Columbia. During
670-517: A cutting head with linear characteristics which circumvented Western Electric's patents. Columbia continued to use acoustic recording methods for the cheaper labels, and to release discs made with old acoustic masters on the Harmony and Velvet Tone labels until around 1929. The repercussions of the stock market Crash of 1929 led to huge losses in the recording industry and, in March 1931, J.P Morgan,
804-757: A decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American sound recording. In 1903, to add prestige to its early catalog of artists, Columbia contracted several prominent singers from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to make a highly touted series of Grand Opera Records. These stars included Marcella Sembrich , Lillian Nordica , Antonio Scotti , and Edouard de Reszke , but
938-468: A distribution deal with Philips Records to market Columbia recordings outside North America. EMI continued to distribute Okeh and later Epic label recordings until 1968. EMI also continued to distribute Columbia recordings in Australia and New Zealand. American Columbia was not happy with EMI's reluctance to introduce long playing records. Columbia became the most successful non-rock record company in
1072-668: A few more years. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players. Columbia Phonograph relocated to Bridgeport, Connecticut , and Edward Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation . In late 1922, Columbia entered receivership. The company was bought by its UK subsidiary, the Columbia Graphophone Company , in 1925 and the label, record numbering system, and recording process changed. On February 25, 1925, Columbia began recording with
1206-550: A grave mistake. Columbia had been making test electrical recordings since at least August 1924 with the Western Electrical system. Although the Columbia Phonograph Company of New York could not afford the royalty payments, Sterling was in a position to buy out the US operation and, as an American company, to purchase the licence for the new Western Electric patents. Satisfied with the progress of
1340-546: A group of investors. It derived its name from the District of Columbia , where it was headquartered. At first it had a local monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington, D.C. , Maryland , and Delaware . As was the custom of some of the regional phonograph companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own, and its catalog of musical records in 1891
1474-475: A high executive with RCA Victor from 1932 thru 1938, was asked to comment on ARC. "The chief value was that the record industry had come back tremendously, especially in the case of two other record companies; and the American Record Company, with all its facilities, had not, so far as I could learn, increased its business in any degree at all in the previous six years." On December 17, 1938,
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#17327934455901608-651: A label consolidation. This in turn was absorbed by the Parlophone Records unit of Warner Music Group in 2013. The Columbia Phonograph Company was originally founded in the US by Edward D. Easton in 1887, initially as a distributor with a local monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Delaware. It also made its own compatible cylinder recordings. In 1901, Columbia began selling disc records (invented and patented by Emile Berliner of
1742-837: A petition for involuntary bankruptcy: Columbia went into receivership. Seeking to raise cash, Columbia sold the British branch in December 1922 to a group of investors led by Columbia's General Manager in Britain, the American-born Louis Sterling (1879–1958). Columbia in the US emerged from receivership in February 1924 as the Columbia Phonograph Company Inc., but was immediately faced with another crisis, as booming radio sales reduced
1876-847: A press release, "The American Record Co. tag is discarded". Columbia Records was actually reborn on May 22, 1939, as "Columbia Recording Corporation, Inc.", a Delaware corporation. The NYDOS shows a later incorporation date of April 4, 1947. This corporation changed its name to Columbia Records, Inc. on October 11, 1954, and reverted to Columbia Recording Corporation on January 2, 1962. The Columbia trademark remained under Columbia Records, Inc. of Delaware, filed back in 1929. Brothers Ike and Leon Levy owned stakes in CBS. In February 1939, NYC Studios moved from ARC headquarters at 1776 Broadway, to 799 7th Avenue, 6th&7th flrs, New York City ("Studio A"). Corporate offices, studio and Pressing Plant would also continue at 1473 Barnum Avenue, Bridgeport, CT. John Hammond
2010-458: A set of CDs devoted to Columbia's Broadway albums. Over the years, Columbia joined Decca and RCA Victor in specializing in albums devoted to Broadway musicals with members of the original casts. In the 1950s, Columbia also began releasing LPs drawn from the soundtracks of popular films. Many album covers put together by Columbia and the other major labels were put together using one piece of cardboard (folded in half) and two paper "slicks", one for
2144-527: A skilled modernist composer himself, Columbia cemented contracts with jazz composer/musicians Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus , while Macero became a significant figure in Miles Davis career from an explorer of the art of modal jazz from Davis' sextets 1958 album Milestones to innovator and avatar of the marriage of jazz with rock and electronic sounds—commonly known as jazz fusion . In 1954, Columbia embraced small-group modern jazz by signing of
2278-551: A small team which developed the concept into a practical cutter. The other principal team members were Herbert Holman and Henry "Ham" Clark. Their work resulted in several patents. Early in 1931, the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company merged and became EMI . New joint research laboratories were set up at Hayes and Blumlein was officially transferred there on 1 November
2412-501: A stylus (the legs) on a record (the eye); however, the "eye" also subtly refers to CBS's main business in television , and that division's iconic Eye logo. Columbia continued to use the "notes and mike" logo on record labels and even used a promo label showing both logos until the "notes and mike" was phased out (along with the 78 in the US) in 1958. In Canada, Columbia 78s were pressed with the "Walking Eye" logo in 1958. The original Walking Eye
2546-626: A sufficient number of parachutes for all individuals involved. After the RAF investigative board completed its report on the Halifax crash, it was ordered to be kept secret by Prime Minister Churchill, and the cause of the crash was not revealed publicly, even to the relatives of the deceased. As a result, numerous unfounded rumours of German sabotage as the cause of the crash would circulate for many years afterwards. Alan Blumlein had two sons, Simon Blumlein and David Blumlein. Outside his work, Blumlein
2680-413: A time when the economy was bad enough that many of them would not have had the opportunity to enter a studio and play real jazz (a handful of these in this special series were issued in the US). Hammond's work for Columbia was interrupted by his service during World War II , and he had less involvement with the music scene during the bebop era, but when he returned to work as a talent scout for Columbia in
2814-463: Is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment , a subsidiary of Sony Music Group , the American division of multinational conglomerate Sony . Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. From 1961 to 1991, its recordings were released outside North America under the name CBS Records to avoid confusion with EMI 's Columbia Graphophone Company . Columbia
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#17327934455902948-409: Is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels: Epic Records , and former longtime rivals, RCA Records and Arista Records as the latter two were originally owned by BMG before its 2008 relaunch after Sony's acquisition alongside other BMG labels. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded on January 15, 1889, by stenographer, lawyer, and New Jersey native Edward D. Easton (1856–1915) and
3082-636: The Australian Record Company (founded in 1936) including Coronet Records , one of the leading Australian independent recording and distribution companies of the day. The CBS Coronet label was replaced by the CBS label with the 'walking eye' logo in 1963. ARC continued trading under that name until the late 1970s when it formally changed its business name to CBS Australia. Alan Blumlein Alan Dower Blumlein ( / ˈ b l ʊ m l aɪ n / ; 29 June 1903 – 7 June 1942)
3216-505: The Columbia Graphophone Company , where he reported directly to general manager Isaac Shoenberg . His first project was to find a method of disc cutting that circumvented a Bell patent in the Western Electric moving-iron cutting head then used, and on which substantial royalties had to be paid. He invented the moving-coil disc cutting head, which not only got around the patent but offered greatly improved sound quality. He led
3350-521: The Eastman School of Music in the 1930s.) Miller quickly signed up Mercury's biggest artist at the time, Frankie Laine , and discovered several of the decade's biggest recording stars including Tony Bennett , Mahalia Jackson , Jimmy Boyd , Guy Mitchell (whose stage surname was taken from Miller's first name), Johnnie Ray , The Four Lads , Rosemary Clooney , Kay Lande , Ray Conniff , Jerry Vale and Johnny Mathis . He also oversaw many of
3484-588: The Halifax bomber in which he was flying were killed when it crashed at Welsh Bicknor in Herefordshire . Alan Dower Blumlein was born on 29 June 1903 in Hampstead , London. His father, Semmy Blumlein, was a German-born naturalised British subject. Semmy was the son of Joseph Blumlein, a German of Jewish descent, and Philippine Hellmann, a French woman of German descent. Alan's mother, Jessie Dower,
3618-790: The Victor Talking Machine Company ) and phonographs. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor discs. Edison discs and Columbia's acoustic records both had a nominal playback speed of 80 rpm. From about 1898 until 1922 the US parent company managed a UK subsidiary, the Columbia Graphophone Manufacturing Company. Its headquarters and studios were established in Victorian warehouses at 102-108 Clerkenwell Road shortly before
3752-682: The Westminster Choir conducted by Leonard Bernstein (recorded on December 31, 1956, on 1 ⁄ 2 -inch tape, using an Ampex 300-3 machine). Bernstein combined the Nativity and Resurrection sections, and ended the performance with the death of Christ. As with RCA Victor, most of the early stereo recordings were of classical artists, including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bruno Walter , Dimitri Mitropoulos , and Leonard Bernstein , and
3886-553: The swing music era, Hammond had already been of great help to Columbia in 1932–33. Through his involvement in the UK music paper Melody Maker , Hammond had arranged for the struggling US Columbia label to provide recordings for the UK Columbia label, mostly using the specially created Columbia W-265000 matrix series. Hammond recorded Fletcher Henderson , Benny Carter , Joe Venuti , Roger Wolfe Kahn and other jazz performers during
4020-536: The 10-inch variety initially selling for 65 cents each. Columbia also introduced the internal-horn " Grafonola " to compete with the extremely popular " Victrola " introduced by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company in 1906. During this era, Columbia began to use the "Magic Notes" logo—a pair of sixteenth notes (semiquavers) in a circle—both in the United States and overseas (where this particular logo would never substantially change). In 1908, Columbia ceased
4154-546: The 10th anniversary of the introduction of the LP, in 1958 Columbia initiated the "Adventures in Sound" series that showcased music from around the world. As far as the catalog numbering system went, there was no correlation between mono and stereo versions for the first few years. Columbia started a new CS 8000 series for pop stereo releases, and figuring the stereo releases as some sort of specialty niche records, didn't bother to link
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4288-491: The 1931 Brunswick lease agreement, so they discontinued Vocalion in June 1940, and fired up Okeh. By July, it was releasing new Hillbilly platters by Gene Autry and Bob Wills, and re-issuing past Vocalion discs, using the same catalogue numbers with a leading zero added. When a January 1941 audit found that not more than 150,000 Brunswick records had sold during the period from December 1, 1939, through December 31, 1940, control of
4422-509: The 1950s after it lured producer and bandleader Mitch Miller away from the Mercury label in 1950. Despite its many successes, Columbia remained largely uninvolved in the teenage rock'n'roll market until the mid-1960s, despite a handful of crossover hits, largely because of Miller's frequently expressed loathing of rock'n'roll. (Miller was a classically trained oboist who had been a friend of Columbia executive Goddard Lieberson since their days at
4556-436: The 1950s, his career proved to be of incalculable historical and cultural importance – the list of superstar artists he would discover and sign to Columbia over the course of his career included Charlie Christian , Count Basie , Teddy Wilson , Pete Seeger , Bob Dylan , Leonard Cohen , Aretha Franklin , Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Ray Vaughan , and in the early 1960s Hammond would also exert an enormous cultural effect on
4690-438: The 1956 Newport Jazz Festival , which proved a boost to a bandleader whose career had stalled. Under new head producer George Avakian , Columbia became the most vital label to the general public's appreciation and understanding (with help from Avakian's prolific and perceptive play-by-play liner notes) of jazz, releasing a series of LP's by Louis Armstrong , but also signing to long-term contracts Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis ,
4824-591: The ARC, including the Columbia label in the U.S., was acquired by William S. Paley of the Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. for US$ 700,000, ten times the price ARC paid in 1934, which would later spark lawsuits by disgruntled shareholders. (Columbia Records had originally co-founded CBS in 1927 along with New York talent agent Arthur Judson , but soon cashed out of the partnership leaving only
4958-438: The Columbia Graphophone Company, had been the moving force behind bringing Western Electric's recording process, and the British takeover. Originally from New York, Sterling became Chairman of Columbia NY from 1925 until 1931, and oversaw stability and success. In 1926, Columbia acquired Okeh Records and its growing stable of jazz and blues artists, including Louis Armstrong and Clarence Williams . Columbia had already built
5092-471: The Columbia Records name because EMI operated a separate record label by that name, Columbia Graphophone Company , outside North America. This was the result of legal maneuvers which led to the creation of EMI in the early 1930s. While this happened, starting in late 1961, both the mono and the stereo labels of domestic Columbia releases started carrying a small "CBS" at the top of the label. This
5226-541: The Columbia Records trade mark in the UK and elsewhere, Sony Music now prefers the "walking eye" logo previously used by the old CBS Records, which is based on the Columbia Records logo introduced in the US and Canada in 1955. However, the "magic notes" logo is occasionally used, usually to give a 'retro' feel (such as on the 2016 vinyl reissues of Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets , and on Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind ). The Columbia name
5360-478: The Columbia label with the eponymous EMI Records in January 1973. The last Columbia single was issued in 1989. EMI sold its remaining interest in the Columbia name in 1990 to Sony Music Entertainment (formerly CBS Records Group), which already owned Columbia Records in the U.S. and Canada. The formal reassignment of British registered trade marks from EMI, including the "magic notes" logo, took place in 1993. For
5494-534: The Columbia name. During the 1940s, Frank Sinatra recorded for Columbia and helped to substantially boost the company's revenue. Sinatra recorded over 200 songs for Columbia which include his most popular songs from his early years. Other popular artists on Columbia at this time included Benny Goodman (signed from RCA Victor in 1939), Count Basie , Jimmie Lunceford (both signed from Decca), Eddy Duchin , Ray Noble (both moved to Columbia from Brunswick), Kate Smith , Mildred Bailey , and Will Bradley . In 1947,
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5628-590: The Columbia record label in the UK until the early 1970s, and in all other territories except for the US, Canada, Spain and Japan, until it sold its remaining interest in the Columbia trademark to Sony Music Entertainment in 1990. Under EMI, UK Columbia's releases were mainly licensed recordings from American Columbia until 1951 when American Columbia switched British distribution to Philips Records . UK Columbia continued to distribute American Columbia sister labels Okeh and Epic until 1968 when American Columbia's then parent CBS moved distribution of all its labels to
5762-563: The Dave Brubeck Quartet, which resulted in the release of the on-location, best-selling jazz album (up to this time), Jazz Goes to College . Contemporaneously with Columbia's first release of modern jazz by a small group, which was also the Brubeck Quartet's debut on the label, was a Time magazine cover story on the phenomenon of Brubeck's success on college campuses. The humble Dave Brubeck demurred, saying that
5896-488: The First World War, and the buildings were a key location in the development of the British recording industry until the 1930s. In 1917, the Columbia Graphophone Company was registered as a British company, with the shares being held by the American firm. A general market downturn in 1921 affected the whole entertainment industry. Profits turned to losses, and in late 1922 the creditors of the US parent company filed
6030-524: The Gramophone Company (HMV) was now a wholly owned subsidiary of Victor, and Columbia in America was a subsidiary of UK Columbia, Victor now technically owned its largest rival in the US. To avoid antitrust legislation, EMI had to sell off its US Columbia operation, which continued to release pressings of matrices made in the UK. In December, 1931, the U.S. Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc.
6164-442: The LP record was officially demonstrated, Columbia offered to share the new speed with rival RCA Victor, who initially rejected it and soon introduced their new competitive 45 RPM record. When it became clear that the LP was the preferred format for classical recordings, RCA Victor announced that the company would begin releasing its own LPs in January 1950. This was quickly followed by the other major American labels. Decca Records in
6298-570: The Pacemakers , the Seekers , the Yardbirds , Jeff Beck , and Pink Floyd . Led by A&R man Norrie Paramor , the label was arguably the most successful in Britain in the rock era prior to the beat boom . In the mid 1960s, UK Columbia added an audiophile imprint called Studio 2 Stereo . During that time, the Columbia Graphophone Company was absorbed into the Gramophone Company with
6432-555: The Parlophone imprint. Columbia's reissues, and by extension, those from HMV's popular genres, are distributed by WMG's Rhino Entertainment in the United States. The Australian and New Zealand EMI Columbia catalogues, including recordings by John Farnham , who went by Johnny during his time with the label, were ceded to Universal Music Australia 's imprint, EMI Recorded Music Australia , and Universal Music New Zealand respectively. Columbia Records Columbia Records
6566-657: The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy , who also recorded an abridged Messiah for Columbia. Some sessions were made with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble drawn from leading New York musicians, which had first made recordings with Sir Thomas Beecham in 1949 in Columbia's New York City studios. George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra recorded mostly for Epic. When Epic dropped classical music,
6700-542: The U.K. was the first to release LPs in Europe, beginning in 1949. EMI would not fully adopt the LP format until 1955. An "original cast recording" of Rodgers & Hammerstein 's South Pacific with Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin was recorded in 1949. Both conventional metal masters and tape were used in the sessions in New York City. For some reason, the taped version was not used until Sony released it as part of
6834-479: The U.S. Columbia material was issued in Australia and New Zealand on the CBS Coronet label. In the same year, former Columbia A&R manager Goddard Lieberson was promoted to President of the entire CBS recording division, which included Columbia and Epic, as well as the company's various international divisions and licensees. Under his leadership the corporation's music division soon overtook RCA Victor as
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#17327934455906968-493: The UK merged with the Gramophone Company (which sold records under the His Master's Voice label) to form EMI . At the same time, Columbia divested itself of its American branch, which was eventually absorbed by Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ) in 1938. The company's record label Columbia became a successful British brand in the 1950s and 1960s, and was eventually replaced by the newly created EMI Records , as part of
7102-454: The US operation. On February 25, 1925, Columbia began recording with the licensed Western Electric recording process and was using it on a regular basis by April. The royalty payments were considerable, and in 1928 Columbia hired the English electronics engineer Alan Blumlein to work on an alternative. By late 1930, he had developed a recording system including a moving-coil microphone and
7236-612: The Worm' sold 2.5 million copies. In 1929, Ben Selvin became house bandleader and A. & R. director. Other favorites in the Viva-tonal era included Ruth Etting , Paul Whiteman, Fletcher Henderson , Ipana Troubadours (a Sam Lanin group), and Ted Lewis . Columbia used acoustic recording for "budget label" pop product well into 1929 on the labels Harmony, Velvet Tone (both general purpose labels), and Diva (sold exclusively at W.T. Grant stores). When Edison Records folded, Columbia
7370-668: The aegis of the Mull Singing Convention of the Air sponsored on radio (and later television) by southern gospel broadcaster J. Bazzel Mull (1914–2006). In 1935, Herbert M. Greenspon, an 18-year-old shipping clerk, led a committee to organize the first trade union shop at the main manufacturing factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Elected as president of the Congress of Industrial Unions (CIO) local, Greenspon negotiated
7504-459: The aircraft owing to several factors, including a loss of altitude while attempting to find an emergency field, the rapidly spreading fire, which blocked or impeded egress from the plane, and the fact that a sufficient number of parachutes were either not on board or were not being worn. Almost immediately following the crash, Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a directive requiring any test flights with civilians or scientific personnel to carry
7638-636: The artists associated with the emerging genre; for example, Columbia was the only company to record Charles Davis Tillman . Most fortuitously for Columbia in its Depression Era financial woes, in 1936 the company entered into an exclusive recording contract with the Chuck Wagon Gang , a hugely successful relationship which continued into the 1970s. A signature group of southern gospel, the Chuck Wagon Gang became Columbia's bestsellers with at least 37 million records, many of them through
7772-548: The blues-R&B label, and the exclusive outlet for Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys , a phenomenal mid-1930s Western Swing band, which drew 10,000+ customers nightly to dance. Columbia was added in mid-1932, relegated to slower sellers such as the Hawaiian music of Andy Iona , the Irving Mills stable of artists and songs, and the still unknown Benny Goodman . It tried a marketing ploy, the Columbia "Royal Blue Record",
7906-540: The bottom to the back and "pasted over" by the back slick. Conversely, for a mono album, they moved the slick up so the mono information showed at the bottom, and the stereo information was pasted over. Soon, other record companies had adopted the paste-over method. In 1951, Columbia US began issuing records in the 45 rpm format RCA Victor had introduced two years earlier. The same year, Ted Wallerstein retired as Columbia Records chairman; and Columbia US also severed its decades-long distribution arrangement with EMI and signed
8040-608: The case). The blue Columbia label was retained for its classical music Columbia Masterworks Records series until it was later changed to a green label before switching to a gray label in the late 1950s, and then to the bronze that is familiar to owners of Columbia/CBS classical and Broadway albums. Columbia Phonograph Company of Canada did not survive the Great Depression , so CBS made a distribution deal with Sparton Records in 1939 to release Columbia records in Canada under
8174-637: The catalog were in the 10 inch format starting with ML 2001 for the light classics, CL 6001 for popular songs and JL 8001 for children's records. The Library of Congress in Washington DC now holds the Columbia Records Paperwork Archive which shows the Label order for ML 4001 being written on March 1, 1948. One can infer that Columbia was pressing the first LPs for distribution to their dealers for at least 3 months prior to
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#17327934455908308-438: The cinema. The sound reproduction systems of the early talkies only had a single set of speakers – the actor might be on one side of the screen, but the voice could come from the other. Blumlein declared to his wife that he had found a way to make the sound follow the actor. Blumlein explained his ideas to Isaac Shoenberg in the late summer of 1931. His earliest notes on the subject are dated 25 September 1931, and his patent had
8442-450: The collaborative effort, but Wallerstein credits engineer William Savory with the technical prowess that brought the long-playing disc to the public. By the early 1940s, Columbia had been experimenting with higher fidelity recordings, as well as longer masters, which paved the way for the successful release of the LPs in 1948. One such record that helped set a new standard for music listeners
8576-529: The company was renamed Columbia Records Inc. and founded its Mexican record company, Discos Columbia de Mexico. 1948 saw the first classical LP Nathan Milstein's recording of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto . Columbia's new 33 rpm format quickly spelled the death of the classical 78 rpm record and for the first time in nearly fifty years, gave Columbia a commanding lead over RCA Victor Red Seal . Columbia's president Edward Wallerstein
8710-487: The couple were well matched. In 1924 Blumlein started his first job at International Western Electric , a division of the Western Electric Company . The company subsequently became International Standard Electric Corporation and then, later on, Standard Telephones and Cables (STC). During his time there, he measured the amplitude / frequency response of human ears, and used the results to design
8844-575: The cover of Time magazine were all Columbia artists. (In the early 1960s Columbia jazz artist Thelonious Monk would be afforded the same honor.) Columbia changed distributors in Australia and New Zealand in 1956 when the Australian Record Company picked up distribution of U.S. Columbia product to replace the Capitol Records product which ARC lost when EMI bought Capitol. As EMI owned the Columbia trademark at that time,
8978-404: The crash of an H2S-equipped Handley Page Halifax test aircraft while making a test flight for the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) on 7 June 1942. During the flight from RAF Defford , whilst at an altitude of 500 ft (150 meters) the Halifax developed an engine fire which rapidly grew out of control. The aircraft was seen to lose altitude, then rolled inverted and struck
9112-444: The delight of many, this did not happen, and Art went on to many more successful years supervising all aspects of Columbia's Hillbilly/Country artists and sessions. On August 30, 1939, Columbia replaced its $ .75 Brunswick record for a $ .50 Columbia label. Brunswick was gradually phased out, the final issue being Brunswick 8520, in April 1940. Wallerstein and Paley knew in advance that their course of action would lead to violation of
9246-433: The early numbers with the "ledge" variation (i.e., no deep groove), had the small "CBS". This text would be used on the Columbia labels until June 1962. Columbia's Mexican unit, Discos Columbia, was renamed Discos CBS. With the formation of CBS Records International, CBS started establishing its own distribution in the early 1960s, beginning in Australia. In 1960 CBS took over its distributor in Australia and New Zealand,
9380-846: The early singles by the label's top female recording star of the decade, Doris Day . In 1953, Columbia formed a new subsidiary label Epic Records . 1954 saw Columbia end its distribution arrangement with Sparton Records and form Columbia Records of Canada. To enhance its country music stable, which already included Marty Robbins , Ray Price and Carl Smith , Columbia bid $ 15,000 for Elvis Presley 's contract from Sun Records in 1955. Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker , turned down their offer and signed Presley with RCA Victor. However, Columbia did sign two Sun artists in 1958: Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins . With 1954, Columbia U.S. decisively broke with its past when it introduced its new, modernist -style "Walking Eye" logo, designed by Columbia's art director S. Neil Fujita . This logo actually depicts
9514-417: The electric recording process licensed from Western Electric . "Viva-tonal" records set a benchmark in tone and clarity unequaled on commercial discs during the 78-rpm era. The first electrical recordings were made by Art Gillham , the "Whispering Pianist". In a secret agreement with Victor, electrical technology was kept secret to avoid hurting sales of acoustic records. Louis Sterling, managing director of
9648-540: The emerging rock music scene thanks to his championing of reissue LPs of the music of blues artists Robert Johnson and Bessie Smith . By 1937–38, the record business in America was finally recovering from the near-death blow of the Great Depression, at least for RCA Victor and Decca, but privately, there were doubts about the survival of ARC. In a 1941 court case brought by unhappy shareholders of Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. ("CBS"), Edward Wallerstein,
9782-527: The end of the analogue telephony era. The same duo also invented an improved form of AC measurement bridge which became known as the Blumlein Bridge and subsequently the transformer ratio arm bridge . These two inventions were the basis for Blumlein's first two patents. His inventions while working at STC resulted in another five patents, which were not awarded until after he left the company in 1929. In 1929 Blumlein resigned from STC and joined
9916-413: The firm's profitability. The same year, Bell Labs - Western Electric had developed a new electrical recording system to replace the old acoustic recording methods, and was offering exclusive rights to Victor although its Chairman's illness had led to delays. Louis Sterling as Managing Director had turned around the fortunes of UK Columbia, and persuaded Western Electric that granting a monopoly would be
10050-556: The first weighting networks. In 1924 he published (with Professor Edward Mallett) the first of his only two IEE papers, on high-frequency resistance measurement. This won him the IEE's Premium award for innovation. The following year he wrote (with Norman Kipping ) a series of seven articles for Wireless World . In 1925 and 1926, Blumlein and John Percy Johns designed an improved form of loading coil which reduced loss and crosstalk in long-distance telephone lines. These were used until
10184-408: The first contract between factory workers and Columbia management. In a career with Columbia that lasted 30 years, Greenspon retired after achieving the position of executive vice president of the company. Columbia also hired talent scout, music writer, producer, and impresario John Hammond in 1937. Alongside his significance as a discoverer, promoter, and producer of jazz, blues, and folk artists during
10318-457: The front and one for the back. The front slick bent around the top, bottom, and left sides (the right side is open for the record to be inserted into the cover) and glued the two halves of cardboard together at the top and bottom. The back slick is pasted over the edges of the pasted-on front slick to make it appear that the album cover is one continuous piece. Columbia discovered that printing two front cover slicks, one for mono and one for stereo,
10452-524: The ground. The crash occurred near the village of Welsh Bicknor in Herefordshire. Two of Blumlein's colleagues, Cecil Oswald Browne and Frank Blythen, also died in the crash. The Halifax was carrying a highly-secret cavity magnetron as part of the H2S test system, and the immediate recovery of the device was essential. A team led by Bernard Lovell arrived at the crash scene the same night, and took
10586-508: The highest number being 32601, "Heinie", which is a duet by Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan . The molded brown waxes may have been sold to Sears for distribution (possibly under Sears' Oxford trademark for Columbia products). Columbia began selling disc records , invented and patented by Victor Talking Machine Company's Emile Berliner , and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their "Toy Graphophone" of 1899, which used small, vertically cut records. For
10720-765: The introduction of the LP on June 21, 1948. The catalog numbering system has had minor changes ever since. Columbia's LPs were particularly well-suited to classical music's longer pieces, so some of the early albums featured such artists as Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra , Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra , and Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra . The success of these recordings persuaded Capitol Records to begin releasing LPs in 1949. Even before
10854-726: The label maintaining its identity. EMI engaged in litigation with CBS regarding the importing of American records bearing the Columbia imprint into areas where EMI owned the Columbia name. Releases from the British Columbia Graphophone Company appeared in Japan under Nippon Columbia until 1962, when licensing was switched to Toshiba Musical Industries . EMI decided to reserve the HMV label for classical repertoire and had transferred HMV's remaining pop acts to Columbia and Parlophone by 1967. EMI began to replace
10988-532: The latter half of 1961, Columbia started using pressing plants with newer equipment. The "deep groove" pressings were made on older pressing machines, where the groove was an artifact of the metal stamper being affixed to a round center "block" to assure the resulting record would be centered. Newer machines used parts with a slightly different geometry, that only left a small "ledge" where the deep groove used to be. This changeover did not happen all at once, as different plants replaced machines at different times, leaving
11122-505: The loaned trademarks and catalog of master recordings made prior to December 3, 1931, reverted to Warner Bros. Pictures. The Columbia trademark from this point until the late 1950s was two overlapping circles with the Magic Notes in the left circle and a CBS microphone in the right circle. The Royal Blue labels were dropped in favor of a deep red, which caused RCA Victor to claim infringement on its famous Red Seal trademark (RCA lost
11256-413: The loosened nut caused increasingly excessive valve clearance eventually allowing collision of the valve head with the rising piston fracturing the valve stem , which then allowed the inlet valve to drop open, resulting in the ignition by the spark plug of the pressurised fuel/air mixture within the inlet manifold and, eventually, the pumping of the ignited fuel outboard of the rocker cover and along
11390-499: The low 2000s. Columbia's engineering department developed a process for emulating stereo from a mono source. They called this process "Electronically Rechanneled for Stereo". In the June 16, 1962, issue of Billboard magazine (page 5), Columbia announced it would issue "rechanneled" versions of greatest hits compilations that had been recorded in mono, including albums by Doris Day, Frankie Laine, Percy Faith, Mitch Miller, Marty Robbins, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Johnny Mathis. By
11524-476: The magnetron. "Then reports of a crash in south Wales began to come in and the rest of that night was just a nightmare. I was driven by the C-in-C of the aerodrome [Defford], a man called King, and winding through these lanes near Ross-on-Wye searching for this wreckage, and then the field with the burnt-out Halifax, and of course it was wartime, there was no time for emotions, our first duties were to search for
11658-403: The major shareholder, steered the Columbia Graphophone Company (along with Odeon Records and Parlophone , which it had owned since 1926) into a merger with the Gramophone Company (HMV) to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd ( EMI ). By the time of the merger, the Gramophone Company had not fully developed an alternative to Western Electric's process and was still paying royalty fees, so it
11792-462: The mono and stereo numbers for two years. Masterworks classical LPs had an MS 6000 series, while showtunes albums on Masterworks were OS 2000. Finally, in 1960, the pop stereo series jumped from 8300 to 8310 to match Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Sing Ellington , the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross album issued as CL-1510. From that point, the stereo numbers on pop albums were exactly 6800 higher than
11926-402: The mono; stereo classical albums were the mono number plus 600; and showtunes releases were the mono number MINUS 3600. Only the last two digits in the respective catalog series' matched. Pop stereo LPs got into the high 9000s by 1970, when CBS Records revamped and unified its catalog numbering system across all its labels. Masterworks classical albums were in the 7000s, while showtunes stayed in
12060-497: The name; Paley acquired the fledgling radio network in 1928.) On January 3, 1939, Wallerstein left RCA Victor to become president of the CBS phonograph subsidiary, a position he would hold for twelve years. CBS kept the ARC name for three months. then on April 4, it amended the New York Department of State record of "Columbia Phonograph Company, Inc.," naming several of its own employees to directorships, and announced in
12194-666: The new CBS Records created from the purchase of Oriole Records (UK) in late 1964. The loss of American Columbia product had forced UK Columbia to groom its own talent such as Russ Conway , John Barry , Cliff Richard , the Shadows , Helen Shapiro , Frank Ifield , Freddie and the Dreamers , the Dave Clark Five , Shirley Bassey , Frankie Vaughan , Des O'Connor , Ken Dodd , the Animals , Herman's Hermits , Gerry and
12328-460: The now accepted medium of the record business." Despite Wallerstein's stormy tenure, in June 1948, Columbia introduced the Long Playing "microgroove" LP record format (sometimes written "Lp" in early advertisements), which rotated at 33⅓ revolutions per minute , to be the standard for the gramophone record for forty years. CBS research director Dr. Peter Goldmark played a managerial role in
12462-415: The outboard section of the starboard wing to separate from the centre section at approximately 350 feet (100 meters) of altitude. With the loss of a substantial part of the starboard wing, all control over level flight was lost, and the plane rolled inverted and struck the ground at approximately 150 mph (240 kph). The board found that the crew and passengers had not jumped immediately from
12596-403: The output transformer to provide feedback to the second grid, which improved the amplifier's linearity. With the tap placed at the anode end of the primary winding, the tube (valve) is effectively connected as a triode , and if the tap was at the supply end, as a pure pentode . Blumlein discovered that if the tap was placed at a distance 15–20% down from the supply end of the output transformer,
12730-438: The outside of the engine, leading to an extensive fire in the engine nacelle . Due to the fire originating in the induction system, where the supercharged fuel/air mixture was at higher pressure than atmospheric, the heart of the fire was much hotter burning and intense than would be the case in a simple fuel fire. Constantly fuelled by the broken intake , the fire burned rapidly along the wing and fuselage, eventually causing
12864-517: The possibility that both deep groove and ledge varieties could be original pressings. The changeover took place starting in late 1961. In 1961, CBS ended its arrangement with Philips Records and formed its own international organization, CBS Records International , in 1962. This subsidiary label released Columbia recordings outside the US and Canada on the CBS label (until 1964 marketed by Philips in Britain). The recordings could not be released under
12998-406: The post-war Star Tiger and Star Ariel disappearances – and assisted by Rolls-Royce , who had made the Halifax's Merlin engines, found that the crash was caused by engine fire, attributed to the unscrewing of a tappet nut on the starboard outer engine, which had been improperly tightened by an RAF engine fitter while inspecting the engine three hours prior to the crash. During the flight
13132-503: The precious highly-secret equipment, and collect the bits-and-pieces of it." – Bernard Lovell. After the RAF investigative board completed its report on the Halifax crash on 1 July 1942, it was distributed to a restricted list of approved recipients, but not publicly divulged. In the interests of wartime secrecy, the announcement of Blumlein's death was not made for another three years. The investigative board, headed by AIB Chief Inspector Vernon Brown – who later also investigated
13266-412: The project was a closely guarded secret at the time and consequently only a brief announcement of his death was made some two years later, to avoid providing solace to Hitler. His invention of the line type pulse modulator (ref vol 5 of MIT Radiation Laboratory series) was a major contribution to high-powered pulse radars, not just the H2S's system, and continues to be used today. Blumlein was killed in
13400-499: The recording and manufacturing of wax cylinder records after arranging to issue celluloid cylinder records made by the Indestructible Record Company of Albany, New York , as "Columbia Indestructible Records". In July 1912, Columbia decided to concentrate exclusively on disc records and ended production of cylinder phonographs, although Indestructible cylinders continued to be sold under the Columbia label for
13534-400: The roster and catalogue was moved to Columbia Masterworks Records . Columbia released its first pop stereo albums in the summer of 1958. All of the first dozen or so were stereo versions of albums already available in mono. It was not until September 1958, that Columbia began simultaneous mono/stereo releases. Mono versions of otherwise stereo recordings were discontinued in 1968. To celebrate
13668-628: The same year, Columbia executive Frank Buckley Walker pioneered some of the first country music or "hillbilly" genre recordings with the Johnson City sessions in Tennessee, including artists such as Clarence Horton Greene and "Fiddlin'" Charlie Bowman . He followed that with a return to Tennessee the next year, as well as recording sessions in other cities of the South. Moran and Mack as The Two Black Crows 1926 recording 'The Early Bird Catches
13802-562: The same year. During the early 1930s Blumlein and Herbert Holman developed a series of moving-coil microphones, which were used in EMI recording studios and by the BBC at Alexandra Palace . In June 1937, Blumlein patented what is now known as the Ultra-Linear amplifier (US Patent 2,218,902, dated 5 June 1937). A deceptively simple design, the circuit provided a tap on the primary winding of
13936-558: The same year. Much of the development work on this system for cinematic use was completed by 1935. In Blumlein's short test films (most notably, "Trains at Hayes Station", which lasts 5 minutes 11 seconds, and, "The Walking & Talking Film"), his original intent of having the sound follow the actor was fully realized. In 1934, Blumlein recorded Mozart 's Jupiter Symphony conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham at Abbey Road Studios in London using his vertical-lateral technique. Television
14070-447: The second Time cover story on a jazz musician (the first featured Louis Armstrong 's picture) had been earned by Duke Ellington , not himself. Within two years Ellington's picture would appear on the cover of Time , following his success at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Ellington at Newport , recorded on Columbia, was also the bandleader-composer-pianist's best-selling album. Moreover, this exclusive trinity of jazz giants featured on
14204-513: The technical standard of Columbia's Grand Opera series was not considered to be as high as the results achieved with opera singers during the pre–World War I period by Victor, Edison, England's His Master's Voice (The Gramophone Company Ltd.) or Italy's Fonotipia Records . After an abortive attempt in 1904 to manufacture discs with the recording grooves stamped into both sides of each disc—not just one—in 1908 Columbia commenced successful mass production of what they called their "Double-Faced" discs,
14338-409: The test recordings, in March 1925, Louis Sterling (backed by J.P. Morgan & Co.), acquired a controlling interest in the parent company, Columbia US, for $ 2.5 million (about £500,000) in order to take advantage of Western Electric's patents. The firm continued in business as the Columbia Graphophone Company in many countries as a British company. Sterling, originally from New York, became chairman of
14472-502: The time. However, the compilations were so successful that they led to Columbia doing such packages on a widespread basis, usually when an artist's career was in decline. Although Columbia began recording in stereo in 1956, stereo LPs did not begin to be manufactured until 1958. One of Columbia's first stereo releases was an abridged and re-structured performance of Handel 's Messiah by the New York Philharmonic and
14606-417: The title " Improvements in and relating to Sound-transmission, Sound-recording and Sound-reproducing Systems ". The application was dated 14 December 1931, and was accepted on 14 June 1933 as UK patent number 394,325. The patent covered numerous ideas in stereo, some of which are used today. Some 70 claims include: Blumlein's binaural experiments began in early 1933, and the first stereo discs were cut later
14740-528: The top recording company in the world, boasting a star-studded roster of artists and an unmatched catalogue of popular, jazz, classical and stage and screen soundtrack titles. Lieberson, who had joined Columbia as an A&R manager in 1938, was known for both his personal elegance and his dedication to quality, overseeing the release of many hugely successful albums and singles, as well as championing prestige releases that sold relatively poorly, and even some titles that had limited appeal, such as complete editions of
14874-459: The trademarks and masters of the Brunswick, Vocalion , and Melotone labels to ARC. WB would receive a portion of the sales of its catalogues, while ARC was free to use the labels for new recordings. Brunswick immediately became the premium $ .75 label, Melotone would release new hillbilly and other $ .35 dime-store discounted discs, and Vocalion, while re-releasing prior ARC records, would also be
15008-666: The tube or valve would combine the positive features of both the triode and the pentode design. Blumlein may or may not have invented the long-tailed pair , but his name is on the first patent (1936). The long-tailed pair is a form of differential amplifier that has been popular since the days of the vacuum tube (valve). It is now more pervasive than ever, as it is particularly suitable for implementation in integrated circuit form, and almost every operational amplifier integrated circuit contains at least one. In 1931, Blumlein invented what he called "binaural sound", now known as stereophonic sound . In early 1931, he and his wife were at
15142-527: The two modern jazz artists who would in 1959 record albums that remain—more than sixty years later—among the best-selling jazz albums by any label—viz., Time Out by the Brubeck Quartet and, to an even greater extent, Kind of Blue by the Davis Sextet, which, in 2003, appeared as number 12 in Rolling Stone 's list of the "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time". With another producer, Teo Macero ,
15276-402: The two were married in 1933. Lane was warned by acquaintances before the wedding that, "There was a joke amongst some of his friends, they used to call it 'Blumlein-itis' or 'First Class Mind'. It seems that he didn't want to know anyone who didn't have a first class mind." Recording engineer Joseph B. Kaye, known as J. B. Kaye, who was Blumlein's closest friend and best man at the wedding, thought
15410-399: The works of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton von Webern . One of his first major successes was the original Broadway cast album of My Fair Lady , which sold over 5 million copies worldwide in 1957, becoming the most successful LP ever released up to that time. Lieberson also convinced long-serving CBS President William S. Paley to become the sole backer of the original Broadway production,
15544-538: The world's first scheduled "high definition" (240 lines or better) television service – which was later adopted as the CCIR System A . Blumlein was so central to the development of the H2S airborne radar system (to aid bomb targeting), that after his death in June 1942, many believed that the project would fail. However it survived and was a factor in shortening the Second World War . Blumlein's role in
15678-591: Was Scottish , daughter of William Dower (born 1837) who went to South Africa for the London Missionary Society . Alan was christened as a Presbyterian ; he later married in a Church of England parish church. Alan Blumlein's future career seemed to have been determined by the age of seven, when he presented his father with an invoice for repairing the doorbell, signed "Alan Blumlein, Electrical Engineer" (with "paid" scrawled in pencil). His sister claimed that he could not read proficiently until he
15812-496: Was 10 pages. Columbia's ties to Edison were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Company 's breakup. Thereafter, it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the "XP" record, a molded brown wax record, to use up old stock. Columbia introduced black wax records in 1903. According to one source, they continued to mold brown waxes until 1904 with
15946-452: Was 12. He replied "no, but I knew a lot of quadratic equations!" After leaving Highgate School in 1921, he studied at City and Guilds College (part of Imperial College ). He won a Governors' scholarship and joined the second year of the course. He graduated with a First-Class Honours BSc two years later. In mid-1930, Blumlein met Doreen Lane, a preparatory school teacher five years his junior. After two-and-a-half years of courtship
16080-499: Was a lover of music and he attempted to learn to play the piano, but gave it up. He enjoyed horse riding and occasionally went cub hunting with his father-in-law. He was interested in many forms of engineering, including aviation, motor engineering and railway engineering. He obtained a pilot's licence and flew Tiger Moth aircraft of the London Aerodrome Club at Stag Lane Aerodrome . On one occasion, he persuaded
16214-419: Was a shell corporation set up by Consolidated Films Industries, Inc. ("CFI") to hold the Columbia stock, while its subsidiary, American Record Corporation ("ARC"), operated the label. This assumption grew out of the ease which CFI later exhibited in selling Columbia in 1938. On December 3, 1931, CFI made a deal with Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. ("WB") to lease Brunswick Record Corporation , which included
16348-530: Was a technically advantageous move. Since the Gramophone Company (HMV) was a wholly owned subsidiary of Victor, and Columbia in America was a subsidiary of UK Columbia, Victor now technically owned its largest rival in the US. To avoid antitrust legislation, EMI had to sell off its US Columbia operation, which continued to release pressings of matrices made in the UK. The American company was eventually absorbed by Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS ) (another of its former offshoots) in 1938. EMI continued to operate
16482-542: Was acquired by the Grigsby-Grunow Company , the manufacturers of Majestic radios and refrigerators. When Grigsby-Grunow declared bankruptcy in November 1933, Columbia was placed in receivership, and in June 1934, the company was sold to Sacro Enterprises Inc. ("Sacro") for $ 70,000. Sacro was incorporated a few days before the sale in New York. Public documents do not contain any names. Many suspect that it
16616-759: Was also considered to be the first genuine concept album . Since the term "LP" has come to refer to the 12-inch 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm vinyl disk, the first LP is the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor played by Nathan Milstein with Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic (then called the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York), Columbia ML 4001, found in the Columbia Record Catalog for 1949, published in July 1948. The other "LP's" listed in
16750-425: Was an English electronics engineer, notable for his many inventions in telecommunications, sound recording , stereophonic sound , television and radar. He received 128 patents and was considered one of the most significant engineers and inventors of his time. He died during World War II , on 7 June 1942, aged 38, during the secret trial of an H2S airborne radar system then under development, when all on board
16884-453: Was developed by many individuals and companies throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Blumlein's contributions, as a member of the EMI team, started in earnest in 1933 when his boss, Isaac Shoenberg, assigned him full-time to TV research. His ideas included: Blumlein was also largely responsible for the development of the waveform structure used in the 405-line Marconi-EMI system – developed for the UK's BBC Television Service at Alexandra Palace ,
17018-469: Was hired by Wallerstein as "Associate Director Popular Recording" (at 7th Ave). Another executive from ARC, Art Satherley , was not expected to transition over as easily. "It is understood that CBS and the Levys are not interested in retaining American Record's hillbilly department, and that Art Satherly, who has been running this section for many years, will take it out of the company with him". Fortunately, to
17152-461: Was inefficient and therefore needlessly costly. Starting in the summer of 1959 with some of the albums released in August, they went to the "paste-over" front slick, which had the stereo information printed on the top and the mono information printed on the bottom. For stereo issues, they moved the front slick down so the stereo information was showing at the top, and the mono information was bent around
17286-495: Was instrumental in steering Paley towards the ARC purchase. He set his talents to his goal of hearing an entire movement of a symphony on one side of an album. Ward Botsford writing for the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Issue of High Fidelity Magazine relates: "He was no inventor—he was simply a man who seized an idea whose time was ripe and begged, ordered, and cajoled a thousand men into bringing into being
17420-412: Was not something that changed at a certain date, but rather, pressing plants were told to use up the stock of old (pre-CBS) labels first, resulting in a mixture of labels for some given releases. Some are known with the CBS text on mono albums, and not on stereo of the same album, and vice versa; diggings brought up pressings with the CBS text on one side and not on the other. Many, but certainly not all, of
17554-538: Was still on some EMI releases between 1973 and 1990 (such as Baltimora 's " Tarzan Boy " in 1985, Jeanne Mas and the 1987 Kiki Dee album Angel Eyes ), but it had ceased acting as a fully functioning label. In Australia and Germany, EMI continued using the Columbia label throughout the 1970s and to at least 1980, but added the EMI label in 1973. Through its ownership of the former Columbia/EMI catalogue, Parlophone Records' new owner Warner Music Group assumed Columbia's artist roster and catalogue. New reissues bear
17688-486: Was tall and solid; it was modified in 1961 to the familiar one still used today (pictured on this page), despite the fact that the Walking Eye was used only sporadically during most of the 1990s. Although the big band era had passed, Columbia had Duke Ellington under contract for several years, capturing the historic moment when Ellington's band provoked a post-midnight frenzy (followed by international headlines) at
17822-408: Was the 10" LP reissue of The Voice of Frank Sinatra , originally released on March 4, 1946, as an album of four 78 rpm records, which was the first pop album issued in the new LP format. Sinatra was arguably Columbia's hottest commodity and his artistic vision combined with the direction Columbia were taking the medium of music, both popular and classic, were well suited. The Voice of Frank Sinatra
17956-488: Was the oldest surviving record label. The repercussions of the stock market Crash of 1929 and subsequent Great Depression led to the near collapse of the entire recording industry and, in March 1931, J.P Morgan, the major shareholder, steered the Columbia Graphophone Company (along with Odeon records and Parlophone , which it had owned since 1926) into a merger with the Gramophone Company ("His Master's Voice") to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd ( EMI ). Since
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