Friday, July 30, 2010

The first step is always the hardest, isn't it? [re-post re-up]


[I'm ten days late with this, but guess what? The 20th was the first anniversary of this blog. Totally amazing, after posting close to 200 songs I'm still having fun. Hope ya'll are too. Here's my first ever post.]

My name is Ana B. and I have a problem. I collect records and I'm an addict. For some time I've kept to the mild stuff (albums), but more recently I've become a stone-cold hard-core 45 junkie. I'm here because I find myself studying the needles required for playing 78's, and thinking...enough is enough.

Much of what I'll post here will have some connection with New Orleans (it's my hometown). But not all of it, as there's too much good music in the world to limit myself by sticking too close to home.

All records posted are from my collection. Some are in rough shape, some are virtually un-played. Some are rare, some are common as dirt. Some I've paid good money for, some I've dug out of trash bins. A few have spent time underwater.

I make no apologies for sound quality. I do not intend to digitally clean up any of these recordings. Vinyl, in all it's glorious imperfection, rules on this blog. Can i get an Amen?

Maybe, just one 'Amen'?....ya know...maybe just one to start with?...............................................................................

Anyway, it's time to put my money where my mouth is....here's a record you don't hear all that often, Warren Lee's, 'Underdog Backstreet', issued on the Tou-Sea label in 1967.
C'mon children..ya'll can dance, can't ya?...

17 comments:

  1. found it on the southern fried funk sampler
    Grapevine Audio CD (November 21, 2006)
    uuuuh a cd but hey I´m from Germany

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  2. thank you so much
    merci beaucoup

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  3. Anon...you're welcome, de rien, pas de quoi...ou Quebecois?, bienvenue.

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  4. Thanks Red....nice to have ya around.

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  5. Great Blog! And go for the 78"s...it's a whole 'nother world. Thanks for your efforts.
    Corky Walsh

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  6. Hey Corky, Glad ya like the blog. And ahhh, who says I'm not picking up 78's on the sly? I'm just not set up as well as I'd like for transcription/ripping. Hopefully I'll get to it soon.

    Always amazes me that 78's are cheaper and much more plentiful than 45's once you start looking at pre-1955 recordings.

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  7. Do the 78 thang Ana! It's easy!

    1. If you have a Stanton or a Shure cart in your turntable, buy a 78 stylus to fit.

    2. If you don't have 78 on your turntable, play the 78s at 45; then change the sample rate to 25442 when you record the 78 in your vinyl to WAV/MP3 software.

    3. Once recorded, change the sample rate back to 44100 and your MP3 file will be at the correct speed.

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  8. ...& what a year of great music.

    Going back a few posts not surprised Tony Owens got so many new fans. Don't really do top 10s (diff music for diff moods & what about the other 190 odd right) but that was really one of the oustanding ones. Did Div Share lose Samson & Delilahs "Will You Be Ready" as well. That's still getting much admiration round here.

    As for "I'm gonna have to start grabbing records off the top of the stack no matter what turns up. The backlog is huge at this point...I know I should be empathizing with your plight here but if the next years gonna be as good as the one just gone I'm just sitting here rubbing my hands saying 'bring it on'. Good music sometimes brings out the worst in me!

    J

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  9. Hey J...I'm set up with the correct cartridge for most 78's, and my DJ turntables play 78....it's the EQ curve thang that's the problem at this point, They weren't all recorded to RIAA specs, ya know? I have an old mono tube amp from the fifties which can be set for different EQ's....It more or less works, but really needs to be rebuilt. As soon as I have the cash for that, I'll be set.

    I think the Samson & Delilah [both of them] are still up. It's mostly the earlier postings that disappeared.

    Glad to hear you're going to stick around for the second year...*smiles*

    ana...

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  10. Realised the way I wrote my comment I made it look like I made the previous one to. Much as I would like to be really knowledgable about digitising 78s unfortunately I know bugger all. Sounds interesting though.

    J

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  11. Ana -

    I'll rebuild it for you free of charge, you pay shipping, I'll throw in the parts.

    email me at jer.eps at gmail dot com

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  12. That's a thought Jer.Eps. Actually I own two of the amps, I used to run them as dual mono using a 'quad' of matched output tubes. But I couldn't find anyone who could do decent repair work on them.

    They're nothing special...what's it called?....push/pull amps? Stromberg Carlson made them.

    I have a matched pair of those somewhat expensive tubes used for building single ended mono amps that I could trade you for some of the work. I don't need them and they're brand new in the box.

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  13. Actually, now that I think about it, I've got a box of goodies around here somewhere Jer.Eps...stuff left by an old boyfriend thought of himself as an audiophile. Think there are some high quality transformers, an assortment of useable tubes, etc..

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  14. The dumpster-dive is always the first step to a good project!

    Email me - I lost your address in a hard drive crash, and I want to follow up with you.

    -j

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