"They mark our passage as a race of men...

[Mallette]

Earth shall not see ships such as these again..."

Strange how writing about one subject can uncover yet another. In preparing the Archiving LPs thread I touched on the fact that every time a stylus hits a groove, irrevocable wear takes place. At the moment, we lovers of analog are literally feasting upon the castoff treasures of a recently closed era. The trash of this time is our treasure and it seems limitless. But everytime we enjoy our booty the life is drained from it no matter the quality of the turntable and cartridge or how lovingly it is cleaned. It is almost inevitable that I lose at least one disk per year or so to some disaster, usually a fragile 78. When I look at the shattered remains of some artists dreams it almost brings me to tears, sometimes does. Is it the last copy? How many reamain? 3? 100? 500? No matter how many, they will all someday be gone and some Delta blues artist or novelty singer lost forever.

As audiophiles, we need think about this. We are conservators now, not just self-indulgent collectors. Even Bobby Sherman deserves a place in history.

Think about it.

Dave

[DizRotus]

Of course you're correct about the need to preserve recordings of vintage performances. There was a feature recently on NPR about how copyright laws actually hinder that goal. It's commercially impractical to legally record and exchange many recordings protected by copyright.

What do you think Edward Kennedy Ellington would have thought of Bobby Sherman?

[Parrot]

My only Bobby Sherman record is a 5 and 1/2 inch, 33 rpm disc made from cardboard. It came from the back of a cereal box, I believe.

It is not entirely flat and I am concerned about wearing out the grooves, so I just don't play it at all. That way it can be kept pristine for my grandkids, who won't play it either and can keep it pristine for their offspring too.

[Parrot]

Flip side of my prized Bobby Sherman record is plain cardboard, with no songs.

[Daddy Dee]

Dave,

Well said.

This is part of the attraction I have to Khorns and tube amps.

[pmsummer]

Parrott,

Which side is the "B" side?

[Mallette]

Paul:

That is possibly a unique piece.

It is irrelevant what you or I might think of Mr. Sherman. He had a brief moment in the history of music. Lost, and a gap opens. I am glad you consider yourself a custodian.

The rarest Elvis recording is said to be a transcription done at a quick visit to a radio station in Texarkana in about 1955 when he was still doing the Lousiana Hayride in Shreveport and running up to split T on odd nights to drink beer at the Razorback Drive In and play the old Municipal Auditorium. It was distributed as some sort of premium for a local business. I worked at that station about 10 years later in a CR overlooking the studio.

I don't know the value of this disc or how many remain.

I shudder to think how many irreplaceable recording have been used as Frizbees and for ***** shooting over the past couple of decades.

What is a disc really worth? It's time we got to thinking about it with more than our personal opinions and tastes in mind.

Dave

[Colin]

Imagine then, the not-too-distant digital future:

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Where not only does Google offer everyone a free terabyte of online storage, where you can mark which files and folders are open to the public, making every persons hard drive a virtual web site, chock full of useless information, but also hiding nuggets of valuable gold, such as lossless recordings of Bobby Sherman on cereal boxes (I had one of the Archies Sugar, Sugar).

Soon imagine 200 million Americans and Chinese, all with a terabyte of storage, packed with video, textual and audio recordings of every action and event!

Next time Jimmy Buffet plays a private $100K birthday party gig for Tyco Int, and 13 people record it on their video cell phones, the web can cross index the date of the performance and make all 13 available world-wide.

Self-indulgence? Self-interested indulgence is to man what food is to the hungry animal: it is the bread that sustains us. Whatever flowery language covers our greatest achievements, our accomplishments are naught but food for our appetite. Little do they address the sins of humanity: war, disease, pestilence, greed, ambition, intolerance, etc.

[H]

[pauln]

Tell me about it! I have 1600 78's I don't know what to do with! I bought a table that plays the most common four nominal speeds of "78", but I don't care to change the record every 4 miniutes... I prefer 33 1/3 rpm so I only have to change every 20 minutes or so. I'd love to unload the 78s to NPR, the Smithsonian, or some college music dept,, its 900 lbs, of vinly - mostly from around the 30's - not just music, some of them are talkies.

[Mallette]

Uh, Paul...I don't mind changing records every 4 minutes, and I am in the process of moving to Houston. Perhaps I can help you with that problem?

Dave