Vinyl I am listening to...

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One of my favourite song/ tune/ tango 'La Violetera'!!

'The Violet Seller'
"The film was inspired by the song "La Violetera" composed by José Padilla in 1914, with lyrics by Eduardo Montesinos, that is incarnated in the film by Montiel as Soledad, a street violets seller who, after meeting and breaking with Fernando, the love of her life, becomes a famous singer who sings the song in her concerts.
The film's soundtrack garnered also excellent reviews, had a wide international release and received a Golden Disk award for the number of records sold"

This beautiful song/ tune has many versions. Used in many movies in many languages.
Used in 1954 Tamil movie 'Raji en Kanmani'.
Here is the Tamil version.

Original movie score and some more versions..
 
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Today's listening: Doris Day - Showcase of Hits (1959), Philips-England, Mono
Personal Trivia - This record with a beat up cover, came to me via a friend in Pune who picked it up at a local market. Its quite intriguing to listen to 1950s recording, definitely done on tube equipment, typically vocal dominated with softer accompanying background sessions-music

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Dollar-Bin Christmas Records for Today (both $1 records from K-Mart, Long Beach, CA, 2003):
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"typically vocal dominated with softer accompanying background sessions-music"

This was an era when the human voice was the "music".

Julie London, Ella Fitzgerald (without the big band backing), Nat King Cole, etc from the same era are also vocal-centric. The backing music is far away in the background - very much audible and melodious, but it was the voice that was spotlighted. Just beautiful! I sometimes wish they make records like that again.
 
"typically vocal dominated with softer accompanying background sessions-music"

This was an era when the human voice was the "music".

Julie London, Ella Fitzgerald (without the big band backing), Nat King Cole, etc from the same era are also vocal-centric. The backing music is far away in the background - very much audible and melodious, but it was the voice that was spotlighted. Just beautiful! I sometimes wish they make records like that again.
thanks, that's a great piece of info. I actually researched it further and dug out this interesting experiment on old studio recording methods:
 
Yes. Amazing sound quality.
I have more than 200 mono pressings. I love mono:)
Inspired by my good friend, FM Shafic, today's Mono Special

Album - The Hits of Benny Goodman (1961's Mono Release, Capitol Records, USA)
Album Trivia - This is one of my Jazz records from that period, beautiful sounding with amazing fidelity. This is the original 1961 Mono release, there was a processed Stereo version of this Mono recording released around 1963, with a caption - DUOPHONIC (actually a kind of gimmick in those times). Interest in Goodman's music was referred to as Goodmania and his fans were called Goodmaniacs :)

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The inner jacket also brought back some old memories. As a kid, I used to listen to stories from Dad about the great Hollywood Motion picture studios and the legendary American and British music recording studios. There were 2 that he used to mention quite often, namely Abbey Road Studios and the other was the Capitol Tower. I am yet to walk down No.3, Abbey Road but I did have the opportunity to walk down Hollywood Boulevard, up to the intersection and take a look at this magnificent building. Of course they would not let visitors in, at the time but just standing outside near the entrance one of the legendary recording studios was enough for me. It is well and truly a breathtaking site for a music enthusiast. The building is shaped like the record stack on a record changer. I was so intrigued by this building especially as dad told me that it had a large underground closed chamber fitted with Altec horn speakers and microphones, for producing old fashioned reverb. All amazing stories and life-time memories.

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The breathtaking Capitol Records Tower
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K-Tel night today, I must be having a pretty decent collection of these, need to group them together in my cupboard.

Album Trivia: K-Tel records are very famous for being cheap low quality pressings. These are essentially compilation albums from the Canadian FMCG company K-Tel International. Their founder, Philip Kives who was essentially a salesman, figured out a method wherein he would license only the hit singles from the big bands and singers of the time and then include as many as he can on a single LP, usually 10 per side. In order to make maximum use of the real-estate on each side, K-Tel resorted to low-bass EQ and fading. Another trick was also in creating the playlist. Artists and Music companies used these records for slipping in some of their un-successful singles as well, in order to obtain royalties. Hence the USP of K-Tel was not based on the track name but the name of the singer or band, featured on the record :)

These records sold in their millions as they were only about $3-$4 a piece and music listeners did not have to pay for additional songs on an album which they did not like (as only hits featured). The common tag-line on K-tel records was - 20 Hits/20 Stars, 20 Greatest Hits, 20 Track Dance Parade and so on. The format was so successful that many others copied it including big names like Polydor, EMI, HMV, Arcade Records and so on. We had our share of these K-Tel rip offs in India as well, 20 Super Disco, Super Disco Buster, Its My Discotheque, etc were some of the Indian versions of these K-Tel records.

Note: These records are mostly given away or sold at very low prices in the Indian market, however these records if in good condition, are very collectable. Their covers are bright and exciting and if played with decent equipment, don't sound that bad after all. So next time you come across a K-tel, Arcade, Polydor, EMI or any other compilation record of this variety, don't just look past it :)

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