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Re: [ARSCLIST] Stereo records.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Cox" <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> On 17/06/06, steven c wrote:
> >> One UK phenomenon that didn't really achieve the same popularity in
> >> the US
> > was
> >> the extended play 45. An album of fourteen cuts might have the four
> >> (or eight) "best" tracks released on one (or two) EP(s), which in
> >> Britain were considered a "poor man's album".
> >>
> > Well...I vuz dere, Sholly!
> >
> > LP's first emerged as a major format (versus singles) around
> > 1966-67... primarily due to the immense popularity of the Beatles'
> > "Sgt. Pepper's..." LP, and the fact that it was probably the first
> > popular/"rock" album to be reviewed by major record/music critics.
>
> I think albums by Cliff Richard and/or The Shadows were selling well
> long before that.
> Popular records were reviewed (briefly) in The Gramophone throughout the
> 60s. Jazz records got full reviews, Latin and Popular had columns.
> And there was already a strong market for popular music LPs
> from the big band tradition - Sinatra, Peggy Lee, etc. - and for jazz
> albums by Chris Barber/Lonnie Donegan and others.
>
Well, LP's sold fairly well even back in the fifties...RCA, in fact,
released several albums by Elvis, and most rock'n'roll/pop singers
had at least one LP to their credit. However, the teenage crowd
didn't buy them nearly as enthusiastically as they did 45's in
those early years...I may have had 20 or so LP's all-told, and
a few hundred 45's. As well, the music at parties and "record hops"
came strictly from 45's.
In the mid-sixties, as pop music became more complex (as did pop
music albums), that changed. Artists released LP's that had songs
that were never issued on singles...and the next thing to emerge
was "concept albums" (like Sgt. Pepper's...) where you had to
listen to an entire album side (in some cases, the songs weren't
on discrete tracks!)...and in extreme cases an entire side would
consist only of long solos by the band.
As well, early reviews of pop-music albums were limited, and
tended to be aimed at "average pop music buyers" (and appear
in magazines aimed at teens!). Sgt. Pepper's was probably the
first popular-music LP to be reviewed by "serious music critics"
who, prior to that, reviewed mainly classical music or, very
occasionally, jazz. Most "serious music" lovers considered pop
music...especially rock('n'roll)...to be beneath them and thus
outside their notice!
...stevenc
http://users.interlinks.net/stevenc/