Re: [ARSCLIST] New LoC Recording Registry

[Thom <thompease@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all,

The nomination criteria and procedures are outlined at the Library of
Congress's National Recording Preservation Board website which is located at
http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb

Click on the link "criteria and nomination procedures" to see criteria for
inclusion, and how to nominate. The direct link to the nomination page is
http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-form.html

You may also print the pdf file and mail or fax it to:

National Recording Preservation Board
c/o Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20540-4698
Fax: (202) 707-8464

Given contamination-screening delays in USPS mail delivery to Capitol Hill,
the submission of nominations by e-mail, FedEx, or UPS is preferred."
Have a good day.

Thom

Thomas Pease
Recorded Sound Cataloger
Library of Congress
Packard Campus, Audio-Visual Conservation
Culpeper, VA
tpease@xxxxxxx

On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 6:19 AM, Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> The Command records, specifically "Persuasive Percussion," "Provacative
> Percussion," "Big Band Bossa Nova," and "Stereo/35mm" all charted, in fact
> Persuasive was at the top of the Billboard stereo album charts for weeks and
> weeks. I know for a fact that "Persuasive" and "Provacative" together sold
> over 1 million records, and the briefly-available CD reissues sell for
> dozens of dollars used. These were immensely popular records in their time,
> and were very important to the industry as far as getting stereo established
> with the listening public, the Regular Joes.
>
> I don't know about 1000 Strings, but I think Esquavel sold quite well, too.
> After the massive success of Command, all the major labels tried doing
> percussion and "stereo spectacular" records. Some sold quite well, many were
> expensive flops, some are better remembered today than they were accepted by
> the public when released.
>
> Also not on the list but deserving to be there are the only two classical
> Gold Records from the 1950's -- the Mercury mono "1812 Overture"
> (Dorati/Minneapolis) and Van Cliburn's "victory lap" recording after he won
> the Moscow competition, on RCA. I believe in those days, Gold meant half a
> million or more in sales dollars, not 500,000 units.
>
> I hesitate to suggest this, but ... if you're making a registry that's
> truly representative of Americans' recording and listening tastes, then you
> need to include something disco from the mid-70's. I'd suggest that the
> soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever," which I think went mulit-platinum,
> would cover that.
>
> I'm not sure how the nominating process works, but this list is very jazz
> heavy. Just to be clear, I love jazz and have a huge collection of jazz
> albums and listen to jazz more frequently than any other type of music, but,
> it was never what paid the bills for the music business, at least not from
> the dawn of LPs forward. It was a freak occurance for a jazz album to be a
> mainstream hit, and those albums do belong on the list, stuff like "Kind of
> Blue," and "The Girl from Ipanema." I don't have a beef with deep-catalog
> jazz on the list, I just wish other stuff that had a much wider influence on
> the listening public were on the list.
>
> Oh, one other thing that belongs on the list if you're including important
> audio documents. Mickey Kapp made a 6-LP deluxe set for Time-Life called "To
> The Moon" that summed up the space program through the first moon landing
> and included extensive NASA and other audio. It was more general and more
> all-encompassing than any other space-related recording and apparently sold
> many copies based on how many used and well-worn copies show up on eBay and
> in record shops I've visited.
>
> It was nice to see O. Winston Link's train recordings listed, but what
> about Emory Cook's, which were ground-breaking? I think Link's are much
> cooler, but Cook was there first.
>
> Mike, definitely agree about Sound in the Round, although I'm not sure how
> many copies of this sold to a mass audience. I know it came out on stereo LP
> (I have a mint copy), but I think it got its big bang in the early 2T tape
> days, so that was a niche if highly enthusiastic audience.
>
> BTW, I'm not convinced the folks who write copy for this list are even
> clear that stereo happened before 1958!
>
> Ya know, the thought also occurred to me that Latin music is
> under-represented, big-time! Anything from the Rhumba, Samba, Cha-Cha
> records of the 1940s to Machito to Latin funk to more modern pop-oriented
> Latin music like Ricky Martin (multi-platinum stuff, should not be ignored
> even if it's not a typical collector's taste). Aaron Levinson might chime in
> here, he's the true Latin expert on this list.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Biel" <mbiel@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 10:02 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] New LoC Recording Registry
>
>
> From: Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>> Also, no early stereo pop stuff, which sold millions and millions of
>> records.
>>
>
> Tom, you would have LOVED the presentation Dennis Rooney gave at ARSC
> last week about 1959: the first full year of the stereo disc.  It was so
> evocative of my experiences in hi-fi that year I hit 13 and bought my
> first component system (as partially just discussed in the prior posting
> about getting my first tape recorder.)  I was so glad my daughter was
> sitting there next to me to hear it, especially since we had gone thru
> the catalogs of 58 and 59 last year for a project she was doing.  Of
> course now I have to go thru the pre-recorded tape catalogs of those
> years to figure out the prior question, but those catalogs are several
> hundred miles away right now.
>
> I assume that you mean things like the Command Persuasive/Provacative
> Percussion series, the Somerset 101 Strings series, Bob Schory,
> Esquavel, and Sounds Your Eyes Can Follow on RCA, etc. but there are a
> fair amount of early stereo stuff from the 58-61 years like (1958) Dance
> Mania. Tito Puente; Winds in Hi-Fi. Eastman Wind Ensemble with Frederick
> Fennell; "Poeme Electronique." Edgard Varese; (1959)Time Out. The Dave
> Brubeck Quartet; Mingus Ah-Um. Charles Mingus; Giant Steps. John
> Coltrane; Kind of Blue. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley,
> Bill Evans, and others; "What'd I Say," parts 1 and 2. Ray Charles;
> (1960) Drums of Passion. Michael Babatunde Olatunji; and (1961) Judy at
> Carnegie Hall. Judy Garland.
>
> We should nominate Sound in the Round, Music for Non-Thinkers, Music for
> Bang Barooom and Harp, Delirium in Hi-Fi, Bob and Ray on A Platter,
> Cartoons In Stereo, etc etc.  I've been meaning to do these and a bunch
> of other things but I never get around to it.  You can put nominations
> in year-round.  They did The Churkendoose this year (one of my
> favorites), and I've got a bunch of other kids records that also need to
> be nominated.  I resolve to do it, and all you other complainers, get
> off your duffs (or stay on your duffs in front of the computer) and
> nominate what you favor.
>
> Mike Biel  mbiel@xxxxxxxxx
>