37 min
1936 Centuries of Sound
-
- Music History
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for February and March. For the full 3.5-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
MP3 preview download | Patreon | Apple | Mixcloud | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | RSS
As we journey through the 20th century, another parallel progression is taking place. In the now little remembered days of, 1901, this project involved collecting whatever meagre heavily-mediated artefacts survived and trying to knit them together into a narrative which felt like it made sense. For the long-forgotten years of the Edwardian era, this made sense, but as the devastation of the First World War started, the inadequacy of the sources available became suddenly stark. Who were these dance bands playing hot ragtime, and why were they so completely oblivious to the events going on in Europe? There was a forced myopia, and we just had to put up with it.
But then we had jazz, blues, country, electrical recordings, sound films, radio, newsreels; all expanding the pool of available sounds, cross-fertilizing, widening the pallet. As you know, of course, another war is now approaching. Perhaps it would be hyperbole to say the distant rumbles can be felt throughout these recordings, perhaps this is all in my interpretation and in yours, but this mix does feel to me like a picture of a year, not just a picture of a year's music.
This, naturally, adds complications. I know very little of the lives of the musicians featured so far. Their contribution has been the joy their music can bring, and at this distant a perspective everything else about their lives - though likely very interesting - is not relevant to the project. This mix, on the other hand, includes the voices of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. To leave them out entirely would be to paint a sanitised picture of the year, but it is vital not to let them set the agenda. I have tried, to the best of my ability, to present them each briefly, with appropriate mournfulness or mockery. I can't promise that I've always achieved this as well as I would like, but I promise I have tried.
This tracklisting has been divided up month-by month in order to be more easily digestible.
January - Swing Is Here
0:00:00 NBC Symphony Orchestra - Beethoven's Symphony No.7 In A Major Op. 92. Ii. Allegretto(Clips from 1936-01-03 Opening Day of 74th Congress)0:00:34 Busch Quartet - String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127(Clip from My Man Godfrey)(Clip from AT&T Archives Introduction to the Dial Telephone)0:02:21 Gene Krupa - Swing Is Here (+ Benny Goodman)(Clip from Rose Marie)0:05:16 Ink Spots - Stompin' At The Savoy0:06:17 Benny Goodman & His Orchestra - Stompin' At The Savoy(Clip from Reefer Madness)0:08:28 Memphis Minnie - New Orleans Stop Time0:11:21 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Steel Guitar Rag0:14:08 Ciro Rimacs Rumba-Orchester - Maxixe-Carioca
February - Nightmail
(Clip from Disorder in the Court)0:15:58 Lion - Four Mills Brothers(Clip from Le Vrai Jeu)0:18:41 Charles Trenet - Tout Est Au Duc(Clip from Anthony Adverse)0:20:56 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli - Limehouse Blues0:23:38 W. H. Auden - On This Island0:24:27 Benjamin Britten, Stuart Legg and John Grierson - Nightmail0:27:35 The Benny Goodman Quartet - Tiger Rag (Take 1)(Clip from Cain & Mabel)0:30:37 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra - Sing Me A Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)(Clip from Rose Marie)0:32:24 Jones-Smith Incorporated - Lady Be Good0:35:29 Slim & Slam - The Flat Foot Floogie
March - There May Be Trouble Ahead
0:
At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for February and March. For the full 3.5-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
MP3 preview download | Patreon | Apple | Mixcloud | Spotify | Castbox | Stitcher | RSS
As we journey through the 20th century, another parallel progression is taking place. In the now little remembered days of, 1901, this project involved collecting whatever meagre heavily-mediated artefacts survived and trying to knit them together into a narrative which felt like it made sense. For the long-forgotten years of the Edwardian era, this made sense, but as the devastation of the First World War started, the inadequacy of the sources available became suddenly stark. Who were these dance bands playing hot ragtime, and why were they so completely oblivious to the events going on in Europe? There was a forced myopia, and we just had to put up with it.
But then we had jazz, blues, country, electrical recordings, sound films, radio, newsreels; all expanding the pool of available sounds, cross-fertilizing, widening the pallet. As you know, of course, another war is now approaching. Perhaps it would be hyperbole to say the distant rumbles can be felt throughout these recordings, perhaps this is all in my interpretation and in yours, but this mix does feel to me like a picture of a year, not just a picture of a year's music.
This, naturally, adds complications. I know very little of the lives of the musicians featured so far. Their contribution has been the joy their music can bring, and at this distant a perspective everything else about their lives - though likely very interesting - is not relevant to the project. This mix, on the other hand, includes the voices of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. To leave them out entirely would be to paint a sanitised picture of the year, but it is vital not to let them set the agenda. I have tried, to the best of my ability, to present them each briefly, with appropriate mournfulness or mockery. I can't promise that I've always achieved this as well as I would like, but I promise I have tried.
This tracklisting has been divided up month-by month in order to be more easily digestible.
January - Swing Is Here
0:00:00 NBC Symphony Orchestra - Beethoven's Symphony No.7 In A Major Op. 92. Ii. Allegretto(Clips from 1936-01-03 Opening Day of 74th Congress)0:00:34 Busch Quartet - String Quartet No. 12 In E Flat Op. 127(Clip from My Man Godfrey)(Clip from AT&T Archives Introduction to the Dial Telephone)0:02:21 Gene Krupa - Swing Is Here (+ Benny Goodman)(Clip from Rose Marie)0:05:16 Ink Spots - Stompin' At The Savoy0:06:17 Benny Goodman & His Orchestra - Stompin' At The Savoy(Clip from Reefer Madness)0:08:28 Memphis Minnie - New Orleans Stop Time0:11:21 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Steel Guitar Rag0:14:08 Ciro Rimacs Rumba-Orchester - Maxixe-Carioca
February - Nightmail
(Clip from Disorder in the Court)0:15:58 Lion - Four Mills Brothers(Clip from Le Vrai Jeu)0:18:41 Charles Trenet - Tout Est Au Duc(Clip from Anthony Adverse)0:20:56 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France, Avec Stéphane Grappelli - Limehouse Blues0:23:38 W. H. Auden - On This Island0:24:27 Benjamin Britten, Stuart Legg and John Grierson - Nightmail0:27:35 The Benny Goodman Quartet - Tiger Rag (Take 1)(Clip from Cain & Mabel)0:30:37 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra - Sing Me A Swing Song (And Let Me Dance)(Clip from Rose Marie)0:32:24 Jones-Smith Incorporated - Lady Be Good0:35:29 Slim & Slam - The Flat Foot Floogie
March - There May Be Trouble Ahead
0:
37 min