CD Wish List, Week 2: Music Stuck in the Analog Age
Music Insiders Pick Recordings that Should Be Issued on CD
Jaan Uhelszki, pictured with Joey Ramone
Bruce Boyd Raeburn
Bruce Boyd Raeburn's Picks
Hear sample cuts from recordings of The Six and Seven-Eighths String Band:
'Tiger Rag' 'High Society'
Paul Miller, a.ka. DJ Spooky
DJ Spooky's Picks
Hear sample cuts of recordings made by Lionel Mapleson:
'Ma Tu, o Re' 'Ride of the Valkyries'
Weekend Edition Sunday, December 21, 2003 · Weekend Edition Sunday presents the second installment of its three-part CD Wish List series. All through December, we're asking music industry insiders to pick the best albums ever recorded that have yet to make their debut on CD. E-mail us your suggestions at wesun@npr.org with the subject line "CD WISH LIST."
This week we talk to:
Jaan Uhelszki, one of the founding editors of Creem magazine. She chooses gay rock icon Jobriath's self-titled debut (Elektra, 1973) -- an album she says was derailed by the costly marketing blitz that accompanied its release.
"Everyone was expecting the second coming of [David] Bowie or someone even larger," she says. "[Jobriath] had almost an Elton John sense of melody and show biz that was a little over the top."
Bruce Boyd Raeburn, curator of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. He chooses a couple of 78 RPM recordings by The Six and Seven-Eighths String Band of New Orleans (New Orleans Originals, 1949).
Raeburn notes that, despite its name, the band actually had seven members. But the violinist, he says, "was so small that the other members thought he shouldn't be counted as a full musician."
Raeburn says all of the members of The Six and Seven-Eighths String Band were "dedicated amateurs" who held day jobs -- one was a surgeon, and several others were local businessmen. The band was popular among the uptown society crowd. "They were kind of a softer alternative to the usual blaring jazz band of the pre-World War I period," he says.
Paul Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, musician. He chooses cylinder recordings made by Lionel Mapleson of the New York Metropolitan Opera (1901-1904).
Mapleson served as the librarian of the Metropolitan Opera at the turn of the 20th century. Perched on a catwalk above the opera stage, Mapleson used a phonograph horn to record extracts of performances.
DJ Spooky calls Mapleson "one of America's first bootleggers."
"He's considered the first mix-tape guy," DJ Spooky says.
Related NPR Stories
- Dec. 7, 20032003 CD Wish List, Week 1
- Dec. 28, 20032003 CD Wish List, Week 3
- Browse the 2002 CD Wish List Picks
- NPR's 'Anthem': DJ Spooky
- More NPR Music Coverage
