Canada - The 78 rpm Club

Aragon

The 78rpm-Club2019-11-27T10:35:46+01:00Dezember 10th, 2018|

In 1946, aided by Al Reusch, a musician, big band leader, and one of the first DJs in Vancouver, opened one of the very first recording studios in the country in Vancouver and christened Aragon Recording Studios. By 1954, Reusch had acquired sole ownership of the company and subsequently built Mushroom Studios in 1966 at 1234 West 6th Avenue, Vancouver.

Built from the ground up as a first class audio recording studio, the facility was originally an orchestral recording room for special sessions by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Author of “The Audio Cyclopedia”, and award-winning acoustician Dr. Howard Tremaine, consulted on the original acoustic design and equipment installation, which led to Diana Ross and The Supremes, becoming some of the first clients, followed shortly by Led Zeppelin.

As Reusch apparently did not like the idea of recording post-Beatles rock and roll, he sold the facility within five years to Jack Herschorn who had previously co-founded Studio 3 on West 12th Avenue with Tom Northcott. The sale materialized in the spring of 1971.

Source: Wikipedia

SEECO

The 78rpm-Club2018-11-27T14:51:30+01:00November 27th, 2018|

Sidney Siegel Parlayed was a jeweler who started his business in an old house destroyed during the First World War. This was a wedding gift from his father-in-law; but due to the poor condition of the building, the upper floors were left unused, leaving only the first level, which was more than ideal to start a business. Thus, in 1941 he opened the Siegel House, where they sold jewelry, radios, records and furniture. Howard Roseff, his cousin, who worked with him in the store since his childhood, was the one who became his right hand in the record company years later.

The majority of the record clients were Puerto Ricans, since the house provided the most devine Argentinean and Mexican music, as well as the actual hits in terms of rumbas, boleros, tangos, etc.

During the first decade of the the 1940s, the boom of record companies was a key piece for radio stations that stored their material and generated a perennial struggle for publishing rights. Sidney Siegel was aware that the method of musical companies would have a negative end if they would continue with the same mechanism, so poorly advised in terms of local music. But there was an important detail, since in his business he had great demand in those musical genres he was selling. And despite the vision of Siegel, it was an imminent fact, that several artists were left without work and, observing the great potential that the popular singers had, decided to give a turn to the business line. Seeing the demand of RCA Victor, Columbia Records and Decca Records, he knew that he did not count on his support and decided to move his company in Canada. Seeco Records began its operations in 1944.

Due to the high demand, he creates sublabels, such as Tropical Records and Bronjo Records. During the decades of the 1940 and 1950, due to fame, and the catalog of artists that he owned, he opened recording houses in different parts of the world as well as partnerships with existing record companies. In 1953 he released his first album of 12 ‘, while those of 10’ both in 33 and 78 r.p.m. continued the business until the mid-1960s.

Seeco Discography

BLUEBIRD

The 78rpm-Club2020-03-25T15:54:51+01:00Oktober 31st, 2018|

In July, 1932, appeared the first, short-lived Bluebird record, along with an identically numbered Electradisk record sold at Woolworth’s. These 8″ discs, probably an early form of test marketing, may have sold for as little as 10c. Bluebirds bore a black-on-medium blue label; Electradisks a blue-on-orange label. Credit for establishing the label is given to Victor’s executive Eli Oberstein, who had previously set up the Crown label.

The 8″ series only ran from 1800 to 1809, but both labels reappeared later in 1932 as 10″ discs: Bluebird 1820–1853 (continuing to April 1933), Electradisk 2500–2509 and 1900–2177, (continuing to January 1934)

Electradisks in the 2500 block were dance band sides recorded on two days in June, 1932. These very rare issues were given Victor matrix numbers but the 4 digit matrix numbers on the 78 look more like Crown Records (this independent label had its own studios, but its product was pressed by Victor). The few records in that block that have been seen, resemble Crowns; leading to speculation that all were recorded at Crown.

In May, 1933, RCA Victor restarted Bluebird as a 35c (3 for $1) general-interest budget record, numbered B-5000 and up, with a new blue-on-beige label (often referred as the “Buff” Bluebird, used until 1937 in the US and 1939 in Canada). Most 1800-series material was immediately reissued on the Buff label; afterwards it ran concurrently with the Electradisk series (made for Woolworth’s).

Another short-lived concurrent label was Sunrise, which may have been made for a store chain (very few discs, and essentially no information, survive). Sunrise and Electradisk were discontinued early in 1934, leaving Bluebird as RCA’s only budget priced label.
(RCA Victor also produced a separate Montgomery Ward label for the Wards stores.)

In November 1942 Bluebird altered its numerical system to four-figure serials prefixed by a two-figure category code (Rust).

In addition there was also a series of Children’s records. These were issued with serial numbers ranging from 1 to 1000 with prefixes which included BK and BY from May 1936 to the early 1950’s.

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