The theme here is a handful of singles that feature the same song on both sides, only one side is in mono and the other side is in stereo. I guess that was a popular format for singles sent to radio stations for a while as not all stations could handle the newfangled stereo records. I'm not up on the technical aspects of why they couldn't just fold the stereo single down to a single channel in-house at the station, but I'm sure there was a good reason. Anyhow, I recorded both sides of all these records, but I understand if you throw away all the mono versions. I don't think any of them are unique from the flip sides.
1. Adam Perle & Wesley Crow-A Silent Night
2. Bunny Siglar-Jingle Bells (Part I)
3. Deanna-Darlene-Rag Doll (For Christmas)
4. Mona Murry-Gonna Kidnap Santa Tonight
5. Ray Reeves-A Little Boy's Christmas Prayer
That Bunny Sigler record is really good, I need to track down the normal flip side, Part 2!
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ReplyDeleteWhoops, looks like I forgot the ling altogether. Should be good now, thanks for letting me know.
DeleteI went to college intending to be an English teacher, but somehow ended up at a Mass Communications college. My roommate and a few others were listening to a 45 in our dorm room one day and I asked what was on the flip side. "Stereo", they said in unison. First DJ joke I ever heard.
ReplyDeleteWhen stereo first came into radio, it was an experimental thing that was limited to the FM band because that's where you put all the experimental things back then (AM signals traveled farther, so they were more desirable). And AM equipment was mono and FM equipment was stereo and never the twain shall meet. With the equipment at the time, a stereo record sounded...wrong...on mono equipment. A mono record sounded OK on stereo equipment, just kinda flat. And most stations were AM/FM combos. So you'd send a record that they could use for either/or. And you played RECORDS in those days, not tapes; nobody was mixing anything down to mono. Records were for music and tapes were for commercials. Even as the equipment and expertise in the studio evolved fairly quickly, the mono/stereo thing had become an industry standard and they just kept doing it. That really didn't change until CDs became the dominant format.
FWIW, we have had the technology for AM Stereo for some time, now, and the sound of AM Stereo is much brighter and better than FM Stereo. But... the transformation of the radio equipment is expensive and, worse, it requires a special receiver (expense for the consumer) so it never took off.
Thanks Stubby. I didn't know there were DJ jokes, though I probably heard some on WKRP. Got any more? :)
DeleteI'm guessing the radio stations that once owned these had the equipment they needed to spin the stereo-side. Glad I didn't throw away the mono-flipsides because they sound relatively unplayed - and quite a bit better. Just listen to both spoken intros on the excellent Bunny Siglar-track, and you'll hear it at once.
DeleteYeah, you're right. I don't spend a lot of money hunting down mint condition records, so I've kinda learned to tune out the dodgy sound from worn records, but when you compare the two, you can tell what's missing.
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