Michael Trew wrote:
> Normal kids when I grew up would share a set of headphones or ear buds,
> with a CD player or MP3 player when I was in high school. If one person
> always had the one side, they were sometimes quite surprised how
> differed a song sounded when switching sides or hearing both.
I'm old enuf to remember when stereo was a Really Big Deal, and records were
issued in mono or stereo editions...in the late 60's you could get mono discs for really
cheap, as the mono issues were being deleted from the catalog by then...
The late 50's was the "Stereophonic Craze" era, stereo was hyped as a fantastic new technology,
and good old Yankee capitalism made it available to YOU THE CONSUMER!
BTW, the first commercial US stereophonic recording was the 1954 release of conductor
Fritz Reiner conducting the Strauss tone poem 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' [the opening was
most famously used in the movie '2001: A Space Odyssey' ]...
This was issued on a two - track 7 1/2 open - reel tape on the RCA Victor 'Red Seal' label...cost
was $14.95, in today's dollahs that is over $150.00 - being an audiophile was truly a rich man's
hobby back then. From what I've read, the original old acetate - era tapes can still play beautifully...
http://www.boija.com/tape/rca_2-track.htm
'New York, May 22: The imminent issuance of a high fidelity batch of pre-recorded tapes by RCA Victor
will include a collection of Red Seal disk items transferred to magnetic tape. One of the last named
reels will be a binaural offering featuring Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing
Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (The Billboard, May 29, 1954). Original 1954 RCA Victor Red Seal 2-track
tape #ECS-1tape box depicted...
You can still buy it on an audiophile LP, and eBay sometimes has an original 1954 tape
copy for several hundred bux:
https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/91383/Fritz_Reiner-Richard_Strauss_Also_Sprach_Zarathustra-200_Gram_Vinyl_Record
https://classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2012/09/strauss-also-sprach-zarathustra-hqcd.html
RCA advertised their "Living Stereo" on the label, record cover and elsewhere...the logo is pretty
cool - and there is a link to a very cool 1958 RCA advertising video, very "suave"! Here:
https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/rca-victor-living-stereo/
Is the RCA Victor “Living Stereo” series the Big Bang of vinyl culture?
In 1958, RCA Victor introduced to the world a new technology under the banner “Living Stereo.”
Focused at first on standard repertoire classical music, the vinyl imprint went all-in on
high-fidelity listening, a movement enabled by stereophonic technology and innovations
in sound reproduction.
Buoyed by the invention Westrex stereo cutterheads that same year, “Living Stereo”
albums tapped engineering advances that had occurred across the previous decade,
including the introduction of Scully lathes, to create what are considered some of the
best mastered albums in history.
At the time, culture was entering a listening craze. The astounding clarity and precision
of stereophonic reproduction begat the idea of “serious listening” as a pastime. Within
a year, the “Living Stereo” series of LPs would branch out to include breathtakingly recorded
albums by Tito Puente, Juan García Esquivel, Eartha Kitt, Perez Prado, Chet Atkins and the
Isley Bros. (That said, the majority of the imprint’s non-classical releases were treacly
instrumental pop.)...
...
Eartha Kitt – St. Louis Blues (1958)
Stop what you’re doing and pull out Eartha Kitt’s 1959 recording of “Chantez-les bas.”
Featuring the seductive diva backed by Los Angeles trumpeter and bandleader Shorty
Rogers (and a young Johnny “Guitar” Watson), Kitt’s take on the W.C. Handy standard
carries you into RCA’s state-of-the-art studio on Sunset Blvd. There, across the street
from the Cinerama Dome, Kitt and band worked the room until it was hot to the touch..."
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