This is a title from the publisher’s excellent Popular Culture series, from which I can remember reviewing Arts & Entertainment Fads (RR 91/295) which is, by now, well‐thumbed. I’m sure this later work will also get good use: it is interesting, well organised, and attractively produced. I’m not a fan of pre‐publication “reviews”, seeing them as a marketing ploy, but two on the publisher’s puff are worthy of report. In one, a university professor with numerous books published on popular American culture, writes: “Fills one of the biggest gaps in the cultural history of this era” ‐a bold claim; while in a second, the book is “A valuable asset, both to me as a dealer, and to my customers who wish to acquire a knowlegable background of the artists in their collections”. Endorsement from someone who is neither author, academic nor librarian, but who earns his livelihood in the subject, is doubly welcome.
Popular American Recording Pioneers 1895‐1925 is a smart and handy volume covering the lives and careers of over one hundred musical artists who were especially important to the recording industry in its early years. The 1925 date is important as it was then that singing into a loudspeaker horn was replaced by the electric microphone, and so changing the whole recording scene. The essays for each artist (or group of artists), which average about three and a half pages are readable and entertaining. Thus we learn that George J. Gaskin (1863‐1920), “The Irish Thrush”, was born in Belfast, emigrated to the USA as a youth, sang in churches and vaudeville, and started his recording career in 1891. Details taken from Edison’s North American Phonograph Company trade catalogue tell us what songs he recorded for them. During the 1890s, Gaskin recorded for most of the other companies and “was probably the most popular recording artist of the decade.” A list of many of the songs he recorded is given, with quoted tributes and later history. Apparently Gaskin’s voice was unsuited to later recording equipment.
The often elusive sources used by the compiler range from record catalogues, hobbyist magazines, newspaper cuttings and trade journals, while the pioneer artists covered Tin Pan Alley numbers, Broadway show tunes, ragtime, parlour ballads, early jazz, and dance music of all kinds. The Introduction tells us about the early recording industry, record sales, the technology and conditions under which records were made, and the singers (and their stage‐celebrities‐versus‐professional‐recording‐artists battles). There is an index which includes song titles and a bibliography arranged by artist. I would have welcomed a preliminary list of artists and a more informative “running head” to aid navigation, but in all other aspects ‐ handling, layout, and information content ‐ this is an excellent work of reference and recreation. Cultural studies students, historians of music, and record collectors will have cause to praise the industry of Tim Gracyk.
