At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a placeholder to appear on the podcast feed. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month.   Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   The mid-point of the 20th century feels superficially like its fulcrum. The first half has been an upward struggle (two world wars, a great depression, a devastating pandemic) but also a tale of progress – we have gone from racist parlour songs recorded on cylinders to cool jazz LPs and proto rock & roll singles. Now it’s a smooth ride downhill through the 50s, 60s, 70s, and so on. Culture will become more free and less imposing, the cold war will gradually cool down and end, we will see Fukuyama’s end of history. Of course, for most of you, who lived through the last half of the 20th century, that will immediately ring false. It’s so reductive that it’s essentially nonsense, the joys and the horrors of the late 20th do not form a pattern easy enough to sum up in a page, let alone a paragraph. And so (this is my point, sorry) goes for the first half. Listening through these mixes I hope you’ve been able to feel how society and how art has shifted, not as a smooth process but as a tortuous web being pulled in many directions at once, and any simple narrative is in essence a lie. So if I were to say “something is in the air in 1950” or talk about the “zeitgeist”, you should know that this is probably nothing more than apophenia  – “the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things” – but this is how it is with every story anyway, you pick up a feeling and go with it. So what is the story this time? In a sense 1950 is a particularly unremarkable year for music. Jazz is stalled somewhere between bebop and post-bop. Rhythm & blues or jump blues seems to be finally winding down from the frenetic energy it had in ’48 and ’49, much as rock & roll would wind down in the early 60s. Outside of Hank Williams, Western swing seems to be taking a bit of a breather too. Even Hollywood musicals seem to be largely spinning their wheels after their golden age, but before Singin’ In The Rain led their revival a couple of years later. But sometimes you need a bit of calm to show the lay of the land around you, and you know what? There’s really something special going on here. This may still have been a duller than usual mix if it hadn’t been for the work of Michael Daddino’s project “1950: The Bomb in the Heart of the Century” originally from 1950. A playlist, initially on Spotify, but most recently on Mixcloud, it’s a lot more detailed and a lot longer than a Centuries of Sound mix, and demonstrates a good deal more work – I try to get these things out in a month, not that I have really met that goal of late, and naturally my research phase can only go so far. So instead of reinventing everything, I have used the flow of this mix (and around 50% of the music selections) as a framework, and have built everything else around it. The bomb in the title is not merely a metaphor. 1950 does seem to be the year that the Cold War really set in, especially in terms of the nuclear arms race. The USSR conducted their first nuclear test in 1949, and not long after President Truman announced the plan to develop the hydrogen bomb, which would be ready in 1952. Being confronted by the enormity of this so soon after the end of the war must have felt like whiplash, and the prospect of mutually assured destruction before the foretold 2000 years must have been terrifying to many. A couple of selections here discuss this directly. Others were still excited about this new technology. The cover image for this mix comes from the case of the “Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory” – an experimental kit briefly on

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is a placeholder to appear on the podcast feed. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month.   Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   At the end of 2024 I suddenly found myself immersed in new music again, and while putting together a list of favourites, I thought – why not make a mix? So here it is, very little in the way of speech clips, essentially this is just three hours of pop(ish) music, which eventually I’ll come back round to. Hope you enjoy it, and 1950 is up next, no worries.   Tracklist 0:00:00 Doechii – Denial Is A River 0:02:39 Sofie Royer – I Forget (I’m So Young) 0:06:40 Kiesza – I Go Dance 0:08:45 Charli XCX & Lorde – girl, so confusing 0:11:50 Billie Eilish – LUNCH 0:14:43 Eirik Hegdal & Eklektisk Samband – Vibratochess 0:17:33 Bob Vylan – Hunger Games 0:21:09 4am Kru & Papa Levi – Ribena 0:23:44 Machinedrum – ‘ZOOM (feat. Tinashe) 0:26:32 Low Poly – Automatic 0:28:47 Wilkinson & NORTH – Balance 0:31:44 Kabin Crew & Lisdoonvarna Crew – The Spark 0:34:07 Selecta J-Man & MC Spyda – Foundation Style 0:38:14 james K – Blinkmoth (July Mix) 0:40:41 Sky Ferreira – Leash 0:44:43 Arooj Aftab – Raat Ki Rani 0:49:46 Blazers – Deep Waves 0:54:36 God Colony & Roy – Loss Is Not Infinite 0:58:34 Clairo – Sexy To Someone 1:01:57 Laura Marling – Caroline 1:05:09 Beth Gibbons – Floating On A Moment 1:08:04 Kelly Lee Owens – Dreamstate 1:13:10 Jane Panika & Hagop Tchaparian – Alice In Orchidverse 1:17:33 A.G. Cook – Soulbreaker 1:20:52 aespa ??? – Supernova 1:23:43 Ke$ha – Joyride 1:26:12 Javiera Mena – Entropia 1:29:21 Magdalena Bay – Image 1:32:40 Charli XCX & Billie Eilish – Guess 1:35:02 salute & Rina Sawayama – ‘saving flowers 1:38:25 Dj Brunin XM, MC Pipokinha, Bibi Babydoll – Os Novinhos Que 1:40:56 Poppy – they’re all around us 1:44:18 Ozoda – Ko’k jiguli 1:47:16 Delaporte – Subete La Radio 1:49:23 Caribou – Broke My Heart 1:52:08 Skrillex, Hamdi, Taichu & Offiah – Push 1:54:56 Charli XCX – Von Dutch 1:57:07 Mokotron – Waerea 1:58:55 Tyler, The Creator – Noid 2:01:34 Sade Abu – Young Lion 2:04:55 Paul Cousins – Thought Loops 2:08:19 Clinic Stars – I Am The Dancer 2:14:04 Mica Levi – slob air 2:18:38 Yaeji – booboo 2:22:10 Maruja – The Invisible Man 2:28:03 Blood Wizard – Devil Dressed In Disguise 2:31:18 Willow – Symptom of Life 2:34:24 Theodora ft. Jeez Suave – Kongolese Sous BBL 2:37:04 Sahra Halgan – SHARAF 2:40:59 Camila Cabello ft. Playboy Carti – I Luv It 2:42:45 Sabrina Carpenter – Espresso 2:45:36 Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe! 2:49:04 Mabe Fratti – Enfrente 2:53:01 The Cure – Alone

Audio curator James Errington is joined by jazz historian Joe Moore to discuss the astonishing year of 1917, when a new music called “Jass” or “Jaz” or “Jazz” swept the world, changing it forever. A genuinely astonishing time for music, brought to life with contemporary archive sounds. You can also tune in to Cambridge Radio tonight at 7pm GMT and hear a “new” best of compilation for the shows for 1911, 1912 and 1913. Listening options can be found at http://cambridge.radio/ Support Centuries of Sound and access a treasure trove of bonuses at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. As it’s the festive season I’ve decided to use the new function on Patreon to do a couple of membership offers. Firstly I’m offering a 10% discount on all tiers, monthly and annual, just go to patreon.com/centuriesofsound and sign up with the promo code 8AA78 – Secondly, if you buy a gift membership for anyone ($5 p/m tier, annual) then I will give you a CD version of the mixes for the year of their birth (only pre-1950/1972/1989)– so cut up into CD-sized chunks each with its own artwork. For gift memberships – patreon.com/centuriesofsound/gift – then send me a message either on Patreon or by emailing james (at) centuriesofsound.com, I will get those to you within three days. Happy Holidays everyone, here is your new Christmas mix, this one covering the shorter period of 1955-1961. I have been cutting it dangerously close because there was simply so much to pick from, this being the peak period for famous records, as far as the US is concerned at least (though you will notice a few of them missing – the aim here is to make a good mix, not to tick off all the boxes, and certain favourites are, in my opinion, just a little too annoying.) I found this to be quite an odd era, there are rock & roll Christmas records of course, but there were a lot of religious records too, recorded in luxurious high-fidelity as presents for audiophiles, and some truly great jazz records which happened to have a festive theme. So, there are roughly three movements here – a half hour of pop and novelty records, a half hour of a very religious Christmas, and a little under half an hour of cool jazz – if any of these are not your cup of tea, I’ve labelled them below, so you can skip to the part you need. There will also be a radio version of this show (featuring my son Theo) broadcast on Cambridge Radio (formerly Cambridge 105) on Sunday 22nd December at 19:00 GMT, you can listen by following this link at the right time – https://consoles.radioplayer.cloud/8261297/index.html I hope you all have a great break, whatever you are celebrating around now, or even if you are celebrating at all. 2024 has been yet another tough year for many, and I hope this is an enjoyable way to finish it. Part One 0:00:00 Daphne Oram – Winters Journey (Intro) (1956) (Clip from The Apartment – 1960) 0:00:20 Marlene Paula & The Billy Van Planck Orchestra – I Wanna Spend Christmas With Elvis (1956) (Clip of Children Meeting Father Christmas – 1955) 0:02:32 Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas (1957) (Clip from “Men’s Christmas” – 1961) 0:05:01 George Jones – New Baby For Christmas (1957) (Clip from Hancock’s Half Hour) 0:07:31 Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (1958) (Clip from Hancock’s Half Hour – 1957) 0:09:57 Lenny Dee – Mister Santa (1961) (Clip of Children Meeting Father Christmas – 1955) 0:12:04 Ella Fitzgerald – Frosty the Snow Man (1960) (Clip from Lucky Strike Commercial – 1958) 0:14:37 Adam Faith – Lonely Pup (In A Christmas Shop) (1960) (Clip from Timex Watches Commercial – 1958) 0:16:51 Ed ‘Kookie’ Byrnes – Yulesville (1959) (Clip from Hancock’s Half Hour – 1957) 0:19:12 Stan Freberg – Nuttin’ For Christmas (1955) 0:21:32 Tom Lehrer – A Christmas Carol (1959) 0:24:06 Perry Como – Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1959) Part Two (Clip from Christmas in Bethlehem – 1961) 0:27:31 Leroy Anderson & His Orchestra – O Come, O Come Emmanuel (1955) (Clip from Christmas in Bethlehem – 1961) 0:29:14 The Louvin Brothers – It’s Christmas Time (1960) (Clip from Christmas in Bethlehem – 1961) 0:32:31 Vera Ward Hall – No Room At The Inn (1959) 0:34:59 Mitch Miller – Coventry Carol (1958) (Clip from Vera Ward Hall – No Room At

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. As it’s the festive season I’ve decided to use the new function on Patreon to do a couple of membership offers. Firstly I’m offering a 10% discount on all tiers, monthly and annual, just go to patreon.com/centuriesofsound and sign up with the promo code 8AA78 – Secondly, if you buy a gift membership for anyone ($5 p/m tier, annual) then I will give you a CD version of the mixes for the year of their birth (only pre-1950/1972/1989)– so cut up into CD-sized chunks each with its own artwork. For gift memberships – patreon.com/centuriesofsound/gift – then send me a message either on Patreon or by emailing james (at) centuriesofsound.com, I will get those to you within three days. Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   1949 Part Two – The 12″ Mix How do you listen to recorded music? I feel like every phase of my life has a different answer here – the record player at home, a Walkman, a Discman, the stereo system I had when I went to university, the mp3 player that went around Asia with me, then years of phones, laptops, Bluetooth speakers, headphones, car stereos. Sometimes I would listen privately, sometimes on speakers, sometimes it would be in the background, sometimes it would have my full attention. These days it seems like, aside from the car radio, all my listening is private, streamed from computer or phone, and something feels missing. Centuries of Sound started when I was in an environment where nobody wanted to listen to music so I had to retreat into this private experience, and have I ever emerged from that? Only through sharing with you, really. Putting on a longer piece of music, sitting down and just experiencing it – that’s just something I don’t have time for any more. It is something I miss, but it’s also something I can live without. When end of year polls come around, this is why I focus on the tracks. I like things bite-sized, not because I have a short attention span, more because there’s so much out there and only so much time I can spend with it. And yet, this thing, what is it but very long-form listening? Putting on an LP seems like such a fundamental part of music listening for so many people, it seems odd to note that as we approach the middle of the 20th century, it’s only now that this is really becoming an option. If you were listening to a record before 1949, it was probably a 10” shellac disc with not much more than three and a half minutes of music per side, and unless you had an elaborate disc-changing machine, that’s how long you had before you had to get up and change the record. There were “albums” though, and had been for quite a while. The earliest I can find is a 1907 recording of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s 1892 opera “I Pagliacci,” starring Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli, and supervised in its production by the composer himself. But these were “albums” as in a “photograph album” or a “stamp album” – a large book of separate discs. Frank Sinatra’s first album, 1946’s “The Voice of Frank Sinatra” is in this format, eight songs across four discs. When Columbia introduced the 33? rpm 12” vinyl LP in late 1948, the focus was naturally on what it could do that shellac records couldn’t. With around 26 minutes per side, the initial focus was naturally on classical music – and of course it helped that buyers of classical music had more money and a taste for better quality recordings – LPs had “microgroove technology” that allowed for higher fidelity. Next followed Broadway shows, the more respectable kinds of jazz, and more sophisticated pop music – Frank again. What did not appear at first was the music made by and liste

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested. Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   1949 Part One – The 7″ Mix 2024 has been the year of my 45th birthday (yes, still so young, I know) and the number has set me thinking about the importance of the 45RPM 7” single in my life. I’ve been playing them as long as I can remember, receiving packages of remaindered singles in the 1980s, buying a few every week at Magpie Records in Worcester in the mid-90, traveling with me in a big stripy box as I moved around, and now there they sit on my shelves still, though I don’t have a functioning stereo system now. My LPs, undoubtedly worth more, were left in the locked room of a friend in Southampton nearly 20 years ago and never recovered, it’s annoying, but not something I lose sleep about, the singles are much more important. Beside all the memories, there’s something about the format that seems kind of perfect. Small enough to comfortably carry around, each side just containing a few minutes of music, there’s something at once unfussy and potentially extravagant about both form and content. Singles like the one you see in the picture here often have larger holes, indicating their use in a jukebox, this little disc adaptable enough to be used as a replicable part in any number of mass produced machines. And that of course means b-sides, a chance for the act to try out something new without the risk of a negative reaction, and in many cases the disc would be flipped by a dj, and the b-side could be the hit that changed everything. In short, the 7” vinyl single is one of the most important inventions of the 21st century, and it all started in 1949, when RCA released their new format, replacing the larger, more brittle shellac discs with a new compound – polyvinyl chloride. As when most new formats are introduced, RCA were engaged in a war with a competitor, Columbia’s 12” vinyl LP – only in this case the two formats had very different niches, and could (after a couple of years) be played by the same equipment, so both survived. The original 7” single wasn’t in exactly the standard form we know today. The larger, jukebox-sized hole in the centre came as standard, as did coloured vinyl. The idea was that each genre would have its own colour, with red for pop music, green for country, yellow for children’s records, and a confusion of other shades for jazz, R&B, classical and so on. As should be clear to anyone listening to this mix, the differences between these genres were particularly muddy in 1949, and the idea was soon dropped. The change was not, of course, immediate. Most of the music in this mix was still issued on 78RPM shellac discs, and they would continue to be manufactured all the way through the 50s, and in some countries even into the 70s. But the time was certainly ripe for a cheap, portable, harder to shatter format, and even if rock and roll had not already begun in all but name, early 1950s pop music would also suit it well. We are three years away from the introduction of the UK singles chart, and the 7” record’s abilities and limitations would do a great deal to set the parameters of popular music as we know it. Track list Intro (Clip from interview with Johnny St. Cyr) 0:00:03 RCA Victor Orchestra – South Pacific Overture (Clip from NBC News) 0:00:33 Jnan Prakash Ghose – Tabla Instrumental January (Clip from 1949 Year In Review) (Background from Pierre Schaeffer – Vagotte) (Clip from Dragnet) (Clip from Reviewing The Year 1949) (C

This Centuries of Sound mix comes courtesy of my supporters at patreon.com/centuriesofsound – join them for as little as $5 per month and get a full archive and a host of bonus material. Tracks 0:00:00 Jeff Alexander & Alfred Hitchcock – Music to Be Murdered By (1958) 0:01:36 Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – I Put A Spell On You (1956) 0:04:00 Clip from Invasion of The Body Snatchers (1956) 0:04:22 Bert Convy – The Monster Hop (1958) 0:06:47 Clip from Diabolique (1955) 0:06:48 Tony & The Monstrosities – Igor’s Party (1959) 0:09:02 Clip from The Fly (1958) 0:09:13 The Hollywood Flames – Frankenstein’s Den (1958) 0:11:18 Clip from Them! (1954) 0:11:35 The Swinging Phillies – Frankenstein’s Party (1957) 0:14:10 Nelson Olmstead – Excerpt from The Mummy’s Foot by Theophile Gautier (1956) 0:14:35 Bob McFadden & Dor – The Mummy (1959) 0:16:32 Clip from Horror Of Dracula Trailer (1958) 0:16:58 The Duponts – Screamin Ball (At Dracula Hall) (1958) 0:19:12 Clip from Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) 0:19:17 Calypso Carnival featuring King Flash – Zombie Jamboree (Back To Back) (1956) 0:21:46 Clip from House on Haunted Hill (1959) 0:22:05 Jack Rivers – Haunted House Boogie (1951) 0:24:47 Clip from The Thing (1951) 0:25:02 The Five Blobs – The Blob (1958) 0:27:29 Clip from Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) 0:27:43 Sheb Wooley – The Purple People Eater (1958) 0:29:53 Nelson Olmstead – Excerpt from The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson (1956) 0:30:05 The Poets – Dead (1958) 0:31:57 Clip from Night of The Demon (1957) 0:32:12 Eartha Kitt – I Want To Be Evil (1953) 0:35:41 Clip from Sleeping Beauty (1959) 0:35:55 Howlin’ Wolf – Evil Is Goin’ On (1954) 0:38:43 Clip from The Quatermass Xmeriment (1955) 0:39:04 Paul J Smith – The Monster! (From 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea) (1954) 0:40:15 Clip from Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) 0:40:25 Akira Ifukube – Horror in the Water Tank (1954) 0:40:40 Clip from The Headless Ghost (1959) 0:41:02 Nightmares – The Headless Ghost (1959) 0:42:41 Clip from Bell, Book and Candle (1958) 0:42:59 Kip Tyler – She’s My Witch (1958) 0:45:13 Clip from Bell, Book and Candle (1958) 0:45:26 Frank Sinatra – Witchcraft (1957) 0:48:09 Clip from The Night of the Hunter (1955) 0:48:16 Gene Vincent – Race With The Devil (1956) 0:50:16 Clip from The Thing That Couldn’t Die Trailer (1958) 0:50:30 The Calvanes – Horror Pictures (1958) 0:52:30 Clip from Horror Of Dracula (1958) 0:53:27 Archie King – The Vampires (1959) 0:55:44 Clip from The Creature With The Atom Brain (1955) 0:56:00 The Zanies – The Mad Scientist (1958) 0:57:50 Einer Nielsen – Phantom Stimmen (1950) 0:58:07 Bobby Christian With The Allen Sisters – The Spider & The Fly (1958) 1:00:09 Clip from House of Wax (1953) 1:00:23 The Revels – Dead Mans’ Stroll (1959) 1:02:48 Dick Jacobs and his Orchestra – Main Title from The Horror of Dracula (1958)

This time James Errington is joined by John Ashlin to explore the music of 1916. While Europe lies devastated in the midst of the darkest year of the first world war, America is hotting up, with the birth of jazz and blues music imminent, while the old world of Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley is struggling to adapt. Support Centuries of Sound and access a treasure trove of bonuses at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested. Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   1948 Part Two – Move In part one we saw how tape technology was transforming the sound of the world in 1948. In part two we’ll take a cue from another new development – the long playing record. When I first heard that the LP had been less than twenty years old when Sgt Pepper was released – or just eleven years old when Kind of Blue was released, it seemed hard to believe. I was so accustomed to thinking of music as naturally fitting in this format – two sides of around 20-25 minutes each. But until now, nobody was experiencing music like that. There were “albums” it’s true – there had been since the Edwardian age – but these were “albums” in the “photo album” sense. Booklets of perhaps eight double-sided shellac discs, with sides numbered under the assumption that they would be played as a stack on top of a record player (side one matched with side eight maybe.) These cumbersome things were meant for classical music, and not anything as disposable as jazz. But jazz was one step ahead already. By now of course we have this wave of Be Bop artists, often playing improvised music for hours on end, also very much unsuited to a short side of shellac. Columbia’s new long playing discs (and RCA Victor’s new 7” singles) do not make up a substantial proportion of this mix, but where last time everything was a tape cut up, this time we’re more in the realm of the sometimes meandering, sometimes slow groove building world made possible by this new medium. This is less of a mix to pay attention to, and more a mix to sit back and enjoy. Which is the way forward? We’ll just have to see. The decade is almost over, we’ve come a long way, but there’s one last shock for us before we reach the heart of the century. Support the show at http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound Chat about the show at https://discord.gg/3WXKn2xp Full index of episodes at https://centuriesofsound.com Tracklist Intro (Clip from Naked City) 0:00:00 John Cage & Jay Gottlieb – Dream (Clip from BBC Archive) (Clip from Inner Sanctum) (Clip from Truth or Consequences) (Clip from Atomic Energy Is Your Business) 0:00:54 Brother Bones And His Shadows – Sweet Georgia Brown (Clip from Top Tunes of 1948) 0:03:51 Cold Storage Rhythm – Skokiaan (Clip from Top Tunes of 1948) 0:06:24 Blue Ridge Quartet – Hard Times Will Soon Be Over Part One – Rock (Clip from interview with Frank Sinatra) 0:09:02 Wynonie Harris – Good Rockin’ Tonight (Clip from interview with Frank Sinatra) 0:11:45 Bill Moore – We’re Gonna Rock (Clip from Top Tunes of 1948) 0:14:23 Jimmy Liggins – Cadillac Boogie (Clip from This is Bing Crosby) 0:16:28 Wild Bill Moore – Rock and Roll (Clip from Top Tunes of 1948) 0:19:17 Amos Milburn – Chicken-Shack Boogie (Clip from interview with Vera Hall) Part Two – Move 0:21:23 Crown Price Waterford – Move Your Hand, Baby (Clip from Spike Jones Show) 0:23:06 Milt Jackson & Thelonious Monk – Misterioso (Clip from Exploding Cigarettes Prank) (Clip of Symphony Syd introducing Miles Davis Band) 0:27:26 Miles Davis – Move 0:30:36 Charlie Parker – Relaxin’ at the Camarillo 0:32:54 Hazel Scott – Love Will Find A Way (Clip from Top Tunes of 1948) Part Three – Mist 0:35:07 Pee Wee King – Bull Fiddle Boogie (Clip from interview with Frank Sinatra) 0:37:43 Rip Ramsey – Wanderers Swing (Clip from interview with Ver

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested. Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   1948 Part One – Something Big Out Of Something Little It started with Bing Crosby wanting to improve his golf. Bing was a big golfer (in fact he would die on a golf course three decades later) but it was difficult to find the time for it when he was spending four days a week recording radio shows – and because of the time differences he’d often have to perform the whole show twice. Pre-recording had been suggested, but the quality of a half-hour disc side was not up to scratch. (LPs would also be introduced in 1948, but we’re not in 1948 yet) and the radio stations just would not accept it. So for 18 months, there was an impasse. But luckily there was a way out. At the end of the second world war, Jack Mullin, a member of the US Signal Corps, had been tasked with finding out about German electronics. One day at the headquarters of Radio Frankfurt, he made a discovery. Magnetic recording had been around for nearly half a century at this point, but it always gave a distorted, inadequate sound. Not here. The AEG ‘Magnetophon’ was capable of recording and reproducing sounds to a fidelity completely unheard of before. You could even speed up or slow down tapes without any significant loss. Mullin took two of these machines back to the USA and spent the next couple of years trying to convince anyone that they were of use, until finally Murdo MacKenzie, an assistant to Crosby, was impressed enough to try them out. Within a few months, he was able to record shows in bulk, edit them at his leisure, and spend more of his time playing golf. A studio musician often used by Crosby was one Les Paul, these days of course better known for his development of the electric guitar, but in the mid 40s more of a jobbing session guitarist. Paul had played a major role in Crosby’s 1945 number one “It’s Been a Long, Long Time,” for example. Crosby showed the new tape-recording devices to Paul and encouraged him to build a studio, where he experimented with the first multitrack tape recordings. Until this point, of course, every record you hear is in essence a live recording. A minor quirk here perhaps is that the two apparently multitracked selections (“Lover” and “What Is This Thing Called Love?”) actually date from before he successfully constructed his multitrack studio, instead they were constructed by recording and altering the speed of acetate discs – on “Lover” for example, that’s eight different Les Pauls playing along at different speeds. Les Paul wasn’t the only person experimenting with tape recording, of course. In France we also have Pierre Schaeffer, the father of Musique Concrète. Cutting up, rearranging and juxtaposing sounds was not a new idea (is there ever really a new idea?) as you will perhaps remember from the Dziga Vertov sound collages used in the 1925 mix. But Schaeffer’s experiments do mark the start of a movement, and one which will be important to these mixes from now on, starting from this one. Listening to this mix, you will likely find it noticeably different from those before, and there’s a reason. In this half, inspired by Les Paul, Pierre Schaeffer and even Bing Crosby, as well as the new popular, advertising-supported media, we have a quick-moving cut-up style. This includes all of the year’s news. Next time we’ll be taking a break from all of that in any case.   Tracklist 0:00:00 Pierre Schaeffer – Etude Violette (Clip from The

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.     Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   1947 Part Two – Boptamism A baby boom – a notable increase in babies born – may indicate many socio-economic factors at play, but most of these factors are refractions of hope. Hope that there will be a good world for your children to become adults in, hope that you will be able to provide everything they need, hope that the path of your new family will not be littered with traps and nasty surprises. As I write this in 2024, birth rates in western countries have been in decline for decades, but in 1947 we were just on the spike of the “baby boom” which was so notable it gave its name to a generation. Is this then a time of hope? Will this mix sound optimistic and hopeful? There was an idea at one point that these mixes would provide some sort of historical narrative into the years in question. Was it an idea that I had, or was it thrust on me by the war? It’s truthfully hard to say, I was already arranging things (not music) month by month back in 1939, maybe it’s a habit I’ve slipped into. In any case the arrangement has now become fairly meaningless (with a couple of exceptions I’ll come to in a moment), just a way to break up years into more manageable chunks or chapters, for example October is fairly bop-heavy and December is winding down for the Christmas section. That’s the second exception in this mix, the first is the independence of India and Pakistan, a large public event with newsreels and speeches to sample, but whose ramifications wouldn’t be as easy to capture. In China the civil war turned a corner, with the Nationalists increasingly looking doomed. Communists also officially took power in Poland. The spread of communism triggered The Truman Doctrine, as good a date as any for the start of The Cold War. Is any of this evident from this mix? Well no, not at all. This of course does not mean that these things are unimportant, it just means that they haven’t yet impacted the cultural record, or at least my cultural record. The people – the musicians – here were interested in exploring their art, they were interested in entertaining, they were interested in making people dance, they were interested in making something new. All art is in some sense political, and their stretching out in this freedom to create and share tells you something about their mood. The prospect of nuclear war, even of the Korean War, were not yet in the air. So to answer my own question, yes, we are still in the brief window of hope, but we can grasp this from the absence. There are other things to write about than existential dread. If you want to chat as listen, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/5a7f6wqjcJ Tracklist 0:00:00 George Melachrino Strings – Serenade (Drigo) (Clip from Inner Sanctum – Death Bound) (Clip from ITMA – Royal Command Performance) 0:01:20 Dizzy Gillespie – Cubana Bop July 0:04:24 Danny Kaye – Manic Depressive Presents 0:05:15 Forrest Sykes – Tonky Boogie (Clip from ITMA – Royal Command Performance) 0:08:33 Jo Stafford & Red Ingle – Temptation (Clip from Danny Kaye – Manic Depressive Presents) 0:11:40 Spike Jones – I’m Getting Sentimental Over You (Clip from High-Diving Hare) 0:14:19 Jack Mcvea’s All Stars – Open The Door Richard (Clip from Home Record of a Birthday Party) 0:17:14 Hank Williams – I’m A Long Gone Daddy (Cli

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.     Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   1947 Part One – Cubana Bop From time to time in music there are sparks which briefly spring to life, then almost immediately fizzle out again, but not without leaving long-lasting reverberations. One of these moments began in the summer of 1947, when 32-year-old dancer, bodyguard, shoeshiner and noted percussionist Chano Pozo arrived in New York on a passenger ship from the rich man’s playground of Havana. Raised in one of the most dangerous slums in Cuba, Pozo had found himself in reform school at the age of 13, only having had three years of education. His crime may have been the accidental killing of an American tourist. While there he learned not only literacy and the Afro-Caribbean religion Santería, but also to play a range of percussion instruments. On release he became a “rumbero” – the beating heart of a musical/dance troop at carnival, and after only a few years he had had become perhaps the most famous one in Cuba. He may have achieved fame, but there was no fortune to be found in working-class Cuba, and in 1947 he decided to move to the USA, where a nascent Cuban music industry was already in place. Band leader Mario Bauza, who already had a good deal of success, arranged a series of recording sessions for Pozo, and at a party at Harlem in September introduced him to Dizzy Gillespie, who was already interested in Cuban music, and who immediately invited him to join his band. Before the end of the month they would be on stage together at Carnegie Hall. The music that Gillespie and Pozo made together in the next 15 months is so arresting that it’s astonishing that it isn’t better-known. Perhaps the musicianship on display prevented anyone else from easily borrowing. In any case the 75 years since have done nothing to blunt its power. Taking all the unpredictable, stimulatingly jarring musical shapes from be bop and fusing them to this driving, complex Cuban rhythm is nothing short of magical. The collaboration was cut short prematurely when Pozo was murdered by another Cuban expat outside a Harlem bar, but by that point Pozo and Gillespie had collaborated on Cubana Be, Cubana Bop, Tin Tin Deo and Manteca, all to be featured prominently in these two mixes. There’s been a bit too much history in Centuries of Sound of late, too many events taking place. This is supposed to be a celebration and exploration of sound. Sure, 1947 traditionally marks the start of the Cold War – and there is one large international event which we’ll get to in part two – but I’m pleased to say there’s little sign of it here. When I listen back to the records (and the sounds) here the joy in experimentation is the biggest takeaway. I hope it is for you too. If you want to chat as listen, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/5a7f6wqjcJ   Tracklist 0:00:00 Unknown Birds – Birdsong (from Louis Kaufman – Vivaldi Four Seasons intro) (Clip from You Bet Your Life – Secret Word ‘Air’) 0:00:36 Dizzy Gillespie – Cubana Be (Clips from Are You Popular?) (Clip from Easy To Get) 0:02:59 Amos Milburn – Chicken Shack Boogie January 0:05:25 Charlie Parker Quintet – Bird Of Paradise (Clip from Alastair Cooke – Letter From America – New Year 1947) (Clip from Are You Popular?) 0:08:31 Maddox Brothers & Rose – Honky Tonkin’ (Clip from The Walgreen Show – Groucho Marx/Bob Hop

Previously at Centuries of Sound: Christmas 1902-1924: Deep Magic From Before The Dawn Of Time A Holiday Between The Wars, Christmas Records 1926-1938 A Wartime Christmas 1939-1945 If you enjoy my mixes, please consider supporting the show on Patreon for $5 per month – as well as helping me keep going, you will get access to a load of bonus stuff. The period between the end of the Second World War and the Rock & Roll craze of 1954 may be strangely absent from popular memory on the whole, but when it comes to the Christmas season everything is suddenly reversed. The age of It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, of Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, The Andrews Sisters’ Winter Wonderland, the hit version of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, and of course Baby, It’s Cold Outside – these all seem to have been set in amber as the prototypical classic American Christmas experience. But meanwhile, of course, Rhythm & Blues, Western Swing, Mambo and Be-Bop are all at their peak, so don’t expect an entirely mainstream Christmas here. Tracklist 0:00:00 Red Skelton – Clip from Raleigh-Kool Radio Program – Christmas Stories (1946) 0:00:04 Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) (1946) 0:03:11 Jimmy Stewart – Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) 0:03:50 Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter Orchestra – White Christmas (1947) 0:06:43 Burns & Allen – Clip from Christmas Presents (1946) 0:07:31 Guy Lombardo & The Andrews Sisters – Winter Wonderland (1946) 0:10:09 Abbott & Costello – Clip from Christmas Show (1947) 0:11:24 Frankie Carle & His Orchestra with Majorie Hughes – Little Jack Frost Get Lost (1947) 0:14:02 Gene Lockhart – Clip from Miracle on 34th Street (1947) 0:14:32 Gene Autry – Here Comes Santa Claus (1947) 0:17:02 Life of Riley – Clip from Family Christmas Present (1947) 0:17:05 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) (1948) 0:20:12 Phil Harris & Alice Faye Show – Clip from Christmas Present (1948) 0:20:23 Andrews Sisters & Danny Kaye – Merry Christmas At Grandmother’s House (1948) 0:22:38 David Niven – Clip from The Bishop’s Wife (1947) 0:23:01 Kay Starr – December (1949) 0:26:21 Unknown – Radio Commercial for Eggnog (1949) 0:26:36 Louis Jordan & Ella Fitzgerald – Baby, It’s Cold Outside (1949) 0:29:15 Much Binding In The Marsh – Clip from Christmas Programme (1948) 0:29:28 Amos Milburn – Let’s Make Christmas Merry, Baby (1949) 0:32:18 Dragnet – Clip from 22 Calibre Rifle for Christmas (1950) 0:32:23 Lionel Hampton Orchestra – Boogie Woogie, Santa Claus (1950) 0:35:04 Matinee with Bob and Ray – Clip from Christmas Season Program (1949) 0:35:08 Henry Jerome and His Orchestra – Sleigh Ride (1950) 0:36:47 Stars Over Hollywood – Clip from A Christmas Carol (1951) 0:36:57 Sauter-Finegan Orchestra – Midnight Sleighride (1952) 0:39:13 Suspense – Clip from The Night Before Christmas (1951) 0:39:35 Weekend Hyttens Kor And Orkester – Bjaldeklang (Jingle Bells) (1951) 0:41:53 Jack Benny Program – Clip from Christmas Shopping (1951) 0:42:26 Jan Garber And His Orchestra – Frosty The Snowman (1951) 0:45:01 Let’s Pretend – Clip from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (1952) 0:45:23 Les Brown Orchestra – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (1952) 0:47:46 Billy May and His Orchestra – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo (1954) 0:50:20 Bing Crosby with The Rhythmaires – Sleigh Ride / Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1953) 0:55:30 John Payne – Clip from Miracle on 34th Street (1947) 0:55:54 Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby (1953) 0:59:13 Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet – Clip from The Lost Christmas Gift (1953) 0:59:16

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.     Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.   1946 Part Two – That’s All Right For You In the popular imagination the late 1940s is poorly represented. In the 1930s there’s the great depression (which is also somehow the golden age of Hollywood), then WWII takes place, then [SCENE MISSING], then there’s the 1950s, rock & roll, teenagers, fashion, Hollywood glamour, the beat poets, Rosa Parks, the golden age of TV, and you know I could keep on just listing themes here but I’ll stop. These signifiers make the decade easy to get a grip on, and have been constantly revisited on TV, in films and – of course – in music ever since. For anyone under the age of 66 or so, this mythologised version of the fifties is the only fifties you’ve ever known. The late 40s on the other hand have had no such treatment – I can think of only a handful of films set in the period, all fairly obscure. How can we begin to transition from one era to another then? The soldiers arrive back from the second world war, everyone settles down to keep quiet and do nothing for five years, then BOOM here we are in the modern age? Well, of course that’s not how it’s going to be. Those cultural threads spread out wide, and as our main concern here is music, the headline here is that the musical movements associated with that later era are not being anticipated in 1946, they aren’t starting to get underway, they are in fact already in full bloom. The headline could even be “1946 – The Year Rock & Roll Started!” – but for reasons I will surely go into later, there is no easy start date. Though the majority of this mix is rock & roll in all but name, plenty does not fit that pattern. Some is in fact quite traditional pop music, but with artistry and production seemingly years ahead of its time. Jazz selections have been picked with a general feel of bubbling excitement. These songs are not so concerned with dreaming or looking into the future as in part one, but they push into the future by being (for the first time in a long time) fully able to immerse into the now. Most of this mix is dance music, though there are also plenty of calmer breaks. One final thought before I say “just listen” – the reason many of these performers disappeared in the rock & roll era (as we know it) is that many were simply not around anymore. Big Maceo Merriweather had a severe stroke in 1946, and died in 1953. Sonny Boy Williamson I would be killed in a robbery in 1948. Albert Ammons would survive to play Truman’s inauguration in 1949, but then died later that year. Cecil Gant made it no further than 1951. A disappointing truth is that these are still very tough years, and this small sampling of joy tells just one story from many. I could say the same for any mix, of course, but it seems more important to point it out here. Ok, so if I haven’t ruined it, just listen. And if you want to chat as you do so, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/jw5vZcN8   Tracklist 0:00:00 Charles Mingus and his Orchestra – Shuffle Bass Boogie (Clip from Notorious) (Clip from Wacky Weed – Andy Panda) July (Clip from Television Is Here Again) 0:03:10 Sonny Boy Williamson I – Shake The Boogie 0:05:53 Big Maceo – Chicago Breakdown (Clip from The Story of Menstruation) 0:08:48 June Christy – Willow Weep For Me 0:11:43 Dizzy Gillespie Big Band – ‘Round Midnight 0:15:25 Bob Wills & His

This Halloween special was first broadcast in 2022 and features music from 1927 to 1938 and also features my son Milan. To get full downloads and a host of extras, and help the show survive, come to http://patreon.com/centuriesofsound When we think of the great depression of the 1930s, the images which may spring to mind – The Grapes of Wrath, the dustbowl songs of Woody Guthrie – are generally from the 1940s. Popular entertainment of the thirties leaned not on realism, but on escapism. This is the golden age, not only of Hollywood musicals, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rodgers, Busby Berkley routines and screwball comedy, but also of horror movies. Aside from the film clips, we naturally have plenty of novelty recordings, original sound effect records, hot jazz, and to close a suite of particularly morbid blues records.

This Centuries of Sound mix comes courtesy of my supporters at patreon.com/centuriesofsound – join them for as little as $5 per month and get a full archive and a host of bonus material.     The 1940s was a scary time, but not really in a way that we can comfortably celebrate at Halloween. Nevertheless there were still a few horror movies being made, and it’s from these that I’ve largely drawn for this mix (the best are of course the works of Val Lewton, a shame there aren’t more.) The most traditionally Halloween-themed musical numbers here are from Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, and along with the lack of Universal Horror monsters except in semi-parody retreads, this seems to indicate that 40s audiences were in no mood to be frightened. If it isn’t already obvious, I’ll leave it to Al Bowlly to explain why. Tracklist: (Clip from The Hitchhiker) 0:00:06 Bing Crosby & The Rhythmaires - Headless Horsemen (1947) (Clip from Inner Sanctum - Death Is A Joker) 0:03:17 Carl Stalling - Ghost Wanted (1940) (Clips from House of Dracula) (Clip from Lights Out - Kill) 0:07:17 Louis Armstrong - You've Got Me Voodoo'd (1940) (Clip from Lights Out - Kill) 0:10:09 Charles Mingus Sextette (Vocal by Claude Trinier) - Weird Nightmare (1946) (Clip from Cat People) 0:13:34 Delta Rhythm Boys - Dry Bones (1941) (Clip from Suspense Theatre - Donovan's Brain) 0:16:39 Una Mae Carlisle - Oh I'm Evil (1941) (Clip from Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man) 0:19:13 Louis Jordan - Somebody Don Hoodooed The Hoodoo Man (1940) (Clip from I Walked With A Zombie) 0:22:05 Spike Jones & His City Slickers - My Old Flame (1947) (Clip from Inner Sanctum - Death Is A Joker) 0:26:06 Josh White - Evil Hearted Man (1944) (Clip from Ivan The Terrible) 0:29:10 Kai Winding Sextet - A Night on Bop Mountain (1949) (Clip from Suspicion) 0:33:08 Washboard Sam - Evil Blues (1941) (Clip from Bedlam) 0:36:26 Bob Wills - The Devil Ain't Lazy (1947) (Clip from Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man) 0:39:16 Wayne Raney - Jole Blon's Ghost (1948) (Clip from Notorious) 0:41:50 Lionel Hampton Sextet & Dinah Washington - Evil Gal Blues (1943) (Clip from Lights Out - Kill) 0:44:55 Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys - The Ghost and Honest Joe (1949) (Clip from The Hitchhiker) 0:48:06 Stan Jones And The Death Valley Rangers- Ghost Riders In The Sky (1948) (Clip from Inner Sanctum - No Coffin For The Dead) 0:51:09 Jay Mcshann - Voodoo Woman Blues (1946) (Clip from Inner Sanctum - No Coffin For The Dead) 0:54:15 Charlie Shavers - Zooming At The Zombie (1940) (Clip from Cat People) 0:57:00 Lena Horne - Haunted Town (1941) (Clip from Lights Out - Kill) 1:00:21 Texas Slim - Devil's Jump (1949) (Clip from And Then There Were None) 1:03:19 Fred Astaire - Me And The Ghost Upstairs (1940) (Clip from Lights Out - Kill) 1:05:48 Al Bowlly & Jimmy Mesene - When That Man Is Dead And Gone (1941) (Clip from The Hitchhiker) 1:08:50 Kay Starr - The Headless Horseman (1948) (Clip from Isle Of The Dead) (Clip from Inner Sanctum - The Man Who Couldn't Die)  

It seems like an obvious thing to say that the Second World War was A Bad Time, at least it seems obvious to me. Half a decade of some of the most terrible, miserable events of all time – or more than half a decade, the last war-free mix was 1938 and even that included the ominous events of Munich – and even when things were going the right way for the last couple of years, there was the committing and uncovering of war crimes to deal with. It says something unfortunate about our society that this is the one period we focus on the most – put on a history documentary and there’s a 50/50 chance that it will concerned in some way with WWII. Foolishly, when I started on these mixes I thought it would attract a new audience, but people interested in tanks, military tactics and Hitler’s private life are by no means guaranteed to be also interested in social history and culture of the early 40s – in fact, beyond a couple of totemic songs, the sounds of the era seem to have disappeared from culture more than any time since the dawn of the jazz age. It didn’t help of course that the recording industry was blighted by long-running industrial disputes, lack of resources for recording and touring, with many musicians sent off to fight. History has not finished by any means in 1946 – this is, of course, the start of The Cold War, the year of the “Iron Curtain” speech – but it has at least faded enough into the background for cultural life to resume. There is a sense here of people getting back on track after a derailment, though if you were dropping in here, you might not even have that sense, so little reference is made to recent events. We aren’t picking up where we left things in the 30s, of course. The big bands have largely split, and those reforming are already largely nostalgia acts. Their singers have fame and record contracts of their own now, and no need to go on tour with a radio in every home. Tastes have also changed in innumerable ways; blues has become rhythm & blues, swing has become be bop, country has become western swing (all of these much more complicated than that of course – these genres are barely formed, these musicians in dialogue – often literally – with one-another.) You may find this mix surprisingly relaxed, mellow, yet forward-looking, even futuristic, and more of a world tour than usual. This is deliberate – rather than arbitrarily dividing the year up, the lack of news allowed me to experiment with form a little. As it took shape, I realised that it was settling into a groove that I didn’t really want to disturb – it fitted the feeling of liberation, of finally being able to look to the future, and not dwell on Earthly realities, for the moment. Part two, of course, has its own distinct feel -but we’ll leave that for next time. Tracklist Introduction 0:00:00 Miguelito Valdes With Noro Morales’ Orchestra – Rumba Rhapsody (Clip from BBC war reporters visit to the Netherlands) (Clip from The Big Sleep) 0:02:56 BBC – Television Is Here Again 0:03:33 Dizzy Gillespie Big Band – Things to Come January (Clip from BBC – Television Is Here Again) 0:06:51 Henry Red Allen – Count Me Out (Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life) 0:09:34 Amos Milburn – My Baby’s Booging 0:11:47 Charlie Parker Septet – A Night In Tunisia (Two Versions) 0:15:08 Lennie Tristano Trio – Interlude [aka A Night In Tunisia] (Clip from World News In Review) 0:18:19 Woody Herman Orchestra (cond. by Igor Stravinsky) – Ebony Concerto Part 1 (Clip from War Victims Find Haven In America) 0:21:16 Harry James – You’ll Never Know 0:24:20 Don Byas – Gloria (Philip Larkin – Going) 0:27:18 Coleman Hawkins And Orchestra – You Go To My Head (Alan Lomax – Calypso After Midnight Introduction) 0:31:13 Ella Fitzgerald feat. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five – Stone Cold Dead In The Market 0:33:50 Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Bob Wills Boog

In this first of a series of special editions of the Centuries of Sound Radiopod, I’m joined by Simon O’Dwyer of Ancient Music Ireland to talk about music from a time before we had recordings, or even music notation, and hear some reconstructed prehistoric music from his own collection and others. Simon and Maria’s website is at https://www.ancientmusicireland.com Their new sound library, Paleosonic, is available at https://www.ancientmusicireland.com/sound-library    

  James Errington takes you on another journey into the pre-history of recorded sound — this time joined by Cambridge 105 Radio’s own Alex Elbro to explore the music of 1915, from hot dance ragtime to South-American proto-tango, English music hall comedy and some surprising responses to the first world war. Centuries of Sound is an independent podcast without any advertising, and it’s only with the support of my patrons that the show can survive. To get access to the full archive of full mixes, radio podcasts, and a host of other benefits for $5 (or local equivalent) per month (and yearly payment is also now available) please come to https://patreon.com/centuriesofsound

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first hour of the mix. For the four-hour version please come to centuriesofsound.com to stream, or patreon.com/centuriesofsound for downloads and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested. Well, we made it! Seven years of Second World War mixes. It has been intense, dramatic, often disturbing, occasionally fun. I don’t think anyone reasonably expected these mixes to have the feel of the nostalgic action films which form so much of the popular memory of the era, but speaking for myself, how miserable this era was to live through wasn’t something I truly appreciated until I’d fully immersed myself in it. Part of this immersion was the downloading of hundreds of hours of original radio broadcasts, and while music has still formed the bulk of these mixes, the bulk of the work – and therefore the heart of these things – has increasingly been in constructing montages of these broadcasts of news events. I wouldn’t say this has exactly derailed things, there was really no alternative, but it limited choices, it imposed a narrative and a structure on each mix. Being free from that – as I was for the second half of this mix – is an absolute joy, and already I can feel my enthusiasm for the project returning. Musical stars of this mix largely avoided the war. Dizzy Gillespie said to his selective service interviewer “in this stage of my life here in the United States whose foot has been in my ass? So if you put me out there with a gun in my hand and tell me to shoot at the enemy, I’m liable to create a case of ‘mistaken identity’ of who I might shoot.” He was classified as 4-F, “not acceptable for military service” – as were Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. Louis Jordan had a hernia, Nat “King” Cole had either flat feet or hypertension, and Frank Sinatra was “not acceptable material from a psychiatric viewpoint.” Conscription being only for men, Mary Lou Williams, Judy Garland, Betty Hutton and Kay Starr were naturally not asked to serve. The only exception to this general rule was Cecil Gant, labelled “The G.I. Sing-sation” on his earliest releases – somewhat ironically as his health was already in a poor state, and he would die in 1951. Though most did not serve in Europe or The Pacific, there’s no doubt that the end of the war came as a relief to these artists as much as it did the rest of the population, especially as it meant that they would no longer be held back from touring or recording due to lack of fuel or plastics. This new era doesn’t arrive with a wave of celebration, exactly, nor quite a sense of relief. Instead there’s a sense of a new freedom to spread out and express. The musicians recording be bop were doing so not to entertain a dancing crowd, but to explore and enjoy sounds themselves. Jump blues artists were in a sense going completely the other way, but their audiences being smaller and more raucous than those of the big bands, their music was therefore equally expressive and free. Perhaps most representative of all, 1945 saw Mary Lou Williams’s “Zodiac Suite” – a cycle of piano recordings combining jazz (and even be bop) with modern classical music, a record which not only transcends genre, but anticipates the different ways music would be appreciated once long playing records and home stereo systems became standard a decade later. So this is, in a sense, a fun mix, albeit one that contains, in its first half, events such as the dropping of the atom bomb over Hiroshima. Towards the end, though, you may be hear something awakening. The late 40s aren’t years that liv