McIpedia
Groove-y
THE 45 RPM SINGLE
Aaaahhhh, the 7" single. To me, THE definitive art form of the second half of the 20th century. The sleeve, whether with company logo, or just plain brown, or with pictures. The slight resistance as the record is slid out of its cover, to reveal the label, usually with details of the recording, but sometimes just with a graphic design. Then, held up under a light, the vinyl, sometimes coloured but generally black, showing its beautifully symmetrical pencil-thin grooves and the gloss of the run-in and run-out areas. The record is placed gently upon the slip mat covering the wheel of steel, the sense of anticipation is heightened as the needle is applied to give a slight hiss, before your senses are given a jolt as the music starts. I generally - not always - stick to the adage that if the record can't get its message across in 3" or less, my time is being wasted. Since its introduction by RCA in the USA in 1949, millions of memories have been created by the release of the 7" single (never 18cm, no matter how young or used to metric measurements you are!). Vinyl making a comeback? For those in the know, it never went away.
THE 45 RPM E.P.
The picture-robed, slightly posher cousin of the single. Whilst there were many issues of interest, the extended play format seemed to many record companies to be a money-making exercise; in the late 1950's and throughout the 1960's many e.p.'s were simply divisions of already released 12" albums. However, on the plus side, if you'd heard an album and only liked 1 or 2 tracks on it and they weren't put out as singles, there was always a very good chance that you could save yourself some money by acquiring the track(s) on the e.p. issue.
THE 12" SINGLE
Apart from the dub plates issued to DJ's in Jamaica in the 1960's, the 12" single came to the market in 1973 with the release of 'Straight from my heart' by Swamp Dogg. The premise of this format was, in short, that the wider grooves gave a better sound reproduction, allowing for better definition in the natural home of the format, Disco and Dance clubs. Other benefits included the option to present remixed version(s) of the original 'A-side' track and other additional tracks for which there would be no space on a conventional 7" release.
THE L.P.
Introduced in the USA in 1948 by Columbia records, this format allowed the seamless presentation of long play albums; previously recording times had been limited to approximately 5" a side on 78 rpm records made of shellac. Both classical and popular genres were well-suited to the new format which meant long-duration classical pieces could be played uninterrupted and with a much improved sound quality. The burgeoning popular music sector also benefited, as singers or groups could, in effect, present a medley of songs, often by different composers, thus showing the greater breadth of approach which the better artists were able to deliver. It also gave rise to the phenomenon of the compilation album, which record companies issued as promotional vehicles for their stable of performers.
THE 78 RPM RECORD
Strange to relate, the establishment of the speed of these early recordings was almost arbitrary. Numerous experiments with recordings at different speeds were being undertaken in the early part of the 20th century and 78 just happened to 'stick'. Many recordings had been issued before the 1920's (the earliest being on cylinders), and the first 78's produced from 1889 were actually made of rubber; shellac became the preferred material from 1895. The earliest recordings were all purely acoustic, which were of questionable quality as very often whether an instrument could be heard depended on where the musician was standing. It was not until recordings using microphones became the norm that there was any sort of production quality control. The mass production of the 78 rpm records coincided with the meteoric rise in interest in jazz and dance bands.
The relatively primitive reproduction heard on 78's was due in part to the use of shellac as the material in which records were issued. Its naturally abrasive components were rarely, if ever, able to give a true reproduction without substantial levels of background noise. It should be said however, that Robert Parker's marvellous issues from the 1980's of early jazz sessions were able, through sophisticated engineering techniques, to reproduce the sound of the instruments as would have been heard in the sessions at the time.
(See also the article 'On the Origin of Species')
