From Victor Herbert's "Angel Face", here's "I Might Be Your Once-In-a-While", a rather reserved rendition by the Salon Dance Sextette [string quartet with piano and sparse percussion]. According to the Online 78 Discography, - this is Aeolian Vocalion matrix 5191, issued on disc 14025, ca. November 1919.
I have a bad habit of finding the dullest Aeolian Vocalion records...instead of finding a nice loud band tune to showcase the improved sound of laterally-recorded Vocalions, I find this worn, quiet-sounding dinner tune by a group that doesn't even have a distinctive name! It's barely an improvement over the weakly-recorded Hawaiian guitar pieces on vertically-recorded Vocalions. Ah, well, live and learn...and it's a catchy enough recording, just not super exciting.
Like many of these ca. 1919-1921 Vocalions, it's actually a medley recording, including other pieces by the same composer/from the same work. I don't recognize the middle piece's title, but it's some other Victor Herbert tune. These Lateral Record Vocalions are generally louder and better-recorded than their vertical predecessors...assuming the shellac is in good shape [not here - this one is worn] and the performance is loud enough [this fails that test as well].
The evolution of Vocalion discs is approximately:
- 1916-1919 -
Label: Gold, black, brown
Shellac: black
Groove: vertical
Early issues say "Aeolian Hall, New York" at the bottom and are often single-sided - some special issues have splash-wax and multi-color labels in honor of US participation in World War i.
-1919-1920 -
Label: Gold, blue, light blue
Shellac: black
Groove: lateral
These state Lateral Record on the label
- 1920-1921 -
Label: Gold, black, brown [similar to first] "Aeolian-Vocalion"
Shellac: red-brown
Groove: lateral
The famous "Red Records" - some classical recordings are single-sided
- 1921-1925 -
Label: Black, gold, ivory-white "Vocalion"
Shellac: red-brown
Groove: lateral
Slightly re-branded famous Vocalions we know and love today
In 1924, Brunswick acquired the label, but other than the font changing in the info box on the label, red-brown shellac and labels crediting the Aeolian Co are made into 1925, after which the shellac reverts to black, and the company credit changes to Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co.
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