'Street Song Successes' by the Kerbstone Serenaders, added to My 78s on YouTube

[kevin toner]

 

Please feel free to help identify any of the songs included in the medley

 

Thanks

Kevin

[kevin toner]

I wonder what kind of concertina it is at points (especially for the last song of side A where it leads).

Edited April 20, 2021 by kevin toner

[David Barnert]

What can that instrument be at 0:40? Theremin? Musical saw? Or just somebody whistling?

[John Wild]

My impression was a musical saw.

[Steve Schulteis]

Definitely musical saw at 0:40. Sounds like it switches to someone whistling around 1:06, and then back to the saw at 1:33.

[kevin toner]

That was my first impressions too.  

 

I don't know much about it myself, yet, as I've not listened to it much at a decent volume to help me figure out the instruments.  

 

I hope to be back in touch again with this or similar incidental concertina lurking in old recordings.  There's quite a lot of concertina on record sleeve graphics all the same, even for early LPs despite the great shortage of it in actual popular recodings of the past - another topic!  I think it would be good to have the concertina identified much more from old recordings where it's heard filling in but not being credited.  There's some quite nice sounds in old light music or novelty bands that is sometimes I think because it has a rich background of instrumentation, perhaps even with concertina or the likes subtly enriching it (if not from other well mixed in reed instruments) serving the background.  I look forward as a novice to hearing more gradually or eventually.

 

Maybe have a listen to

 

as an example from a 1932 light music orch.- I wonder if there's concertina in this at times!  Oh and another YouTuber so kindly provided all the titles in the selection that I couldn't identify or got wrong. 

[alex_holden]

8 hours ago, kevin toner said:

as an example from a 1932 light music orch.- I wonder if there's concertina in this at times!  Oh and another YouTuber so kindly provided all the titles in the selection that I couldn't identify or got wrong. 

 

Out of curiosity, were these tunes recorded individually and then somehow spliced together onto one master disc, or did the orchestra have to play the whole medley in one take?

[kevin toner]

Good question, and I'm not educated enough to give an informed answer, but I think 1 take is highly likely and that's  in general to the length of a 78 rpm shellac disc on 1 side (up to 3+ mins for 10" records) especially for a such a skilled salon outfit who could I guess run for much longer (12" & transcription 33 1/3s etc. or even live, for long classical compositions).  It wasn't until LPs I think that gave bands a chance to roll out a full 20+ mins side, for example the uninterrupted LP sides during when the ballroom dancing movement took off in parallel with the evolution of LPs etc.

The particular band in your repliy, worked in a great many other guises and band names, aka the Orpheus Dance Orch/Band(?), worked also as a quartet to many listeners' surprise or disbelief due to the sheer wealth of instruments being heard on a side.  I think this managing instruments and combined arrangements and so forth was maybe as much 2nd nature as it was an art in what was undoubtedly a professional skill set as evidenced in the above genre......

 

[ps I've had another listen to it - There seems to be an almost reeds quality that comes from the strings too in an intimate chamber orch context.  So that coupled with actual reed related instruments other than concertina could make one imagine they're hearing like qualities.  I think the English concertina was of course about the opposite to this theory........: the concertina to replicate the tones of the violin!

Edited April 21, 2021 by kevin toner

[kevin toner]

I think I've identified the 8 songs now.

 

I rocketed forward with gaining knowledge from a recent find, '50 Years of Song' arranged by Aubrey Kennett (for 6 of the possibly 8 songs).  The remaining 2 songs being from Will Godwin, Leo Dryden; and Leslie Sarony.   Tho still a little mystified because of renditions of titles sounding like each other.

Edited May 15, 2021 by kevin toner