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Topic: Last regular issue 78 list

9th Sep 2024, 6:47 PM
	mister_tmg Also on 78rpm Member since Apr 2012 1117 Points	Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Taking a vinyl bow QUESTION What was the last recording released as a 78rpm in the UK? ANY flat record disc made between 1898 and the late 1950s and playing at a speed around 78 revolutions per minute is called a 78 by collectors. Most 78s are made of brittle shellac resin material - hence their other name: shellac records. The 78rpm's demise came when the light and durable 45pm discs arrived in the 1950s. The last 78rpm recording issued by EMI group (HMV/Parlophone/Columbia labels) - Russ Conway's Rule Britannia and Royal Event - appeared in British shops on February 19, 1960, with the green ten-inch Columbia label (catalogue DB 4418). It was an appropriate end to the 78 era, a recording by a popular pianist. The very first British recording back in 1898 had also been of a piano solo. But this was not the last commercial 78 to be issued in the UK. Woolworths continued to issue its own brand of Embassy records and it was possible to buy titles on this label until at least 1961 in Britain. The last one I've found, in 45 years of collecting, is by evergreen singer Rikki Henderson singing Strawberry Blonde and Portrait Of My Love on Embassy WB 431. Some 78s continued to be made and were sold in Britain until at least 1968, but these were children's records. Although not commercially available, TV and film companies had 'mood-music' recordings made for them on 78pm records. These were produced until at least 1968 and used on radio and TV until the 1990s. Since then, special 78rpm recordings have been made. One of the first was by Tiny Tim accompanied by Harry Roy and his band in 1969, singing There'll Always Be An England. This revival idea has been repeated several times since but I don't consider such material to be a proper scratchy old 78. Production of 78pm records continued in various countries abroad, such as India, and it is to buy commercial 78s featuring the likes of The Beatles. David Moore, Dinosaur Discs, www.78pm.co.uk, Norwich. [Picture of Russ Conway] [CAPTION] End of era: The last 78pm record issued by EMI was by Russ Conway