Hi Mike,

I have the 78 of Carroll Gibbons 'Only You' (strangely enough I only bought it last week), and also mp3s of Carroll Gibbons 'When That Man Is Dead And Gone' and Ambrose 'They Met In Rio'. I'll email them over to you when I get the chance.

Carroll Gibbons 'Tis Autumn' - catalogue no is Col FB-2789, and it was apparently released on the 2007 Happy Listening CD HL375 - Carroll Gibbons 'Black Coffee', but I can't find any trace of the CD online (nor indeed the label).

Geraldo 'Do You Care' - this was released on a This England cd 'A Year To Remember: 1942', but again I can't find any trace of it.

Adelaide Hall 'Where Are You' - Rust & Forbes British Dance Band Discography has Decca F7994 as 'Where You Are' played by The RAF Dance Orchestra, so potentially a mix up! Also no sign of an Adelaide Hall recording of 'Where Are You' in Rust's Complete Entertainment Discography (although this only goes up to 1942). I do have an mp3 of the RAF Dance Orchestra recording if you want it.

Have you tried asking on any of the 78-related facebook groups, such as this one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/78rpmclub ? There was a post a couple of years back of someone wanting to get rid of a large collection of Layton & Johnstone and Turner Layton records, so might be worth a try.

All the best,
Peter

I use it sometimes as a "guide" but with so many errors in it I do not trust all the info at all....They have not checked the information....When the book came out I contacted the publisher with a list of 292 "Facts" that they had got wrong that were not just typos and they said that they would put this right in future editions.....The fact that there never was a future edition could mean that several buyers thought the same as me and failed to recommend the book to others....It is where they mention a record that nobody has ever owned, seen or heard !!.....I am trying to get all the ones that I do not have from the War Years 1940 -1945....I have a lot of them but there are those in my list that I either cannot find or never had....I use other lists and books as well so I think I've got it pretty well nailed on though am always open to be told otherwise.....The ones that you will kindly copy for me will help a lot

Gosh… 292 errors! I would be interested in your list. I wonder how many records have the wrong catalogue numbers, and what explains the mystery Adelaide Hall 78. Perhaps they meant the RAF version? You would think that the information would have been checked.

If a record is that hard to find, surely it cannot have been a top seller!

The book seemed to go out of print quite quickly. I’m not sure why it’s now so hard to find. I disregarded the book when it came out, but then regretted it, by which time it was no longer on sale. A fellow researcher tracked one down for me recently though. I suppose it’s an interesting guide to what was selling, but not “official” like the contemporary charts. It shouldn’t be taken as gospel. I don’t see why they couldn’t publish the book again though.

I just wonder about the records in your list which are not in the Waters book… why them?

Hi Mike. Another one for your list. Geraldo's 'Where in the world' is included on the Flapper CD 'Geraldo - Starlight Souvenirs'. There's a copy of it for sale on ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391960397000.

With regard to the sheet music charts, I remember coming across the same pop music history site, and wondering how they'd managed to assign artists to each song (as far as I'm aware the original sheet music charts just listed the song with no artist credit). I thought perhaps they'd just listed every version recorded for each song, but that doesn't seem to be the case. For example 'Arm in Arm' was recorded by Ambrose, Billy Cotton, Syd Lipton, Billy Thorburn, Jack White and Maurice Winnick (and that's only the dance band versions!), yet the site only lists the Ambrose and George Elrick recordings as having charted. I wonder how they chose those two - there must have been some reason!

Joe Loss - 'The London I Love' is also currently for sale on ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155532329177

I wondered that too. I thought maybe they’d used The Missing Charts book but I’m not sure that’s the case. I’m not sure the PMH site is entirely reliable, especially as the author pours scorn on the importance of the sheet music charts!

Joe Loss - 'Where The Waters Are Blue' also for sale on ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254336591487
as is Turner Layton - 'Be Careful It's My Heart':
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160846614012

Gosh… 292 errors! I would be interested in your list. I wonder how many records have the wrong catalogue numbers, and what explains the mystery Adelaide Hall 78. Perhaps they meant the RAF version? You would think that the information would have been checked.

If a record is that hard to find, surely it cannot have been a top seller!

The book seemed to go out of print quite quickly. I’m not sure why it’s now so hard to find. I disregarded the book when it came out, but then regretted it, by which time it was no longer on sale. A fellow researcher tracked one down for me recently though. I suppose it’s an interesting guide to what was selling, but not “official” like the contemporary charts. It shouldn’t be taken as gospel. I don’t see why they couldn’t publish the book again though.

I just wonder about the records in your list which are not in the Waters book… why them?