This will probably turn into a list topic in due course.
Lets have a look at some of the Amazon Reviews Though ( Mike MIGHT want to change his review on Goodreads Given the updating to releases we have done over the past year or so )
This impressive 300-page publication is subtitled “The Week by Week Top 30 Best Selling 78s: The Missing Charts”. It’s based on statistics compiled by the late Colin Brown from weekly sales figures, although sadly he did not live to see the finished project. Each page of the charts proper carries 3 columns, one per week, showing artist, title, catalogue number, and position against the previous week. That’s interspersed with photos and outline histories of some of the personalities involved, some of which look to have been written in haste. Summaries show the biggest number one hits, a list of titles indexed to artists, songs with the most recorded versions, and an index of song titles. It’s a high-quality hardback production, with an attractive cover decked out with labels of some of the featured records. It should be an indispensable purchase for any devotee of this era of popular music
A brilliant book in every way but spoilt by a few anomolies which don't make sense. For example "Dearie" by the Five Smith Brothers shows the entries from June 1951 when this was in fact released and popular in June 1950 along with the other side "A Load of Hay"
I appreciate records do become popular again, but this would not explain how "Eternally" by Ray Burns managed to become a hit in August 1952 when it wasn't even recorded or released until June 1953 as the B side of "Mother Nature, Father Time" (his first recording with Columbia DB3306).
Of course these could be misprints but could likely effect the chart positions of other entries. I'm not also too sure that the correct side of the record is always listed,
"It's slightly different to the later charts as it uses publishers figures. In other words these charts are not really based on "record sales" but what the record shops ordered from the record companies." = This Advance Orders COULD explain the appearence of discs in advance of their release date - and indeed miss some early discs out of 1939 orders for 1940 , and possibly include 1940 discs that may never have got released
my note - a problem with the way the book underlying data came from publishers/wholesalers but didnt take or have what might have been tabulating cards (From sales and manufacturers - but that might have been that no one thought to see if such things existed, but we can see where the odd transcription error might have occurred
Further Notes and Queries = Let us have your present notes of discs that appear in the book that you have not traced to elsewhere , artist, title both sides , label and cat number and year stated. Thanks
This will probably turn into a list topic in due course.
Lets have a look at some of the Amazon Reviews Though ( Mike MIGHT want to change his review on Goodreads Given the updating to releases we have done over the past year or so )
This impressive 300-page publication is subtitled “The Week by Week Top 30 Best Selling 78s: The Missing Charts”. It’s based on statistics compiled by the late Colin Brown from weekly sales figures, although sadly he did not live to see the finished project. Each page of the charts proper carries 3 columns, one per week, showing artist, title, catalogue number, and position against the previous week. That’s interspersed with photos and outline histories of some of the personalities involved, some of which look to have been written in haste. Summaries show the biggest number one hits, a list of titles indexed to artists, songs with the most recorded versions, and an index of song titles. It’s a high-quality hardback production, with an attractive cover decked out with labels of some of the featured records. It should be an indispensable purchase for any devotee of this era of popular music
A brilliant book in every way but spoilt by a few anomolies which don't make sense. For example "Dearie" by the Five Smith Brothers shows the entries from June 1951 when this was in fact released and popular in June 1950 along with the other side "A Load of Hay"
I appreciate records do become popular again, but this would not explain how "Eternally" by Ray Burns managed to become a hit in August 1952 when it wasn't even recorded or released until June 1953 as the B side of "Mother Nature, Father Time" (his first recording with Columbia DB3306).
Of course these could be misprints but could likely effect the chart positions of other entries. I'm not also too sure that the correct side of the record is always listed,
"It's slightly different to the later charts as it uses publishers figures. In other words these charts are not really based on "record sales" but what the record shops ordered from the record companies." = This Advance Orders COULD explain the appearence of discs in advance of their release date - and indeed miss some early discs out of 1939 orders for 1940 , and possibly include 1940 discs that may never have got released
my note - a problem with the way the book underlying data came from publishers/wholesalers but didnt take or have what might have been tabulating cards (From sales and manufacturers - but that might have been that no one thought to see if such things existed, but we can see where the odd transcription error might have occurred
Obviously with a book that is pure information dealing with catalogue numbers etc there are bound to be errors, I was just surprised how many there were...Incorrect titles that led me on many a wild goose chase, wrong artists and a multiplicity of incorrect catalogue numbers made my mammoth task all the more difficult....Of the listings for 1940-49 I now have all but 21 of these recordings....1950-1952 though a small window there are 24 that have eluded me...Some titles appear as New Entries when they should be re-entries...I like the book concept but it has proved difficult to work with
I am not sure why the researcher didnt acquire something like an Amstrad PCW in the 1980s, many of my friends used them for their hobby information. (I tended to use Work PCs with Excel but a lot of work got in the way)
Although I was initially put off by the somewhat negative reviews of the book, and the reports of copious numbers of mistakes, having now obtained a copy and gone through it thoroughly, I think it's fair to say that the underlying data is sound.
Everything seems to make sense - the vast majority of records start charting in the month they were released, and there is a reason for most of those that don't, e.g. a revival in the song due to a new version by say Bing Crosby being released. As an example, there's a group of Brunswick records in Jan 40 that are charting long after their release date, which I initially was sceptical of, until I came across Newspaper adverts that Brunswick had placed around Christmas, listing these records and boasting about their sales figures in the US ("Hundreds of thousands can't be wrong"!). Obviously everyone subsequently went out and bought them (or at least publishers/wholesalers ordered them in).
The main criticism I have is the identification of the "A" side of a record. This seems to have been done fairly haphazardly, and I don't believe there is any way they could have known for certain which side was more popular. The concept of A and B sides didn't really exist at the time (the Decca group did label their records with A and B, but I believe this was simply based off the matrix numbers), and particularly during the war, when the number of record releases was limited, pretty much every record would have had a popular song on each side.
As for the mistakes in the book, there are certainly hundreds of typos, mis-attributed artists, wrong titles, catalogue numbers etc, which is very disappointing (and frustrating) but I don't think should be taken as an indicator of the quality of the underlying data. I suspect the number of errors was not helped by the fact that Colin Brown died before the book was completed, as I don't think the other authors involved were particularly au fait with the music of the period.
So far I have found only 20 records (out of the 2325 listed) that are more serious errors, i.e. they are credited as charting before (or long after) they were released. There may be a few more, the release dates of which I am still trying to confirm, but not many. Most of these are out by only a few months, and some in fact are credited as having a second charting period when they were actually released. There are 5, however, that are out by exactly a year, these being:
1944_155 HMV BD-1119 - Pat McCormac - Silent Night, Holy Night (charted Dec 45, released Dec 46)
1951_081 Parl. R-3290 - Five Smith Brothers - Dearie (charted Jun 51, released Jun 50)
1951_082 Parl. R-3292 - Humphrey Lyttelton - Ice Cream (charted Jun 51, released Jun 50)
1952_087 Col. DB-3308 - Doris Day - If I Were A Bell (charted Jul 52, released Jul 53)
1952_099 Col. DB-3306 - Ray Burns - Eternally (charted Jul 52, released Jul 53).
I don't think that this is a co-incidence - I suspect what has happened is that the sales for these have been attributed to the wrong year at some early point in the process. Funnily enough, the folks over at the "Real Chart" project also have these same errors for 1951 and 1952 (see here). This is despite their assertion that they are using a different dataset from the Missing Charts book (actual sales rather than orders), but given the similarity in errors I think this claim is questionable...
Although I was initially put off by the somewhat negative reviews of the book, and the reports of copious numbers of mistakes, having now obtained a copy and gone through it thoroughly, I think it's fair to say that the underlying data is sound.
Everything seems to make sense - the vast majority of records start charting in the month they were released, and there is a reason for most of those that don't, e.g. a revival in the song due to a new version by say Bing Crosby being released. As an example, there's a group of Brunswick records in Jan 40 that are charting long after their release date, which I initially was sceptical of, until I came across Newspaper adverts that Brunswick had placed around Christmas, listing these records and boasting about their sales figures in the US ("Hundreds of thousands can't be wrong"!). Obviously everyone subsequently went out and bought them (or at least publishers/wholesalers ordered them in).
The main criticism I have is the identification of the "A" side of a record. This seems to have been done fairly haphazardly, and I don't believe there is any way they could have known for certain which side was more popular. The concept of A and B sides didn't really exist at the time (the Decca group did label their records with A and B, but I believe this was simply based off the matrix numbers), and particularly during the war, when the number of record releases was limited, pretty much every record would have had a popular song on each side.
As for the mistakes in the book, there are certainly hundreds of typos, mis-attributed artists, wrong titles, catalogue numbers etc, which is very disappointing (and frustrating) but I don't think should be taken as an indicator of the quality of the underlying data. I suspect the number of errors was not helped by the fact that Colin Brown died before the book was completed, as I don't think the other authors involved were particularly au fait with the music of the period.
So far I have found only 20 records (out of the 2325 listed) that are more serious errors, i.e. they are credited as charting before (or long after) they were released. There may be a few more, the release dates of which I am still trying to confirm, but not many. Most of these are out by only a few months, and some in fact are credited as having a second charting period when they were actually released. There are 5, however, that are out by exactly a year, these being:
1944_155 HMV BD-1119 - Pat McCormac - Silent Night, Holy Night (charted Dec 45, released Dec 46)
1951_081 Parl. R-3290 - Five Smith Brothers - Dearie (charted Jun 51, released Jun 50)
1951_082 Parl. R-3292 - Humphrey Lyttelton - Ice Cream (charted Jun 51, released Jun 50)
1952_087 Col. DB-3308 - Doris Day - If I Were A Bell (charted Jul 52, released Jul 53)
1952_099 Col. DB-3306 - Ray Burns - Eternally (charted Jul 52, released Jul 53).
I don't think that this is a co-incidence - I suspect what has happened is that the sales for these have been attributed to the wrong year at some early point in the process. Funnily enough, the folks over at the "Real Chart" project also have these same errors for 1951 and 1952 (see here). This is despite their assertion that they are using a different dataset from the Missing Charts book (actual sales rather than orders), but given the similarity in errors I think this claim is questionable...
It is really heart warming to discover a fellow enthusiast although I believe that your research is far superior to mine....My task was simply to have an original recording of every release mentioned in the book (trying to avoid those who wanted £30 for a record)...I have been greatly helped by many members on this site (especially 3, you know who you are)....I seem now to be able to see a small light at the end of a very long tunnel as of the 2300+ titles, I am short of just over 40.....I can supply the list to anyone who thinks they may be able to help....The Book is the best we have got and I agree that those who took over after Colin Brown's sad passing did not share his dedication and enthusiasm.
my note - a problem with the way the book underlying data came from publishers/wholesalers but didnt take or have what might have been tabulating cards (From sales and manufacturers - but that might have been that no one thought to see if such things existed, but we can see where the odd transcription error might have occurred
“tabulating cards”?
Interesting topic. I was sceptical of the book when it came out but later regretted my decision not to buy it. Thankfully I was able to track down a copy. It is intriguing to learn of all the mistakes, but good that danceband91 (Peter) has been working on them.
It’s odd that the book is now out of print and unavailable. There should be a reprint with corrections!
It would probably be better, given the involvement of the Official Charts Company (love them or loathe them) to add the information into the OCC website. "Charting" is only a limited, calculated thing, the greater information is the t)ranscribed notes etc of the discs that lesser sold, if we dont have such info from news sheets or fly sheets or printed catelogues (I am certain for example the Pre War REGAL cat must have been printed from tabulating cards)
I do think the information should be available online, but not as part of the OCC Archive, or at least not as part of their main chart archive. TMC book was retrospectively compiled. It’s an interesting snapshot of the period, but has limitations, and isn’t really “canon” as far as the record charts go.
It would probably be better, given the involvement of the Official Charts Company (love them or loathe them) to add the information into the OCC website. "Charting" is only a limited, calculated thing, the greater information is the t)ranscribed notes etc of the discs that lesser sold, if we dont have such info from news sheets or fly sheets or printed catelogues (I am certain for example the Pre War REGAL cat must have been printed from tabulating cards)
Can you explain this more please. I don’t know what “tabulating cards” are.
It would probably be better, given the involvement of the Official Charts Company (love them or loathe them) to add the information into the OCC website. "Charting" is only a limited, calculated thing, the greater information is the t)ranscribed notes etc of the discs that lesser sold, if we dont have such info from news sheets or fly sheets or printed catelogues (I am certain for example the Pre War REGAL cat must have been printed from tabulating cards)
Can you explain this more please. I don’t know what “tabulating cards” are.
I agree that this should not fall into the auspicies of the OCC....We all know that the British charts began in November 1952, this is an offshoot, although so interesting should be a seperate issue
The Punched Cards would hold the standing data - Label, Cat Number, Artist Name , Track Names (not for that book the writers/composers/publishers). As well as some for Companies that pressed records and their contact addresses ( industrial trade directory publishing was done similariar)
New Cards would be created for new issues, and records deleted by labels would be removed from the print run stack ( poss destroyed, poss set aside ).
The cards would be read - either by light , or by physical wires, and the resultant letter ( or effectively a form of ASCII Code ) sent to a "word store" this could then either be printed by a chain printer line by line or various typesetting systems (effectively the cards derived either from Jaquard Loom Cards - which gave serial instructions to a number of lines of weaving or knitting ) and/or the IBM "80 colum" cards invented for the US Census by IBM. Hollerith was a specific company mainly running a tabulating (or counting) system , so requests for orders could be counted out from the cards so punched - record store name etc from standing information, record detail from the cat number then order quantity per record. run the tabulation program and you get the order per store - added up for total discs (and thus package weight and volume and orders for pressing if not in stock), and you get a weekly total of orders per disc for all stores. it basically part automates the manual "gate and bar" method of counting. ( from the cards things like invoicing, purchase tax returns , delivery notes could be made - alternative would be a local distributor hand writing - sometimes in duplicate books (inc "Kalamazoo" or similar carbon copy sheets) sales details , this tended to happen in smaller labels which by 1940 had just about disappeared.