Phonograhic Yearbook: 1907 - Dear Old Golden Rule Days CD

This is the best volume to date issued in Archeophone's Phonographic Yearbook series. Ironically, Volume One of Archeophone's 1890s series was stated as focusing on the "coon song" phenomenon, but there are better ones included here, in better recordings. There is also at least one "rube" sketch, "Three Rubes Seeing New York," performed by the Peerless trio, a snappy Bert Williams tune, "He's a Cousin of Mine," and even the United States Marine Band dishing up a serving of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag." Persons who desire political correctness in their music should definitely avoid this disc -- even some fairly open-minded listeners may find it a challenge contending with May Irwin's "The Bully." As one well-known critic remarked after hearing the number, "gosh, what a mouth on that broad."

The sound is generally very good on this volume, and should be tolerable to most listeners whether or not they are accustomed to the sound of old recordings. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis

Illustrators: Bob Schuljak; Darrell Lehman; Yoshi Kiguchi; Hiroaki Onishi.

The Phonographic Yearbook: 1907 "Dear Old Golden Rule Days" is an installment in Archeophone's continuing series of historical reissues of popular songs in original recordings organized by year. The Phonographic Yearbook discs include extensive notes about the performances, the artists, and a summary of historical events within a given year: the bank panic of 1907 is the major event brought into focus here. The musical selection is influenced to a great extent by the lists compiled by Joel Whitburn for his book Pop Memories: 1890-1954, a reference volume that is not taken very seriously by many scholars for years going this far back. But this does not mean that the resulting Archeophone disc is not representative of the era which it depicts, and the overall packaging is superbly well organized.

Personnel: Ada Jones (soprano); Henry Burr, Albert Campbell (tenor); Steve Porter (baritone).

Recording information: London, England (08/26/1905-06/20/1907); New York, NY (08/26/1905-06/20/1907).