All are now enshrined in the 10th-anniversary of the National Registry’s eclectic sounds and recordings
It’s not often you get to listen to the sounds of Donna Summer, Prince, The Grateful Dead and Thomas Edison all in one place. Hat is unless you tap into the wide-world of recordings being preserved by the US Library of Congress National Recording Registry.
Every year since 2002 the group and the public have nominated recordings to the National Registry which has a s its central mission to preserve all manner of the audio highlights for future generations.
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Some of the sounds and songs enshrined this year give you some idea of the eclectic nature of the collection. For example, the clip known as “Edison Talking Doll cylinder” is described by the registry like this: “Few, if any, sound recordings can lay claim to as many “firsts” as the small, mangled artifact of a failed business venture discovered in 1967 in the desk of an assistant to Thomas Edison. This cylinder recording, only 5/8-inches wide, represents the foundations of many aspects of recording history. It was created in 1888 by a short-lived Edison company established to make talking dolls for children, and it is the only surviving example from the experimental stage of the Edison dolls production when the cylinders were made of tin. As such, this recording of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” as sung by an anonymous Edison employee, is the earliest known commercial sound recording in existence.”
Recently deceased Donna Summer got her “I Feel Love” song in the registry this year as well. The registry wrote: “Brian Eno famously declared after hearing Donna Summer’s single “I Feel Love” that the track would “change the sound of club music for the next 15 years.” Summer wrote the song in collaboration with producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Belotte, who felt that the song was supposed to represent the music of the future and should be entirely electronic. Consequently, they hired Robbie Wedel who brought four cases of Moog synthesizer to the session and which produced nearly all the sounds on the record, including synthesized bass drums and cymbals. Particularly notable was the bass line which Belotte has described as “a giant’s hammer on a wall.” When the thunderous sound was combined with Summer’s breathy and ethereal vocal, the cut, as Eno predicted, took the clubs by storm. “
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This year marks the 10th-anniversary of the registry and the 25 new and unique inducties include:
1. Edison Talking Doll cylinder (1888)
2. “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star,” Lillian Russell (1912)
3. “Ten Cents a Dance,” Ruth Etting (1930)
4. “Voices from the Days of Slavery,” Various speakers (1932-1941 interviews; 2002 compilation)
5. “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart,” Patsy Montana (1935)
6. “Fascinating Rhythm,” Sol Hoopii and his Novelty Five (1938)
7. “Artistry in Rhythm,” Stan Kenton & and his Orchestra (1943)
8. Debut performance with the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (Nov. 14, 1943)
9. International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Hottest Women’s Band of the 1940s (1944-1946)
10. “The Indians for Indians Hour” (March 25, 1947)
11. “Hula Medley,” Gabby Pahinui (1947)
12. “I Can Hear It Now,” Fred W. Friendly and Edward R. Murrow (1948)
13. “Let’s Go Out to the Programs,” The Dixie Hummingbirds (1953)
14. “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1954, 1958)
15. “Bo Diddley” and “I’m a Man,” Bo Diddley (1955)
16. “Green Onions,” Booker T. & the M.G.’s (1962)
17. “Forever Changes,” Love (1967)
18. “The Continental Harmony: Music of William Billings,” Gregg Smith Singers (1969)
19. “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Vince Guaraldi Trio (1970)
20. “Coat of Many Colors,” Dolly Parton (1971)
21. “Mothership Connection,” Parliament (1975)
22. Barton Hall concert by the Grateful Dead (May 8, 1977)
23. “I Feel Love,” Donna Summer (1977)
24. “Rapper’s Delight,” Sugarhill Gang (1979)
25. “Purple Rain,” Prince and the Revolution (1984)
