Thousands of recordings that had been largely consigned to the realm of prehistory in the digital age have gained a new life, thanks to the tireless efforts of one man.
Cliff Bolling didn’t realize what he was getting into when he picked up a copy of the first record he ever owned (Cliff Steward’s "Aba Daba Honeymoon") and realized soon after that "there’s a whole world of music that you don’t hear anymore, and it’s on 78 RPM records."
(Update: Bolling’s site was offline on Wednesday, but Yahoo reinstated it on Thursday.)
Once that first discovery started him collecting the early singles known as 78s, he decided to dub some of them to cassette for playing in his car and sharing the music with fellow enthusiasts. That was about ten years ago.
As the digital music movement started in earnest, Bolling began digitizing his records, and posted a list of first 1,500 songs he had digitized so fellow collectors could see what kind of progress he had made. Finally, he decided to upload MP3s of every song on the list so that he could access them from anywhere, and so that curiosity seekers could find them.
As things stand now, the 57-year-old Portland, Oregon, native has uploaded 3,739 MP3s, with plenty more in the pipeline.
Cliff Steward – "Aba Daba Honeymoon" (1951):
Even with the MP3s, Bolling’s site only received 10-30 hits per day until appearing on reddit and StumbleUpon in July, reaching over 11,000 hits at its peak. "I really didn’t know there were so many people in the world interested in this music," said Bolling told wired.com. "A lot of younger people go to the site, and it’s amazing that they hear songs today that originally were recorded 75 years ago. It’s pretty cool that people get to listen to this stuff. As far as copyrights, apparently I’m okay, because nobody’s come to shut me down or anything."
But his wife had worried that recordings from the early half of last century would prove offensive to 21st century ears. Would listeners be sophisticated enough to handle once-mainstream sentiments that have since been revealed as racist or sexist? As a result, the site contains a a note that reads, "Please note that what was considered humor early in the 20th century might today be deemed offensive and politically incorrect. Some of these old songs reflect that."
Bolling explained, "My wife told me that I shouldn’t put those songs onthere because they’re racially offensive or sexually offensive. So I asked around, and people said, ‘you know, First Amendment –- (do) anything you want." Despite his wife’s warnings, Bolling posted thesongs with the exception of one, called "Uncle Tom," which can only be heard by contactinghim. So far, he says, no one has complained.
"Everybody else seems tothink ‘well, put them up there — that’s the way they are,’" he said.
On the day I spoke with him, Bolling said his site received traffic fromAustralia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Romania, Canada, NewZealand, France and Belgium. The collection itself now transcends US borders too, encompassing vintage recordings of Arabic, Greekand Japanese music.
"Kinkajuji" (Japanese recording from the early 1900s):
Like the early US recordings, many of these are fairly noisy. But to clean up the hissand delete the pops using digital techniques would lessen the impactand appeal of hearing such old recordings played over a global network through tiny, great sounding equipment.
As for the equipment he has used for this formidableproject, Bolling told us his approach was decidedly old school, infitting fashion. "I have an old 1950s Gerard turntable that I boughtat an estate sale for two and a half bucks, and it’s got a GE (GeneralElectric) VR cartridge in it, which is just excellent for playing 78s."
The copyright situation surrounding some of these songs is as murky as their sound quality. Butas with the music’s political content, Bolling said he has yet to receive a copyright-related complaint about the recordingsbeing online. Everyone who has come across the recordings seems happy that they’ve reappeared, or at the very least, doesn’t care one way or the other — somewhat refreshing, in these times of copyright lawsuits and name calling.
"I get dozens of emails every day from people telling me how wonderfulit is to hear this music, and people post links to my webpage onwebsites all over the world," Bolling told us. "It’s truly amazing."
Bolling plans to upload an MP3 for each of the records listedon his site, but his quest doesn’t end there. "I think there’s onlylike 150 more (songs on the list) to go, but I’ve got about 2500 morerecords to record," said Bolling. "I’ve been digitizing for about fiveyears," he said, "and it’ll probably take me another 10 or 15 years todo the rest of it."
Photos courtesy of Clifford Bolling
