Death Is Not The End - Making Records: Home Recordings c. 1890-1920 [Cassette]

Format: Cassette
Catalogue No.: DEATH080
Barcode: 5050580833128
Release Date: 27 Sep 2024
Genre: Folk/Field Recordings

01: Excerpt from Brown Wax Home Recording of Humorous Talk and Singing - Death Is Not The End
02: Black Wax Home Recording of Woman Singing Hymn - Death Is Not The End
03: Brown Wax Home Recording of "Bring Back My Kitty to Me" Sung to the Tune of "My Bonnie Lives over the Ocean" by Acapella Children's Chorus - Death Is Not The End
04: Brown Wax Home Recording of Mother and Father Trying to Get "Billy" out of Bed, Followed by Whistling Solo - Death Is Not The End
05: Black Wax Home Recording of Brass Solo with Dog Howling and Man Whistling and Calling Muggsy - Death Is Not The End
06: Brown Wax Home Recording of Woman Reciting French Language Lesson - Death Is Not The End
07: Black Wax Home Recording of Ralph Sunderland Singing Unidentified Song - Death Is Not The End
08: Black Wax Home Recording of Brass Solo and Duet - Death Is Not The End
09: Brown Wax Home Recording of Dogs Barking, with Comic Introductions - Death Is Not The End
10: Black Wax Home Recording of Whistling and Singing Duet - Death Is Not The End
11: Brown Wax Home Recording of Squealing of Pigs and Other Barnyard Sounds; Occasional Muffled Speech in Background - Death Is Not The End01:50    Download Clip
12: Brown Wax Home Recording of Whistling over Commercial Recording of Afterwards, by Professor Wormser - Death Is Not The End
13: Brown Wax Home Recording of Flute Solo, Variations on Rock-a-Bye Baby - Death Is Not The End
14: Brown Wax Home Recording of Unidentified Guitar Solo - Death Is Not The End
15: Brown Wax Home Recording of Women Talking, Singing, and Laughing - Death Is Not The End
16: Brown Wax Home Recording of Family Gathering at Home of W. H. Greenhow, Hornell, New York, November 16, 1901 - Death Is Not The End
17: Brown Wax Home Recording of Male Singing in French - Death Is Not The End
18: Brown Wax Home Recording of Child Singing All Alone - Death Is Not The End
19: Brown Wax Home Recording of Organ Solo, January 23, 1896 - Death Is Not The End
20: Brown Wax Home Recording of Group Singing with Zither Accompaniment - Death Is Not The End
21: Brown Wax Home Recording of Baby Crying; Male Speaking in French; Child Singing Welcome to Winter - Death Is Not The End
22: Brown Wax Home Recording of Psalm 23 Recited by Morgan Parsons Followed by Master Louis Tupper Parsons, Toddler, Talking on November 29, 1900 - Death Is Not The End
23: Brown Wax Home Recording of Train Imitation with Whistle, and Joke with Laughing - Death Is Not The End
24: Brown Wax Business Dictation Recording - Death Is Not The End
25: Brown Wax Home Recording of a Meeting of the Wreckers Club - Death Is Not The End
26: Black Wax Home Recording of Banjo Duet - Death Is Not The End
27: Black Wax Home Recording of Indistinct Talk by Donald - Death Is Not The End
28: Black Wax Home Recording of Man and Woman Singing Yodel Song in German with Zither - Death Is Not The End
29: Black Wax Home Recording of Singing and Harmonica Music - Death Is Not The End
30: Black Wax Home Recording of Boys Attending Nazareth Hall Boarding School, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1914 - Death Is Not The End
31: Black Wax Home Recording of Man Delivering Religious Speech - Death Is Not The End
32: Black Wax Home Recording of Woman Singing Oh! What a Beautiful Dream - Death Is Not The End
33: Black Wax Home Recording of Woman Singing the Curse of an Aching Heart ; a Dialog About a Wedding; and Man Singing Shall We Ever Be Able to Fly?, August 27, 1915 - Death Is Not The End
34: Brown Wax Home Recording of Man Singing You're a Million Miles from Nowhere - Death Is Not The End

A collection of DIY home recordings, transferred from blank and repurposed brown and black wax cylinders made during the early years of phonographic technology, between the late 1800s and early 1900s. Persons unknown singing, playing instruments, just talking, telling jokes, sending audio-letters to family overseas for in the distant future, children crying & babbling, farmyard animal noises - it's got it all.

"Cylinder phonographs first entered the parlor in the late 1890s and stayed until displaced by newer technologies in the 1920s. They brought professional entertainers into our homes and let us command their performances at will. They also gave us the power to record. For the first time in human history we could take sonic selfies, audio snapshots with friends, and aural portraits of loved ones. Our phonographs captured the sounds of everyday life, both silly and serious: the baby's squalling, Johnny's naughty joke, Grandma's favorite hymn as only she could sing it, our letters to loved ones in foreign lands or 100 years in the future. In our own homes we spoke unfettered by commercial concerns or ethnographers' expectations. Our phonographs observed who we were and what we valued without interference or judgement."
– David Giovannoni

Cover image text excerpt taken from How to Make Records at Home with an Edison Phonograph, 1910.

Recordings courtesy of The David Giovannoni's Collection of home cylinder recordings housed at the University of California, Santa Barbara cylinder audio archive.

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