Recorded music’s hidden history
onathan Ward, a historian of recorded sound, has some surprising news. Thousands of early 78rpm recordings were made not to preserve music but as disposable materials for selling gramophones. With manufacturers hoping to expand their sales globally, demo records featured regional music aimed at appealing to regional buyers. On his blog —and now on a 100-track compilation, , curated and produced by Jonathan Ward and remastered by Michael Graves—Ward has lovingly plucked a selection of these artifacts from music history’s rubbish heap and unearthed background information on each in a herculean feat of
