The continuing lure of the 78

I've never been a great fan of the 78. They are heavy, easily broken and usually poor quality in terms of sound quality. Despite that, the 78 continues to have a large number of enthusiastic followers. There are several 78 groups on line and some friends of mine hold regular 78 DJ evenings in North East London. My first introduction to rock and roll came through the 78s that my older sister brought home. Elvis, Bill Haley, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Buddy Holly all entered my consciousness by way of shellac recordings. But the 45, which gradually took over from 78s in the late fifties, was much more practicable, as well of sounding better on the whole. Despite my disdain, I still look out for rock and roll and R and B 78s at car boot sales and in charity shops. And collectable ones in really good condition do occasionally turn up for a minimal outlay. One such was the Cliff Richard 78 pictured above, which was his last 78 released in the UK in early 1960. It goes for three figure sums these days but set me back a mere 50p in a charity shop the other day. I paid a similar amount for the fairly rare rockabilly number by Johnny Carroll. It's worth in the region of £100, but came out a few years earlier when it was the 45, not the 78, that was really hard to find and hence more valuable.

Some of the most collectable 78s (and 45s) are R and B records which were released on the Vogue label. Here we have a 78-only Muddy Waters record released in 1952 which inspired the Rolling Stones to name their band after it. Also one by Wynonie Harris which is a contender for the first genuine rock and roll record.

Here are a few other early R and B/rock and roll records which are quite hard to find in any UK format: by Otis Williams and the Charms, Sanford Clark, Bobby Day and the Satellites and Ivory Joe Hunter.

78s pressed overseas are quite hard to find in the UK - not surprising, given their weight and fragility - but do turn up occasionally. Here's a Jamaican issue of Billy Myles' R and B hit of 1957 (found in a local charity shop), a US gospel release by the Ward Singers, an early outing by Little Esther Phillips with Johnny Otis and some early R and R from Marvin Phllips on Specialty.

Many of the most common UK 78s that roughly fall into the rock and roll category are by UK based artists, such as Tommy Steele, Jim Dale and Don Lang. They are mostly poor imitations of US originals and not worth much. Here are a couple that are slightly less common - the Adam Faith hit is another example of a 78 that came out when the format was on the verge of extinction, and a Carl Perkins cover by Terry Wayne.

Finally here's an example of what can be seen as a halfway house between shellac 78s and vinyl 45s - the vinyl 78. This one by Sister Rosetta Tharpe was one of several issued on the Pye and Mercury labels by the likes of Lonnie Donegan, the Platters and the Diamonds.