The Lambert record company has long been a mystery and curious subject for cylinder geeks. Their company was the first to create indestructible cylinder records back in 1900. These records were meant to last centuries, but after Edison sued them out of business in 1903, most of the Lamberts were destroyed or recycled into Edison black wax records. Most of the Lamberts never survived a year after their creation, which is very unfortunate because they were perhaps the best quality records ever made in the late brown wax era. Lamberts exemplified everything that the other big companies wanted out of their records, volume, sharp clarity, over-recorded piano, and especially an un-breakable recording surface! They were beautiful looking records as well, coming in several shades of pink, white, and black, you couldn't go wrong with them!
One thing that has come across my mind when hearing these amazing innovations of recorded sound is the very loud and clear piano accompaniment that sounds like someone I know...
one I have particularly become curious about is this one:
Hm. Sounds an awful lot like...
Fred Hylands!
Even if he's not playing Rag-Time exactly, his feel and general style can be detected on many of the piano accompanied Lamberts.
I can hear those attributes on most of those Lamberts.
Such as this one as well:
(it's Vess L. Ossman playing a fun Rag-Time number in 1900)
I hear them trills! Just like Hylands!
It would not be the least bit surprising to find out that Hylands was the pianist on many of those odd Lambert cylinders. The accompaniment toward the end of the cylinder is amazing! If you can make out any of it, it's really something!
The one that I've really been thinking about is this one:
This one has been on a few early recorded Rag-Time CD's in the past, as it's a great example of the thing so early on, as it was recorded in 1901-02, by the man who was the first to sing Ragged songs to the phonograph, Len Spencer. This one has always been one not only to analyze Spencer's almost ludicrous and shamelessly offensive minstrel dialect and choice of words, but the long unknown pianist playing the Ragged piano in F. Since the pianists can now be really identified, the one on this REALLY sounds like Hylands. Think of it logically, who else would Spencer really pick for Rag-Time piano accompaniment? It's not that hard really. Spencer didn't really know Banta all that well, if at all when this was recorded, and he still loved Hylands with all his musical heart (heh, don't take that the wrong way...). Who else but Fred Hylands? Since this Lambert rarity has Spencer singing one of Ben Harney's old favourites, Hylands could also be argued as the pianist here because he worked alongside Harney and actually got to hear him play and criticize his style and acts. That could mean that this isn't an inaccurate imitation of what Harney actually sounded like! It can't be explained further.
The piano accompaniment on all the Lambert records is extremely loud, and sometimes even drowns out the singers, but more of the time they got it balanced just right, and reproduced at the perfect volume to stand a few feet away from the horn. The records never catch mold, and if you drop them, they won't break!
I have had the chance to not only hold a bright pink Lambert record, but also a concert Lambert cylinder! They are a fascinating and odd thing to behold, very lightweight, hollow, and not fragile, it's amazing really. They can oftentimes be a little wavy when played, but when they aren't, they sound superior to any brown wax or black wax record ever. When you are set one in your hands, it's like you're not holding anything at all, as they are so light. They could easily be dropped if you hadn't a good grip on it. They were the best idea in early recorded sound, but were destroyed by an angry and overwhelmingly jealous Edison only three years after their creation. The full catalog and most of the records were completely ridded of by 1905, and the indestructible cylinder didn't come back until 1907.
I hope you enjoyed this!
Thanks for this info on Lambert cylinders. Why do you state that they went out of business in 1903?
ReplyDeleteAllen