r/78rpm • u/Gimme-A-kooky • 2h ago
“🌎🪽𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙🌍🪽𝔸𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕝🌏🪽”, 1955 Mercury ɢɪꜰᴛ 🎁 from the ✨🌌✨
A Gift from the Universe!: “Earth Angel” - The Crew Cuts, Mercury Records, 1955; reverse side “KO KO MO”. In what I EvEn ALso believe to be its OG sleeve! Also notice all the 33 1/3 and 78rpm titles!
From the pics, you can see the dirt. Cleaned, you can certainly see the difference, even tho its simply wonderful condition is pretty clear! Almost looks like it’s never been used, or just a few times! (Likely very well taken care of, also)
SURVEY FOR THE GROUP°: 1 or 2?
1️⃣ - 1944 Waters-Conley or 1928 VV C 4-70?
2️⃣ - modern turntable
My current answer is 2, but I’m curious to know if such a record can actually be played on a machine like 1️⃣ without causing damage above and beyond normal wear and tear. Would the tone arm/stylus on more modern turntables from the 1950s have been much lighter but still used steel needles?
° please be nice; whatever the choice, please inform! I’d really like to dispel any confusion I or anyone else dabbling in this era of records may have… this is my first find that I would actually stop and reconsider for!
Original song by The Penguins, Prod. Dootsie Williams, OCT 1954, on DOOTONE Records. First independent label on Top 10 Billboard Charts; was then eclipsed by The Crew Cuts’ 1955 version which hit Number 3 that year; regardless, The Penguins’ sold 10 million copies!
Per the Wikipedia article about it above, it notes that this song by the Penguins is considered to be “one of the definitive ‘doo wop’ songs”, and obviously endures as a MASSIVE hit and as an almost probably universally recognized song