GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA "Farewell Blues" Unissued 1944 EMI Test; RARE [78 RPM]

	£		400
	$		530

THE AMERICAN BAND OF THE ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Under The Direction of MAJOR GLENN MILLER

"FAREWELL BLUES"

HMV Single Sided Shellac Test

Matrix No. OEA-10287-1

"E" CONDITION

( a very clean glossy copy with a few light handling marks; some light peak greying in a couple of grooves but sounds at least "E" or better throughout; plays superbly )

Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, September 16th 1944

This unissued test pressing was recorded as part of Glenn Miller's final commercial session and is one his rarest recordings. It is a contemporary shellac test pressing produced for technical approval by EMI engineers and may very well be unique. 

Click the PLAY button below to hear an unprocessed, unpitched, open transfer of "Farewell Blues"; this excerpt is taken directly from the record on offer

PLEASE NOTE: This audio transfer is provided to give an indication of the musical content of the record. The transfer represents the very best sound that can be extracted from the grooves using the correct stylus size and high end audio equipment. There is no guarantee that the record will sound exactly the same on different audio equipment. Please refer to the stated grade, written condition report and grading notes below when deciding whether to purchase this record.

So far the Miller Band had made no records for public issue. Great excitement, therefore, greeted the news in September that the Band had recorded four tunes at HMV, two of them with America's most popular girl singer Dinah Shore, for issue in October in aid of Forces' charities. But by December no records had appeared and an indefinite delay was reported. What had gone wrong?

The US Army had approved the participation of the Miller Band, Dinah was keen to do them, but permission had to be sought from the United Services Organisation in Hollywood (organisers of her ETO tour). A profit-sharing deal was proposed between HMV and allied Forces' charities and in anticipation of USO approval the recordings went ahead the day before Dinah returned to America. A week later the USO replied that provided all the profits went to the charities Dinah could take part. A fresh deal was worked out, but by then the US Army had gone cold on the idea and withdrew permission for the Miller Band to join in. Release of the records was abandoned.

GEOFFREY BUTCHER, Liner Notes "Glenn Miller - The Lost Recordings; The American band Of The Allied Expeditionary Force, Conducted By Major Glenn Miller" CONIFER RECORDS 1995

This studio, the largest of the three then at Abbey Road, could accomodate a full symphony orchestra without strain and provided an excellent setting for the AEF Orchestra. All that remained was to get the sound on to wax. Now, contrary to popular belief, all recording in the 78 era was not done on a single microphone, but multi-miking would not have been in the modern mould, with a microphone up everybody's jumper and lashings of artificial reverberation. The rig for these Abbey Road sessions would probably have been similar to that shown in photographs of the AEF band performing for broadcasts at the BBC studio in the Corn Exchange, Bedford (a less attractive target for flying bombs than Broadcasting House). These show one microphone each for brass, reeds, strings, rhythm and vocals. This would have provided reasonable control of the overall sound whilst leaving the tricky job of internal balance to those who could do it best - the players. 

We therefore have a clear, unmuddled sound with everyone in correct perspective and a wonderful impression of the "weight" of the whole. Furthermore, on the Dinah Shore session, you may hear dynamic contrasts which seldom made it on to 78, and practically never came off again, because of the surface noise of shellac pressings. Indeed, I doubt whether those on Farewell Blues would ever have made it to commercial release, even without the prevailing contractual obstacles, because the loud chords halfway through the side might well have failed the obligatory wear test. Had this happened, we might have had to contend with a dubbed master, which would have sounded inferior to the original

TED KENDALL, Liner Notes "Glenn Miller - The Lost Recordings; The American band Of The Allied Expeditionary Force, Conducted By Major Glenn Miller" CONIFER RECORDS 1995   

UK POSTAGE & PACKING RATES

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7 - 20 Records = £9.95 ( MyHermes Parcels )

Please ignore the automated Ebay invoice and wait to receive an invoice for the combined shipping costs, BEFORE sending payment

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INTERNATIONAL P&P RATES

International Postage and Packing charges for 10" 78s are as follows:

1 Record    EU = £ 9.95  /  USA & ROW = £15.00

2 Records  EU = £ 11.25 / USA & ROW = £17.50

3 Records  EU = £12.50  / USA & ROW = £20.00

4 Reocrds  EU = £13.75 /  USA & ROW = £22.50

5 Records  EU = £15.00 /  USA & ROW = £25.00

6 Records  EU = £16.25 /  USA & ROW = £27.50

Please ignore the automated Ebay invoice and wait to receive an invoice for the combined shipping costs, BEFORE sending payment

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We are willing to hold records so that a larger parcel can be made up, but all records must be paid for at the time of purchase

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GRADING

We want you to be pleased with your records so we strive to make out grading as accurate and as consistent as possible.

We grade visually using the following system and we also provide additional description and comments as required.

On the rare occasion that a record is graded incorrectly, a full money back guarantee (or credit, if preferred) will always be provided.

NEW  Only used for records that are guaranteed to be new and unplayed

N-  Looks as NEW with no evidence of play; this is the highest grade that we generally use

E+  Full gloss surface; looks as NEW but with a few very light handling marks

E  Very clean, glossy surface with no visible signs of wear; may have some superficial or very light surface scratches or some minor surface marks which should be inaudible

E-  Clean, reasonably glossy surface, but may have some minor surface scratches and first signs of visible wear

V+  Surface will have some gloss but the record will have moderate wear and may also have some moderate surface scratches and light to moderate scuffs

V  Not much gloss remaining with moderate to heavy wear and may also have significant scratches and scuffs

V-  Dull surface and likely to have significant surface noise from heavy wear, scratches and scuffs

G  Completely dull surface and likely to have considerable surface noise from heavy wear, scratches and scuffs

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