An enquiry: First Indian Stereo Recording

Hi all,

I have a Carnatic Songs BalamuraliKrishna LP which states it is the first Stereo LP of him. It is from HMV numbered ECSD 2429 dated 1969.

I have also seen some Columbia pressings of ML Vasanthakumari which were in Stereo(if I remember faintly) but may be dated a bit earlier than the BM Krishna's.

Just my Rs.2/-

N.Murali
 
I did some more digging and came up with this

EALP 1286 Ustad Ali Akbar Khan ~ Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Year of release 1964, India
EALP 1287 Unknown
EALP 1288 Ravi Shankar ~ Improvisations & Theme from Pather Panchali Year of release 1964, India
EALP 1289 Ustad Bismillah Khan ~ Malkauns/Des/Thumree Tilak-Kamod Year of release 1964, India
EALP 1290 Ustad Ali Akbar Khan ~ Raga Miyan Todi Raga Zilla-Kafi Year of release ?, India
EALP 1291 Dagar Brothers, Nasir Moinuddin Dagar Nasir Aminuddin Dagar ~ Dagar Brothers Year of Release 1965, India
EALP 1292 Ustad Faiyaz Khan Sahib ~ Ustad Faiyaz Khan Sahib (Hindustani Recording) Year of release ?, India
EALP 1293 Unknown
EALP 1294 Ustad Bismillah Khan ~ Gujari Todi/Shankara/Thumree Piloo - Year of release 1965, India
EALP 1295 Unknown
EASD 1296 Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar, Alla Rakha ~ Sitar & Sarode Year of release ?, India (HMV U.K. ASD 2304, 1965)
EALP 1297 Smt. M.S.Subbulakshmi Meera Bhajan Year of release 1966, India
EALP 1298 Ustad Vilayat Khan ~ Sitar-Nawaz Year of release 1965, U.K. (India, Odeon MOAE 153)

If we can get the details of EALP 1287, 1293 and 1295, I think were home safe and dry!
 
Hi musiklava

Don't go with the EALP series. They were introduced post 1973. The original series is ASD. I am not sure if all of them were original HMV recordings. For example Improviastions by Ravi Shankar is to the best of my knowledge is not an original Indian release. It was first released by World Pacific in USA. Later licensed to HMV. I am not very sure of this. Someone else can confirm this.

I still think the first Indian stereo recorded and released on HMV was in 1965. Titles previous to that of Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan were in all probability released first by a foreign label and then later released on the EALP series in India post 1973. So while these may be in stereo its not actually Indias first stereo lp
 
This discussion on the first (or earliest) Stereo LP recorded in India, while largely academic, has not touched on a sort of consequential boon that resulted for music lovers: the longer continuance of Mono. Indian classical music with a soloist - vocal or instrumental - along with a percussionist, is not ideally suited for Stereo. Hard panning each on to a separate channel - a flaw that was also common in the West for early Stereo - results in a soundstage that seems artificial. The soloist needs to have a strong centre image, which is ideally provided in Mono recordings. Recording techniques from the mid-50s to the mid-60s used minimal mikes in large reverberant studios, which is why recordings of that vintage still sound very good. These days, there is a greater premium among western collectors for Mono versions of 50s and 60s records, especially in jazz, as compared with the Stereo versions. Many of these early stereos sound gimmicky today - hard panning with no centre image - while the Mono editions have a more solid feel with much better imaging.

One reason, I suspect, for later adoption of Stereo in India was the preponderance of Mono systems - the first stereo players that were available for mass distribution came out only in the early 70s . This has a parallel of sorts with the UK, where because of post-war economic blight most households had Mono players right through the early and mid-60s. Towards the late 60s, things had improved, and more stereo LPs got sold. Most of the early Beatles LPs, right up to Sgt.Pepper (1967), were mastered primarily for Mono, with the stereo versions more of an afterthought. Most early 60s releases in the UK were issued roughly 80% mono and 20% stereo. Things were different in the US, where economic prosperity took off in the 50s itself, home audio became popular, which is why more Stereo LPs got sold from '58 onwards.

For Bollywood LPs, tho', stereo might have been a better option given the large orchestras, as compared with classical. You guys would have the answer to that - not my specialty area.
 
Hi musiklava

........... For example Improviastions by Ravi Shankar is to the best of my knowledge is not an original Indian release. It was first released by World Pacific in USA. Later licensed to HMV. I am not very sure of this. Someone else can confirm this.

You are right Prem regarding this album. While the Indian version is a MONO one, the US counterpart on Liberty label is a Stereo.

The idea of raising this topic is purely academic indeed. As unlike West we don't have much of documented record regarding evolution of our recording/pressing system. Through this discussion I'm trying to extract some sort of idea when and how things happened.

AFAIK, HMV/GCOI did not have any stereo pressing plant till early 1966. While Bhaskar Menon was CEO of GCOI, Dum Dum, this plant was imported from EMI Australia and was installed late 1966. I request other FM's to kindly add/correct any info they have regarding this. The seniors are more likely to have some interesting facts from those era.

Regards
 
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While we are also discussing Mono/Stereo soundtrack recording, it'll be helpful know the actual meaning of the phrase "FROM THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK".

Regards
 
Hi Bhaskarcan

As far as I know the songs were mastered and added to the film master soundtrack. Normally in those days the vinyls used to be made after the film release. The vinyl master would be taken from the film soundtrack. Which is why some films like Aandhi hAd dialogues in the songs. I guess that's what from the original film soundtrack means
 
Hi musiklava

Don't go with the EALP series. They were introduced post 1973. The original series is ASD. I am not sure if all of them were original HMV recordings. For example Improviastions by Ravi Shankar is to the best of my knowledge is not an original Indian release. It was first released by World Pacific in USA. Later licensed to HMV. I am not very sure of this. Someone else can confirm this.

I still think the first Indian stereo recorded and released on HMV was in 1965. Titles previous to that of Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan were in all probability released first by a foreign label and then later released on the EALP series in India post 1973. So while these may be in stereo its not actually Indias first stereo lp

You are right Prem regarding this album. While the Indian version is a MONO one, the US counterpart on Liberty label is a Stereo.

The idea of raising this topic is purely academic indeed. As unlike West we don't have much of documented record regarding evolution of our recording/pressing system. Through this discussion I'm trying to extract some sort of idea when and how things happened.

AFAIK, HMV/GCOI did not have any stereo pressing plant till early 1966. While Bhaskar Menon was CEO of GCOI, Dum Dum, this plant was imported from EMI Australia and was installed late 1966. I request other FM's to kindly add/correct any info they have regarding this. The seniors are more likely to have some interesting facts from those era.

Regards

Last night I found a most interesting website thats maintained by a group of people who have created a comprehensive database of Records released by the GCOI (HMV). The website lists a number of series of the albums released by the GCOI in all its avatars and is open to any person or researcher who can use the database as a Record discography tool.

Of these the EALP/EASD series alone runs into nearly 30 pages of print-out. This is what is mentioned at the beginning of the series The EALP/EASD Series was initially devoted to Indian classical music. A second focus on selected Hindi film music was made around 1973 with LP number 4001 and higher.The series numbering begins at 1251.

The EALP series begins at EALP 1251 with an LP of Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar, which was released in 1960. The series EASD does not appear until 1965 and begins with No.EASD 1296 (Stereo recording), which I had mentioned in an earlier post. Only two Stereo LPs were released in 1965, the other being No.EASD 1299 and this was also mentioned in my post. Youll notice that all the numerals run serially regardless of the year of release. So, you are quite right in singling out 1965 for the first Indian stereo LP to be released and Im pretty sure now that its EASD 1296.

I have checked out the other big series which is ECLP/ECSD, which is described as This series contains a mixture of classical instrumental music, classical vocal, popular vocal and soundtracks. The series numbering for Indian music begins with 2250. No.ECLP 2250 is a LP of Bhajans and was released in 1961. The letters LP denote Mono in this series and SD denotes stereo. The first stereo release is No.ECSD 2338 featuring Lalgudi Jayaraman and was released in 1967.

Interestingly, I found that one of the LPs bore another series S/MOAE 132 (1965) under the Odeon label corresponding to EASD 1296 and this is what was written in the database description The MOAE Series was primarily an export edition for the EALP/EASD Series. Here the S/ denotes stereo.

So you can see why we cannot ignore either the EALP or EASD series..
EALP - Mono
EASD - Stereo


You are right about Ravi Shankars Improvisations (EALP 1288, 1964). It is a Mono release, as the series clearly indicates. It was released in the U.S. under the World Pacific label in 1962 as a stereo LP (ST 1416) and under the Liberty label in U.K. (LBS 83076) in 1968, also as a stereo LP.

Ive seen the quality of pressing and the finish of the earlier EASD series LPs and they are really good. In my personal opinion, these could have been pressed outside India with Indian labels. Obviously the output numbers and simultaneous releases abroad do not justify their manufacture in more than one Country.

Finding out where the recordings were done is going to be a different ball game altogether! :)
 
Thanks Musiklava for the clarification regarding the EALP series for classical. I went with the EALP series for film music and assumed the same for classical
 
Im completing the data for the LPs that I had left out in my earlier post -

EALP 1287 Karukuchi P. Arunachalam ~ Raga Prabhakali, Raga Kaushi Bhairavi Year of release 1964
EALP 1293 Amritalal Bose & Sabitabrata Datta ~ Byapika Biday (Bengali Drama) Year of release 1963?
EALP 1295 Pandit D.V. Paluskar ~ Ragas - Year of release 1965
 
Hi Musiklava

Am not too sure about the EALP series for classical. I think 12 inch lps at 33 rpm were first manufactured around 1965. Mughal E Azam was among the first ones. Recording published is different from when the lp was manufactured. Mughal E Azam was published in 1960 and was launched in 78 rpm. Later around 65 or 66 it was launched as a 33 rpm lp. So any release of Mughal e Azam will show as published in 1960. Between 63 and 65, titles like Gumrah, Phoir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Chitralekha were all released as 10 inch lps.
 
I think if someone has access to the 1964 and 1965 HMV Catalogues, we could get a better idea.

One earliest series detail I found was for ECSD 2304 which released in 1964. This was Begum Akhtar's Ghazals. I would not be surprised if a big artist like her was chosen for the first LP. Catalogue could tell which is the LP with ECSD 2300/1. It could potentially be the first stereo one.
 
I finally got some authentic info from sirc community from Rajeev ji who has worked for long in HMV. He says:-
first LP was ali akbar khan i think raga pilu

So my guess that it was for a great nonfilm artist was right :)
 
Hi Musiklava

Am not too sure about the EALP series for classical. I think 12 inch lps at 33 rpm were first manufactured around 1965. Mughal E Azam was among the first ones. Recording published is different from when the lp was manufactured. Mughal E Azam was published in 1960 and was launched in 78 rpm. Later around 65 or 66 it was launched as a 33 rpm lp. So any release of Mughal e Azam will show as published in 1960. Between 63 and 65, titles like Gumrah, Phoir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Chitralekha were all released as 10 inch lps.

I'll answer your questions sometime later tonight. I'm trying to get all the data together for you...
 
I think if someone has access to the 1964 and 1965 HMV Catalogues, we could get a better idea.

One earliest series detail I found was for ECSD 2304 which released in 1964. This was Begum Akhtar's Ghazals. I would not be surprised if a big artist like her was chosen for the first LP. Catalogue could tell which is the LP with ECSD 2300/1. It could potentially be the first stereo one.

I finally got some authentic info from sirc community from Rajeev ji who has worked for long in HMV. He says:-


So my guess that it was for a great nonfilm artist was right :)

I think you should stick to what you yourself posted this morning about Begum Akhtar and I think you are dead right. You can verify this from the link that you've got.

For the benefit of our other members, I'm posting a few screenshots from the website that I was referring to. I'm showing only three of the Series pre-fixes but one can see very clearly that Hildebrand was absolutely correct about Begum Akhtar's LP being the first Indian release. I've also shown the ASD series which is shown as UK releases. The Indian series runs as EASD

This is the series for all Indian classical music upto 1973 -



The series that confirms the first Indian stereo LP release -





Indian classical music releases in the UK -



@ Prem, these screenshots will also partly clear some of your doubts. I'll be coming with the data about the hindi soundtracks later.
 
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