Columbia Stereo Demo LP....

WHY, oh WHY do I DO THIS????

I must be absolutely NUTS to subject you to this disc... but there's really nice liner notes in it (including a primer on how stereophonic LPs are made, including pictures of the process, in the liner notes archive available here.

So, what's so special on this thing? There are some really interesting lounge & mood tracks on here, including a track recorded by Duke Ellington especially for this sampler (if you can get past the train going from one side of the room to the other...), there are some nice little classical excerpts, and there are 2 tracks at the end that are kind of cool... one is a field recording done at an airport in the late 1950s (those ain't jets you hear, bunkie! Twin-engine propellor airliners, and no sign of the TSA Security goonies in sight!), and a speaker balance test track. Nifty, huh.

This set was a demo given out with Columbia stereophonic phonograph systems in the late 1950s (I even have the operating manual, and can scan it if anyone wants), again, for people to have something to play on it and impress all their friends and neighbors.

Actually, it IS pretty cool, considering... and I'm a SUCKER for demo discs of any kind.

So, if you want to experience a stereophonic experience, check out Listening In Depth... and watch out for the train!