"In Flanders Fields the Poppies Grow" (McCrae & Sousa) by Joseph Phillips - OkeH lateral 78rpm, 1919

Описание: Not a bad recording - for the week of Armistice & Veterans' Day, here's an interesting pairing that seems to indicate the farewell of soldiers going to yet another quick war that wound up being one of the bloodiest yet, then the infamous "In Flanders Fields" when the "war to end all wars" had finally ceased...to say nothing of the Russian Civil War and Soviet incursions into Poland and Central Europe. Joseph Phillips, another industry veteran, does the song justice. Interestingly enough, this was initially supposed to be a label favoring classical music...
OkeH [best known as OKeh, founded/named by Jehuda Otto Karl Erich Heinemann, 1876-1965] was founded after German-Jewish businessman Otto Heinemann was stranded in New York City after the outbreak of World War I. He was a representative of Carl Lindström with almost 15 years of experience in sound recording, and because he couldn't establish a branch in the United States [yet]...he just established his own firm! Hiring industry veterans such as recording engineer Charles Hibbard and A&R man/composer Fred Hager, Heinemann got the ball rolling on a series of well-made vertically-cut disc records. They hopped on the bandwagon that dislodged Victor & Columbia's lateral recording patent duopoly, introducing this series in 1919. In 1920 they adopted their famous "script" logo, and once they recorded Mamie Smith and released "Crazy Blues", the rest would become history...