Customer Reviews

Origins of the Red Hot Mama, 1910-1922

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This is the finest set yet from Archeophone Records. The hard cover 72 page book with the CD attached to the inside front cover is a masterwork. It is full of new information from Miss Tucker's scrapbooks, and the full color illustrations of sheet music covers, period photographs, and record labels, make the CD sized book more than worth the price asked for the disc! But the best is yet to come. The remastering of the recordings is unmatched by anyone else today except Ward Marston, who reissues classical music on his Marston label.

The ten Edison cylinders made in 1910 and 1911 are scarce, and the three Aeolian Vocalion records are, indeed, rare, but the one record Sophie made on her own label in 1921, may be unique! It is what they call 'mythologically rare.' These recordings are all included here. The last six sides on the CD were made for OKeh, and have fine sound. I have never heard Edison cylinder recordings sound so good! These were recorded well to begin with, but after almost 100 years, it took a lot of searching to find these clean copies. The Vocalion sides are a different story. Originally, they were not recorded well, and it took a lot of patience on the part of Richard Martin, who remastered these, to get them right, but he did it! The OKeh recordings have really great sound for the period, and are highly recommended.

This set will be known as a reference recording. Not even collectors have heard most of these performances. Now you can hear and enjoy them as I do. I've waited too long for this set, but it's worth the wait. All of the Archeophone releases are of high quality and are highly recommended.

An outstanding achievement in every respect. This set makes it easy to see why Sophie Tucker was such a force during her early years. Taken in the context of early 20th century popular music, she comes across as almost revolutionary, with a luminous, three-dimensional presence and personality. The rare Edison cylinders of 1910 (I once considered myself lucky to find only the box and lid to one of her Edisons - no cylinder inside!) are a revelation. The sound is absolutely incredible, especially for the easily-damaged Amberols. Tucker's subsequent (and equally scarce) Aeolian-Vocalions are more difficult on the ears, but the remastering makes them as good as current technology allows. The final cuts find both Sophie and the recording process in their 1920s prime. The lavish packaging, with illuminating liner notes and dozens of fascinating photos, is beyond anything a major company would ever devote to an artist who made her first recordings a century ago.

I initially purchased "Origins of the Red Hot Mama" simply for its historical importance. Now it's on my iPod for the daily commute. No one makes acoustically recorded material more accessible, or treats it with greater respect, than Archeophone. Thanks so much!

This album --and the book that comes with it--are a bargain. The book provides wonderful, well-written context, and the music brings a whole era to life. We tend to think of people in the past, past art forms, as rather tame, coy; the notion of Vaudeville screams hat, cane, and the soft shoe. But no one can hear Sophie singing about her husband being in the city and have any delusions as to what, exactly, is under discussion here. Sophie Tucker was an American original: one of those people who made herself up as she went along. And she went along for a very long time, seemingly never running out of strength or schtick. Some of the music here is so indelibly American you feel like it's the ground under your feet: it has always been there. "Some of these Days" feels like a secular "Amazing Grace:" you know it because you know it; you don't have to hear it in church. Some will be refreshingly new. They are all delightful. Archephone Records performs a wonderful service to Americans in preserving our culture in sound and story. From a label that releases non stop outstanding, unique material, Origins of the Red Hot Mama is a standout. You can listen to this album for the sheer fun, the grit of the delivery, or as an avenue to a lost, but very important era in the evolution of American music and entertainment. The book and discography are essential reading as well. Bravo, Archephone.