|
'''RCA Camden''' was a [[budget album|budget]] [[record label]] of [[RCA Victor]], originally created byin 1953<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://yktc.us/MusicRack/33/Label%20List/Camden/list%20Camden.html|title=CAMDEN RECORD DISCOGRAPHY SECTION|last=COLLECTIBLES|first=Joe Stephens for YOUR KEY TO|website=yktc.us|access-date=2018-05-13}}</ref> to reissue recordings from earlier 78-RPM78rpm releases. The label was named "Camden", after [[Camden, New Jersey]] where the offices, factories and studios of RCA Victor's studiosand its predecessor, officesthe and[[Victor factoriesTalking hadMachine longCompany]] had been located since 1901.
==History==
The RCA Camden label wasVictor originally created bythe RCACamden Victorlabel to reissue select older 78 RPM78rpm [[RCA Victor Red Seal|Red Seal]] recordings of classical recordingssymphonic music on [[LP record|LP]] records. In the mid 1950s, RCA Camden began releasing some [[rhythm & blues]] and, later, pop, country and [[rock and roll]] recordings. For example, ain 1956, LPCamden ofissued [[Littlean Richard]]'salbum of the very first recordings made by [[Little Richard]] for RCA Victor in 1951 and '521952, paddedexpanded with four tracks by [[Buck Ram]] and his Rock n' Ram Orchestra. In 1958, Camden released some albums in RCA Victor's new [[stereophonic|Living Stereo]] soundformat and subsequently issued popular stereo recordings by the [[Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra]], [[The Living Strings]] and [[Living Voices]]. Camden also produced a "Designed for Dancing"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/label/315850-Designed-For-Dancing|title=Discogs Designed for Dancing discography|last=|first=|date=|website=Discogs|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=May 16, 2019}}</ref> series, with titles by [[Xavier Cugat]] and [[Perez Prado]], and others.
The Camden label was headed by long-time RCA Victor record producer [[Ethel Gabriel]] beginning in the late 1950s.
Beginning in the late 1950s, the RCA Camden label was headed by long-time RCA Victor record producer [[Ethel Gabriel]]. Gabriel was soon earning producer credits, Which she continued to do for the rest of her career at RCA Victor.
In 1959, Gabriel began the popular “Living Strings” series of easy-listening albums, consisting of orchestral renditions of pop and classical tunes (“Living Strings Play Music of the Sea,” “Living Strings Play Music for Romance” and many more), most of which were released on the Camden label. The line soon branched out into “Living Voices,” “Living Guitars” and other subsets and became a big profit-generator for RCA Victor — which was not, Ms. Gabriel later said, what the boss expected when he put her in charge of Camden, a struggling label at the time. New York Times, [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/arts/music/ethel-gabriel-dead.html "Ethel Gabriel, a Rare Woman in the Record World, Dies at 99"] Neil Genzlinger, April 9, 2021.
“I’m sure he thought it was a way to get rid of me,” she told The Express-Times of Easton, Pa., in 1992 (too diplomatic to name the boss). “Well, I made a multimillion-dollar line out of it, conceived, programmed and produced the entire thing.” [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/arts/music/ethel-gabriel-dead.html Ethel Gabriel, a Rare Woman in the Record World, Dies at 99]
===First releases===
RCA Victor originally reissued its older 7878rpm RPM[[RCA Victor Red Seal|Red Seal]] classical symphonic recordings on the Camden label using the realactual names of the symphony orchestras involved; but soon, to avoid competing with recent full-priced recordings by the same orchestras, a series of pseudonyms were used, drawn primarily from the names of hotels in nearby Philadelphia, across the Delaware River from RCA Victor's headquarters in Camden. Here is a partial listing of the real orchestras and their pseudonyms:
* [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] - Thames Symphony Orchestra
* [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] - Centennial Symphony Orchestra
* [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] - Century Symphony Orchestra
* [[Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra]] - Cromwell Symphony Orchestra ▼* [[Henri Rene]] and his Orchestra - Cosmopolitan Orchestra
* [[Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra]] - Star Symphony Orchestra
* [[Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra]] - Sussex Symphony Orchestra
* [[Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra]] - Marlborough Symphony Orchestra
* [[National Symphony Orchestra]] - Globe Symphony Orchestra
* [[Philadelphia Orchestra]] - Warwick Symphony Orchestra ▼* [[Paris Conservatory Orchestra]] - Seine Symphony Orchestra
▲* [[Philadelphia Orchestra]] - Warwick Symphony Orchestra
* [[RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra]] - Regent Symphony Orchestra or Golden Symphony Orchestra
* [[HenriSaint ReneLouis Symphony Orchestra]] and- hisSavoy OrchestraSymphony -or Schuyler CosmopolitanSymphony Orchestra
* [[San Francisco Symphony Orchestra]] - World Wide Symphony
* [[Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra]] - Savoy Symphony or Schuyler Symphony Orchestra
* [[Toronto Symphony Orchestra]] - Dominion Symphony Orchestra
* [[Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra]] - Danube Symphony Orchestra
▲* [[Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra]] - Cromwell Symphony Orchestra
The RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra was aassembled [[Newfor Yorkrecording City]]sessions "pick-up"mostly orchestraduring drawnthe from1940s membersand '50s; It primarily consisted of members from the [[NBC Symphony Orchestra]] and, the [[New York Philharmonic]] and the [[Metropolitan Opera Orchestra]].<ref>Jack Gottlieb, http://www.leonardbernstein.com; [https://books.google.com/books?id=hB8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=Sir+Ernest+MacMillan,%2C+RCA+Camden&sourcepg=bl&ots=ccq_Zcbvcu&sig=3jGB0UwQ8Di6slFM-BGDw870vwU&hl=en&ei=HVn0SpObMcaolAe3rc2xAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Sir%20Ernest%20MacMillan%2C%20RCA%20Camden&f=falsePA27 Billboard 31 Mar 1956]</ref> The New York City Symphony Orchestra, created by [[Leopold Stokowski]] in the 1940s, recorded for RCA Victor and some of its recordings were issuedreissued on Camden LPs under the name "Sutton Symphony Orchestra," not to be confused with a British orchestra with the same name.
===Later releases===
In 1960, RCA Victor launched the [[RCA Victrola]] budget label to reissue lower priced classical and operatic recordings drawn from the Red Seal catalog. With a few exceptions, RCA Camden ceased reissuing former Red Seal titles and began offering many more albums by RCA Victor's pop and country music artists.
In the mid 1950s, RCA Camden began releasing some [[rhythm & blues]] and, later, [[rock and roll]] recordings. In 1958, Camden released some albums in [[stereo]] and subsequently issued popular stereophonic recordings by the [[Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra]], [[The Living Strings]] and [[Living Voices]]. Camden also produced a "Designed for Dancing"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/label/315850-Designed-For-Dancing|title=Discogs Designed for Dancing discography|last=|first=|date=|website=Discogs|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=May 16, 2019}}</ref> series, with titles by [[Xavier Cugat]], [[Perez Prado]], and others.
In Canada, in addition to handling the U.S. releases on the label for the Canadian market, the RCA Camden Imprintimprint was also used to issue both current and compilation albums by RCA Victor Canada's country Artists. Country music wassold extremely popularwell in Canada , and RCA Camden issued a number of such albums unique to Canada that were never availablereleased in the United States. ▼
From 1968 to 1975, RCA Camden issued a series of compilation albums featuring recordings by [[Elvis Presley]], who recorded for the main RCA Victor label. These albums primarily consisted of repackagings of some of Presley's less popular 1960s-era movie soundtrack recordings ,; however severalsome albums, such as ''[[Elvis Sings Flaming Star]]'' also featured previously unreleased material, while another album, ''[[Let's Be Friends]]'' featured most of the soundtrack to Presley's final scripted film, ''[[Change of Habit]] .'' (1969). Two later compilations, ''[[Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2]]'' and ''[[Separate Ways (Elvis Presley album)|Separate Ways]]'' actually featured then-current chart hits for Presley, originally issued as singles on the RCA Victor label. The inclusion of these hit singles resulted in both Camden albums - which otherwise featured previously released and generally undistinguished movie and studio tracks - making the US charts. In 1975, RCA leased the reissue rights of several different Camden albums, including Presley's, to [[Pickwick Records]], which subsequently reissued mostseveral of them under its own branding. After Presley's sudden unexpected death in August, 1977, salesdemand offor his recordings skyrocketed; RCA backsoon catalogterminated werethe soreissue great,agreement RCAwith Pickwick primarily to regainedregain the rights to the Pickwick - leased recordingsPresley titles, and began reissuing and repackaging several of them again. ▼▲In Canada, in addition to handling the U.S. releases on the label for the Canadian market, the RCA Camden Imprint was also used to issue both current and compilation albums by RCA Victor Canada's country Artists. Country music was extremely popular in Canada, and RCA Camden issued a number of such albums that were never available in the United States.
During the early- to mid-1970s, as the popularity of RCA country artist [[Dolly Parton]], rapidly grew, RCA reissued much of her earlier material in a series of compilations on the Camden label to capitalize on her more recent success. ''[[Just the Way I Am]], [[Mine (Dolly Parton album)|Mine]], Just Because I'm a Woman'' (not to be confused with Parton's 1968 debut RCA Victor solo album of the same name), and '' I Wish I Felt This Way at Home'' were all issued between 1972 and 1976, and were largely made up of lesser known material Parton had recorded for RCA Victor during the late 1960s and early '70s. As with the Presley titles, RCA also leased the reissue rights to Parton's four Camden albums to Pickwick, which reissued the albums on their own label during the late 1970s. ▼▲From 1968 to 1975, RCA Camden issued a series of compilation albums featuring recordings by [[Elvis Presley]], who recorded for the main RCA Victor label. These albums primarily consisted of repackagings of Presley's 1960s-era movie soundtrack recordings, however several albums, such as ''[[Elvis Sings Flaming Star]]'' also featured previously unreleased material, while another album, ''[[Let's Be Friends]]'' featured most of the soundtrack to Presley's final scripted film, ''[[Change of Habit]].'' Two later compilations, ''[[Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2]]'' and ''[[Separate Ways (Elvis Presley album)|Separate Ways]]'' actually featured then-current chart hits for Presley, originally issued as singles on the RCA Victor label. The inclusion of these hit singles resulted in both Camden albums - which otherwise featured previously released and generally undistinguished movie and studio tracks - making the US charts. In 1975, RCA leased the reissue rights of several different Camden albums, including Presley's, to [[Pickwick Records]], which subsequently reissued most of them under its own branding. After Presley's sudden death in 1977, sales of his RCA back catalog were so great, RCA regained the rights to the Pickwick-leased recordings and began reissuing and repackaging several of them again.
The RCA Camden label continued well into the compact disc era, and was still active in the UK, Canada, Australia and several other countries until at least the early 2000s. Beginning in the late 1980s, RCA/BMG of Canada reissued several Camden albums on CD in the "RCA Camden Classics" series. [[Sony Music Entertainment]], the current owner of the RCA Victor archives, continues to reissue recordings originally issued on the RCA Camden label.
▲During the early- to mid-1970s, as the popularity of country artist [[Dolly Parton]], grew, RCA reissued much of her earlier material in a series of compilations on the Camden label to capitalize on her more recent success. ''[[Just the Way I Am]], [[Mine (Dolly Parton album)|Mine]], Just Because I'm a Woman'' (not to be confused with Parton's 1968 debut RCA Victor solo album of the same name), and'' I Wish I Felt This Way at Home'' were all issued between 1972 and 1976, and were largely made up of lesser known material Parton had recorded for RCA Victor during the late 1960s and early '70s. As with the Presley titles, RCA also leased the reissue rights to Parton's four Camden albums to Pickwick, which reissued the albums on their own label during the late 1970s.
The Camden label continued well into the compact disc era and was still active in Canada, Australia, the UK and other countries until at least the early 2000s.
==Promotional material==
From the liner notes of several 1957-58 Camden releases:
{{cquote|'''How This Record Bargain Is Possible'''
There are certain similarities between RCA Camden Records and paperback reprints of great books. In both instances works of merit are reissued in lower priced editions.
There are also many differences between the two: a paperback book is printed in smaller, less readable type on paper inferior to that used in the original. In the case of RCA Camden the sound characteristics are vastly improved over the original RCA Victor edition. Instead of using inferior material RCA Camden uses the very same compound used in present-day RCA Victor "Red Seal" Records.
Where, then, is the economy? The highest cost in the production of a record is the recording cost- the cost of paying the musicians, arrangers, etc. In the case of RCA Camden Records this cost has been liquidated due to the successful sale of the record on the RCA Victor label. Mr. G[eorge]. R. Marek [Vice-President and General Manager of RCA Victor Records at the time], in his statement on this jacket, points out another economy: artists' willingness to accept a lower royalty rate so that their works may reach a wider audience.
Other things make RCA Camden Records a bargain. The same engineers, the same skilled factory technicians, the same Artists and Repertoire experts who produce records by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Perry Como, Harry Belafonte and Elvis Presley employ their skills and experience in the production of RCA Camden Records.
At the [[Sarnoff Corporation|David Sarnoff Research Center]] in Princeton, New Jersey, a program of research into techniques to improve the sound of all RCA records is continually in progress. RCA Camden has the fruits of this research at its disposal. This is an advantage that few high-priced and no other low-priced records can offer.}}
RCA Victor also used a modified and shorter version of this statement in the liner notes of early releases on the [[RCA Victrola]] label.
==See also==
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090131203907/http://forbiddeneye.com/labels/rcacamden.html RCA Camden Discography]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:American record labels]]
[[Category:RCA Records]]
[[Category:1953 establishments in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Entertainment companies based in California]]
[[Category:Companies based in San Francisco]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1953]]
| 