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Sterno records were a product of the British Homophone Company between 1926 and 1935. They were named after
William Sternberg whose company had already been selling gramophones under the
trade name "Sterno" for some years.
The first Sterno records (see first picture) are now extremely rare.They were recorded and pressed by The Gramophone Company (of HMV fame!) and are a quality product, with most dance records being by a studio band directed by Bert Firman, and well recorded electrically, too. As far as is known, all of these first Sternos were also issued on Homochord too. The catalogue numbers started at S-101, and ran until about S-168 (the highest listed in Rust & Forbes' "British Dance Bands On Record"), so they were only around from about July 1926 until October 1926. As I said before, they are very rare and more information on them would be gratefully received. The second (and more permanent) appearance of Sterno records was in 1928 (see second label). These were recorded & pressed by Pathe and, whilst possessing generally fine smooth surfaces, suffer from Pathe's rather boomy recordings, though they vary - some are shrill and tinny instead!. The musical director at Sterno was Charles "Nat" Star and he used virtually the same musicians as Stan Greening at Columbia and Harry Bidgood at Vocalion. In fact both Greening & Bidgood took part in may of Star's sessions. The band played mainly stock arrangements in a rather old-fashioned manner, but the records were cheap and sold well. From 1929, Homophone recorded & pressed their own records. Interestingly, the recording quality was generally worse. The label was changed to state "Electrically Recorded", but the sound was almost acoustic, being often thin and distant. Things improved over the next couple of years, and some "name" bands (as opposed to Nat Star's studio band under several pseudonyms) appeared, albeit second or third string ones, such as Bertini and Tommy Kinsman. In 1932 the final label was introduced, with a strobe around the edge. Soon there were many more name bands: Charlie Kunz, Oscar Rabin, Syd Lipton, Ray Starita. Sterno really gave the big boys a run for their money. The problem was limited availability, as the records were only available at Marks & Spencer's. Also, although the recordings had improved, the surfaces were usually very gritty and there was often a "rumble" audible. Billy Merrin was probably the last name band to join, but it was too late; in June 1935 HMV & Decca jointly bought the entire record side of the company. With only a few currently known exceptions, all Sterno recordings are of British or Continental origin. As far as dance records are concerned, only 2 using American masters have been reported, but as no comprehensive list of Sternos has been produced, others may turn up yet. The two known ones are: Sterno 109 Unlucky Blues by Palace Trio (issued as by Novelty Four). Rec'd 1920 Sterno 105 Sonny Boy by Arthur Lange's Orch ditto Old Man Sunshine by Texas Ten (possibly a Sam Lanin group in this case.) (Note: Only some issues of 105 use the U.S. masters. All are labelled as by Bert Madison's Dance Orchestra, a pseudonym for the English studio band directed by Nat Star.) There are other (non-dance) Sternos which, like 109 above, use pre-electric Homochord masters. The catalogue numbers of the red Sterno label started at 101 and ran until the early 1600s. Towards the end there were 6-minute 10" Sternos with a magenta label rather than red. It was short lived, and very little in the way of dance records appeared on it. (see left). The catalogue numbers were in a 5000 series. This series obviously replaced the popular "4 in 1" label (q.v.) |
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