'A Vucchella (A Sweet Mouth) - direct transfer from original 78

I was able to in 1982 have a nice conversation with Enrico Caruso Jr. He was around 80 years old at the time, and rather soft spoken. But he recalled to me when he went with his father to the recording studio. Some of this is in the book that came out on his father in late 1980's

He said he was a young teenager and went with his father to Camden to make some recordings for the Victor. Funny how people called it just Victor. Not Victor Company...Just recording for the Victor. They went upstairs in Bld 15 and the recording engineers showed off the equipment. He said it made little sense to him, but it was nice to see. he mentioned the various horns that would go to the orchestra and to the vocalist. One of the songs Enrico Jr recalled was A Vucchella. He also said thet there was at least an hours work before the recording started. For there needed to be test recordings for the mix and blend of the orchestra. He said it was warm in there. I remember him saying "My father was in a jacket and tie when he arrived there. By the time he made the recording he was sweating and off came the jacket and tie" One thing I always remember that he mentioned also was how his fathers voice just floated around the room. It seemed to have been like a separate being. That was given life by his father. He said it was uncanny to hear and sadly that is not picked up at all by the recording system. Although this record is a well recorded one for the time. It missed a lot of what was going on in that room. The last thing Caruso did when he finished singing the last notes of the song. He blew a kiss into the recording horn. Since Enrico Jr. Only saw his father in the studio once, I am not sure if this was a general practice of his? Who will know. But it is nice for everyone that Caruso blew a kiss for posterity on the end of the that recording.

I only spoke to Enrico Jr once, and it was on the phone. He was living in Florida and passed away 3 years later.