RCA UK Album Discography: 27000 series (1)

RCA is a company worthy of salutations, for it invented the 45 RPM record in 1949. The roots of the company lie in the formation of the Consolidated Talking Machine Company, of Philadelphia, Pa., by Eldridge R. Johnson. To begin with, Johnson issued records on his 'Improved Gram-O-Phone Record' label. After a court battle with a rival, from which he emerged successful, he incorporated the company as 'Victor'; this was in 1901. He joined forces with Emile Berliner, and in 1902 their new Victor label acquired its now-famous 'His Master's Voice' trademark - the one with the dog looking down the horn of one of Berliner's gramophones. Victor gained a reputation for quality in recording (a) in terms of music and (b) in terms of technique. The company was sold to bankers Seligman & Speyer in 1926; in 1929 it was sold again, this time to the Radio Corporation of America, later known to most everyone as RCA.

In Britain in 1931, RCA's British branch, the Gramophone Company (HMV), merged with Parlophone and Columbia to form Electrical and Musical Industries. RCA sold its shares in the new company in 1935. Its products kept appearing on the HMV label for several years after the sale, however, causing quite the commotion in looking for early HMV LPs even amongst record collectors.

In 1957, it was announced that after 55 years, RCA Victor had ceased to have an active association with EMI in favor of having one with its main rival Decca Records. This made EMI very, very bitter, and was one of the reasons why Capitol Records was owned by EMI since that time. In signing the deal with Decca, RCA encountered a problem: EMI had owned the rights to the Nipper trademark in the UK for so long, that they couldn't even use Nipper in the UK!! Instead, early UK RCA albums were graced with their ''lightning bolt'' logo which RCA used intermittently here in the States. Initially (1957) these albums used simply the RCA name, but later (1962) they used the full RCA Victor name.

RCA ironically found luck in England during its first year with Decca with its biggest selling new star of that period, Elvis Presley. His string of hits on the HMV label ranged from, of course, ''Heartbreak Hotel'' which hit #2 on the singles charts, to "Love Me Tender", which hit #11 on said charts. Elvis' work moved with RCA to Decca; out of the four chart-topping hits Elvis had here in the states during 1957, there were two that saw him, for the first time, also become a chart-topper in England: "All Shook Up" and the theme from "Jailhouse Rock", the latter of which was the first film that actually had a leading role for the man who would be King; surprisingly, Elvis himself really loathed that term.

All albums in this series are in mono and have the black label with the RCA lightning bold logo atop as well as the insignia ''33'' below. I have indicated in the discography if a particular record is from a subsidiary of RCA Victor's, instead of RCA Victor itself, to avoid redundancy. The approach taken here is the product of intense research skills I've taken.

RD-27001 - An Evening With Belafonte - Harry Belafonte - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1402.
RD-27002 - Let's Cha Cha With - Tito Puente And His Orchestra - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1392
RD-27003 - A Night At The Copacabana With - Tony Martin - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1357.
RD-27004
RD-27005 - One Night In Venice - Armando Trovajoli - 1957 British equivalent of RCA Italiana A12P 0015, titled ''Una Notte A Venezia''
RD-27006 - Jazz Flamenco - Lionel Hampton And His Orchestra - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1422.
RD-27007
RD-27008 - La Boutique Fantasque / The Sorcerer's Apprentice / Divertissement - Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops - 1957 British equivalent of Red Seal LM 2084
RD-27009
RD-27010
RD-27011 - Down Yonder - Del Wood - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1129.
RD-27012
RD-27013 - Hi-FIve - Red Norvo Quintet - 1957 British equivalent of LPM 1420.
RD-27014
RD-27015
RD-27016 - 25 Favorite Cowboy Songs - Sons of the Pioneers - 1957 British equivalent of LPM 1130.
RD-27017
RD-27018 - Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers - Shorty Rogers and His Giants - 1957 British equivalent of LPM 1428.
RD-27019
RD-27020
RD-27021 - Lena Horne At The Waldorf Astoria - 1957 British equivalent of LOC-1028.
RD-27022
RD-27023
RD-27024 - 29 Strings And Then Some - Armengol And His Orchestra - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1457.
RD-27025
RD-27026 - The Spirit Of St. Louis - Franz Waxman - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1472
RD-27027
RD-27028
RD-27029 - Hawaiian Guitar - The Stars Of Hawaii Orchestra - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1384. Interesting RCA venture into Hawaii 2-3 years before it officially became part of the Union (it still is!).
RD-27030
RD-27031
RD-27032
RD-27033 - Gisele MacKenzie - 1957 British equivalent of Vik LX 1055. Canadian-American vocalist was a featured vocalist on YOUR HIT PARADE, and had her own show during the 1957-58 TV season in the US.
RD-27034
RD-27035 - We Get Letters - Perry Como - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1463. This is an album of requests from Como's television show of the era, but forgoes the usual big-band sound of Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and the Ray Charles Singers for a small group known as "Como's little Combo", with soft, breezy jazz arrangements.
RD-27036
RD-27037
RD-27038
RD-27039
RD-27040 - Dreaming - Reg Owen And His Orchestra - 1957
RD-27041
RD-27042 - Girl Of My Dreams - Ronald Binge & His Orchestra ‎- 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1458.
RD-27043
RD-27044
RD-27045 - Ride, Red, Ride In Hi-Fi - Henry "Red" Allen's All Stars - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1509.
RD-27046 - Latin Satin - Perez Prado And His Orchestra - 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1459.
RD-27047 - "Fats" 1935-37 - Fats Waller - 1958
RD-27048 - Classical Music For People Who Don't Know Anything About Classical Music - Robert Russell Bennett - 1958 British equivalent of Red Seal LM 2140.
RD-27049
RD-27050
RD-27051
RD-27052 - Elvis' Christmas Album - Elvis Presley - 1957 British equivalent of LOC-1035.
RD-27053 - Highland Pageantry - The Regimental Band And Pipes And Drums Of The Black Watch - Royal Highland Regiment - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1525.
RD-27054
RD-27055 - The New Glenn Miller Orchestra In Hi Fi - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1522.
RD-27056
RD-27057 - The Glenn Miller Carnegie Hall Concert - 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1506.
RD-27058
RD-27059
RD-27060 - The Band Of The Coldstream Guards - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1480.
RD-27061 - The Lass With The Delicate Air - Julie Andrews - 1957 British equivalent of LPM-1403.
RD-27062
RD-27063 - Stormy Weather - Lena Horne - 1957 British equivalent of LPM 1375
RD-27064
RD-27065 - Any Old Time - Artie Shaw And His Orchestra ‎- 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1570.
RD-27066 - Let's Dance With The Three Suns - 1958 British equivalent of LPM/LSP-1578.
RD-27067 - That Bad Eartha - Eartha Kitt - 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1183.
RD-27068 - Glenn Miller Plays Selections From "The Glenn Miller Story" And Other Hits - 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1192.
RD-27069 - Frankie And Tommy - Frank Sinatra With Tommy Dorsey And His Orchestra - 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1569. Presumably issued to compete with Frank's then-new Capitol LP ''Come Fly with Me'', this highlights recordings made during Frank's early career as a featured singer in the Dorsey orchestra. The historical footnote here is that this was the first time said recordings had ever been put on an LP.
RD-27070 - We Get Letters Volume 2 - Perry Como - 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1085, titled ''So Smooth''. The OP thinks that the title might also have been inspired by the UK success of the album ''We Got Letters''; he has the British LP.
RD-27071 - Pops Caviar - Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops - 1958 British equivalent of LM-2202.
RD-27072 - Holding Hands At Midnight - Dinah Shore - 1958 British equivalent of LPM 1154.
RD-27073
RD-27074 - Carmen Jones - Georges Bizet - 1958 British equivalents of Red Seal LM-1881 and HMV CLP 1034.
RD-27075 - Young Bing Crosby - Bing Crosby - 1958; OP does not know what the US counterpart of this was titled. A-side: I'm Coming Virginia/Ol' Man River/That's Grandma/Thanks To You/I'm Gonna Get You/Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams. B-side: The Little Things In Life/One More Time/Them There Eyes/Fool Me Some More/Ho Hum!/It Must Be True.
RD-27076 - St. Louis Blues - Eartha Kitt - 1958 British equivalent of LPM/LSP-1661.
RD-27077
RD-27078 - Saturday Night with Mr. C - Perry Como - 1958 British equivalent of LPM/LSP-1971.
RD-27079
RD-27080
RD-27081 - Music For Dining - Melachrino Strings - 1958 British equivalent to LPM-1000.
RD-27082 - Perry Como sings Merry Christmas music - 1958 British equivalent of LPM 1243.
RD-27083
RD-27084 - Down To Eartha - Eartha Kitt - 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1109.
RD-27085
RD-27086
RD-27087
RD-27088 - King Creole - Elvis Presley - 1958 British equivalent to LPM 1884.
RD-27089 - Dancing With The Smart Set - Meyer Davis and his Orchestra - 1958
RD-27090 - The Marvelous Miller Medleys - Glenn Miller - 1958 British equivalent to LOP-1005.
RD-27091
RD-27092 - To Wish You A Merry Christmas - Harry Belafonte - 1958 British equivalent of LPM/LSP-1887
RD-27093 - Memories Of Goodman And Miller - Sauter-Finegan - 1958 British equivalent of LPM/LSP-1634
RD-27094
RD-27095 - Belafonte Sings The Blues - Harry Belafonte - 1958 British equivalent of LPM/LSP-1972.
RD-27096 - Marvelous Miller Moods - Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band - 1958 British equivalent of LPM-1494.
RD-27097 - Songs From The Motion Picture Gigi - 1958 British equivalent of LPM/LSP-1716. Features Gogi Grant, Toni Martin, and Dennis Farnon's Orchestra.
RD-27098 - Give The Lady What She Wants - Lena Horne - 1958 British equivalent of LPM/LSP-1879.
RD-27099 - Thursday's Child - Eartha Kitt With Henri René And His Orchestra - 1958 British equivalent of both LPM-1300 and HMV CLP 1104.

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