I couldn't disagree more with the statements of Matthew Caulfield.
I just have to laugh at the comments he made about the writers of
the liner notes for the Sextrola LP.  I want to challenge him on his
remarks.

The North Tonawanda Sextrola was issued in the year 1908.  Would you
rather advertise a recording of a machine that was issued in the early
1900's by the period of which it was originally available, or would you
go for the more marketable appeal of sex and introduce that mood in the
selection of the songs and give the LP a title that referred to sex,
like "Redlight Special 1908"?  Next, introduce a story in the liner
notes about how the machine was used in a brothel and you have a money
making item.

If you wanted the complete history, you could have just said that the
machine was found in a barn after many years of neglect.  That's the
truth.

Which would you use if you were trying to sell a product?  You could
have boring facts about the machine or have something that would help
put some cash in your pocket.  I know which I would choose if I was in
business to sell music.  I guess selling hundreds of thousands of LP
records kinda shows they knew what they were doing.

To say the people who wrote these liners didn't have the knowledge of
the machines is just total bunk.  I doubt they could have had a world
class collection over the years if they didn't know anything.  These
LP's were made to sell to the general public and not experts in the
field of mechanical music.

I am sure after many years of fooling with machines and rolls you
get caught up in a certain way of thinking.  It will be hard to look
at something as charming as a sex-themed LP and think it was stupid
because it didn't have every factual detail included.  Most of these
details the average record buyer could care less about.  You ask the
question, "I wonder what he would make of people like me who are
Sexagenarians?   I am sure he would answer by saying, "Don't worry,
it's never too late to learn."

Chris Carlisle
Sikeston, Missouri