The Library of Congress has made 50 new choices for the nation’s Sound Recording Registry. The 2004 list, announced today (March 19), includes some of rock, pop and R&B’s most-cherished albums, including Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On?,” Carole King’s “Tapestry,” Johnny Cash’s “At Folsom Prison” and the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
The new selections join 50 prior titles that launched the registry last year.
Nominations for the registry come from members of the public as well as from the National Recording Preservation Board, which is composed of leaders in the fields of music, recorded sound and preservation. The Board also helps with the review of nominations.
Under the terms of the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the recordings selected must be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”
Also newly added are recordings by music greats such as Marion Anderson, Robert Johnson, Vivaldi, Richard Wagner, Charles Mingus and Benny Goodman, plus great historical moments such as William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech and John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s inaugural address.
For a list of all 50 recordings, visit the Library of Congress’ Web site.
