deathbed.” James Joyce, somewhat later, did better. He made 
Finnegans Wake  a tone poem that condensed in a single 
sentence all the prattlings, exultations, observations, and 
remorse of the entire human race. He could not have conceived 
this work in any other age than the one that produced the 
phonograph and the radio.

     It was radio that finally injected a full electric charge into 
the world of the phonograph. The radio receiver of 1924 was 
already superior in sound quality, and soon began to depress 
the phonograph and record business. Eventually, radio restored 
the record business by extending popular taste in the direction 
of the classics.

     The real break came after the Second War with the 
availability of the tape recorder. This meant the end of the