Saturday, April 12, 2025

2025 NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY

The National Recording Registry has just selected the latest twenty-five sound recordings inducted with the goal each year to highlight what it calls "the range and diversity of the American recorded sound heritage". Some of the recordings that have been honored include the debut albums of the pop-rock group, Chicago and the '80's folk musician, Tracy Chapman; the jazz legend, Miles Davis and his experimentation with electric instruments on "Bitches Brew" that became his very first gold album; "My Heart Will Go On", the love ballad from one of the biggest box-office movie hits of all-time, "Titanic" sung by Celine Dion; the recording of the jazz classic, "Sweet Georgia Brown" by Brother Bones and His Shadows which would later become the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team; the original Broadway cast album of the hip-hop flavored biography of the first US Secretary of the Treasury, "Hamilton"; "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", an album considered by many to be the masterpiece of Elton John's recording career; "Happy Trails", the popular theme song for "The Roy Rogers Show" on radio and television written and sung by Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans; Helen Reddy's enduring feminist anthem for the women's liberation movement, "I Am Woman"; and "Back To Black", the breakout hit album by the late British pop vocalist, Amy Winehouse.

The Registry is an extension of the passage by Congress in 2000 of the National Recording Preservation Act. Since 2002, the Library of Congress oversees the selection of 25 recordings, which must be at least 10 years old at the time of induction, and deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". This latest group brings the total number of recordings in the registry to 650.

Here is the complete list of the twenty-five selections entered into the 2025 National Recording Registry:

"Aloha ‘Oe" - Hawaiian Quintette (1913) (single)
"Sweet Georgia Brown" - Brother Bones & His Shadows (1949) (single)



"Happy Trails" - Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (1952) (single)



Radio Broadcast: "Game 7 of the 1960 World Series" - Chuck Thompson (1960)
Harry Urata Field Recordings (1960-1980)
"Hello Dummy" - Don Rickles (1968) (album)
"Chicago Transit Authority" - Chicago (1969) (album)



"Bitches Brew" - Miles Davis (1970) (album)



"Kiss An Angel Good Mornin" - Charley Pride (1971) (single)
"I Am Woman" - Helen Reddy (1972) (single)



"El Rey" - Vincente Fernandez (1973) (single)
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - Elton John (1973) (album)
"Before the Next Teardrop Falls" - Freddy Fender (1975) (single)



"I’ve Got The Music In Me" - Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker (1975) (album)
"The Kӧln Concert" - Keith Jarrett (1975) (album)
"Fly Like An Eagle" - Steve Miller Band (1976) (album)



Nimrod Workman Collection (1973-1994)
"Tracy Chapman" - Tracy Chapman (1988) (album)
"My Life" - Mary J. Blige (1994) (album)



"Microsoft Windows Reboot Chime" - Brian Eno (1995)
"My Heart Will Go On" - Celine Dion (1997) (single)
"Our American Journey" - Chanticleer (2002) (album)
"Back to Black" - Amy Winehouse (2006) (album)



"Minecraft: Volume Alpha" - Daniel Rosenfeld (2011) (album)
"Hamilton" - Original Broadway Cast Album (2015) (album)

2025 NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY

The National Recording Registry has just selected the latest twenty-five sound recordings inducted with the goal each year to highlight wha...