2013 two CD collection. When American Federation of Musicians boss James C Petrillo announced a cessation of recording activity effective at one second past midnight on 1 January 1948, to try to force record companies to pay musicians a royalty rather than a session fee, the labels went to great lengths to ensure that they did not get caught out as they had been in 1942, when the first Petrillo ban came into effect. Recording studios rocked around the clock as labels stockpiled material that could be released during the 1948 ban. In Los Angeles, Modern Records was cutting acetates as fast as they could book studio time. Beating the Ban offers a fascinating window on Modern's recording activity in the time immediately leading up to the ban. It features some of the biggest names of Modern's early years, all vying to ensure that they would have enough masters on tap to cover any period of recording inactivity. In addition to 50 great late 40s recordings, the two CDs preserve all existing fragments of session chatter from the sessions, which really puts the listener in the studio with the artists. Ace Records.