Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

 A trifle? Maybe. A rare successful visit to the sound of the 1890s? Definitely. You can find recordings of “After the Ball” or “Sweet Rosie O’Grady,” but they’re more often historical documents than recordings that can be enjoyed. These sparkling performances (see especially “On the Sidewalks New York”) give these old “popular waltzes” back the luster they must have once had. “After the Ball,” the biggest smash of the ‘90s, is generally thought to have changed the American music industry forever. Without recordings like this, it might be hard to imagine why.