Think of old 78 rpm records, and — if you know anything about them — you probably envision old Tin Pan Alley singers, ragtime bands or other early Americana that hasn’t aged all that well. But those styles were only part of what got documented in the early years of recorded music, a fact demonstrated wonderfully by a new release called Victrola Favorites ($48.97). On two CDs, the set’s curators offer rare records from around the world: Congo to Japan, Egypt to the American South. The compilation flows surprisingly well, considering how, say, a Oaxacan percussion performance is likely to lead into a trilling cowboy yodel. Within the span of 10 minutes, you can hear the bells of Big Ben, a blues shouter’s description of Christ’s crucifixion, and a Portuguese account of the Tower of Babel. It’s one discovery after another; even hardcore music buffs may only recognize one or two of the 48 artists here (early jazz bandleader Don Redman, for instance, or bluesman Blind Boy Fuller). And if the aural overload isn’t enough, the set’s packaging is similarly rich: It’s bound in a red hardback book full of photos of the colorful labels affixed to the original records, the picture sleeves in which they were wrapped, and the illustrations that advertised them, nearly a century ago, to the very first record collectors.