An obvious question: "this is such an important topic, why hasn't it been done before?"

You're certainly a superlative choice for the job (given your knowledge of the history of recordings), and this is such a good article that I'm going to have to read it more leisurely and comment then.

In the meantime, have you considered an overview of the singles during Williams' lifetime (78's of course, and I think there are a few 45's, and maybe some ep;s)?