I don't remember why I discarded the Christmas Songs and Stories LP jacket, but I seem to recall a bad patch of mildew on the liner-notes side. At any rate, it's gone. There's a nice scan here, though.
The label doesn't identify any of the artists (neither does the jacket, memory tells me), but I've i.d.'d The Crew-Cuts (Twinkletoes, Dance Mr. Snowman Dance) and Eddy Howard (Uncle Misteltoe, Rudolph the Red Nose (sic) Reindeer). Dance Mr. Snowman and Uncle Mistletoe have both appeared at Ernie (Not Bert) in 45 rpm editions, along with a version by The Three Suns. I'm a little too woozy (from a sinus infection) to make title links that work, so just enter the titles into Ernie's Search Blog box (upper left-hand corner) when you go there. (UPDATE: I've filled in the artist information by looking up the original discs at eBay and elsewhere. Unfortunately, nowhere can I find discographical data for Childcraft or Playcraft. Kiddie labels don't get no respect!)
Lost in HTML--it's spooky when that happens.
This is nice kiddie fare in (mostly) nice fidelity. I think you'll enjoy. And if anyone can identify the narrator on A Christmas Carol and The Christmas Tree, please let me know. I find the voice very Claude-Raines-ish. (UPDATE: It's him, all right!) After checking Mercury discographies and doing various phrase-combination searches, I come up with nothing for a Mercury label version of Christmas Carol. That doesn't mean the info isn't hiding out there someplace, cyber-wise.
Click here for zip file: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE
SLEIGHLIST FOR CHRISTMAS SONGS & STORIES (Childcraft/Wing CLP-1213)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL, PART 1--Probably Claude Raines, w. Hugo Peretti O., Cho.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL, PART 2--Same.
THE CHRISTMAS TREE, Part 1--Claude Raines, w. Hugo Peretti O. and Cho.
THE CHRISTMAS TREE, Part 2--Same
ADESTE FIDELIS--O, LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM--Hugo Peretti O., w. The Caroleers
HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING--SILENT NIGHT--Hugo Peretti O., w. The Caroleers
JINGLE BELLS--WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS--Hugo Peretti O. w. The Caroleers
CAROL OF THE BELLS--THE FIRST NOEL--Hugo Peretti O., Caroleers
GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN--GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO--Hugo Peretti O., Caroleers
JOLLY OLD ST. NICHOLAS--DECK THE HALLS--Hugo Peretti O. w. The Caroleers
TWINKLETOES--The Crew-Cuts, 1954.
DANCE MR. SNOWMAN DANCE--The Crew-Cuts, 1954.
UNCLE MISTLETOE--Eddy Howard and His Orch., 1949
RUDOLPH THE RED NOSE (sic) REINDEER--Eddy Howard and His Orch., 1950.
Happy Christmas holidays! I mean, Merry Holidays! Er, I mean, Happy... something. The big day coming up.
Lee
6 comments:
I'm a great follower of your blog, beacuse of the great sound you extract from the old 78's and the Bacharach gems you bring us like Priscilla Wright's I need you.
Tahnk you
This is great Lee! Thanks! Do you think this predates the singles, or does it collect up those singles for the kiddie market?
PS-I shared out that Eddy Howard side Here:
http://ernienotbert.blogspot.com/2007/12/26-days-of-christmas-day-10.html
Peleon,
My pleasure. Thanks for the kind words!
Ernie.
It may be contemporary with the Crew Cuts records, but I'm guessing it came out a few years later. Lacking any disc. info for Playcraft (singles) or Childcraft (LP), I have no way to know, but the LP *looks* late '50s. The Howard sides are 1949 and 1950, so we know it postdates those.
It has the look of a slapped together LP, and of course it's all the better for that!
I've located most of the Playcraft label singles (at eBay) collected on this disc, save for Christmas Carol, and I'm guessing they predate this by several years. The one I can't find is Christmas Carol, but since it's Claude Raines for sure on The Christmas Tree, it must be him on Carol. Same voice.
I'd found your links, but for some unknown reason, I just couldn't insert them properly in HTML, and I was afraid of messing up the text beyond repair. It's like getting fumble-fingered at the keyboard--it's best to leave things be.
I'll lose my link-insertion license out of this, probably.
Check out the updated artist info. I can't believe I found it all....
By the way, how many "Caroleers" were there?? They sure got around the various studios.
I know a place where kiddie records get their due respect. Kiddie Records Weekly, which is coming back for a fourth year! Check it out!
http://www.kiddierecords.com/
Thank you for making this available. The version of "Dance Mr. Snowman Dance" is of better quality than the one I had. I remember this album from my childhood, but like many budget label children's records of the 50s and 60s, it has never been made available on cd. By the way, Childcraft was, I believe, the children's label of Wing, which in turn was a budget label of Mercury Records (the Crew Cuts' original label) Merry Christmas!
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