In an absolutely wonderful piece of timing, Savefile.com has crashed. It's been down since yesterday (Christmas Eve). This is why I uploaded the last few files to Box.net.
My apologies. All we can do is hope Savefile will return soon. Of course, there's no way to find out what's happening without being able to get to the site--that's always the catch, of course.
Sorry about that.
UPDATE: This is a.m. between Saturday and Sunday, and Savefile is back up... but it's not accepting uploads. I haven't tested yet to see if downloads are possible.
They're back to some extent, anyway.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Mervmas!
Click here to reach zip file: ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE
SLEIGHLIST
CHRISTMAS CITY (Don Peterson) THE SONG OF THE CHRISTMAS CITY (Peterson)--With Maureen Reynolds. SLEIGH RIDE--With Freddy Martin and His Orch., 1950. CHRISTMAS TIME--With Freddy Martin, 1950. MERRY CHRISTMAS POLKA--With Freddy Martin, 1949.
Lee
Katherine K. Davis: Carol of the Drum, As It Fell Upon a Night, and Swedish Dance Carol
Katherine K. Davis is best known for her Christmas song Carol of the Drum (a.k.a. The Little Drummer Boy). Except to the degree that the song is falsely credited to Harry Simeone, who swiped it in 1958, or even (in a Wikipedia entry) Henry Onorati. This is why many people, when Ms. Davis is mentioned, respond "Katherine who?"
Isn't life grand? Write one of the most famous Christmas numbers, and don't count on anyone 1) knowing your name, or 2) knowing what you originally called the thing. At least Katherine made a lot of money. That is, I think. I hope.
What we have in this zip file are four recordings of Carol of the Drum, beginning with The Trapp Family Singer's wonderful 1952 performance and moving on to three 1957 recordings. (Actually, Box ordered the titles to its liking....) As you listen to these, keep in mind that the song had yet to be recorded by Harry Simeone and retitled The Little Drummer Boy.
Davis wrote this in 1941, by the way. See an image of the original manuscript here: Wellesley College Music Library Special Collections. Notice how the Trapp Family Singers deviate from the score with three-part (vice duet) harmony. I wish others had followed their lead (sheet?).
And we have two more numbers by Davis--As It Fell Upon a Night and Swedish Dance Carol, both by the Testor Chorus, 1957. The lady was talented.
ZIP FILE NO LONGER AVAILABLE
SLEIGHLIST
As It Fell Upon a Night--Testor Chorus, 1957.
Carol of the Drum--Jack Halloran Singers, 1957.
Carol of the Drum--St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir, 1957.
Carol of the Drum--Testor Chorus, 1957.
Carol of the Drum--Trapp Family Singers, 1952.
Swedish Dance Carol--Testor Chorus, 1957.
Lee
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
More on the Inland Children's Chorus
I had the pleasure of hearing from Gerald A. Alred, a professor in the Dept. of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and an original member of the Inland Children's Chorus.
Gerald wrote, "I was a member of the Inland Children's Chorus from 1951-1959. My cousin was in the Chorus 10 years earlier. I have many records, programs, and photos. The Chorus was an amazing experience for me and delighted audiences with the precision of the 8-16 year old children and the challenging music. It was an important experience in my life and I learned many lessons about hard work and dedication to a project."
At his website, Jerry has posted a WAV file of Inland Chorus performing a terrific arrangement of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. You can listen to this file at the site or download it by right-clicking on the link. (Remember--it's a WAV file, and therefore fairly large, though my download took all of three minutes.) I highly recommend giving it a listen.
Hearing from Jerry helped make my Christmas, especially in the light of such downers as the way-cold weather (which has suddenly jumped back into the 50s!!) and the effects of a new blood pressure med on my person. Can you say dizzy, woozy, and needing water every 30 minutes or so? I could, but it would come out sounding slurred.
Oh, and we've had to do two vet runs this week. And the doorknob fell off the kitchen door, which was only a matter of putting a screw back in place. Still, I accidentally shut the door and had to go around through the back porch to open it. And (let's see), a few days ago, I cut a window ledge tile backwards when I forgot to turn the paper template over. That is to say, everything was fine, except the sticky side was up. Hello. But the recut version looks awesome. I've finally gotten good at cutting tiles.
We have a cool-looking tree perfectly in place (which Perry loves to regularly christen), with LED lights covering its person. And, in an early gift exchange with friends, Bev got a Crazy Cat Lady game and I got an Angry Mob playset.
In all, a wonderful holiday season. Through my diuretically-induced dizziness, I feel good.
Just thought I'd catch everyone up on the life of Lee and Bev. And I hope everyone's having the finest possible holiday. And I do mean everyone--as in, all the humans spinning through space on this teeny-tiny (but very lively) globe.
Lee
Gerald wrote, "I was a member of the Inland Children's Chorus from 1951-1959. My cousin was in the Chorus 10 years earlier. I have many records, programs, and photos. The Chorus was an amazing experience for me and delighted audiences with the precision of the 8-16 year old children and the challenging music. It was an important experience in my life and I learned many lessons about hard work and dedication to a project."
At his website, Jerry has posted a WAV file of Inland Chorus performing a terrific arrangement of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. You can listen to this file at the site or download it by right-clicking on the link. (Remember--it's a WAV file, and therefore fairly large, though my download took all of three minutes.) I highly recommend giving it a listen.
Hearing from Jerry helped make my Christmas, especially in the light of such downers as the way-cold weather (which has suddenly jumped back into the 50s!!) and the effects of a new blood pressure med on my person. Can you say dizzy, woozy, and needing water every 30 minutes or so? I could, but it would come out sounding slurred.
Oh, and we've had to do two vet runs this week. And the doorknob fell off the kitchen door, which was only a matter of putting a screw back in place. Still, I accidentally shut the door and had to go around through the back porch to open it. And (let's see), a few days ago, I cut a window ledge tile backwards when I forgot to turn the paper template over. That is to say, everything was fine, except the sticky side was up. Hello. But the recut version looks awesome. I've finally gotten good at cutting tiles.
We have a cool-looking tree perfectly in place (which Perry loves to regularly christen), with LED lights covering its person. And, in an early gift exchange with friends, Bev got a Crazy Cat Lady game and I got an Angry Mob playset.
In all, a wonderful holiday season. Through my diuretically-induced dizziness, I feel good.
Just thought I'd catch everyone up on the life of Lee and Bev. And I hope everyone's having the finest possible holiday. And I do mean everyone--as in, all the humans spinning through space on this teeny-tiny (but very lively) globe.
Lee
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Merry Shellacmas, Part 2!
Listening to some of the mp3 files from my last batch of Christmas 78 rips (Merry Shellacmas, Part 1!), I was disappointed by the sound quality, both in terms of detail and noise filtering. Listening, though, to the original WAV-file versions, I noticed that everything sounded much better--more detailed, less noisy.
This is the opposite of conventional wisdom, which holds that dynamic balance, detail, rate of sampling, etc. shouldn't matter much for low-fidelity media like 78s, that an mp3 version of a 78 should sound just as good (bad?) as the WAV edition. But, somehow, the difference between mp3 and WAV quality is pretty dramatic with 78 rpm rips. I don't know why, but it's a fact.
Now that you know that, I'm sure you're eager to hear this second zip file of mp3s. And well you should be--the goodies include the Temple Carol Singers from 1912, The New Temple Quartette of 1926, The Collegiate Choir, an unidentified German Christmas chorus with orch. and chimes (unless the German credit i.d.'s them--dunno), David Rose, a few others, and... an accidental repeat of the International Concert Orch. (with pipe organ) performing Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, that great novelty piece composed by German composer Leon Jessel, a Jew who died in 1942 at the hands of the Nazis.
On that sad note, it's time to give a listen to these happy, straight-from-shellac holiday classics, even if the WAV versions sound better:
Merry Shellacmas, Part 2!
SLEIGHLIST
VOM HIMMEL HOCH--German--Christmas chorus w. orch. and chimes, 1918.
O DU FROHLICHE (Oh How Joyfully)--Same.
WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED-The Temple Carol Singers, 1912.
THE FIRST NOEL--Same.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS--Collegiate Choir, 1924.
DAY OF THE LORD--Criterion Q., w. Brass Choir, 1924.
GOOD CHRISTIAN MEN, REJOICE--New Temple Quartette, 1926.
O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL--Same, 1926.
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT HARLEY FISK--METROPOLITAN LIFE INS. CO., 1923.
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT--Metropoliltan Life Ins. Co. Glee Club, 1923.
THE STORY OF THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE--Jim Ameche.
PARADE OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS (Jessel)--International Concert O., 1928.
GOD REST YOU, MERRY GENTLEMEN--Trapp Family Choir, 1942.
A CHRISTMAS MEDLEY, PART 1--David Rose and His O., 1949.
A CHRISTMAS MEDLEY, PART 2--Same.
Lee
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Christmas Fantasy; Christmas Time in Merrie England
For Al Goodman's Christmas Fantasy, I'm guesstimating the year of recording as 1947-ish. My logic being: 1) the title doesn't show up in my 1943 RCA Victor catalog, making it a later issue, 2) Al Goodman had left RCA for Columbia by the late 1940s.
The label number doesn't help a bit--none of my dating guides refer to this series. If this were a 10-inch 78, tracking down the date would be easy, especially if it were part of the regular popular series. But this is a post-Victor 12-incher--not so easy.
And you thought I had it easy here. Well... guess again.
Dating guides presume that collectors don't care about 12-inch RCA Victor 78s, given that they contain stuff like, for instance, Al Goodman Christmas concert pieces. The injustice.
Great stuff. Goodman was a great arranger. I don't know that he ever gets credit for the first-rate mood and light concert material he put out, but maybe I can correct the score a little. It's a joy to hear light music this well put together.
And, from 1922, the Regimental Band of the H.M. Grenadier Guards (conducted by Lieut. Geo. Miller) with Theodore Bennett's Christmas Time in Merrie England. By 1922 standards, this is high fidelity, and the music is fun vintage Pops. (And I've always wanted to type "fun vintage Pops.") A quick Google search finds no Theodore Bennett info but reveals a 1906 recording of the piece by the Edison Concert Band. I'm not surprised, as this sounds very much like turn of the century, Arthur-Pryor-style light concert music. And, yes, I've always wanted to type (see previous description). There was a band score at eBay, but the ad is gone. That might have given us a year.
While I'm thinking aloud, you can hear these delightful Pops pieces out loud by downloading the handy zip file I uploaded to Savefile.com: Two Christmas concert works.
Pretty good 78 rips, no? MAGIX software and a Rek-o-Kut pre-amp helped.
SLEIGHLIST
CHRISTMAS TIME IN MERRIE ENGLAND, PARTS 1 and 2 (Theodore Bennett)--Regimental Band of H.M. Grenadier Guards, 1922.
CHRISTMAS FANTASY (Arr. by Al Goodman)--Al Goodman and His Orch., 1947-ish.
Lee
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas....
Last time I checked, it was 4 degrees outside! Brrrr.
I'll bet you didn't see the "Brrrr" coming.
The Media Room, where I work on this blog, is not warm right now. Not warm at all. At the moment, it feels like a room built in the 1850s, which is, in fact, what it happens to be.
Brrrr.
Not much heat gets to this part of the house. There's one little vent, and it doesn't put out much. What heat there is mostly comes up from the dining room through the floor grills.
Brrrr.
And, in case I don't mention it, brrrr!
Lee, cold
I'll bet you didn't see the "Brrrr" coming.
The Media Room, where I work on this blog, is not warm right now. Not warm at all. At the moment, it feels like a room built in the 1850s, which is, in fact, what it happens to be.
Brrrr.
Not much heat gets to this part of the house. There's one little vent, and it doesn't put out much. What heat there is mostly comes up from the dining room through the floor grills.
Brrrr.
And, in case I don't mention it, brrrr!
Lee, cold
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