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A thousand years from now, Johnny Kay/Kaye's voice will still be heard at Yuletide. This is a safe prediction to make, since there's absolutely no way to test it.
Anyway, I was thrilled when I found this, because the whole thing seems funnier than heck--Parade (SPC) offering a sampler of its endlessly recycled material. As in, "Come, sample our cheap catalog, and get a taste of our terrible pressing quality." And the pressing is pretty marginal, at least on the Kay/Kaye tracks, which were badly distorted in the louder sections--on my initial rip, that is. I would give this LP a visual grade of VG+, so something went wrong when this was stamped, because it's not needle wear.
Anyway, and oddly enough, my 1.2 mil stylus rescued the Kay/Kaye tracks. I say "oddly," because I would think that the louder grooves would be wider. In which case, a wider stylus should make things sound worse. But the opposite occurred. Where's Robert Stack (Unsolved Mysteries) when we need him? And aren't mysteries, by definition, unsolved? Otherwise, they wouldn't be mysteries.
And what can we say about a sampler that doesn't even identify the performers, beyond showing some album jackets on the front? I didn't bother figuring out the credits (save for Johnny, whom I could i.d. a hundred miles away)--somehow, it didn't seem worth the trouble. We know that the Abbey Choir, The Caroleers, Jesse Crawford, and some others appear in this sampler, and that's enough. But, really, a sampler should name names, and this one doesn't. If SPC's goal was to introduce buyers to the fullness of its cheapness, then they did a bang-up job.
Don't get me wrong--I love SPC's cheap stuff, especially their often wonderful fake hits. And, really, their studios produced some fine sound. But their stampers produced some un-fine artifacts.
By the way, please don't rely on the Discogs listing for this sampler, as it clearly refers to some RCA holiday comp. It has nothing to do with this record. Then again, a messed-up Discogs entry is almost apt. We know that SPC wouldn't have cared.
DOWNLOAD: Parade Christmas Sampler
O Come All Ye Faithful
The Night Before Christmas
White Christmas
I Heard the Bells (Longfellow-Marks)
Jingle Bells
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Away in the Manger
When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter
Hallelujah
Every Valley Shall Be Exalted
As With Gladness
Joy to the World
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Parade Christmas Sampler (Parade XSP-419)
Lee
12 comments:
I wonder what they charged for this sampler. Such items generally were cheaper than normal, but cheaper than 57 cents?
56 cents? (:
I can just imagine someone taking the sampler home and being so impressed that they showed up at the dealer (supermarket? drug store?) the next day demanding the whole Parade catalog! "Give me all the Jesse Crawford you got!"
No doubt!
I don't think I've ever seen a copy of this sampler that was all in one piece. It's pretty rare as is, but all I ever see is a front cover, or a back cover, or the vinyl, and never all together. There's cheap and then there's cheap!
I guess I did the right thing in grabbing it. It seemed like a very cool find, and apparently it is.
Thanks! This Discogs entry (below), however, is legit.
Yes, this same exact record was released as Spinorama Christmas Sampler. Hilarious!
I think the year is 1960 for this. But who really knows...
RL,
Thanks, but I think you forgot to include the link...
Not surprised that there's a Spinorama version. There's probably one for every SPC sublabel!
I'm so sorry! Yes, I forgot. I'm a little over-excited by the season. You can understand!
Here you go:
https://www.discogs.com/release/10613589-Various-Christmas-Sampler
RL,
Thanks! I like the Spinorama cover better (the color scheme).
The description sounds terrible. Not sure if I can bring myself to click the link. But I loved reading about this. Excellent work as usual, Lee. I always stop by here at Halloween and Christmas time, this blog has become a tradition.
Alan,
Thank you!
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