Today--I mean, tonight--I present the Musigals of Cambridge, Ohio.
No sign of this label at Discogs--just the far more famous "Cambridge Records," plus maybe two others. It was an Ohio label, named after the town of Cambridge--that much I know.
Back jackets are handy things--they tell us all about the artists and the music. Or, if they're cheapo labels, they have listings of other records. In this case, the back cover is all white, so it's not much help at all.
I lucked out pretty quickly on line, though, and found this blog post (Gypsy Road Trip, part of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, which explains all: The Cambridge Singers Have a Song in Their Heart. Seems that, in 1965, the Musicgals added some musi-guys and renamed themselves the Cambridge Singers, directed by Donna Shafer Blackwood, who directs this LP as Donna Shafer. I was barely able to make out the letters of her name on the worn lower cover.
My searches brought up a lot of recent obituaries. That's always depressing. But I'm happy to document the efforts of these music-loving gals.
Neat front cover, and good singing, and I always like a spirited choral rendition of Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride, which was composed in 1948. Lyrics (by Mitchell Parish) showed up around the next year or so. It can't be easy to sing, with its tricky changes in the bridge, but the pre-coed Musigals do just fine.
A real Christmas treat here. And we know this is 1965 or ealier, so... to the Musigals!
DOWNLOAD: The Musigals
Sleigh Ride
Christmas Hymn
Gloucestershire Wassail--Soloist: Polly Duff
Silver Bells
Pat-a-Pan
Noel, Noel, Bells Are Ringing
White Christmas
Carol of the Bells
Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head--Soloist: Katie Patterson
Jingle Bells
Christmas Medley--Soloist: Donna Stubbs
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Musigals (Cambridge Records 1970B2M-10G; no later than 1965)
Lee
2 comments:
This is so cool to find! My Grandmother is Polly Duff and is the featured singer on Glouchester Wassail. She passed on a few years ago, but this recording of her is one of my favorite Christmas tracks. I was updatng album art and just decided to do a search for Musigals (not exactly search friendly!) and came accross this blog. Thank you for keeping this music alive!
Ben,
Great to hear from you! Sorry to say, but my former hosting service "banned" nearly all of my uploads, and so this link doesn't work. Did you wish to hear the LP?
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