Various Christmas 45s and album cuts today, and... And this is totally, utterly UNREAL. Suddenly, Windows 10 is trying to anticipate what I'm going to type. I went into Settings and turned off this inane feature called "Typing insights"--a feature I did NOT activate in the first place--and it's continuing to mess with my text. I it turned OFF, and yet it is still messing with my typing. (Cue Twilight Zone title music.) The extent to which I do not need this cannot be expressed in mere words. Unintelligible grunts, maybe. I have to know how to stop this. This just started today. Again, I turned off the "Typing insights." It should be disabled. Why isn't it? (Relax. Breath in, breath out. Slowly. Repeat.)
Tomorrow, I'll have to contact Microsoft's help desk, or whatever it's called, and demand an answer to this idiocy. A number of unwanted typing features were suddenly activated as of today, and it must have been the last round of updates--because I sure as heck didn't turn this stuff on.
Does Microsoft know the difference between assisting and harassing? I know, I know--get an Apple.
So... there are two tracks I ripped--one which involved much manual splicing--and then I decided to axe them. Copyright risks. This includes the Les Brown track requested by musicman, I'm afraid--You Forgot Your Gloves. It had no vocal, anyway. But it must be an in-demand item. That's all I can guess.
Anyway, Les Paul and Mary Ford start things out with Jungle Bells. (That's right--Jungle.) From 1953, and virtually a tutorial on rock-era guitar-and-amplifier shenanigans (to suggest animal noises). Wonderfully weird. Then, the excellent Freedom Quartet from, whenever (a private pressing minus a formal label title), doing Charles H. Gabriel's wonderful The Star and the Wise Men (shortened to The Star, to save ink), which I previously featured in an LP by a Mennonite choir. Gabriel is my favorite gospel songwriter, in case I've never revealed this before. Then, from Christmas at Quinto, the expert concert accordion of Dixie Dean gracing a combination Hallelujah Chorus/Joy to the World arrangement. It's quite clever, but as we all know by now, Handel had nothing to do with Joy. Nor did Lowell Mason write the tune, as I once thought--rather, he arranged an existing melody. And keep messing with me, "Typing insights." I'll silence you yet, you unwanted nuisance.
The "insights" feature has something to do with Artificial Intelligence. Well, I get the "Artificial" part, but I have issues with the second word.
Where were we? Okay, from the same LP, virtuosity on the marimba by Gene Jordan in a majorly enjoyable O Come, All Ye Faithful. Then, Fran Alexandre with Christmas Everywhere, a 1958 classic that I posted, um, two years ago, but here it is again, because I love it. And maybe you missed it last time around. It is a not-to-be-missed-out-on 45, and I sure puzzled "Typing insights" with that one. It had no idea where I was going. (Here I am, reduced to outguessing Windows 10.)
The Brigham Young University (good job, Microsoft, on anticipating "University") A Cappella Choir (I guess "A Cappella" is past the AI IQ threshold) sings Make We Joy Now in This Fest. If you've heard of this one, then you're ahead of me (and Microsoft). "Fest" must have been 16th century hep talk for "festival." We switch gears for my all-time favorite Pickwick kiddie Christmas track, The Sleigh Bell Song, ripped from an EP from the 50 Christmas Favorites boxed set on Pickwick's Playhour label. Next, Merv Griffin's wonderful Christmas City, recorded by Merv in 1962 for the annual Christmas City of the North Parade in Duluth, Minnesota. And every time I listen to Merv singing, "Come this Christmas, and you'll suddenly find your youth," I hear "...you'll suddenly find you're you." Which is a nice thing to discover. (Hey, I'm me!) Merv is followed by Julius La Rosa in terrible 1966 MGM stereo with We Need a Little Christmas. And, to be honest, I'm not in love with the song, but I dig the elaborate, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink treatment. It's classic old-fashioned holiday overkill! Pre-light shows and giant amplifiers and first-row-seat hearing loss.
Tracks 10 and 12 feature the great Lew White on the RCA Organ Studio in the Paramount Theater (the first track does, anyway). On Victor Herbert's mega-classic March of the Toys, Lew is assisted by Harry Breuer on drums. Ripped from the Camden LP, Famous Melodies. The album's surface was an essay in light crosscuts, but VinylStudio got 'em all. I don't go for this notion of vinyl sounding more authentic with clicks/ticks and pops--I can live happily without the "full experience" of analog audio media. And we (almost) close with the delightful Bobsled, from the 1961 Clebanoff and His Orch. LP Strings Afire. It's from the stereo edition, which actually came out in 1962, but the mono LP is from 1961, and I'm assuming ditto for the stereo version. Ha! I totally stumped "Typing insights" with "assuming ditto."
Oh, and the DAHR entry for Lew White's 1938 Waltz of the Flowers lists a vocal chorus which does not appear on the reissued cut, but I'm assuming this is a solo from the same session. Or that maybe the RCA Victor files were mistaken? (No, not "mistakenly," darn it!) Must... destroy... Typing insights.
DOWNLOAD: Various Artists, Part 1: Christmas 2022 (I'm inverting the blog title line)
Jungle Bells--Les Paul and Mary Ford, 1953
The Star (Charles H. Gabriel)--The Freedom Quartet, from ?
Joy to the World--Dixie Dean, Concert Accordion, 1960
O Come, All Ye Faithful--Gene Jordan, Marimba, 1960
Christmas Everywhere--Fran Alexandre, 1958
May We Joy Now in This Fest--Brigham Young University A Cappella Choir.
The Sleigh Bell Song--Playhour Records TB-5-11
Christmas City (Don Peterson)--Merv Griffin, 1962
We Need a Little Christmas (Herman)--Julius La Rosa With the Choraliers, 1966
March of the Toys (Victor Herbert)--Lew White, Organ, and Harry Breuer, Drums, 1941
Bobsled--Clebanoff and His Orchestra, 1961
Waltz of the Flowers (Tchaikovsky)--Lew White, Organ, 1938
Lee
13 comments:
Thanks for this. I am with you on “We All Need a Little Christmas”!
Buster,
Glad we agree. But, as I mentioned, I love this over the top rendition, along with the ridiculously over-spaced stereo. Totally appropriate to the mawkish tune and text!
Hi Lee,
Umm...so you're still running Windows 10? Interesting.
I just checked my version of Windows 11 Beta, and yes Typing Insights is still here. It is turned on automatically. As you said you need to manually turn it off. Did you completely turn off your computer and then restart it again? I notice this when I change other settings in Windows 11 Beta. They seem to tell me I need to do this to activate my new settings. The same thing happens when Windows 11 Edge updates. You need to shut everything down and restart it again for all these features to take effect.
Oh, if you "finally" update to Windows 11, Typing Insights is located in a different area than Windows 10.
I hope you find your Typing Insight problem solved. Good luck.
Bryan,
Thanks. And, yes, I restarted--to no avail. I have to figure out how to contact Microsoft, because this dang word- and sentence-completion stuff is still happening. Who on earth would require such a function? That's what blows my mind. Someone for whom English is not their native tongue?
Thanks for posting Les and Mary and reposting Julius!!
I will get to these sometime next week.
musicman1979,
Glad to provide these. And I know I previously posted the Les Paul, but I must have deleted it when the zip file died at Zippyshare.
Bryan,
One update and shutdown later, I seem to have disabled those unwanted features in Blogger, but the nonsense is still happening both here at YT, to an extent. And I can't contact Microsoft Support, because it wants to send a verification code by text, and I only have landline (I'm in a rural area with poor cellphone reception). And M. (to save money) has done away with phone support. Isn't that wonderful?
Hi Lee,
I totally understand. Amazon.de and I guess Amazon, in general, stopped their e-mail service around when Covid first hit? As I refuse to use a phone, everything goes through Telegram and through my computer. So, I cannot use their current help services. But I got around that, I found a special Amazon e-mail helpline for any problems.
Funny, I do not know how I did it, but anytime I need a verification code, they, whomever, always send it by email. This also includes Amazon.de. They send me codes through my e-mail account. I seem to remember that when you sign up to get your Windows account, etc., they ask how to be contacted. I have several e-mail addresses. I have thus changed e-mail addresses several times because I no longer have a lot of trust in Google. They spy too much on you.
So, most business-related e-mails are now through Outlook.
Oh, I just checked, Microsoft only has an email address for me, no phone number. Actually, they have two e-mail addresses. One for Microsoft and One for my Windows 11 Insider account program.
Bryan,
Thanks for that information. And I wonder if there's an email option in my country? I'll have to go back to the site and study it further...
Thanks for posting this compilation, Lee. Oh and I've only got two small words for you on the other issue, Big Tech. 'Til later, love and prayin' for ya!
Romans 11:33-36 KJB
Josh
Personal Podcast: http://www.jeremiah616.sermon.net
Phone Ministry: (563) 999-3967
TIBPF Podcast: http://www.tibpf.sermon.net
Love these all-over-the-map posts from you, Lee! Great selection as always, looks like some great stuff in here. I'm looking forward to giving all these a spin!
Even though it is a little over-the-top, Julius' version of "We Need A Little Christmas" is very fun and festive, and stays true to the flavor of the original version from Mame. A good choice this year, especially considering that we lost Angela Lansbury in October. I am still looking for that album to add to my collection; I have his follow-up, Hey look Me Over, in Mono.
Very different song from Les and Mary, yet still fun. I don't think I ever played this one before. It kind of has the flavor of How High the Moon and I'm Sitting On Top of the World. The only disappointment could be that there is no notable Les Paul guitar solo, overdubbed or otherwise. They probably got a lot of friends to do the animal sound effects much like the engineer did with the space effects on Bobby Helms' Captain Santa Claus and his Reindeer Space Patrol.
"Christmas City" by Merv may well be the very first song I ever downloaded from you (many moons ago). I think "Jungle Bells" came soon after. In any event, thanks for all the years of goodies added to my digital stash. Merry, merry!
Thanks, everyone. And I'm glad to get "Jungle Bells" back at the blog. Whatever original hosting site I used (way back when) is likely long gone.
Post a Comment