At Discogs, this LP is listed as 100 Golden Voices Sing at Christmas, by The Golden Voices, which is so classically redundant, we have to wonder if this is a rack jobber effort. And, sure enough, it is--good ol' Premier, with good ol' Premier stereo. Otherwise known as monaural, except the right and left channels are EQ'd a little differently. I summed the channels, which produced a halfway okay mono signal, though with too much echo and harshness in the high freqs. These tracks probably sounded fine before some idiot decided to make them sound more... what? Up to date (1965)? In all fairness, he or she was most likely doing as ordered.
Who are the Golden Voices, 100 or otherwise? From the notes: "Non-professionals who started in a small New England village, years ago." Okay. Furthermore, the Singers "plied their way from community to community donating the beauty of their talents to their neighbors." Before long, they "were beckoned to other parts of the country to thrill and delight people from Maine to Florida, from Atlantic to the Pacific." Shouldn't Premier Albums, Inc. at least given them a back cover photo?
Is that their real story? Probably as genuine as the "stereo," but who knows? Meanwhile, this LP exists with at least three jackets, and I'm guessing neither of the other two editions offer real stereo. Meanwhile, there's the Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir, founded in 1886, though this is obviously not them. For one thing, they'd be on a legit label, with a cover that doesn't scream "Cheap."
Not that cheap necessarily means bad--I find the cover art well done, and it's impossible not to love the oft-used Premier "A Merry Christmas From (name of purchaser)" Santa art:
The performances are terrific, suggesting a group which did not start as "non-professionals," and great to have Christians Awake, Once in Royal David's City, and The 12 Days of Christmas in the sleighlist, not to mention the gorgeous alternate melody for Angels from the Realms of Glory. It's driving me nuts that I can't place the tune. Given the level of sound doctoring, the monaural sources for 1965, and the unusual skill of the choir, we have to assume this is older material arbitrarily repackaged. I'd love to find these outstanding performances in genuine mono.
DOWNLOAD: 100 Golden Voices Sing at Christmas (Premier XMS-13; 1965)
Silent Night
The Wassail Song
Christians Awake
Once in Royal David's City
As With Gladness Men of Gold (sic)
Angels of (sic) the Realms of Glory
Oh Come All Ye Faithful
The 12 Days of Christmas
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
The Holly and the Ivy
Ave Maria
Lee
9 comments:
No download ...
gimpiero,
Sorry about that! it should be working now--I just downloaded the zip. Let me know if it's working for you.
Looks like it was released around the same time as my Al Goodman Christmas Album 1000 Strings At Christmas. Similar label and back cover artwork.
musicman1979,
Thanks for that insight! I figured this had to be related to another release (i.e., a product migrating from label group to group). Al Goodman, eh? This may bring us closer to the mystery of who's doing these tracks. Because it can't be the "Golden Voices."
musicman1979,
Oh, and it looks like my "George Jenkins" easy-listening LP (which I am only now mentioning) is cleared for posting. It started (off the top of my memory) in 1959 on Crown as a different "thousand strings" group. Meaning, the stereo is hopefully the genuine type. Why no "content provider" has laid claim to it, I don't know. But there are only so many generic standard-carol-and-hymns collections to post for sale before things get hopelessly redundant.
Sorry no download ...
gimpiero,
Maybe my downloading bandwidth limit was reached. It's downloading for me, but maybe that's because it's my account. I just uploaded the file to pixeldrain with a new link. It should work now.
Now is perfect. Thank you very much.
gimpiero,
My pleasure!
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