Santa's Magic Mirror (Avon/Eva-Tone; 1982)

A repost from last year of a very fun Avon flexi disc, a disc which answers an age-old question: how does Santa get toys to all the children in the world when there's only one of him?  When there's just a single Santa?  Ahhhh, but is there only one Santa?  Listen and find out.  (Hm.  I think I just gave away the plot....)

Flexi discs, being paper-thin, often turn up with bends in them--a real problem during playback.  Luckily, whoever owned this Eva-Tone record kept it in the booklet's pocket--hence, its excellent condition.  The magic mirror on the cover, however, is pretty scratched up, so I photo-edited it.  As a result, it looks pitch-black, though in real life it's silver.  It actually works as a mirror, too, and the image is only slightly distorted.  In the event you wanted to know.

To the Avon Christmas story....



DOWNLOAD: Avon Presents Santa's Magic Mirror (1982)



Created By MacDonald Creative Marketing, made by Eva-Tone, 1982


Lee

The Musigals--Christmas carols, hymns, and song from Cambridge, Ohio

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

The Holiday Choraliers and the Longines Symphonette featuring the world famed Thomas Organ! (1969)

                      "These are great toys, Dad, but that world famed Thomas Organ--that really makes everything special!"


Just jesting--these tracks are all superbly performed by the Holiday Choralilers, the Thomas Organ, and an orchestra.  What orchestra, I don't know.  As far as I know, The Longines Symphonette was not the name of an orchestra--it was actually the name of a radio program that started in 1943--a show featuring Classical music.  Like many mail-order boxed sets, this effort shares features in common with junk labels--a culled-from-many-sources feel to the playlist, fuzzy performer credits, no composer info, and a strange phrase stamped into the cover: "Limited Preview Edition."  Better buy it now!  A quick Google check confirms my suspicions that Longines used that phrase on most or all of its sets.  Maybe there were such things as "limited preview editions," but I sort of doubt it.

So, what separates this set from, say, a junk-label Christmas collection?  Lots of things--the quality cover art, the non-junky vinyl, the decent pressings, the plastic-lined sleeves (one per disc), and the splendid musicianship.  This is a very high-quality collection, without a clunker in the bunch.  A model of its type.  And you get about two hours of music.

Oh, but I do have to mention the two non-Christmas selections that show up here: Heigh-Ho/Whistle While You Work and Someday My Prince Will Come.  Well, three, actually--but the first is a medley.  I find it hard to imagine Longines pulling a Synthetic Plastics Co. bit, with the producer saying, "Just grab two tracks.  Any two--doesn't matter.  Whatever's lying around."  So I don't know what's up with those.

In an Audio magazine interview which I wish I'd kept, Mitch Miller talked about that segment of the record-buying public that never goes to record stores, preferring instead to buy by mail.  They were (are?) an important part of the market--hence, all the boxed sets that show up in flea markets, thrifts, and at eBay.  And all those record club offerings, many of which bordered on junk-label quality, with two or three discs sometimes jammed into a single jacket, with cardboard separators. I'm talking to you, Columbia.

Some unusual numbers tossed into the mix--such as, Mister Santa (to the tune of Mister Sandman, recorded by the Lollipops in 1959, and by others), the absolutely gorgeous Oh Bambino, Hawaiian Christmas Song, and Prayer (Hansel and Gretel--which I assume to be from the Humperdinck opera).  I already mentioned the two numbers from Snow White, and I'd love to know what happened there.

And that Thomas Organ--I love that sound!  We have a more humble one at church--one of the earliest solid-state home organs.

Rather than type out all the tracks (all 48!), many of which are quite short, I'm letting the fold-over flap (above) do the work.  Let me know if it suffices. And let me know if you recognize any of these tracks from other LS Christmas sets.  I did a quick Discogs check, but I'm sure I'd need at least an hour to do a meaningful check.




DOWNLOAD: 

The Family Christmas Treasury, Pt. 1  
The Family Christmas Treasury, Pt. 2


The Holiday Choraliers and the Longines Symphonette featuring the world famed Thomas Organ (1969).

And Buster just shared this with me, from Conductors and Composers of Popular Orchestral Music, by Reuben Musiker and Naomi Musiker:

Lee

Have a Merry Christmas!--or, when is stereophonic not stereophonic?

I'm tempted to call this the most dreadful fake stereo I've ever heard, but since I was able to save the sound by eliminating one of the tracks, I can't honestly call it the worst.  Fake stereo, of course, is when monaural tracks are "reprocessed," typically with one side containing low frequencies and muffled highs, and the other containing nothing but tinny sound.  Our ears are supposed to hear this as stereo, but usually it simply sounds like a single channel pushed off to the side.  There is a false sense of depth, but it doesn't compare in any way, shape, or form to genuine stereo.  RCA and Columbia fake stereo is probably the worst, because it's drenched in echo, making audio rescue impossible.  It is to the credit of Palace, even if it's one of the junkier junk labels, that its fake stereo can be overcome.  At least in this case.

You will hear the rescued sound, which is pretty decent, though the pressing is noisy.  Side 1 is a continuous medley with no track breaks, so I had to make some.  The jacket and label list six selections, but two (Joy to the World, We Three Kings...) are repeated, so my file is broken into eight sections for Side 1.  Clearly, Palace's sound editor was filling out the side by repeating the two numbers.  I'm sure you've always wanted to own organ and violin renditions of these familiar tunes, so rejoice!  Wish no longer.

Side two promises the Malvin Carolers, with Sy Mann at the Wurlitzer.  And, in typical junk-label fashion, only half of the six tracks feature the Malvin Carolers--the other three are organ and chimes, with no singing.  Now the vital question is--is "Malvin" the famous Artie/Arthur Malvin?  Malvin did head some singing groups--most famously for Jimmy Dorsey and Jackie Gleason--so probability favors Artie being the "Malvin" on side two.  Oh, and of course Artie did any number of fake hits for Bell Records and the Waldorf labels, including the 18 Top Hits series.  And he sang for Glenn Miller during WWII.  The appearance of significant musicians on trash labels is part of what makes trash labels fun.  In my view, anyway.




DOWNLOAD: Have a Merry Christmas!




ORGAN AND VIOLIN

Oh, Holy Night
We Three Kings of Orient Are
Joy to the World
Good King Wenceslas
Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
Joy to the World
We Three Kings of Orient Are
Jingle Bells

MALVIN CAROLERS, WITH SY MANN AT THE WURLITZER

Silent Night
Adeste Fideles
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Deck the Hall


Have a Merry Christmas!  (Palace STXM 908)


Lee

Christmas singles, 2019--Part 2: Merv, Sister Cecilia, The Carolers, The "Let Me" Song

Singles.  Sometimes, they have an A and B side, and sometimes they have four, or even six, tracks--if they're EPs.  But they all have one thing in common.  They're not albums.  That's the thing all singles share.  Well, except when they're part of a larger set, in which case they're like album portions.  We won't worry about those, if any show up.  We'll just call them singles and not worry about it.  It's their problem, not ours.

We start with two very well-produced 1956 numbers by Irene Carroll on the Arrow Records label, which has a Columbia look, with a Columbia-style matrix no. (ZTSP 25343/44).  And I believe that the arranger/conductor, Joe Sherman, was a Columbia guy.  It's the flip that's special here--a catchy, slightly odd ditty called The 'Let Me' Song, which almost sounds like an early comment on "gendered" toys, but which is really just another girl-chasing-a-guy song.  Singer Irene plays a girl who insists that the toys on her Christmas list, including boxing gloves and a toy rocket, went to a boy instead.  So, will he let her play with them?  Please?  Can both of them play together?  I think she likes him.  Irene is both writer and singer on this one.

Then, the three Merv Griffin sides I present every Christmas, the first two--Sleigh Ride and Christmas Time--dating from his time as vocalist for the Freddy Martin Orchestra.  The third-1962's Christmas City--was recorded by Merv for the annual Christmas City of the North Parade in Duluth, Minnesota.  Nice song, well arranged, well recorded, and Merv is fine, my only issue being his pronunciation of "youth"--"Come this Christmas, and you'll suddenly find your youth," which initially sounded to my ears like, "...and you'll suddenly find you're you."  I don't hear the th.  "Find your you"?? I eventually figured out that Merv had dropped the th--or else the mic didn't pick it up.  This didn't keep me awake for weeks or anything.  Days, maybe, but not weeks.

I first thought "The Carolers" (last scan) were "The Caroleers," because I'm so used to seeing the latter fake name on SPC LPs (Diplomat label, etc.).  But this group is a folkie outfit, and the flip, True Christmas Love, is pretty brittle and glum--a Yuletide protest song.  Some of its lyrics don't exactly slip off the tongue--"Soon Christmas Day passes by, Its message of love we deny.  And then we pretend that we never offend, While our acts spell out a lie." Yeah, Merry Christmas to you, too.

Tom and Ann and the Family are back, in case you were worried they wouldn't be.  Six selections on a Discount Disc single, and the label says Christmas Family Album, so this was probably part of a boxed set.  Or one of three discs shoved into a single sleeve.  We may never know.  The first side is cute-kid stuff, and the second features... the dad, I guess.  Then two standard-issue choral selections.  Discount Disc was Pickwick, one of the premiere use-whatever-tracks-happen-to-be-lying-around labels.

Both Frank La Spina sides were produced by Tommy De Vito, though I forgot to put that credit on both files.  His One Solitary Life has been recorded under various titles by a good number of folks, including Johnny Cash and Robert Goulet, and I once found a history of the text--I recall it goes back to a sermon given in the 1920s.  It's a simplified version thereof.  Since its dissemination has been mainly though the media, I'd assume, it's an example of "poplore," as opposed to ordinary folklore.

I once found a great site devoted to the Christmas Tree Story House Museum, but either it's gone or I simply can't find it.  It was a huge collection of artificial Xmas trees, the brainchild of Bonnie M. Gulan.  We'll be hearing two 1980 numbers by Bonnie, performed by the Do-Gooders--Christmas Yodel and Christmas in Our Town.  Meanwhile, a return visit from Sister Cecilia, an Ursuline nun--OSU=Order of St. Ursula--who sings Joey The Christmas Choir Boy and I Want Christ Back in Christmas, both issued on WAM Records (WAM Records??) in 1962.  Though WAM is/was a label in Youngstown, Ohio, I'm guessing Sister Cecilia was this person, who died this year at 102.  Sad news, but she certainly had a long life.  UPDATE: Please see comment section entry.

Larry Noble's Season's Greetings (A Cheerful Hello) is a nice side, and it's nicely sung, though the cool label is the real star.  My 45 rpm single of the Santa Claus Polka by the Eddie Wojcik Orch., with vocal by Syl Wojcik, is listed at Discogs as a 78 on the Royal Records label.  My label is Chicago Polka.  I'm assuring it's the same recording....

The red-nosed reindeer on track 13 is Rudolph, not Rudoph, as I mistyped on the file, though "Rudoph" does sound cool....





DOWNLOAD: Christmas Singles 2019, Part 2



It's Christmas Time (Gazso-Griz)--Irene Carroll w. Joe Sherman Orch and Chorus (Arrow Records 712; 1956)
The "Let Me" Song (Irene Carroll)--Same
Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson)--Merv Griffin and the Martin Men w. Freddy Martin and His Orch., 1950
Christmas Time (Benjamin-Weiss)--Same
Christmas City (Don Peterson)--Merv Griffin, 1962
The Ballad of an Old Fashioned Christmas--The Carolers
True Christmas Love--Same
Christmas Yodel (Bonnie M. Gulan)--The Do-Gooders (The Christmas Tree Story House 100; 1980)
Christmas in Our Town (Bonnie M. Gulan)--Same
Joey, the Christmas Choir Boy (Sister Cecilia--OSU)--Sister Cecilia w. Ursuline Sisters (Chorus), 1962
I Want Christ Back in Christmas--Same
The Drummer Boy--Tom and Ann and the Family (Christmas Family Album--Discount Disc Set K 1)
Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer--Same
We Wish You a Merry Christmas--Same
Christmas is for the Family--Same
White Christmas--Same
Away in a Manger--Same
Season's Greetings (A Cheerful Hello)--Larry Noble w. Pete Pontrelli and His Orch., 1959
Christmas Dreams (Allen J. Wilder)--Frank La Spina, 1983
One Solitary Life (Unknown)--Same
Santa Claus Polka (E. Wojcik)--Eddie Wojcik Orch,, vocal: Syl Wojcik



Lee