More Merry Mervmas, Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle, Holiday Favorites (Gilmar)

 

DOWNLOAD: More Mervmas and Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle

I guess this will be my December 25 post (in fact, Christmas is nine minutes away).  I would have revived more "banned" posts and put up a couple more "new" LPs, but my storage options are limited, and I quickly exceeded Box.com's downloading bandwidth.  Which I don't want to do at pixeldrain.  MEGA?  Won't let me use it.  Clearly, I'm the only music blogger uploading material with any copyright-claim potential.  Obviously.  Oh, and thanks to all who recommended alternate hosting sites.

Things start with three Merv Griffin sides I present every Christmas. The first two--1950's Sleigh Ride and Christmas Time--date from Merv's 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." Which sort of works, but not nearly as well as "youth."

And I'll skip ahead to the Gilmar Holiday Favorites 45 rpm EP, its A and B sides combined into one file.  Both sides feature a continuous groove, with awkward pauses and fades between selection fragments. The engineering ineptitude is of the have-to-hear-it-to-believe type, and many of the recordings are very familiar, though I can't place them.  Tops?  Eli Oberstein?  Maybe I'll have time to find out at some point.  I swear that the B side sounds like something cobbled together while the guy at the controls dozed off.  ("Wha... what?  Oh, yeah, I'm mixing a side.  I forgot.")

And the gorgeous Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (You Come Down From the Stars) is a 1732 Christmas carol featuring words and music by Saint Alphonsus Liguori of Italy.  Here's the wonderful comment I received in 2020 by Roberto of Milan, Lombardy.  The references are to guesses I'd made in my post:

"Hi, I have some other records from that series -not this one, so thank you very much-. You're right about the interpretation of "4 voci dispari": here it is second case, all-male adult/children. The plaque in the town of Nola (close to Naples, not LA) tells the song was written there in december 1754, yet those were the years indeed. For the Italian generations born no matter when from 19th to 20th century this one was the pretty first Xmas tune to be heard and learned by heart. The child introducing the song is a guest of the Orphanage -turned into a private high scool nowadays-: he calls himself "Ricciolino" [Curly] and he's 13. He's thanking all the benefactors, to whom this record is probably given as a freebie, wishing season greetings to all Italians in and outside the Country -emigrants were still many in 1959, that should be the year- asking everyone to remember and help the lonely like him and his companions. Then the song begins, just first verse and twice refrain. You won't escape the translation, just as horrible as only mine could be:

[O Blessed God!] 
You come down from the stars 
O King of Heaven 
[O King of Heaven] 
And come to a cave 
In the cold, in the frost 
And come to a cave 
In the cold, in the frost 

O my Divine Child 
I see you trembling here
O Blessed God
Ah, how much it did cost you 
For loving me! 
Ah, how much it did cost you 
For loving me! [2]

Even the manufacturer Cellograf-Simp survives today, with production and marketing strategies slightly different though... Always been into plastics, at those times it first finalized others' given masters, later starting an editorial branch of its own (Phonocolor/Style). From late 50s to early 60s it was the main flexis stamper in Italy and yes, a bit more thickness has always featured its production. They were mainly freebies: Italy was living an economic boom back then and after purchasing the right amount of any stuff you always got your flexi thrown to. Sorry the lengthy... Roberto - Milan, Lombardy -not so far from Desenzano-"

Merry Christmas!

Lee

A gorgeous easy-listening holiday album (maybe the best ever). And, this time around, in stereo. And as credited to "George Jenkins."

 

Custom--a Modern/Crown sublabel.  Clearly a reboot of a Crown LP--in this case, 1959's Sounds of a Thousand Strings Plays for Christmas.  And Al Goodman received credit at some point, though I can't find the Goodman-credited release at Discogs right now.  This stuff gets complicated.

Last year, I revived the source LP, Singing Strings Herald Christmas, in this post (whose workupload link no longer works, of course).  That source LP was credited to The Stradivarius String Society and The Cologne Symphony Orch., conducted by Fritz Munch.  How those became the "Thousand Strings," I have no idea, though my guess is that the original label, Lester Records, folded quickly.  As in, very quickly.  All but the first track of this LP (White Christmas, and not from the Lester album) are in stereo, which means the original dates from either 1958 or 1959.  Thus, its migration to Crown happened right away.

These stereo tracks sound way better than the monaural Lester LP's, though only after a good deal of declicking.  VinylStudio knocked out the main extent of the surface noise, but there were still clicks and pops (both quiet and LOUD) which had to be manually removed in MAGIX.  It took me about an hour, or maybe an hour and a half.  It was worth the effort--these are among the best "beautiful music" holiday renditions every recorded.

And who is George Jenkins?  I have no idea, and neither does Discogs.  But, wait--wasn't he that cartoon character?  "Meet George Jenkins/His boy Elroy, etc."?  No, that was George Jetson.  My bad.

Cover painting is nice, with the same art on the back cover.  I did a good job photo-shopping the ring wear, I think.  

Reader/listener Ronald Sauer alerted me to this material.  Ron left the following comment, detailing his excellent detective work:

These songs were on albums issued by Parade, Spin-o-rama, Custom, Yuletide, and other budget labels. I first heard them in the late fifties or early sixties on "Al Goodman and his Orchestra play a Christmas Symphony" on Parade Records. In addition, those same songs were credited on other records to George Jenkins, the Sound of 1000 Strings, and others. I finally tracked them back to what I believe is the original source: The Stradivarius String Society and the Cologne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Munch "Singing Strings Herald Christmas" on Lester Records L1002. It was one of my favorites as a youth. It only took me about 50 years of searching for the source.

That's dedication! Many thanks to Ron!  And imagine the work involved in the days before Discogs and other sources.  Anyway, gorgeous tracks, fabulous stereo, and as for the opening monaural track--I have no idea from where that came.  But it fits in nicely enough.

Oh, and the track lineup is identical to that of the Lester Records original.  The only difference being the substitution of the monaural White Christmas.

DOWNLOAD: White Christmas--George Jenkins--The Christmas Strings (Custom CS 5; 1964?)

White Christmas

Silent Night

Come All Ye Faithful

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Deck the Halls

Joy to the World

The First Noel

Good King Wenceslas

O Holy Night

We Three Things

Lee

A less than splendid example of a holiday novelty not expertly rendered: "Santa's Sleigh" (1955)

 

DOWNLOAD: Santa's Sleigh--Santa Claus (Bob Ellis) and Bob Ellis Jr., Elector Records MC-1000-45; 1955.

Regarding the backstory for 1955's Santa's Sleigh, by Santa Claus (aka Bob Ellis) and Bob Ellis Jr., all  can say is... hoo, boy.  Maybe grab a stiff drink before continuing.

Bob Ellis was the stage name of Raymond Asserson, Jr., the great-grandson of Rear Admiral Peter Christian Asserson. Raymond was the fourth husband of Christine "Cee Cee" Cromwell, daughter of American diplomat James H.R. Cromwell and Dodge Motor Company heiress Delphine Ione Dodge. Christine got none of the Dodge fortune when her mother Delphine died in 1943, whereupon it was discovered Delphine had disinherited James H.R. Cromwell (after their divorce, I'm guessing) and anyone related to him, which meant "Cee Cee" and her half-sister Anna Ray "Yvonne" (Baker) Ranger. But it doesn't sound like Christine was without dough....

And, in 1970, Christine survived a plane crash--get the whole story here.

Back to the backstory, this record was made during Bob's (Raymond's) marriage to Christine. when he was co-managing her night club in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. You never know what kind of history is going to pop up behind a thrift and/or eBay acquisition.  And, 

Now, I hate to describe as awful any recording by someone who might be reading this post, however low that probability may be.  In which case, it can come across as a personal attack.  But since Bob Ellis Jr. didn't pen this thing, I'll go ahead and pronounce the melody uninspired and the words terrible.  At this point in his development, Bob Jr. could not sing.  We don't expect expert vocalizing from children, but...

I want to question whether Santa might have changed his mind, after hearing this record, about letting Bob Jr. drive the sleigh.  And an inexperienced magic-sleigh driver?  Sorry, doesn't wash.

Anyway, Bob Ellis makes one terrible Santa.  Any successful SC imitation requires more than a mock-bass voice and echo-enhanced "Ho Ho Ho!'s.  Santa has to sound boundlessly generous.  A less than sincere Santa is a logical contradiction.  A successful Santa is all about giving, not posturing.  Despite the red suit, the fancy sleigh, and so on, Santa is a refreshingly humble icon.  His flashiness speaks to the many legends randomly combined into his person: Norse sky god Thor (bearing gifts at Christmas and entering homes via their chimneys, plus his chariot and goats which fly the night sky), the Christkind or Christkindl (the gift-bearing Christ Child, aka Kris Kringle), Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, and who knows who (or what) else?  Mythology hosts no requirement to mesh logically, and so we have a multi-multifaceted Saint Nick.  Which face is his true face?  A: All of them.

This is one of the perfect holiday novelties.  How can I be sure?  Because I don't know whether I'm doing a service or disservice to the celebration.  Probably both.  Thus, the ideal novelty!

And why is Santa's Sleigh placed in quotes on the B side?  I have no idea.  For that matter, why isn't the name of the label (Elector) on the label?  Which is where we'd logically expect to find it.

Lee

100 Golden Voices Sing at Christmas, or Golden Voices of Christmas (Premier XMS-13; 1965)

 

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

Merry Shellacmas, Part 3! I'd Like to See My Mom for Christmas, Hallejuah Chorus (Arthur Pryor, 1908), Vom Himmel Hoch (1904!), Richard Crooks, and two groove-wrecked goodies

 

DOWNLOAD LINK:  Merry Shellacmas, Part 3!

So, a 1933 The Star of Bethlehem whose lyrics can be understood!  I did my best with the 1910 recording thereof, but it proved next to hopeless.  (Hm.  What does "next to hopeless" mean?  It's like those snarky websites which reluctantly concede that the "precise" meaning of the Establishment Clause is not known, when the simple reality is that we either know or we don't know.  There aren't degrees of knowing/not knowing.)  Anyway, the two 1933 Richard Crooks restorations sound great, and of course I'd say that, since I made them.  And I hate to have to point this out, but it seems necessary: None of my rips are from Internet Archive (which goes without a "The," apparently).  It's against my blog policy to present anything but my own work.  But, of course, that is my personal, totally subjective position.  There's no right/wrong or true/false when it comes to a belief statement.

So, the truly burning question: Which involves more work--finding the right response curve and parametric EQ tweaks, or tracking down a recording date?  Well, sometimes the latter is the bigger challenge.  As with the Victor Concert Orch.'s 1939 March of the Toys (below), that marvelous Victor Herbert light concert work.  There were at least three candidates, including a 1927 vocal version (part of a medley) and a "Music of" album of (I think) 1927, also.  But this is clearly from a 1939 radio broadcast.  Or, rather, for a broadcast.  Because I doubt it was recorded from the radio--quite often, transcription discs were provided for broadcast purposes, which makes all the more sense when we realize that programming was often staggered during the days of this and that network.  Back when "live" didn't necessarily mean "live."

And... three astounding Arthur Pryor band performances, with both Handel and Tchaikovsky rendered in unreal, day-at-the-races tempi.  How the band so much as survived the course with Hallelujah Chorus and Overture Miniature, don't ask me.  That both sound fresh, and on recordings over a century old, is astounding.  Wait, I already used that word.

I'd Like to See My Mom for Christmas--an indispensable holiday standard of the weird variety, and not because of its theme (totally holiday-appropriate) but because it verges on creepy. Simply put, because our modern celebration of Christmas is all about family, it is nothing but fitting that lost loved ones be included.  But not literally!  There's a difference between "I miss my mom/girlfriend/dad" and "I expect visitation any time now."  Leave the ghost stories to Charles Dickens.  Oh, and songwriter Edgar Unger also wrote the oft-recorded Put Christ Back Into Christmas (same year: 1951).

My Christmas Symphony (1912) rip initially had me wanting to ditch the results, but it doesn't sound all that bad.   Not on second listen, anyway.  But there's no hope for the 1923 William Jennings Bryan holiday message, which I only managed to make listenable after 90 minutes of work.  And it's odd when a 1923 voice recording is lacking, but William sounds like he's in another room.  ("William, move closer to the horn... Oh, never mind.")

As far as I know, Emile Waldteufel's Skaters waltz wasn't intended as a holiday regular, but neither was Julius Fucik's Entry of the Gladiators intended as a circus match (as far as I know).  So there.  And I love this 1926 recording, which was trimmed for its inclusion on an RCA Camden reissue--thus, I was surprised when I first heard this unedited take.

1920's Kiddies' Patrol/Kiddies' Dance remains a fun "descriptive" novelty, with incredible work by the Brunswick Concert Orch. (an all-pro "house" band, no doubt), and the surface hiss is easily overcome by the vocal and musical moments.  Was the 1920 experience of this 78, "It sounds like children inside the cabinet!!"?  Or, "Hm.  Better check and see"?

The Trinity Choir's 1911 Joy to the World is a marvelous performance of a hymn which never grows old (to my ears, at least).  Like Jingle Bells, Joy is a repeat-play wonder.  And it is a hymn and not a carol, for those who value that distinction, and I've frankly forgotten its story.  Long credited to Handel, it is now (I believe) regarded as derived from Handel.  Meaning, it's not by Handel, and yet it is, sort of.  There'll be a quiz after this post.

The Paul Whiteman "potato head" Christmas record is one of the great novelties of the season--it's simply the fact that "Pops" made such a record in 1928, and one blessed with two expert charts (by Bill Challis and Ferde Grofe, respectively).  Superbly smooth, and we've heard far worse.  At this very blog, in fact.

Oh, and the 1904 cornet choir playing Vom Himmel Hoch (under its Norwegian title) sounds uncannily good 119 years down the line (and I love the chorale setting), and I'm glad my copy is a 1914-1925-period reissue, audio-wise.  Martin Luther's Vom Himmel Hoch is one of THE holiday classics, but don't tell Mariah Carey.

Please forgive the blank composer fields.  I forgot to tag them in advance (which involves a separate app), and if I fill in those fields now, I'll have to redo all of the file images.

March of the Toys--Victor Concert Orch., Dir. Nathaniel Shilkret, 1939

Silent Night, Holy Night (A: Challis), Christmas Melodies (A: Grofe)--"Pops" and the Gang, 1928.

Hallelujah Chorus--Arthur Pryor's Band, 1908

Joy to the World (Watts/Handel/Not Handel)--Trinity Choir, 1911

Kiddies' Patrol--Christmas Eve/Kiddies' Dance--Christmas Morning--Brunswick Concert Band, 1920

Vom Himmel Hoch (Fra himlen hoit kom budskap her)--Cornet quartet with organ and bells, approx. 1904

The Star of Bethlehem (Adams)--Richard Crooks, Orch. c. John Barbirolli, 1933

The Holy City (Adams)--Same

I'd Like to See My Mom for Christmas (--Bob Jones With the Williams Sextette, 1951

The Skaters--Waltz (Les Patineurs)--International Concert Orch., Dir. Nathaniel Shilkret, 1926

Nut Cracker Ballet (Dance Characteristique)--Arthur Pryor's Band, 1911

Overture Miniature (From "Casse Noisette")--Same, 1912

The Lord's Prayer--William Jennings Byran, 1923

Christmas Symphony (F.X. Chroatal)--Prince's Orchestra

Lee