More holiday Shellacmas (plus, a mini-Mervmas)! Another post rescued from "ban"-nation.

DOWNLOAD: Merry Shellacmas, Part 2 (The budget edition)

A revised 2020 zip and text, though only slightly so.  Gone are Merry Christmas Polka (featured last post) and my hopeless 1901 copy of The Holy City.  Maybe, at some point, I can give that another try, but it is demonstrating its age, to put it mildly.  1901 78s do that, sometimes.  And I found an electrically recorded The Star of Bethlehem 12-incher (for later), meaning we can together discover the lyrics.  The 1910 recording sounds like a hand held over the singer's mouth.

Two helpings of Merv Griffin, with 1949's Merry Christmas Polka, apparently a cover of the version by The Andrews Sisters and Guy Lombardo (Frankie Yankovic recorded it in 1951), and Snowflakes, with The Fontane Sisters and Freddy Martin's Orchestra (1951).  The Gilmar Christmas Favorites 78 is clearly a reissued Tops label release (big clue: "Tops All-Star Orchestra and Chorus"), complete with not-so-good fidelity (I think the tracks are reissues of reissues of reissues).  The Record Pak Christmas EP is cheap-label fun that sounds way better in this present (2020) rip than any of my previous tries.  The Ottar Agree Quinette's Santa Claus Polka, from 1926, sounds very 1926--and very polka.  Very polka-1926, we might say.  I just now found it listed in an ethnic discography at Google Books, and the discography confirms the year, which I had figured out using the matrix number.  

The United Artist label is actually the Bell label--or a subsidiary thereof, and all I know about Bell is that it was a Hawaiian label.  Not the famous Bell label.  Organist Edwin Sawtelle was a Waikiki Theater fixture (if you want to Google-search him, use both spellings of theater--"-er" and "-re"), as was the Waikiki Theater's Girls' Chorus.  This one's for Diane!  I would have included the flip, but it was badly worn, so I passed.  Frankie Carle and His Orchestra's The Winter Waltz is nothing other than Émile Waldteufel's 1882 Les Patineurs Waltz, aka The Skaters' Waltz, with words added.  The label says, "with vocal," but we get a good-sized sing-along chorus.  So why not "with vocal chorus"?  Maybe someone accidentally left off the "chorus" part.  It's always fun to hear pre-Mitch Miller sing-along sides.  There are many out there.

Enjoy!  Download link up topside.

TOPS ALL-STAR ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS (Gilmar RX 100, 78 rpm)

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Frosty, the Snowman

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Jingle Bells

White Christmas

Silent Night

O Come All Ye Faithful

Deck the Halls

VARIOUS

Blue Christmas--Jeri Shannon w. Ralph Berger Orch. (Record Pak I-539; 78 rpm EP)

Auld Lang Syne--Same

I'll Be Home for Christmas--Jerry Smith w. Ralph Berger Orch. (Same)

Adeste Fidelis (sic) (O Come All Ye Faithful)--Same

Jingle Bells--Edwin Sawtelle, Waikiki Theatre Organ w. W. Theater Girls' Chorus (United Artist LKS 86)

The Winter Waltz--Frankie Carle and His Orch., unknown vocal, 1950

Merry Christmas Polka--Merv Griffin and the Martin Men, Freddy Martin Orch. (Promo vinyl 78, 1949)

Snowflakes--The Fontane Sisters and Merv Griffin w. Freddy Martin Orch., 1951 (78 rpm)

Lee

What's Christmas without "Merry Christmas, from Line Material"?

1949 sleeve (above) and disc (below)

So, since workupload decided my LM posts should be banned, that must mean that... workupload is run by idiots?  Or that the Ambrosian Singers collectively complained?  Hm.  Which proposition is the more probable one?  Anyway, my 2019 post, with all the sides in a single zip file.

Here's info on Line Material, if you want to read about the company.  (Or maybe not, since the site seems to have changed.)  I'm sure there's more material (no pun intended) out there regarding LM, but for our purposes, what matters are the marvelous Christmas sides they produced as giveaways for their employees, starting in 1957 and ending in 1962.  I'm also including a giveaway from 1949, with narration by Jim Ameche, though it's a very standard affair and nothing remotely like the elaborate, joyous productions to come.  Also, their 1956 The Magic of Christmas (kindly donated by Ernie), which isn't all that bad, and which ends this playlist. I didn't want to place it first, since it hardly compares to the 1957-1962 efforts, which were arranged by London-born John McCarthy (1919-2009), best known for his Ambrosian Singers Christmas sides.  I wonder if the superbly professional singers on these 45s are those same folks.  From 1961 to 1966, the Ambrosian Singers were known as the London Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and it's possible their services exceeded the holiday give-away record budget of LM at this point, since the last McCarthy LM side is the 1962 Let's Trim the Christmas Tree.  It could have been recorded the year before.  It's interesting that the Singers' increased status corresponds with the end of McCarthy's services to LM.  I feel bad for all the kids who, after six years of enjoying Christmas giveaway sides of a major-label quality, had to go without.  That must have been a bummer.

These are new rips (note: as of 2019).  I had been reposting my c. 2007 rips, but these should be an improvement, as I used my 1.0 mil mono stylus and VinylStudio declicking.  I've also acquired clean copies of every side but the 1962 title, which isn't all that nicked up--just moderately.  Nearly all its surface noise is no more.

If you haven't heard these before, you'll very possibly be surprised by the stunningly good quality of performance and production.  I consider it highly improbable that any other company's holiday sides came anyplace near these.  Oh, and, "Merry Christmas... from Line Material.  Merry Christmas... from Line Material. (Repeat till fade)."

UPDATE: And the King of Jingaling has the 1956-1962 LM accompanying-book scans here (save for 1957): LM books. Many thanks to Brad!

DOWNLOAD: Line Material Christmas singles, 1949-1962.


Santa's North Pole Band, 1957
The Sounds of Christmas, 1958
The Kinds of Christmas, 1959
Santa's Factoree, 1960
The Day That Santa Was Sick, 1961
Let's Trim the Christmas Tree, 1962

Keeping Christmas--Don Amache, 1949.
The Magic of Christmas, 1956


Lee

The return of "Christmas Is for Children": When Pickwick budget fare was thoughtfully produced, and with cool jackets!

Good morning, and welcome to "Revive a Post," a new holiday tradition made possible by workupload dumping most or all of my uploads.  And no wonder--Merv's estate needs the money, I'm sure. The money I have shamelessly swiped by sharing his music for free.  There must be some logic there, and so I'll keep looking.

This delightful Pickwick collection contains material re-re-recycled for years.  I believe the year is (er, was) 1957.  So these are all close to the source.  And, wow: This LP is as old (er, young) as me.  A number of these tracks were later released on the Playhour Records label and (I'm sure) beyond.  And, also, in the worst fake Design stereo (in awfulness, second only to RCA's).

Pretty cool jacket art--Design would eventually decide that such was too much trouble/expense.  But, in 1957, this attitude had yet to change.  And is Christmas, in fact, for children?  Well, that's been the general direction of its evolution.  Nowadays, I'm not so sure.  Banning traditional aspects of the holiday (including its standard carols and hymns) is a pretty common event, which means my childhood experience of Christmas is not the current edition thereof.  Which is fine--time marches on.  Sensibly or not.  My own take, simply put, is that Christmas is the people's holiday in the U.S. This is plenty obvious, given that 92 percent of us observe it.  Inevitably, this group includes Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, atheists, agnostics, and so on.  I'm not all that thrilled over the pointless watering down of the holiday, and my idea of eternal punishment would be perpetual exposure to grocery-store Christmas "music," but it's all an inevitable aspect of Christmas as a holiday for everyone.  That is, a culture's dominant, all-are-welcome holiday is going to lose some of its edge.  Various staples of the holiday, as it has evolved over 1700 years, will be casually tossed aside, but such is the price of fame.  We can't expect Christmas to endure in the format we experienced as kids, and especially in our age of MASS mass mediation.  Personally, I miss the age when TV ads were packed with traditional holiday symbols.  But I have no power to bring those back--or to declare the current status quo incorrect.  I want to age a little more graciously than that.  The new replaces the old.  That's just how it is.  And the stock human tendency is to not jump with joy over the demise of traditions WE knew and loved.

Wow--a group of rack jobber classics, plus a deep-thoughts essay!

DOWNLOAD: Christmas Is for Children (Design DLPX 2; 1957?)

Lee

             

A budget label Christmas--at this blog? Of course! "The 100 Voices of Christmas"--a Tops Records classic.

 

Well, maybe "classic" is an overstatement, but it's quite good.  And (I hate to say it), especially for a rack-jobber label like Tops Records.  Well, actually, Tops put out its share of outstanding titles, including Page Cavanaugh Plays for the Cocktail Hour, which is in my jazz Top Ten list.  Dave Pell produced that one, too.  Meanwhile, John Gustafson (not the rock bassist), who conducts the Christianaires Choir of the First Baptist Church of Van Nuys, California had an interesting career which included background singing for the movie version of Brigadoon (1954).  He also appeared on the Word, Christian Faith, and Light labels, not to mention the 1955 MGM release, I'll Go Home With Bonnie Jean, alongside Van Johnson.  And he has solo tenor spots on this LP's O Little Town of Bethlehem and What Child Is This.

I love the 1954 Brigadoon, and despite Gene Kelly being in it.  Maybe because it stars Gene Kelly and not his ego.  For a change.

This is a standard lineup of carols and hymns, all very well done (as noted), and as always I'm amused by Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  That is, by the lack of punctuation, not the number, which is still terrific after 284 years (and its Charles Wesley text still wonderful).  Obviously, "the herald angels" are the angels heralding Christ's birth, and so "Hark" should be "Hark!"--as in, "Listen!" Or, "Listen up!"  Many sources get it right, including the Methodist hymnal and even a Pickwick release.  And what do the herald angels sing? "Glory to the newborn King," and so on.

Glad I cleared that up.  And that Pickwick LP (the Don Janse Chorale) would have been part of my sleighlist--had the copy I encountered at Goodwill not been trashed.  How this Tops release survived the decades in savable shape, I know not.

"Cool it, cats, and dig the heavenly scoop!" might have been the beatnik title for "Hark!"  Who knows? In other news, Deck the Halls (originally, Hall) pleases me best at a snappy tempo, but the 100 Voices give us a fairly sedate rendition.  Good, nonetheless.  In fact, kind of interesting for not being Allegretto.  And I've never understood the notion that the text is anything but perfectly clear in its meaning.  "Deck the hall"=put up Christmas decorations.  (Duhh.)  "Don we now our gay apparel"=it's time to put on our cheeriest apparel.  Clothes.  Hello?  "Donning apparel" means the same thing today as it did in the 19th century.  No wonder people are confused.

But, then, I once had a cyber-exchange with someone who thought, "Congress shall make no law respecting..." meant "respecting," as in, "having respect for."  Good grief.  Obviously, "respecting" means "in respect to."  English usage hasn't changed that much.

An awfully cool cover for Tops, I think we have to admit.  Cool art, fine performances, and the extra expense of two commas.  A home run for Tops.  As for "Are there 100 voices?" the truth is, I don't know.  I suspect "100" is meant to convey a first-rank performance.

DOWNLOAD: The Christianaires Choir, Cond. by John Gustafson

O. Come All Ye Faithful

Silent Night

O Little Town of Bethlehem (tenor solo: John Gustafson)

Carol of the Bells

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

Joy to the World

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Away in a Manger

What Child Is This (tenor solo: John Gustafson)

Deck the Halls

We Three Kings of Orient Are

Angels We Have Heard on High

The 100 Voices of Christmas (Tops L 1697; 1959)

Lee

Okay... It are Christmas.

 So, Christmas 2023 has started at the blog.  I think.  Don't quote me.

I have revived three shares "banned" by workupload.  Please remember I'm at a disadvantage, since everyone except ME is allowed to use MEGA.  I have no idea why this is.  But it is.

Meanwhile, here are the three revived shares (and their posts).  More to come, plus some "new" material.

Pac-Man Christmas Album (1982): https://musicyouwont.blogspot.com/2020/11/dec-25-in-pac-ville-pac-man-christmas.html

Johnny Zell--Heralding Christmas (1979): https://musicyouwont.blogspot.com/2021/12/johnny-zell-solo-trumpeter-on-lawrence.html

Carol of the Little Drummer Boy (the story of the theft of Katherine K. Davis' Carol of the Drum): https://musicyouwont.blogspot.com/2021/02/carol-of-little-drummer-boy.html

Lee