MUMBAI - girija, phoenix mills, 11/27/11

More Mumbai flavours on my Visual Diary.

Burl

First off, apologies for not posting anything at all yesterday. I was tired from working all day, and to tell the truth, I'm pretty tired tonight, too, but I've got to get something up for you guys. And what a something I have tonight. For the first time since 2007, I've found a Christmas release from Burl Ives that I don't think has seen the light of day since it's release in the early seventies.  The record in question is a collection of Christmas songs claiming to the favorites of US presidents past (and at the time, some fairly present).  There's nothing on here that's going to take the place of Holly Jolly Christmas in the national psyche, but for those who love a Burl Ives song at Christmas, this is a great discovery.  But there is a bit of a mystery that needs to be worked out, and perhaps my readers can help.  I've found mentions of this record online in a few spots, but it shows a different catalog number, and I think it mentioned narration.  My record doesn't have any narration, just the music.  Is it possible there were two different releases of this record?  Mine's an old library copy (you can see the stamp on the label scan below, and I think there was a card taped to the back side that was pulled off causing a giant gap in the liner notes...sorry), and perhaps those were different than the versions sold to the general public?  Anyone have this record or remember it?  Anyone?  OK, anyhow, this is Burl Ives, Music Conducted By Tony Mottola-Christmas At The White House (Caedmon TC 9102, Stereo, 1972).  Listening to this as I post it, I remembered that at least one of the songs is performed to a non-traditional melody.  And there are some interesting stories in the liner notes about how they decided what songs were favorites of what presidents, and how they found some of the more obscure songs.  Interesting stuff to a Christmas music buff, I think you'll really enjoy this.

1. The Little Drummer Boy (Richard M/ Nixon)
2. Joy To The World (John Adams)
3. Adeste Fideles (Thomas Jefferson)
4. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (Zachary Taylor)
5. While Shepherds Watch'd Their Flocks By Night (George Washington)
6. Silent Night (Lyndon B. Johnson)
7. Christmas On The Sea (Theodore Roosevelt)
8. We Three Kings Of Orient Are (Abraham Lincoln)
9. O Little Town Of Bethlehem (Ulysses S. Grant)
10. Shout The Glad Tidings (Andrew Jackson)
11. Silver Bells (John F. Kennedy)
12. Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Laden (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

MediaFire

PS-I forgot I shared another rare Burl Ives track back at Christmas And A Half of 2008, but I don't think the share is any good anymore. Perhaps I should repost that one sometime...  Or the Monkey Joe track for that matter.

MUMBAI - mriga, bandra, 11/29/11

Rerun Ralph

Is it possible that I didn't reshare this with you last year?  Shame on me, this is one of those records that needs to be shared every five minutes until someone gets wise and re-issues it for real.  I've been singing the praises of this LP since 2005, even finding a cleaner copy and re-recording it for you in 2008, which is the version I'm sharing with you again tonight.  I'm not going to tell you all about it, you can go read all those other posts if you want.  Just trust me when I tell you that you should have this in your collection.  This is The Ralph Hunter Choir-Christmas Surprises From The Ralph Hunter Choir (RCA Victor LSP-2063, Stereo, 1959).  Oh, and it was rereleased as Living Voices Sing Christmas Music (RCA Camden CAS 725, Stereo, 1962), with a different cover but it's the same music.  That's why that other cover is stuck down at the bottom of this post.

1. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
2. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
3. Jingle Bells
4. Winter Wonderland
5. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
6. White Christmas
7. Wassail Song
8. Carol Medley: Joy To The World; God Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen; Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. The First Noel
10. Indian Christmas Carol
11. Latin Lullaby (Cancion De Cuna)
12. Silent Night

MediaFire



PS. You can find more Ralph Hunter here and here.

Old Wayne

As I mentioned in my last post, here's a really old share from 2006 that hasn't been seen since.  David Wayne narrates a couple of Christmas stories for you here, but it's been so long since I've listened to them that I can't tell you much about them.  Maybe this is something you had as a child and you'll enjoy hearing it again.  If you like it, leave me a note.  :)  This is David Wayne Narrates The Little Star Of Bethlehem & The Toy Box, John L. Eastman Conducting The Cricket Symphony (Cricket CR-X1, Mono, 1959).

1. The Little Star Of Bethlehem
2. The Toy Box

MediaFire

Masterwork

I knew it was going to be like this.  It's hard to post anything when you don't get off work until after dark.  But I'm going to try to soldier on.  Tonight is a little something I thought was pretty special, for a couple different reasons.  First, it's pretty rare that I see a record I've never seen before, and such was the case with this one.  And when I found the sleeve, it didn't have the right record in it.  I went through an entire rack of records looking for the sleeve that matched the record I found in this one, in hopes that this record was in that sleeve, and thankfully that's where I found it.  Second, if you look close at the album cover, you'll see a few familiar names.  David Wayne has narrated another record I've shared here before (I should probably throw that one up again, I think I remember someone asking for it).  Ralph Hunter is the man behind the incredible Christmas Surprises, a favorite share every year.  And Ashley Miller has an organ track on a Command LP that I've shared here as well.  And Norman Vincent Peale, well, I think he wrote the story, but for the most part I think they just attached his name for the star power.  This appears to be a tie-in to a book he wrote and released in 1956 that didn't prove to be quite the big deal that had been anticipated.  But it makes for a nice share.  This is The Coming Of The King-The Story Of The Nativity In Music And Words (Columbia Masterworks ML 5165, Mono, 1956).  Side one is the story of The Nativity, narrated by David Wayne, choir conducted by Ralph Hunter and organ by Ashley Miller.  The flip side is a nice selection of carols by The Columbia Carolers.  All good stuff.

1. The Coming Of The King
2. Silent Night
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
5. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
6. The First Nowell
7. Deck The Hall
8. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
9. Good King Wenceslas
10. O Come All Ye Faithful
11. Joy To The World
12. The Coming Of The King

MediaFire

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