Christmas In July 2008-Day 18

Suddenly I find myself two days behind again, and I haven't even got anything good to blame it on. Well, it's going to take some work to get out of this hole, so just bear with me. Tonight is a big share of eight tracks, featuring four versions of The Skater's Waltz and four versions of Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers. I've already brought you multiple versions of each of these this month, but I've got lots and lots of them to share. Let's jump right into it, shall we.

First, the four different versions of Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers. Version one is by Paul Lavalle And The Band Of America and the album The Big 18 All-Time Great Marches (MGM SE 4114). Version two is from Jack Fina and his LP Kitten On The Keys (Dot DLP 25268). Number three is the Irving Fields Trio and the LP Latin Dance Date (RCA Camden CAL 350). Track four is by the Columbia Salon Orchestra, from the album Quiet Music-Volume 1 (Columbia CL 510). I've been trying to get all the volumes in this series for over a year now, but without much success. I think I have five of the ten volumes, but they seem to be next to impossible to find.

Now, let's see, oh, yes, the versions of Waldteufel's The Skaters that I promised. Since my last post, someone informed me that the correct title of this piece is Les Patineurs Op. 183. Well, now I know where all the confusion comes in, it's just a translation error. I'll begin with a properly named Les Patineurs (The Skaters) Op. 183 by the Philharmonia Promenade Orchestra, conducted by Henry Kipps from the album Waldteufel Waltzes (Angel 35426). I apologize for the quality of this one (It has at least two small skips in it) but it was all I had. I bought it Saturday, and I think it was just too hot to be record shopping. When I put it on the turntable, you could see a terrible warp in it every time it spun around. I did my best to get something out of it, but it's not perfect. Anyhow, on with the shares. Version two is Skaters Waltz by The Guckenheimer Sour Kraut Band from the LP Sour Kraut In Hi-Fi (RCA Victor LPM-1453, 1957). This one is supposed to sound like that. Trust me. Version three is The Skater's Waltz by Eric Vaughn with The Medallion Strings And Percussion and the album The Sound Of The Blue Danube-Wine, Women And Waltzes (Medallion (Kapp) MS-7519). The fourth and final version for today is The Skaters-Waltz, Op. 183 by The Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert Von Karajan, Conductor and the LP Philharmonia Pop Concert (Angel 35926). There you go, four more version and four more variations on that title.

Happy now? That's eight more tracks you can dump into the Christmas in July folder on your hard drive. It's getting pretty full at this point. Here's the download link, in case you were looking for it. And click the links for 2006 and 2007 for more shares from the past two years of Christmas in July.