Saturday, December 09, 2017

John, Not David

A very special selection for you today, at least as far as I'm concerned.  This is a record I'd been looking out for since some years ago when I first learned of it's existence.  This is a sister record to the Burgess Meredith record I've been sharing out for a while now, but it seems to be much rarer.  Both were put out by The E.F. MacDonald Company of Dayton, Ohio.  I'm thinking it was something they sold to other companies to use as a promotional item, the sort of thing your insurance company or favorite car salesman might give to you as a Christmas present.  This one must not have been very popular because it just doesn't turn up in the usual places.  In addition to the Meredith piece, this is the only one I know of that features custom-recorded music.  (There's also one that collects up some great Christmas hits on the Dot label, but nothing unique turns up on that one.)  So if you're interested in such things, and want to hear O. Henry's great Christmas story, The Gift Of The Magi, please download O. Henry's The Gift Of The Magi (The E.F. MacDonald Company EFMX62A\B, Stereo, 1962).

1. The Gift Of The Magi-John Carradine-Original Music Composed, Arranged And Conducted By Joe Reisman
2. Adeste Fidelis-101 Strings
3. O Holy Night-Les Djinns
4. Silent Night-101 Strings
5. Noel-101 Strings
6. He Is Born A Divine Child-Les Djinns
7. Hark The Herald Angels Sing-101 Strings

Zippyshare
You may know who John Carradine is, you may not.  You may know his son David a little bit more.  And it turns out the Les Djinns featured in two songs on the back are the same as those featured on the great Christmas album 60 French Girls-Les Joyeaux Noel.  In fact, they're the same tracks, used through the magic of licensing! And I'm sure that fans of cheap Christmas music need no introduction to 101 Strings!

10 comments:

  1. i thought old john lost the spirit. but i guess not.

    i bet those 60 french girls got spirit. their noels are joyeaux. no modern-day puritans among them. oui oui.

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  2. Hi I like this but it sounds like the record is slipping.

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  3. Really? I listened to it as I posted and didn't notice anything. Anybody else hear an issue? I ripped this quite a while ago...

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  4. Thank you Ernie. A real treat.
    As for the slippage, not on side one, but I hear a slight pitch quavering on side two, mostly towards the end. I'm personally not bothered as side one is the draw as far as I'm concerned, and the last part of side two is only slightly so, and I may not have even noticed.

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  5. Yes try listening to Hark the herald Angels sing sound like its slightly at the wrong speed,thanks for the upload though.

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  6. I think I hear something, but only on the B-side tracks. I need to put the record on the turntable and see how it sounds. It's either pressed off-center of the hole, or there was a problem with the mastering. Maybe that's why it's harder to find? I'll try to get this sorted out today.

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  7. I think the vinyl is pressed off-center, or the hole is. I can see the tonearm swaying back and forth a bit as the record rotates. I used to have a record player that allowed me to remove the spindle, but not this one. I'm going to have to come up with something more clever...

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  8. those records are wonderful, aren't they? i especially like the ones where the original owner took a knife or some other tool and tried to fix the problem in vain around the hole. they're almost as good as those hi-fi records that someone tried to play on an old acoustic victrola with a fat steel needle and a 5-pound tonearm. they leave an unmistakable path of destruction in the grooves. hilarious!

    it's nice knowing that other people screw up, too... and even big companies that are supposed to be professional about these things. oh, and if you find any christmas music with a path of destruction in the grooves, i for one would like to hear it.

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  9. Thank you for this O. Henry. I actually really like the warble-soaked sound. Would you re-up the Ogden Nash?

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  10. New 2018 linkage...

    https://mega.nz/#!BVdz0Y7R!bzEV07OFOEBnJ-AtHkm4LIsaFI74681sB5f0eWErP7Q

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All comments are greatly appreciated, but replies aren't guaranteed...