Sunday, December 13, 2020

20-Frank Luther

Today is the only day all season that's dedicated to a single artist (and his sometime partner, Zora Layman), and not coincidentally, it also happens to be the largest share of the season. And it's not even a comprehensive collection! The work of Frank Luther is nearly forgotten today, but in his day, he was sort of a Burl Ives of the record world, finding all sorts of folk treasures and recording them for posterity.  He recorded two large 10-sided collections of Christmas songs (of which I am missing one disc in part two, but part one comes complete with front cover and an insert!), as well as a collection of holiday songs that covers our favorite time of the year in some depth.  And a pair of sides telling and singing the story of Babar (the elephant) and Father Christmas (not The Kinks). And a deep dive into his discography will tell you there is more Christmas in there that I didn't take the time to collect. Oh, the very last record pictured below is a collection of seasonal tales that fit right into my collection here, but I didn't grab the rest of the album that one came from.  So if you don't know much about Frank Luther, you will by the time you've gone through all of this.  There are a whole lot of songs here that I've never heard before, and things that I don't think you're going to find anywhere else. And in case you forgot, all this wonderful sharity from 78 is being brought to you thanks to the generosity of the folks at The Internet Archive, and specifically their Great 78 Project.

MEGA

Update-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist to allow searching.

1. Frank Luther-Tuneful Tales, Part 4: Holidays; Jack Frost; Winter Is Coming; Thanksgiving; The Snow; Chickadee
2. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Christmas Day In The Morning; They Come With Blissful Song; Baby's Night
3. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; Old Christmas; Cradle Song Of The Virgin
4. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Good King Wenceslas; Far Away
5. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Boar's Head Carol; Old Christmas; The Babe Of Bethlehem
6. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-The Wassail Song; Why, Alas! In Lowly Stall; The First Nowell
7. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Carol, Carol Christians!; When Snow Lies Deep; The Sleigh Ride
8. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing; O, Come All Ye Faithful
9. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Calm Was The Night; 'Twas Clear And Cold; Oh Night Of Nights!; Holy Night
10. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-The Holy Family; Ave Maria (Schubert)
11. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Joy To The World; Born Of Maiden Fair; Come And Worship
12. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Sing The Holly; The Wind May Shout; Christmas Comes Again; Welcome To Christmas
13. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Evergreen; Deck The Hall; Heigh-Ho The Holly; Dainty Wee Stockings
14. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Christmas Bells; Glad Tidings; Over The Happy Town
15. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Long Joyously Sing; Over Land And Sea; Beautiful Bells
16. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-The Glad Bells All Say; The Sleigh Ride
17. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Merrily Ring The Bells; Dear Santa Claus; Come Show The Way; A Funny Old Fellow; Let Old Santa Claus Come In
18. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Old Santa Claus; Mistress Santa Claus; An Odd Old Man
19. Frank Luther & Zora Layman And The Century Quartette-Santa Claus Tonight; Kriss Kringle Drive; Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town; Wake, Wake Children
20. Frank Luther-Babar And Father Christmas-Part 1
21. Frank Luther-Babar And Father Christmas-Part 2
22. Frank Luther With Piano, Clarinet And Violin Accompaniment-Holidays-Part 1: Happy New Year; Lincoln's Birthday
23. Frank Luther With Piano, Clarinet And Violin Accompaniment-Holidays-Part 2: St. Valentine's Day; Washington's Brithday
24. Frank Luther With Piano, Clarinet And Violin Accompaniment-Holidays-Part 3: St. Patrick's Day; Decoration Day
25. Frank Luther With Piano, Clarinet And Violin Accompaniment-Holidays-Part 4: Independence Day; July Fourth
26. Frank Luther With Piano, Clarinet And Violin Accompaniment-Holidays-Part 5: Columbus Day; Halowe'en
27. Frank Luther With Piano, Clarinet And Violin Accompaniment-Holidays-Part 6: Thanksgiving; Christmas



























3 comments:

  1. I had no idea that Frank Luther recorded this much Christmas music! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My favorite Christmas things from archive.org are the danish Christmas songs. But now in the spotlight is Frank Luther. I very like this music. Great collection! Thank you very much!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the comments. I'm afraid the Frank Luther stuff isn't very popular, which is a shame, because it's pretty good.

    ReplyDelete

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