Canterbury Tales
1. O, Come All Ye Faithful ("Adeste Fideles")
2. The First Noel
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. O, Little Town Of Bethlehem
5. Angels From The Realms Of Glory
6. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
7. Joy To The World
8. Silent Night
9. Good King Wenceslas
10. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
11. Deck The Halls; I Saw Three Ships
12. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
13. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
14. Angels, We Have Heard On High
15. Away In A Manger (Luther's Cradle Hymn)
16. O, Holy Night (Cantique De Noel)
17. In The Bleak Mid-Winter
18. What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)
19. Coventry Carol
2. The First Noel
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. O, Little Town Of Bethlehem
5. Angels From The Realms Of Glory
6. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
7. Joy To The World
8. Silent Night
9. Good King Wenceslas
10. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
11. Deck The Halls; I Saw Three Ships
12. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
13. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
14. Angels, We Have Heard On High
15. Away In A Manger (Luther's Cradle Hymn)
16. O, Holy Night (Cantique De Noel)
17. In The Bleak Mid-Winter
18. What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)
19. Coventry Carol
Update-19 Jan 2026-I had a few problems with this record that have now been fixed. If you downloaded it prior to the date shown, you've likely missing a song and one medley on side two is shared as two separate tracks. But I've updated it now and everything should be much better. Thanks to the folks who mentioned the problem, and thanks doubly so for your patience, it's taken me a long time to get it fixed.
Been waiting a long time for all of their Christmas tracks in one place -- thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteThey're right here! Enjoy 'em!
DeleteHe didn't produce all that many records, mostly pops material, which I think was his specialty.
ReplyDeletePops and Christmas! :)
DeleteI recently was given a yellow-label MGM Record that has several Canterbury Choir tracks on the B-side of a Christmas story disc, so I just might have some of the songs posted here. However, the disc has quite a few scratches on it, so hopefully it will be playable.
ReplyDeleteGot that one somewhere, should probably rip it someday. Pretty sure only the story side is unique though.
DeleteMGM released two LPs in 1955 with recycled Canterbury tracks on Side 2. One LP ("A Christmas Carol") uses Side 1 of this 1953 album, and the other LP ("On the Twelfth Day") uses Side 2 of this 1953 album. Song-for-song, so they probably just used the same master and cut it.
ReplyDeleteAnd this 1953 LP is *almost* complete. It uses the 1949 Canterbury Choir version of "We Three Kings," not the newer 1952 version on the 10" LP you shared earlier this year.
Oh, so the 10" record is not entirely superfluous? Good! :)
DeleteI think the record that I got a few weeks ago was On the Twelfth Day. Only notable hard-to-find Christmas album I saw today was one from organist Brad Swanson.
ReplyDeletePretty sure I have it but I can't picture it...
DeleteHi Ernie, I just noticed that "O Holy Night" is missing, and Tracks 12-16 are mislabeled. I'm surely not complaining -- just thought you might want to know.
ReplyDeleteVery grateful for everything you share!
Ooh, I'll have to take a look at that right after lunch. Thanks for mentioning it.
DeleteHi Ernie,
DeleteI have not noticed if you uploaded a new updated version of this or not.
So, what I did with my downloaded copy was...
I renumbered tracks 12-20. There are 20 tracks, because you spilt track 11 into 2 separate tracks.
I added in a new number 17, O; Holy Night.
I corrected all the correct title information.
I than added the correct album comment, and album artwork for #17, O, Holy Night.
Everything looks fine now.
Thanks again for sharing these two albums, they are really fine productions all around.
Meant to work on it this weekend and forgot. Will try to get to it tonight. :(
DeleteIt's taken me a month, but a corrected version is now available for download. Thanks for mentioning the error and waiting all this time for a better copy.
DeleteGreat and thank you so much.
DeleteOh, I will keep both versions. Your corrected version and my corrected version-now with the new O'Holy Night added in.
DeleteI like how you originally split the medley into two different tracks.
That reminds me, I need to updated the track listing in the post...
DeleteI used to cut a lot of medleys into individual tracks if I found there was a gap in them. I figured it wasn't really a medley if they were recorded and pressed that way. But I've since come around to the thinking that the original producer/artist must have wanted it that way, so why not present it that way. Certainly in this case it was really easy to split the medley into two distinct songs.
DeleteYes that is why I decided to keep both your new fixed version and the version I mixed/fixed together. They definitely sound like two different and separate tracks just placed together.
DeleteEither way, it is a great album.
Hi Ernie,
ReplyDeleteBeing in any Cathedral during Christmas is magical. The Canterbury Cathedral is one such place. While it was about 25 years ago, and my memory has faded, the situation why I was there has not faded. Lets just say. love lost, after my visit there.
I'm working on getting a new version of this up. My cuts were bad, I missed a whole track and mislabeled quite a few on side two. Maybe tomorrow I can get that up...
DeleteI missed a whole track and mislabeled quite a few on side two?
DeleteI never noticed. I was preoccupied with work while I was listening to this album.
Glad to know that you are planning on an update. I will go ahead and delete it from my mp3 relistening list. It was worth another listen to me.
You'd only notice if you compared the tracklist to the labels on the LP, or the track names to what was actually playing. But it was wrong and I need to fix it. Must have been in too big of a hurry.
Delete