Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Ralph, Again


Well, I guess it's high time I got back to posting some Christmas music around here.  I'm sure you all downloaded and enjoyed that Grandma Moses Christmas record from last night by now, but the fact that my hits have gone down precipitously since this time yesterday tell me that I need to get busy.  That Grandma Moses featured some tracks from The Ralph Hunter Choir, but nothing that comes from this album, so you can download this without fear.  There may be a couple of the same songs, but they're different recordings.  This one is in stereo, and it's some of the best choir recordings I share out on this blog.  No lie.  I've been sharing it since that magical year of 2005, but I've remastered it at least once since then when I found a nicer US issue than the original Australian copy I shared out the first time around.  If you've never heard this, you absolutely have to download The Ralph Hunter Choir-Christmas Surprises From The Ralph Hunter Choir (RCA Victor LSP-2063, Stereo, 1959).  Somebody at RCA must have loved this so much, they decided to re-issue it a few years later as a completely different group, so you may know this as Living Voices-Living Voices Sing Christmas Music (RCA Camden CAS 725, Stereo, 1962), that's the cover you can see way down at the bottom.  Actually, the story goes that there was a falling out between Ralph Hunter and RCA, and after he left the label, they released his music under the generic Living Voices name.  Too bad.  This is good stuff.

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

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7 comments:

  1. So those little Santas in pop-up boxes looked kinda familiar to me, and I ran upstairs to get one of my own (very few) old Christmas records - this is the exact same cover photograph from BF Goodrich‘s "For A Musical Merry Christmas" Volume 4, which I’m sure many others of you have observed too …

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  2. Yeah, I tried to start a series of posts called something like Christmas Doppelgangers, where I showed different Christmas albums with the same covers. I think I only ever did two, then got tired of it. But that was one of them. Lemme see if I can find the link...

    http://ernienotbert.blogspot.com/2008/12/vinyl-doppelgangers-volume-one.html

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  3. I have this LP as the Living Voices and was surprised to recognize Silent Night as being the version used on the VHS version of the Disney Sing A long Songs 'A very merry Christmas'... i think they changed it when they put it out on DVD.

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  4. This is my favorite album from my youth. If there is one record that signifies Christmas music for my brothers and I, it's this one.

    Thanks!

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  5. Ernie, has this been posted more recently, or can this be made available again? I've heard nothing but fantastic things about this album, but cannot seem to find any working links. Thanks.

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  6. Oh, never mind. Found it under Living Voices Sing Christmas Music, available commercially.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it's been reissued under the reissue title. Shame, but that's the name that most people know this record as.

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