This is the third set of re-vamped stuff I shared out during Christmas in July 2010. Much better sounding than the first time I shared it out. Here's the download link. In other news, I recorded the first LP for sharing at Christmastime this evening. It's a 10" from 1949, really classic stuff. Sounds great!
Here's the second batch of stuff that I'm resharing from last Christmas in July after running it through ClickRepair, the best software out there for removing the annoying clicks and pops from vinyl recordings. Here's the download link, have at it.
For those of you who are still visiting and paying attention, I've got a little treat for you. Last year, not long before Christmas, I discovered the wonders of ClickRepair, a software that filters out many of the clicks and pops that are a byproduct of vinyl sound reproduction. And it does a really good job! Once I became comfortable with it, I went back to my original WAV files of the tracks I'd shared out during Christmas In July 2010, luckily still in a folder on my PC, and processed them. The difference to my ears is pretty impressive. They could be better, because they've actually been processed for clicks twice, once by Audacity and then by ClickRepair, and I think that may introduce some issues that shouldn't be there, but if you do a side-by-side comparison as I have, you'll hear an improvement. Anyhow, I finally got around to copying those improved files off the old PC and onto the new one tonight. Then I zipped them up into chunks that I could upload to MediaFire, so that means that they're in four separate ZIP files. It's taking forever to upload them, so I'm just going to share the first one with you tonight. If you're curious as to what's in there, have a look at the blog archives from last year during July, August and a little ways into September. All 212 songs that I shared during that period are reprised in the ZIP files I'll share with you in the next few days, even the Chanukah tracks. Hope you enjoy them. Here's the download link for part one.
As I spent July rummaging through the record collection in search of Christmas music in unexpected places, I also stumbled across a few tracks that celebrate that other big holiday in December, Chanukah. Not many, though. Chanukah songs seem to be few and far between, even compared to the Christmas songs on non-Christmas albums that seem to be pretty difficult to find. But I've got a few of them, so here they are, I don't want any of my Hebrew friends to feel left out.
1. Chanukah, Oy Chanukah by Harry Ringler And His Orchestra from The Happy Soul Of A People-Jewish Dances (Time S/2124, Stereo).
2. Hannukah Song (Hebrew Folk Song) from one of your favorite junior high school bands, Drexel Hill Junior High School Chorus, from their album Drexel Hill Junior High School Music Concerts 1965-1966 (Recorded Publications Company Z-71661/2, Mono, 1966)
3 & 4. Hanukkah (Regular and Unleaded, err, I mean Vocal & Instrumental) by Hap Palmer from his album Holiday Songs And Rhythms (Activity Records AR-538, Mono, 1971). I think this guy is still out there actively recording music for the younger set. I saw a CD by him not too long ago.
5. Chanukah Festival Overture by another junior high school band, Brookside Jr. High School Music Department-Advanced Orchestra-Ernesto Epistola, Conductor, and their album Winter Concert-Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 1971 (Brookside Jr. High School, Sarasota, Florida, United Sound USR 4026, Stereo, 1971). And you thought I was all done with the junior high stuff a week ago...
6. Chanukah Medley by The Liberated Wailing Wall from the LP We Were Like Dreamers (Jews For Jesus/Hineni H-1002, Stereo, 1976).
And that's it. Short but sweet. Now I can get busy recording real Christmas (and Chanukah!) music for Christmas time. Here's the download link. Thank you to everyone who left a comment and/or downloaded my shares. Hope you found something you liked.
OK, I think this is finally the last day of my Christmas in July sharity. I've given you everything in the folder where I kept the stuff. Tonight's stuff is a lot of repeat items that I found in better quality later, or found in stereo, or didn't get a good rip, or any of a dozen other reasons. There are a couple of unique items in here that I recorded too late to share out, so it's not all garbage. But if you want to skip one night out of the month, this is the one. It's also the largest download of the month at something over 250 megabytes, too, so it's a doozy. Now if I can just get the listing up here for you...
1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. The Chipmunk Song, Coventry Carol, Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers, Selections From The Nutcracker Suite and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, all performed by some orchestras led by James Walker, and all from that 4 LP set The Wonderful World Of Music For Children (Reader's Digest, Mono). I recorded these before I realized that the 6 LP version I had was all the same tracks (and more), but in stereo.
6. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town-Jingle Bells, a medley from the six LP version of Wonderful World Of Children (Reader's Digest 6xLP RDS38-M, Stereo) by James Walker. I shared the mono version of this on the first day of the month, but this is the stereo one.
7. Dance Of The Toy Flutes by an unlisted artist from the kiddie LP Ballets For Children (Twinkle (Premier) TW-41, Mono). I haven't shared this out previously, but do you really need another version, especially one with no artist credited? I didn't think so.
8. The Nutcracker Suite by Bob Keeshan With Full Orchestra And The Sandpiper Chorus from A Child's Introduction To The Nutcracker Suite (Goldon Record LP 143, Mono). I was pretty excited about this, and it really is nice. Captain Kangaroo himself. Problem is, it skips several times in the middle and at the end from a massive needle dig. Someone no doubt tried to play it on an old Victrola with a steel needle or something and it really left a couple of huge gouges that I couldn't recover. I faded it out at the end so you miss some of the music, but I couldn't do much with the skips in the middle. I think you'll enjoy it except in those areas.
9. Snowfall by LeRoy Holmes And His Orchestra from Candlelight And Wine (MGM E3288, Mono, 1956). Not the same recording I shared earlier, but instead a rerun from back in the day. I seem to have dug up a different date for it this time, not sure what the discrepancy is there.
10. Carol Of The Bells (Excerpt) by The Roger Wagner Chorale, Narration by Art Gilmore, pulled from The Stereo Disc (Capitol SWAL-9032, Stereo, 1958). It's just a short snippet, but I thought it was neat. You never know when you might need something like this for a mix tape.
11, 12 & 13. Danses Characteristiques by Leonard Bernstein With The New York Philharmonic, a stereo version of a track I shared out earlier in mono, this time from the 3 record set, Bernstein Conducts For Young People (Columbia Masterworks 3xLP D3S 785, Stereo, 1968). I'm also throwing in Miniature Overture and Waltz Of The Flowers from this set as well. I took the original shrink wrap off this set, and it still sounded pretty crackly. Sometimes they sound good, sometimes they don't...
14. Hallelujah by Jim Tyler & Orchestra from Pin Point Percussion (Time S/2016, Stereo, 1960). Command wasn't the only label putting out percussion-based versions of popular music in the sixties, but they seem to be the best remembered. The Time label tried to give them a run for their money, fancy LP jackets and all, but they always played second fiddle.
15. Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah by The Roger Wagner Chorale from Virtuoso! (Capitol SP8431, Stereo, 1959). A rerun that I didn't get a chance to share out earlier in the month.
16. March Of The Toys by George Melachrino And His Orchestra from The Music Of Victor Herbert (RCA Victor LSP-2129, Stereo, 1960). Something I should have just deleted, but I didn't. I recorded this same song twice, and I shared the better of the two recordings earlier in the month. So if you want to delete this one, you aren't really losing anything.
17. My Favorite Things by Perry Como With Mitchell Ayres And His Orchestra And The Ray Charles Singers from By Request (RCA Victor LSP-2567, Stereo, 1962). I gave you this one earlier in the month from a mono LP, but I found the stereo version later. So here's a nice little upgrade. This one was also in a fancy sleeve very much like the Stereo Action releases.
18. My Favorite Things by Ronnie Aldrich And His Two Pianos, in a version identical to one I shared earlier, only this time pulled form the LP it originally appeared on, That Aldrich Feeling (London Phase 4 SP 44070, Stereo, 1965). My earlier share was pulled from a sampler LP, so I wanted to grab it from the original record.
19. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer from a budget label collection of stuff... Maybe it will sound familiar.
And that's it. A little over 400 tracks for the month, and I think it's far enough over 400 that you can delete some of the repeated stuff and still have a library over 400 songs. Pretty proud of that, it's my best year ever, quality and quantity. Here's the download link, have at it. Come back tomorrow for a little Chanukah goodness. Be sure you leave me a note telling me what enjoy the feedback and knowing what you liked and didn't. You can tell me what stuff you didn't think was appropriate for a Christmas song, too, if you want. I think I stretched the definition pretty thin on more than one occasion.
Yes, there are 32 days in July this month. Err, I mean last month. Chances are, there will be 33, to tell you the truth. But tonight I am pretty busy trying to figure out something called jdownloader, so I don't have time to give you a list of stuff. But there're some good things in here, and a lot of reruns that I didn't get to during the month proper. Here's the download link, come back tomorrow for even more goodies!
Ta-Da! Last day of the month! So around here, that means songs about New Year's, and at least a dozen versions of Auld Lang Syne. But I've got a couple of special things in here, too, so don't write off the whole day. Let's see what's in the old download tonight...
1. Auld Land Syne in a sing-along version by Guy Cherney from Everybody Sing With Guy Cherney (Mercury MG 20131, Mono, 1956). This sing-along idea seems to be a popular idea when it comes to Auld Lang Syne.
2. Auld Lang Syne with no artist credited, but it came on a promotional record for Suburban Propane, so that's who I'm crediting it to. The LP is Suburban Propane Presents...Family Treasury Of Songs For Your Listening Pleasure (Suburban Album SCOR_1, Mono). If you look hard enough, there are promo albums from every industry in the US.
3. Auld Lang Syne from Richard Wolfe, he of kiddie chorus fame. This is from Many Happy Returns Of The Day (MGM E 4087, Mono, 1963). Believe it or not, this LP sports a cover by Jack Davis. You'll probably see some of it come Christmas...
4. Auld Lang Syne, another promo version this time by the Ford-Allen Singers from an oddball 6" flexidisc in it's original paper envelope, Make Winter Driving A Song-Happy Songs For Special Occasions (Auravision, A Product Of Columbia Records 6" 33 RPM Flexidisc in paper folder, Compliments of Esso). I wound up with two copies of this, one in the envelope, one not, but the one that wasn't in the envelope had never had the center hole punched out. So I recorded the punched one.
5. Good Night Ladies And Auld Lang Syne (Medley), the first of many medleys this evening that incorporate our New Year's Eve song, this time by Hugo And Luigi With Their Family Singers from By The Fireside (Mercury MG 20153, Mono, 1956). That Hugo and Luigi went on to bigger and better things after this, producing more than their fair share of records at RCA in the sixties.
6. Happy New Year, Happy New Year (Come To The Party, Do), perhaps the only rerun of the day, by Charlie Weaver, Music Under The Direction Of Charles (Puddin' Head) Dant And The Mt. Idy Symphonette from Charlie Weaver Sings For His People (Columbia CL 1345, Mono, 1959). Nice little comedy bit from the same guy who did a Christmas bit for you the other night.
7. Let's Start The New Year Right by Bing Crosby With Bob Crosby And His Orchestra from some movie he was in called Holiday Inn (Decca DL 4256, Mono, 1962). This was part of a reissue series that saw all sorts of old Bing soundtracks brought back to life.
8. Look Ahead by The Mariners With Orchestra And Chorus By Archie Bleyer, Introduction By Arthur Godfrey from Arthur Godfrey's TV Calendar Show (Columbia GL 521, Mono, 1953). I shared a track from this earlier in the month, and I was happy to be able to finally get any of the songs on this beat-up LP recorded. But there's still one on there I can't get. It's a version of this same song done by Arthur Godfrey himself. Oh, well, maybe next year.
9. Annie Laurie-Auld Lang Syne by Mitch Miller And The Gang from Fireside Sing Along With Mitch (Columbia CS 8184, Stereo, 1959). As if you could do a sing-along song and not have a version by Mitch and his gang.
10. Auld Lang Syne, this time by Oscar Clinton And His Orchestra from A Salute To The Great Band Leaders (Spin-O-Rama S-27, Stereo). Budget label goodness.
11, 12 & 13. Auld Lang Syne, the introduction (Countdown To The New Year), the Reprise and the Finale by Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians from Every Night Is New Year's Eve With Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians-Live At The Waldorf Astoria (London Phase 4 XPS 904, Stereo, 1973). Really, really late in his career.
14. Happy New Year, whoops, a second rerun, by Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra With The Ralph Brewster Singers from The Magic World Of Gordon Jenkins (Columbia CS 8682, Stereo, 1962). Excellent track. Not only have I shared this version before, I also shared a different version that I pulled from a reel-to-reel tape!
15. Medley: For He's A Jolly Good Fellow-Auld Lang Syne by The Rounders from Good Time Party Songs (Stereo Gold Award (UK) MER 339, Stereo, 1971).
16. New Year's Eve At Times Square, a short snippet of live sound narrated by Art Gilmore from an early stereo sampler The Stereo Disc (Capitol SWAL-9032, Stereo, 1958). I was hoping to actually get to hear the countdown, but it isn't there.
17. On The Very First Day Of The Year, another great song from Bing Crosby With The Pete Moore Orchestra from his last recorded LP, Seasons (Polydor PD-1-6128, Stereo, 1977). It's as if he was looking for a rewrite of that other track above.
18. Happy New Year Twist (Auld Lang Syne), probably my favorite version of this tired old track, by The Lions (with assistance from Billy Mure, I believe) from Twist With The Lions (Metro (MGM) M300, Mono, 1962). Good stuff.
19. Auld Lang Syne, a later version from Vaughn Monroe from Racing With The Moon (Hamilton (Dot) HLP 137, Mono). Shame he never did a full Christmas LP, but there are plenty of single tracks, almost enough that you could put a full album together...
20. He's A Jolly Good Fellow-Auld Lang Syne, the last version of the evening, I promise, by Frank '88' Malone from Hail, Hail The Gang's All Here! (Somerset P-900, Mono, 1964). Yawn.
And there you have it. Plenty of tunes to play on the next New Year, many months from now. Put 'em someplace safe you you still have them when the time comes. Here's the download link. Oh, don't think we're done. If history has taught us anything, it's that there's always a day or two worth of songs left in the coffers after the month comes to an official close. So be sure to come back tomorrow.
