Issued in honor of their 100th anniversary, this record from Montgomery Ward doesn't credit any artists, so the music is predictably generic. But it's a nice little listen for a Saturday morning. I remember going to Monkey Wards (as we called) to buy stereo equipment back when I was in high school. They had a scratch & dent section with demo equipment and customer returns that couldn't go back in the showroom, and I'd check in once a month to see if I could get something that I thought was a little better than what I had already. Probably spent more money upgrading than I saved by buying used stuff, but what did I know. I remember having to bring back a lot of things and trying to get them fixed. They actually had a service department that could repair capacitors and things, but they could be hard to deal with at times. I was young and trying to get something for cheap, so I'm sure I was hard to deal with, too. And I'd like to point out that Montgomery Ward isn't going to make it to their 200th anniversary, they closed up shop a few years ago, along with a whole generation of similar big department stores. I blame Wal-Mart and Amazon for that. But anyhow, this is
Montgomery Ward Presents Christmas Favorites (Montgomery Ward W-101, Mono, 1965). That lamppost image in the frame on the cover is another of those stock shots that you see show up fairly often. Let me see if I can find a link to an
earlier share with the same photo...
1. Joy To The World
2. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
3. Greensleeves
4. Jingle Bells
5. O Tannenbaum
6. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
7. Away In A Manger
8. Deck The Halls
9. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
10. The First Noel
11. Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)
12. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
13. The Twelve Days Of Christmas
14. Silent Night Holy Night
MEGA
Wards had a catalog business, which shriveled over time, as did Sears and J.C. Penney. The Christmas catalogs were a big deal, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Sears catalog, and maybe JC Penney, but we never mail-ordered anything, we just went to the stores. I'm old enough to remember when they weren't in the mall! :)
DeleteIn the big cities, the Sears stores were on street car lines, at least around here. They moved to malls (outdoor, then indoor) as the car culture took hold. We didn't live near the retail outlets of any of those chains, although I am old enough to remember taking a street car (actually a trackless trolley) that would have gone past one of the old Sears stores.
ReplyDeleteThere was a whole shopping center around the Sears in Lakeland where I grew up called Searstown. I think it was called Searstown for a while after Sears decamped to the new mall as well.
DeleteWards had a bigger vinyl celebration when they hit their 90th anniversary, teaming with Tops to press red vinyl versions of their Ink Spots, Lena Horne, Johnny Desmond, Artie Shaw, Andre Previn, & Three Suns albums, plus heading into the Rondo vaults for some Jaye P. Morgan and David Rose.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of 78s out there with the Wards name on them as well. Their association with music was long.
DeleteAlso, Sears had the Silvertone label for a while in the 40s, then there was a Sears budget label in the 60s. Not sure about Penneys, but I do remember buying Cream's Wheels of Fire there in 1968. The store had a nice record section.
DeleteI have a CD somewhere that Penney's put out, but no records that I can recall. :)
DeleteAlso, in the late-'60's Wards linked arms with Capitol Records to produce their Various Artists Christmas LP A Christmas To Remember; it is the LP where I primarily play Peggy Lee's version of "Happy Holiday" on vinyl every Christmas season.
ReplyDeleteThree volumes worth, I believe!
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