Back To The Harmonicas

Today's remastered LP is this classic from a splinter group of the original Harmonicats. When I decided to re-record this one, the copy I found turned out to have a slightly different back cover that featured a picture of the band.  And as I looked at the picture and actually read the words, I realized that Don Les, former Harmonicat, was not the most famous person in the group.  That honor goes to Mildred Mulcay (not 'Mudcay' as they've decided to spell it...) of the famous Mulcays!  They may not have been as famous back in the day as The Harmonicats, but at least she was a primary member of the group, unlike Don Les.  I've made a lot of fun of this album over the years, but it's certainly grown on me, and it's far from the worst thing I've ever shared with you.  Maybe this new rip will make you a fan.  If not, at least you didn't pay anything for it.  I had to buy the album. I think this could have been a real classic if they'd pepped up the tempo a bit and added some backing instrumentation.  This is The Don Les Harmonicats-Christmas With The Don Les Harmonicats (Halo 1005, Stereo). Note that 'Upon The Housetop' is listed on the cover, but doesn't actually show up on the album. (Instead you get 'O Little Town Of Bethlehem'.)  If you read the notes closely, I don't think that's the only error here.  Halo was certainly a budget label.

1. White Christmas
2. The Christmas Song
3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
4. Jingle Bells
5. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
6. Silent Night
7. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
8. March Of The Three Kings
9. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
10. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear

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Harmonica Christmas

A great little EP that I first shared with you in 2010, and for some reason I don't recall ever having brought it back. And that's a shame because I remember it as being some pretty good stuff. The Mulcays were a harmonica band back during the period when harmonica players were not considered musicians.  I kid you not.  Well, at least the musicians union didn't consider it an instrument, so they were able to keep recording during a ban that kept other musicians from making records.  I don't think that was going on when this record was made, but it's just a little perspective on things.  This is The Mulcays And Their Electric Harmonicas-Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year (Card-N-Song by Cardinal Records 7" 45 RPM EP 103, Mono, 1954). And you thought those Christmas cards that played a song for you were a new invention...

1. Silent Night, Holy Night
2. Jingle Bells
3. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
4. White Christmas

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Oil of Olé

 

Well, now that Christmas in July (and August) is over, I can get back to other things, and one of those things is this amazing album cover I found back in July.  I have no idea when I originally bought this, but I found it in the stacks a month or so ago, and it seared itself into my head.  I thought I recognized the artist based on a few covers posted by my buddy Buster many years ago, and sure enough, I was right.  I didn't remember the name, but the color palate is pretty unmistakable.  Fred Steffen is the guy's name, you can see his highly-stylized autograph in the lower right corner of the cover above, and you should really check out the selection of album covers he created in his career.  In case you think maybe I went crazy with the saturation slider, nope, I didn't even touch it.  This is as close as I could get the scan to look like the 10" LP sitting right here on my keyboard.  It is bright!  And lurid!  What is going on here?  A nearly naked lady is dancing and some cat-guys are squatting behind her while blowing some kind of blue smoke.  I guess this is how the music of The Harmonicats is supposed to make you feel.  Well, maybe.  You'll have to download it and see for yourself.  For your listening and viewing pleasure, please download and enjoy Olé-South Of The Border With The Harmonicats AKA Olay! (Mercury 10" 33 RPM MG 25193, Mono, 1954).  The title of this LP is different everywhere you look, so I'm just going with what it says on the front cover.

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Non-Christmas

I have long lamented the fact that the original Harmonicats did not release a Christmas album.  A splinter group recorded an album well after their prime on a budget label, and I've shared that one with you before.  I think there was also a single track recorded by the group in the sixties that showed up on a Goodyear Christmas LP (maybe...nope, it was a Columbia label Christmas collection).  But there isn't a Christmas album in all of their classic canon.  So I'm going to share this LP with a doll theme and pretend like it's a Christmas record.  There are plenty of tracks here that wouldn't be out of place on a Christmas record, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch.  I remember downloading a copy of this vinyl many, many years ago from a now defunct blog run by someone named Ben T.  Like so many excellent blogs through the years, that one eventually went belly up and was never heard from again.  I'm doing my best to keep that from happening around here, but you never know what tomorrow might bring.  Anyhow, I eventually found my own copy of the vinyl, and that's what I'm bringing you tonight.  This is Jerry Murad's Electronic Harmonicats-Dolls, Dolls, Dolls (Mercury SR60008, Stereo, 1959).  It's good stuff!

1. Waltzing Doll (Poupee Valsante)
2. The Toy Trumpet
3. Spanish Doll (Senorita Munequita)
4. Paper Doll
5. March Of The Toys
6. Wedding Of The Painted Doll
7. Oh! You Beautiful Doll
8. Dance Of The Dutch Doll
9. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
10. Pink Dresden Doll
11. The Wooden Soldier & The China Doll
12. Doll Dance

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This isn't the first time I've shared out a non-Christmas album during the holiday sharity season, mind you.  And something tells me it won't be the last.

And what would a Harmonicats Christmas LP really sound like?  Probably a lot like this EP from The Mulcays, another great, though lesser-known, harmonica group.

Crappy Harmonicas

If you don't appreciate that Mulcays EP I just shared with you, download this cheapo LP by the Don Les version of The Harmonicats and see how much worse things could be.  I've been sharing this out since 2006, and it hasn't gotten any better with age.  I so wanted this to be a good album, given all of the great things The Harmonicats did in their career, but I guess Jerry Murad was the talented one.  Anyhow, if you want to give it a listen, this is The Don Les Harmonicats-Christmas With The Don Les Harmonicats (Halo 1005, Stereo).

1. White Christmas
2. The Christmas Song
3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
4. Jingle Bells
5. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
6. Silent Night
7. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
8. March Of The Three Kings
9. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
10. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear

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And Their Electric Harmonicas, Too!

 I've been slacking in my hopes of posting a 7" record for you every day, so I'm trying to get back on track with that tonight.  This time, I've got a great little EP from The Mulcays, a harmonica group who made the Christmas music that The Harmonicats never did.  Sometimes it leans a little Hawaiian, too, so imagine if The Harmonicats had made a Christmas single on Maui, and that's pretty close to what you get here.  I shared one of these tracks a long time ago, but from a two track single (this one has four).  Turns out this package was designed to be given as a sort of musical Christmas card, before they had microchips to make such a thing happen.  You'll see a scan in the download of the card opened up, with a little pocket to tuck the record in.  I would have been very happy to have gotten this as a card back in the early fifties.  (Of course, I was still years away from being born, but stranger things have happened.)  Please download and enjoy The Mulcays And Their Electric Harmonicas-Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year (Card-N-Song by Cardinal Records 7" 45 RPM EP 103, Mono, 1954).

1. Silent Night, Holy Night
2. Jingle Bells
3. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
4. White Christmas

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The Not-So-Fabulous Harmonicats

Everybody loves The Harmonicats! Well, those of you who know who they are. Unfortunately, there are two Harmonicats. The group you know and love, the original group fronted by Jerry Murad, is not anywhere to be heard on this release. This is a group led by former member Don Les. And I'm afraid he may not have been the reason for the original group's success. Just download Christmas With The Don Les Harmonicats (Halo 1005, Stereo) and I think you'll see what I mean. Oh, forgot to mention that I first shared this back in 2006.

1. White Christmas
2. The Christmas Song
3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
4. Jingle Bells
5. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
6. Silent Night
7. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
8. March Of The Three Kings
9. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
10. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear.