06-Really Old Stuff

One nice thing about the archival 78 collection at The Internet Archive is that it's not restricted to any one style or era of music. Though their funding does appear to prioritize non-classical music, just about everything else is fair game. And the 78 era covers a wide range of stuff. But frequently the early acoustic recordings are a tough listen, so I decided to put some of the really early stuff together into a single post so if you don't like that sort of a challenging listen, you can just skip it. I tried to skip some of the recordings that I was familiar with, there are plenty of collections out there that focus on the early acoustic stuff, and Christmas was a popular theme in those days, even if it was a record you couldn't play other times of the year. These few selections should be less familiar, and hopefully listenable at the very least. I tried and tried to get at least one good rip from a cylinder recording dating back to 1896, but I just couldn't get anything close to listenable out of it. My skill level with these things is not where it should be, but you can always get the originals from The Great 78 Project if you want to try your hand at it. Everything I'm sharing here and a lot, lot more is available from their collection.  The songs in this download were released between 1904 and 1928, so it's all over 90 years old, and most of it's over 100!  That's impressive!

MEGA

Update-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist to allow searching.

1. Posadas And Monaku-Christmas Eve-Hawaiian Guitar Duet
2. Percy Pitt Conducting The B.B.C. Wireless Symphony Orchestra (By Special Permission Of The B.B.C.)-Christmas Overture Part 1
3. Thaviu's Concert Band-Ice Skating Waltz
4. Columbia Stellar Quartette-On the Old Bob Sled
5. The Gulf Coast Seven-Santa Claus Blues
6. Charles Harrison-Tenor, Orchestra Accompaniment-Star Of Bethlehem
7. Columbia Orchestra-The Merry Sleigh Bells
8. Haydn Quartet With Orchestra-Winter
9. Percy Pitt Conducting The B.B.C. Wireless Symphony Orchestra (By Special Permission Of The B.B.C.)-Christmas Overture Part 2
10. Wilfred Glenn, Basso, Orchestra Accompaniment-Nazareth
11. Columbia Quartette-Snow Time
12. Henry Burr, Tenor With Orchestra-The Night Before Christmas
13. Broadway Quartette-Winter Medley-Introducing: Jingle Bells; My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean; How Can I Love Thee; Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party; Good Night Ladies

Note: Sometimes the Archive has two or more copies of the same record. I tried to grab the one that I thought sounded best, and then grab all the different label variations for it. That's why the one above and below look very similar, but if you look close, the one below is more expensive than the one above. I think that's also due to it being two-sided, where-as the one above only has music on one side.

The Return Of The Skiers

I hadn't planned on throwing up any old shares this year, but this LP crossed my Facebook feed, and I remembered sharing it at some point in 2008. It's been somewhat scarce since then, possibly because it's not really a Christmas album, and because one of the tracks skips, I hate sharing something like that. I need to revisit this one at some point and see if I can fix that. I don't think I've ever seen another copy, but I have learned a few tricks to get a skip to play through, so maybe...  Reading the liner notes, I see that The Yodeling Guides are credited as Fred Barrie And Tony Hartenstein. I don't think I noticed that the first time around. And I certainly didn't notice the Pete King credit for arranging. I'm betting he did more than arrange this though, I suspect this was a studio assemblage that he put together for this one LP only. But I can't prove that, or course. This is an old rip so the bitrate isn't that good, and like I said, it skips in one song, so don't put that track in your playlist if you can help it.  Back from oblivion, this is The Blazers & The Yodelin' Guides-Track! Songs Of The Skiers (Kapp 1218, Mono, 1960).

1. Ski Trails
2. Winter Song
3. There's A Tavern In The Town-Vive La Compagnie
4. S.B.B. (The Swiss Railroad Song)
5. She'll Be Skiing Down The Mountain-The Man On The New Pair Of Skiis-Wham! Went The Skier
6. The Happy Wanderer
7. Hop-Sah-Sah
8. Ski, Ski, Ski
9. We're The Gang-Give A Cheer
10. The Weggis Song (This track skips, sorry...)
11. Beer Barrel Polka
12. It Happened In Sun Valley

MEGA

05-Christmas On The Range

 

Another day, another short set of themed Christmas shellac, courtesy of The Internet Archive! Today it's Christmas on the range, songs that take you back to that old West that once existed, not in real life, but on the silver screen and the boob tube of the 1950's. Kids back then didn't want a Red Ryder BB gun for no reason, it was to be like their heroes on the big and small screens. And that rolled over into the Christmas music of the era. Note that it wasn't only country & western artists that were jumping on this bandwagon. Dick Haymes probably never rode a horse in his life, and I think these particular Hill Billies came from England.  I've got a small selection here, but it's all good music, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

MEGA

Update-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist to allow searching.

1. Leon McAuliff And His Western Swing Band-Vocal By Jimmy Hall-A Cowboy's Christmas Song
2. Tex Ritter-Vocal With String Band-Christmas Carols By The Old Corral
3. The Hill Billies With Their Own Novelty Accompaniment-Christmas Out On The Prairie-Part 1: Intro; Home On The Range; Good King Wenceslas; Silent Night, Holy Night; It Came Upon The Midnight Clear; Will The Angels Play Their Harps For Me
4. Dick Haymes With Ken Darby Singers And Victor Young And His Orchestra-Santa Claus Is Ridin' The Trail
5. Wilf Carter (Montana Slim) The Singing Cowboy-The Night Before Christmas In Texas, That Is
6. Eddy Howard-Orchestra Under The Direction Of Lou Adrian-When It's Christmas On The Range
7. W.G.A.R. Range Riders, Vocal: The Kendall Sisters And Roy West-Winter Fell On The Range
8. The Hill Billies With Their Own Novelty Accompaniment-Christmas Out On The Prairie-Part 2: Intro; Just A Dream At Sunset; Auld Lang Syne; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; First Nowell; Climbing Up Dem Golden Stairs

04-Instrumental Christmas

 

Here's a really fun collection of instrumental Christmas music, again sourced from The Internet Archive. A couple of double-sided versions here, but most of it is stand-alone stuff. And I think there's one track in here that I first shared out with you as a secret bonus track found only in the comments of a post back during A Very Covid Christmas earlier in the year. That series never went very far, so most of those items are coming out here again, especially the bonus stuff that no one knew about. I also see some great jazz in here, some piano stuff that just may knock your socks off, and what may be the only 12" record in the whole season, though it still spins at a zippy 78 RPM.  And there's at least one track that was a favorite find several years during Christmas in July from an appearance on a random LP, but this is from the original 78 issue.  Enjoy!

MEGA

Update-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist to allow searching.

1. David Rose And His Orchestra-A Christmas Medley-Part 1 (Deck The Hall With Holly; The First Noel; Joy To The World)
2. Joseph "Sonny" Walikis And His Accordion-Christmas Carols
3. Robert Rheims, Organ And Chimes-First Noel/Holy Night
4. Errol Garner, Piano Solo-Great Christmas-Part 1
5. Jan Savitt And His Orchestra-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
6. Joe Loco Quintet-Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer
7. London String Quartet-Silent Night (Christmas Hymn)
8. The Capitol Symphonic Band Conducted By Louis Castellucci-Sleigh Ride
9. Bonnemere And His Piano-White Christmas
10. Chet Baker Quartet-Winter Wonderland
11. David Rose And His Orchestra-A Christmas Medley-Part 2 (Toyland; Silent Night; Oh Come, All Ye Faithful)
12. Mantovani And His Orchestra-Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)
13. Lionel Hampton And Orchestra-Gin For Christmas
14. Errol Garner, Piano Solo-Great Christmas-Part 2
15. Del Wood With Rhythm Accompaniment-Here Comes Santa Claus
16. Frank Petty Trio-Mike Di Napoli, Piano-Jingle Bells--Mambo
17. Leopold Stokowski And His Symphony Orchestra-Russian Christmas Music

03-Spoken Word Christmas

 

I'll go ahead and get this small collection of spoken-word Christmas items out to you here at the beginning of the season, just to get it out of the way. It's a short collection, and several of the selections are spread out over both sides of a record. My favorite is the above item, a commercial for Rexall Drugs featuring the great Jimmy Durante and radio personality Garry Moore. It's stuff like this that always keeps the collection at The Internet Archive interesting. Enjoy!

MEGA

Update-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist to allow searching.

1. Claude Rains With Hugo Peretti Orchestra And Chorus-A Christmas Carol-Pt. 1
2. Franklyn MacCormack With Herbert Foote At The Organ-I Like Christmas
3. Ireene Wicker, The Singing Lady, Accompanied By Milton Rettenberg With Special Sound Effects-The Legend Of The Christmas Rose (Part 1)
4. Charles Laughton-Music By Hanns Eisler-The Oldest Christmas Story (The Gospel According To St. Luke)
5. Edward Penney, Prayer Recited By Larry Forbes, With Vocal Chorus-What Is Christmas
6. Claude Rains With Hugo Peretti Orchestra And Chorus-A Christmas Carol-Pt. 2
7. Bill Cook-A Letter To Santa
8. Garry Moore & Jimmy Durante with Justin Dart, Joseph Galvin, Stanley Culver, Till Bond, Howard Petrie, Suzanne Ellers & Roy Bargy-Christmas Greetings 1946
9. Anthony Rivers-The Christmas Tree
10. Ireene Wicker, The Singing Lady, Accompanied By Milton Rettenberg With Special Sound Effects-The Legend Of The Christmas Rose (Part 2)
11. Milton Cross With RCA Victor Salon Orchestra-The Night Before Christmas (Recitation With Musical Background)