Monday, November 26, 2012

A Tale Of Three Records

OK, here's a fun one for tonight's remastered musical memory.  Technically speaking, I've never shared the record above with you.  It's Domenico Savino And The Rome Festival Orchestra-Christmas Party (RCA Camden CAL 333, Mono, 1956).  I've shown you the cover before, though.

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But it turns out that it's exactly the same as this record, which I have shared out in the past.  For some reason, they decided to release it two years later with a different cover.  Now it's Domenico Savino And His Orchestra-Hi-Fi Christmas Party (RCA Camden CAL 392, Mono, 1958).  They've changed the name to include Hi-Fi, but it's the same recording that wasn't labelled hi-fi two years earlier.  It's all in the name, I guess.

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Now, to add insult to injury, or at least to annoy the record buying public, this is not just a remixed-to-stereo version of either of the records above.  This is a complete re-recording of all the songs on the mono version, with the addition of a chorus on four of the tracks.  And for my money, it's not as good as the mono version.  I can't explain why I like it better, I just do.  So stereo isn't always preferable to mono, I think that's the lesson for tonight.  This record is Domenico Savino And His Orchestra And Chorus-Hi-Fi Christmas Party (RCA Camden CAS-392, Stereo, 1958).

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Oh, the tracklisting for all three records is exactly the same:

1. White Christmas
2. Sleigh Ride
3. Winter Wonderland
4. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
5. Jingle Bells
6. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
7. O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) (With Chorus on the Stereo version)
8. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
9. The First Noel
10. O Holy Night
11. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (With Chorus on the Stereo version)
12. Es Ist Ein Ros' Entsprungen (Lo! How A Rose E'er Blooming)
13. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
14. Joy To The World (With Chorus on the Stereo version)
15. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
16. Silent Night (With Chorus on the Stereo version)

Are you following all this? There was also an EP version of that top one that I shared out many years ago, but the music is the same, and the artwork is very similarly tinted.

4 comments:

  1. Ernie,

    Are these all remastered for 2012? Keep up the great work...I'm finally going to get to start downloading some of these tomorrow!
    Hope you had a great thanksgiving!

    Tom

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  2. Sorry for the dumb question, but if the two mono ones are the same, there's no reason I need to download them both, right? If true, then which one is the better rip, the red one or the green one?

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  3. Little late start for me this year tuning into the Christmas music blogs, but I am catching up today. Thanks for the long, hard work you do! Appreciate the remasters, as I do have the originals, and all the new posts.

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  4. The Savino jacket is my absolute favorite unintentionally hilarious Christmas LP cover ever. It's the combination of the perfectly placed clarinet in Santa's sack, the proud look on Kris Kringle's face and the awestruck expressions of the rest of the crew staring right at it. It reminds me of those "Smilin' Bob" male enhancement ads from a few years back.

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