Showing posts with label 78rpm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 78rpm. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Reginald Dixon - The Storm, Regal Zonophone MR 816

Regal Zonophone was the result of EMI's amalgamation of their two cheaper labels in January 1933, at which time the catalogue numbering was at MR-745. Initially there was a mixture of the last few Zonophone masters (in an 0Y-series), but generally the CAR-series started under Columbia's ownership was used right up until the label's demise in November 1949, by which time the catalogue numbers had reached MR-3819. Many American masters were used, initially from US Columbia, but later from Bluebird. Initially the label was a rather bright green and red, but subsequently the green was darkened (see example) and it was a very attractive label. In February 1935, the price was reduced to 1/- and the colour changed to just plain red with gold printing. As is usual with red labels, the gold printing was apt to wear off. The price increased to 1/3 in March 1937 then back up to 1/6 in September 1937.

Reginald Dixon, MBE, ARCM, born Reginald Herbert Dixon (16 October 1904 – 9 May 1985), was a British theatre organist who was primarily known for his position as organist at the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool, a position he held from March 1930 until March 1970. He made and sold more recordings than any other organist before him, or since. During his fifty year career he was one of the top-selling artists, his prolific output ranking alongside the output of Victor Silvester and Bing Crosby. 

 
Side A                                                                                  Side B
UPDATE - THIS NICE 78 IS UP FOR SALE. I got it in a VERY good condition, and I don't mean it as a VG grade, but much closer to EX+ or even NM. Label is spotless; I doubt it's been played more than once. Record is very clean, but comes in a plain sleeve.

Kenneth McKellar - Skye Boat Song/Lewis Bridal Song, Decca 45-F 10901

Kenneth McKellar (23 June 1927 – 9 April 2010) was a Scottish tenor. McKellar studied forestry at the University of Aberdeen, after graduation working for the Scottish Forestry Commission. He later trained at the Royal College of Music as an opera singer. He did not enjoy his time with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and left them to pursue a career singing traditional Scottish songs and other works. His albums of the songs of Robert Burns (now digitized) are considered by musicologists to be definitive interpretations.
He frequently toured the USA and Canada 1959-1977 with other Scottish entertainers such as Helen McArthur, often appearing in small local venues. McKellar made the majority of his recordings on the Decca Records label. He also recorded several classical works, including Handel's Messiah alongside Joan Sutherland in a performance conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.
McKellar also recorded the musical Kismet with Robert Merrill. He was also notable for his recordings of Gaelic songs in translation such as the Songs of the Hebrides arrangements by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser.

 
Company sleeve

Thursday, 23 May 2013

Slim Whitman - Serenade/I Talk To The Waves, London HL-U 8287

Ottis Dewey Whitman, Jr. (born January 20, 1924), known professionally as Slim Whitman, is an American country music and western music singer/songwriter and instrumentalist known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth high octave falsetto. He has sold in excess of 120 million records. He is consistently more popular throughout Europe, and in particular Britain, than in his native America, particularly with his covers of pop standards and movie songs, love songs, folk tunes and gospel melodic hymns. His 1955 hit single "Rose Marie" held the Guinness World Record for the longest time at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart until Bryan Adams broke the record in 1991 after 36 years. In the U.S., his "Indian Love Call" (1952) and "Secret Love" (1953) reached number 2 on the Billboardcountry chart. Whitman had a string of hits from the mid-1960s and into the 1970s and became known to a new generation of fans through television direct marketing in the 1980s.

   
Side A                                                                               Side B

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Nat "King" Cole - Unforgettable/Because Of Rain, Capitol CL.13637

Unforgettable is a popular song written by Irving Gordon. The song's original working title was Uncomparable. The music publishing company asked Irving to change it to Unforgettable. The song was published in 1951.
The most popular version of the song was recorded by Nat King Cole in 1951, with an arrangement written by Nelson Riddle. A non-orchestrated version of the song recorded in 1952 is featured as a bonus track on the CD reissue of 1955's completely instrumental (save the bonus material) Penthouse Serenade. Cole recorded the tune anew in 1961, in a stereo version of the Riddle arrangement, for the album The Nat King Cole Story.
Nat Cole's original recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.


Bourne Ltd. release

Saturday, 27 April 2013

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Richard Tauber - My World Is Gold Because You Love Me, Parlophone RO 20287

Heart's Desire is a 1935 British musical drama film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Richard Tauber, Leonora Corbett, Kathleen Kelly, Diana Napier and Frank Vosper. Its plot involves a young opera singer who is discovered in Vienna and brought to London where he rises to stardom. The film was made at Elstree Studios in April/May 1935, and had its charity premiere at the Regal Cinema, Marble Arch, London on 17 October that year. It was part of a cycle of British operetta films.


My World Is Gold Because You Love Me - 'hearts Desire' - PARLOPHONE (British) - RO.20287 - ; Composer: Rudolf Sieczynski; matrix: CE 7056-2; Location: London; ~3 min

Richard Tauber - Speak To Me Of Love/Macushla, Parlophone RO 20509

Macushla is an Irish song copyrighted circa 1910 with music by Dermot MacMurrough and lyrics by Josephine V. Rowe. The title is a transliteration of the Irish mo chuisle meaning "my pulse" as used in the phrase a chuisle mo chroí (pulse of my heart) meaning "darling" or "sweetheart". 
"Parlez-moi d'amour" is a song written by Jean Lenoir in 1930. An English translation was written by Bruce Sievier (1894, Paris – 1953) and is known as "Speak to Me of Love" or "Tell Me About Love". Lucienne Boyer was the first singer to record the song and she made it very popular in France, America, and the rest of the world.

"Macushla was recorded on 14 July 1941, and Speak to me of Love on 19 August 1941. Both titles were recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
The record was released in March 1942."
Daniel O'Hara
Author of Richard Tauber, a New Chronology (Thank you for the information! A.S.)


 
78/Parlophone RO 20509 (Richard Tauber with orchestra conducted by Henry Geehl)

Saturday, 20 April 2013

Ronnie Ronalde - In A Monastery Garden/Bells Across The Meadow, Columbia DB 2583

Ronnie Ronalde (born Ronald Charles Waldron, 1923, London) is a British music hall singer and siffleur. Ronalde is famous for his voice, whistling, yodeling  imitations of bird song and stage personality. His crystal clear yodeling gained him acceptance with connoisseurs of Alpine and Western music around the world.
After early struggles, Ronalde's first successful UK tour (in the late 1940s) met him with a wave of interest. Ronalde’s first recordings were with Decca Records (these were only to be whistling performances), but his first major label contract came from EMI. Ronalde would also join Pye, Major Minor and Columbia records, becoming a million selling artiste.

“If I Were a Blackbird” (1950) is among Ronalde’s most famous songs from this period. This rendering of Delia Murphy’s Irish folk song had him in the British top 20 for 6 months. She would later jovially express her thanks for boosting her income. Other songs include “Tritsch Tratsch Polka” (a showcase of Ronalde’s high speed delivery whistling) and “Bells Across the Meadow” (by Albert Ketèlbey). His best known recording is “In a Monastery Garden” (by Albert Ketèlbey). Ronnie has played it as his show finale for decades, and over a million copies of it have been sold in their varying formats.
  

Saturday, 13 April 2013

Tab Hunter - Young Love / Red Sails In The Sunset, London Records HL D 8380

Arthur Gelien was given the stage name "Tab Hunter" by his first agent, Henry Willson. His good looks landed him a role in the film "Island of Desire" opposite Linda Darnell. Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks and became one of the larger hits of the Rock n' Roll era. He also had the hit "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at #11. His success prompted Jack Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter. 

Hunter starred in the 1958 musical film Damn Yankees, in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington D.C's American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway show, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the 1954 best-selling book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was only interested in re-creating the stage version word for word. Hunter was Warner Bros. top money grossing star from 1955 through 1959.