A double-LP set deserves a long title, and this one has one! This is Shell's Wonderful World of Music: Special Christmas Edition by the Longines Symphonette Society. According to Wikipedia, The Longines Symphonette Society was a record label created by the watch company Longines. Makes perfect sense.Here are 20 carols performed in the wholly inoffensive choral/orchestral tradition ("Little Drummer Boy", "White Christmas" are highlights), with arrangements that are clean and straightforward. This is great background listening for Christmas gatherings where you don't want bombastic, jazzy or swinging variations to overload your celebratory subconcious.
It's difficult to believe in this day and age that gems like this were sold on the cheap in Shell gas stations all over North America! I believe this set was once issued on CD, but it appears to be long out-of-print. Don't let it remain neglected! Download and simmer down with this pleasant Christmas musical trip.
Please enjoy: Shell's Wonderful World of Music - Christmas Edition
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18 comments:
Wow! Very cool record! When I was a kid my parents traded at a Shell station up the road. I recall thinking highly of Shell for quite a while after that. I wish I'd picked up this record back then.
Thanks for Sharing!
Thanks. I love all of these old Lps. I never saw any from shell because my dad was a Texaco man through and through. He did have many of the W. T. Grant and JC Penney LPs though. Good times.
Dave
Thank you so much for making this beautiful old Christmas album available! I found your blog while doing a search for "Living Voices--Little Drummer Boy" (my absolute favorite Christmas album from childhood). Not only were you kind enough to make that wonderful album available, but you also made this one and several others available as well! I just finished downloading them all, and I know these will all become favorites as well!! Christmas music from the 50's and early 60's is so charming--it is both timeless and heartwarming!!
Thank you again for such a great Christmas present!
Very nice. I love it. I was pointed to your site by someone who noticed my post on "The Little Drummer Boy." (Like gi joni, that one is my absolute favorite ever since I was a kid.) This one has the same feel to it. I'm a young guy (36), but I love these old recordings--the tight harmonies, the clarity of the voices (vs. the trying-too-hard to be sultry style of our own time), the straightforward stylings, etc. Refreshing! Thank you so much!
There is also a second volume under this title, which I was surprised to discover existed after having owned this set. It is a 2 disc set just like this one.
Hello!
I know I'm a "later tater" but I just found this share from Christmas time last year and it is goregous. You did an excellent job with this. You would never know it was from an LP. so clear... nicely done!
My parents will love this. they absolutely love the living strings and living voices (thank you also for the little drummer boy, loved that also) and this group is beautiful also. Sounds just wonderful!
thank you once again. After seeing that i prayed it would still be available to download. Happy Christmas in July to me. Hooray. I'm 26 years old and the highlight of my day is getting new Christmas music. It all stems from my parents and now i'm more obsessed than them! LOL!
thanks so much.
Have A Magical Day!
Maureen
I am looking for the Volume 2 of Shell's Wonderful World of Christmas. I was so surprised to find Volume 1! :) Thanks again! I really enjoy this type of music!
Tam -- I don't have a second volume of Shell/Longines music, but I do have a four LP Longines set of the same recordings. There are about 20 additional tracks on these LPs that aren't on the first Shell volume. I plan to post these in the next couple of months. Please stay tuned!
We found this special edition in a stack of albums at our local landfill boxes. It is in its original jacket. I thought it was neat to find something like this from my past. Haven't played the album yet -no turntable. But hopefully we will find someone with one soon.
Wonderful World of Christmas!!!
I followed the link to dl it and the file was unfortunately corrupted. This was an album I enjoyed much as a child, and now we have no record player. The album also resides at my mother's these days. If you can help me please e-mail cubfinder2002@yahoo.com
Hi cubfinder, I just downloaded the file to check and it worked fine for me. The .mp3 audio files are contained within a ".zip" file. Any Mac and/or any PC running XP or Vista will be able to "extract" the files to your hard drive. From there you'll need to either burn the .mp3s to CD or drop them into iTunes or whichever program you use to play music on your computer. Good luck!
thank you thank you thank you!
I grew up with this album and it has the BEST version of Jingle Bells I've ever heard.
:-)
RE: The John Gary Christmas Album
I just downloaded the John Gary Christmas Album you posted. You just made a 6"8' 260 lb. dockworker fall apart as I remembered the wonderful childhood memories of Christmas time. The album brought so many of those times back. As I thought about so many of those Christmas holidays, I realized how fortunate I am to have had the family God gave to me. We grew up with only a few Christmas albums and this was one Mom and Dad really liked. Since we grew up with it, us kids couldn't wait to play it once Christmas time arrived. Thank you for posting this and bringing back a great memory. Thank you for making me appreciate even more those times and the family I've been given. Merry Christmas to all in 2008.
This set is going to get some heavy rotation on my Winamp playlist next Christmas even though I normally dread both Christmas muzak and the Christmas season.
This is singularly great stuff and I thank you so much for posting it!
Great find!! Thanks so much Ryan!! I've downloaded a few albums that are great gems just as you said. I greatly appreciate you sharing these with everyone. Got a question for you regarding Shell's Wonderful World of Music. Do you have a picture of the back of the album jacket? If you do, can you provide a snapshot of it? Thanks!!!
When I was a child, my father brought this record home from the Shell Station. We did not have much money growing up so this was pretty much the only Christmas album we had. My sister, who passed away last year, and I would listen to this album while gazing at the album cover in great anticipation of Christmas. I even made a cassette tape of both records and took it with me to college. Eventually, the tape got eaten by my tape deck and the LP had gotten lost. It was so nice to listen to the album that brought spectors of Christmases past to life. Thank you for giving me back memories of long ago.
Nice to see some folks are still re-discovering this album!
I have more Longines to add this year (Christmas 09!) and will add a back cover photo this fall.
Enjoy!
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