A cool and unusual cover, and I submit that it's impossible to admire the cool Santa sextet (as it rotates the oblong title section, tooting away) AND notice the song-title typos at the same time. But I seem primed to find mistakes on album covers, and so I immediately noticed that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is incorrectly listed as Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer. I also noticed the misplaced comma in God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, which the Benida label calls God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen. Nope--sorry. To reference the Oxford English Dictionary via Wikipedia, "the phrase 'God rest you merry' means 'may God grant you peace and happiness.'" In short, God is not instructing a group of merry gentlemen to get to sleep because Santa's on the way.
The cover does get Adeste Fideles right, I should note. It's often misspelled Adeste Fidelis.
With those vitally important issues out of the way, let me predict that you'll be a regular Macy's customer after hearing this talented and energetic semi-amateur choir. Though no one would mistake these singers for the Robert Shaw Chorale, they do themselves and their company proud. I got this 10-inch LP on eBay three years or so ago, and I only paid a buck. I think the $1 price was because of condition, which is not so good in spots. The most needle-dug track is Rudolph, which almost gives up the ghost halfway through--I made things much better by re-recording the second half with my 1.2 mil needle, then combining the two track sections (in my usual seamless fashion). Result: acceptable sound quality.
The mono sound (apart from the condition issues) is terrific, and maybe I'll find a VG/VG+ copy some day. Or maybe not--this doesn't seem to be an item that shows up very often. Just delightful arrangements all the way through, courtesy of Jimmy Leyden, a name we see on the Bell label's fake-hit sides, and at Decca and RCA. The choir is directed by Dick (Harlem Nocturne) Rogers, so we can be sure that Macy's did a Line Material here. By which I mean, they laid out a good amount of dough to produce an excellent company Christmas give-away (assuming it was, in fact, a give-away).
"This is the first industrial choral group to be signed to a major label for international distribution," according to the notes, though I'm not sure Benida was a major label. Discog's multiple listings for Benida have me dizzy--I wish I could understand why there wouldn't be a single Benida Records entry, but... anyway, it doesn't look like the outfit put out a ton of stuff. Some interesting-looking jazz singles, and some other stuff, but it appears Benida didn't make a huge showing in the vinyl market.
The Macy Singers are "the new Miracle on 34th street," say the notes. Clever, clever. A delightful LP, making its second appearance (the first file has gone to the Great Expired Zippyfile Section in the Sky), and in a higher bitrate! Enjoy.
DOWNLOAD: The Macy Singers--Songs of Christmas (Benida LP 1021; 1954)
The First Noel
Silent Night
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Adeste Fideles
Rudloph, the Red-Nose (sic) Reindeer (Johnny Marks)
White Christmas (Bing Crosby--er, Irving Berlin)
Jingle Bells
Reprise--White Christmas
Songs of Christmas--The Macy Singers, Directed by Dick Rogers (Benida LP 1021; 1954)
Lee