Last December, I was receiving Christmas gifts from family members, cats, and friends. Yesterday's entry was devoted to The Living Christmas Tree and my friendship with my buddy Joel.
Not to be outdone last year, his wife Samantha (with whom I once shared a bed with for a play while Joel directed - only in America) snagged a FULL stack of Christmas CDs for me from a friend who didn't want them any more.
Most of the CDs in the stack I already owned but this CD and its simplistic cover caught my eye. The case was old, discolored and had medium sized cracks throughout. The weight of the case felt heavier than normal which made me wonder when this CD was made.
A quick look of the back cover confirmed my curiosities - the CD was produced and issued in 1989! As more and more CDs are going the way of the 8-track, the scarcity of any CD manufactured before 1998 is indeed a prize - even more so for Christmas CDs.
I originally thought "this is just another music box CD a la Rita Ford". But I was wrong. Not even close. Just ask Gustave Brachhausen.
Brachhausen worked for the Kuhro-Lochmann company in Germany in the late 1800s. His company was the first manufacturer of disc music boxes. Their Symphonion music boxes were produced in many sizes, types, styles, and were immensely popular.
Gustave left Kuhro-Lochmann around 1886 to create the Polyphon Company. He wanted to produce a line of strong interchangeable music boxes with mass produced discs for the masses. Polyphon music boxes along with a line of other musical objects were a hit with the general public but Gustave had other ideas in mind.
Setting his sights on America, Brachhausen sailed from Deutschland to Rahway, New Jersey to establish the Regina Music Box Company. What set Reginas apart from the rest was each of the interchangeable music disks would fit all of their boxes of the same size. Many people took their discs from parlor to parlor and were amazed by the rich sound from any of the music boxes.
The popularity of these boxes spanned from about 1890 to 1915. As the gramophone replaced these state of the art music boxes, the Regina firm produced a combination music box and phonograph from 1915 to 1920, but never experienced the success of its famed music boxes.
By the time the company closed in 1921, over 100,000 Regina music boxes were sold - many of which are still much sought after by antiques dealers and collectors.
I pulled my copy of Rita Ford's "A Music Box Christmas" which contained Polyphons, Symphonions, and a few Reginas as well for comparison. By far, the Reginas were the ones with the warmer tones and a full deep sound that was lacking on the others.
This CD contains all that interwoven into Tchaikovsky's lush "Nutcracker Suite". From its Overture to the Grand Waltz (Finale), the 1900 Regina music box (according to the liner notes) nary misses a bum note. This is how people heard it in the late 1800s without the benefit of an orchestra.
However, this CD isn't as rare as you think. Some deep digging on Amazon.com reveals that this entire album is available for download. If you get tired of the same ol', same ol' when it comes to Christmas music, try this one on for size.
Thank you Sam for the amazing disc! How about a Fort Wayne Philharmonic Christmas CD now?
Capt
Last December, I was receiving Christmas gifts from family members, cats, and friends. Yesterday's entry was devoted to The Living Christmas Tree and my friendship with my buddy Joel.
Not to be outdone last year, his wife Samantha (with whom I once shared a bed with for a play while Joel directed - only in America) snagged a FULL stack of Christmas CDs for me from a friend who didn't want them any more.
Most of the CDs in the stack I already owned but this CD and its simplistic cover caught my eye. The case was old, discolored and had medium sized cracks throughout. The weight of the case felt heavier than normal which made me wonder when this CD was made.
A quick look of the back cover confirmed my curiosities - the CD was produced and issued in 1989! As more and more CDs are going the way of the 8-track, the scarcity of any CD manufactured before 1998 is indeed a prize - even more so for Christmas CDs.
I originally thought "this is just another music box CD a la Rita Ford". But I was wrong. Not even close. Just ask Gustave Brachhausen.
Brachhausen worked for the Kuhro-Lochmann company in Germany in the late 1800s. His company was the first manufacturer of disc music boxes. Their Symphonion music boxes were produced in many sizes, types, styles, and were immensely popular.
Gustave left Kuhro-Lochmann around 1886 to create the Polyphon Company. He wanted to produce a line of strong interchangeable music boxes with mass produced discs for the masses. Polyphon music boxes along with a line of other musical objects were a hit with the general public but Gustave had other ideas in mind.
Setting his sights on America, Brachhausen sailed from Deutschland to Rahway, New Jersey to establish the Regina Music Box Company. What set Reginas apart from the rest was each of the interchangeable music disks would fit all of their boxes of the same size. Many people took their discs from parlor to parlor and were amazed by the rich sound from any of the music boxes.
The popularity of these boxes spanned from about 1890 to 1915. As the gramophone replaced these state of the art music boxes, the Regina firm produced a combination music box and phonograph from 1915 to 1920, but never experienced the success of its famed music boxes.
By the time the company closed in 1921, over 100,000 Regina music boxes were sold - many of which are still much sought after by antiques dealers and collectors.
I pulled my copy of Rita Ford's "A Music Box Christmas" which contained Polyphons, Symphonions, and a few Reginas as well for comparison. By far, the Reginas were the ones with the warmer tones and a full deep sound that was lacking on the others.
This CD contains all that interwoven into Tchaikovsky's lush "Nutcracker Suite". From its Overture to the Grand Waltz (Finale), the 1900 Regina music box (according to the liner notes) nary misses a bum note. This is how people heard it in the late 1800s without the benefit of an orchestra.
However, this CD isn't as rare as you think. Some deep digging on Amazon.com reveals that this entire album is available for download. If you get tired of the same ol', same ol' when it comes to Christmas music, try this one on for size.
Thank you Sam for the amazing disc! How about a Fort Wayne Philharmonic Christmas CD now?
Capt
Earlier this year, I found this album in an antique store in the antique town of Pierceton, Indiana. At first glance, I nearly passed over it because of its non-Christmas title. However, the songs were and I added this to my pile of albums that I was preparing for the upcoming holiday season.
Then in July, our friend Bongolong at Bongolong Land offered this album as part of his "Christmas In July" celebration.
Earlier this month, Bongolong decided to create a new Christmas ONLY blog entitled Bongobells and is currently offering this album to download.
In his first three weeks, Bongo has offered 31 different albums with such diverse titles as:
"Ren & Stimpy's Crock O'Christmas"
"Mae West - Wild Christmas"
"Christmas In The Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album"
"Guitars Inc. - Guitars At Christmas"
"Jackie Gleason - Merry Christmas"
This music box album is one of the TWELVE albums I've downloaded from his site (each one of these albums will be reviewed, I promise!).
Now...
Err...
How does one review music boxes? Do I compare alloys from the machine and the discs? Are music boxes made in Switzerland better than the ones you can get at the San Francisco Music Box Co.?
Music boxes and Christmas have long been a tradition thanks in large part to Rita Ford. Ms. Ford's passion for collecting, restoring, and repairing music boxes led her to open her famous store in New York City back in 1947.
In 1961, a clever guy from Columbia Records approached Ford and asked about recording several music boxes for Christmas. A Music Box Christmas was a HUGE smash (you've heard at least one track off this album in your lifetime) and it was followed up in 1962 with "Music Box Wonderland Christmas with Rita Ford's Music Boxes".
Suddenly, the imitation music box LPs began popping up all over the budget labels. One album in particular released by Pickwick Records (the very same label that released the album before you) even claimed the music boxes were from Rita Ford! She quickly disavowed any connection with that album and has done many other times since.
As for this album, it was released by Pickwick in 1980...
And it's chock full of music boxes playing Christmas tunes.
(nervous grin)
That's about it. Bongo, thanks for beating me to the punch with this one!
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
Earlier this year, I found this album in an antique store in the antique town of Pierceton, Indiana. At first glance, I nearly passed over it because of its non-Christmas title. However, the songs were and I added this to my pile of albums that I was preparing for the upcoming holiday season.
Then in July, our friend Bongolong at Bongolong Land offered this album as part of his "Christmas In July" celebration.
Earlier this month, Bongolong decided to create a new Christmas ONLY blog entitled Bongobells and is currently offering this album to download.
In his first three weeks, Bongo has offered 31 different albums with such diverse titles as:
"Ren & Stimpy's Crock O'Christmas"
"Mae West - Wild Christmas"
"Christmas In The Stars: The Star Wars Christmas Album"
"Guitars Inc. - Guitars At Christmas"
"Jackie Gleason - Merry Christmas"
This music box album is one of the TWELVE albums I've downloaded from his site (each one of these albums will be reviewed, I promise!).
Now...
Err...
How does one review music boxes? Do I compare alloys from the machine and the discs? Are music boxes made in Switzerland better than the ones you can get at the San Francisco Music Box Co.?
Music boxes and Christmas have long been a tradition thanks in large part to Rita Ford. Ms. Ford's passion for collecting, restoring, and repairing music boxes led her to open her famous store in New York City back in 1947.
In 1961, a clever guy from Columbia Records approached Ford and asked about recording several music boxes for Christmas. A Music Box Christmas was a HUGE smash (you've heard at least one track off this album in your lifetime) and it was followed up in 1962 with "Music Box Wonderland Christmas with Rita Ford's Music Boxes".
Suddenly, the imitation music box LPs began popping up all over the budget labels. One album in particular released by Pickwick Records (the very same label that released the album before you) even claimed the music boxes were from Rita Ford! She quickly disavowed any connection with that album and has done many other times since.
As for this album, it was released by Pickwick in 1980...
And it's chock full of music boxes playing Christmas tunes.
(nervous grin)
That's about it. Bongo, thanks for beating me to the punch with this one!
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
