Excellent; thanks for the tip, Justin.

For all you board members, here is Norma's message as she posted it on her website:


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I emailed Collector's Choice this morning and made the following suggestions for release on CD:

Andre Kostelanetz - Wonderland of Christmas
Frank DeVol - The Old Sweet Songs of Christmas
Mantovani - Christmas Carols
David Rose - The David Rose Christmas Album
Living Voices - The Living Voices Sing Christmas Music
Living Voices - The Little Drummer Boy
Living Trio - I'll Be Home for Christmas
Living Guitars - The Joy of Christmas
Living Strings - The Sound of Christmas

The "Living..." albums in particular seem to be great candidates in my opinion for the 2-fer releases that the reissue companies sometimes like to do.  Both Living Voices albums on one CD, the Living Trio and Living Guitars on one CD, etc.

I'll also send my list to the contact Chip mentioned at Collectables.  And as always, I plan to contact Sony BMG directly regarding a reissue of Percy Faith's "The Music of Christmas, Volume 2" on CD...

Are there any specific contacts you know of at DRG, Chip?  They've come out with some nice Christmas reissues in the past few years as well.

Finally - one more thought about Norma Camby's upcoming 3-LP on 2-CDs release.  There are two songs that would serve nicely as "bonus tracks" for this CD - "Flying Home for Christmas" and "Christmas Eve in My Hometown," which were recorded in the late 70s for "The Most Beautiful Sounds of Christmas" Living Strings and Living Voices compilation LP.  That way, all of Johnny Douglas' "Living..." Christmas work would be represented on the one CD release.

I spoke with Norma Camby on the phone today and she said that unfortunately it was too late to add the two tracks, Christmas Eve In My Hometown and Flying Home For Christmas, to the new double CD they will be releasing later this year. She went on to say that she was “gutted” (a word used in the U.K. to express disappointment) by this because she had absolutely no knowledge of the existence of these two songs and the 1977 single they were released on. She did say that perhaps next year they could repackage the CD with the two songs as bonus tracks (if, of course, RCA can find the masters in their vault). I told her all this was my fault and I apologized for not mentioning the songs to her last September when I first suggested that they reissue the LP, A Christmas Songbook, on CD. These two songs tend to be forgotten because their only release on LP was on the 1978 compilation album The Most Beautiful Sounds Of Christmas. She also said that she was always under the impression that the tracks on the 1978 compilation LP had all been previously released on her father’s regular Christmas LPs, so at home they never kept a copy of this album around. Since she thought it was only a compilation, she never looked that closely at the album jacket. If she had, she would have realized that these two tracks were original songs not previously released on any previous Living Strings/Living Voices LP.

Nevertheless, again I must stress, that in the final analysis, this is my fault and I accept full responsibility. As the advocate, defender and promoter of classic Christmas music, it was my job to have brought this to her attention. I should have thought of it last year or, at the very least, earlier this year, when there was still time to add them to the CD. If I had, thousands of folks would have been able to enjoy these two great songs. I’m angry with myself for dropping the ball on this one and echo Norma’s feelings of being “gutted” by this.

By the way, Norma asked me if Ethel Gabriel (the legendary RCA producer who created the Living Strings and produced the “Living” series of albums) was still alive here in the United States. She was concerned because the last time they spoke with each other was Christmas 2007. Then, a few weeks ago, the letter she sent to her announcing that Dulcima was releasing three of the Living Strings/Living Voices Christmas LPs came back to her in the mail because the address was no longer valid. (For those of you who are not familiar with Ethel Gabriel, she was the first woman record producer in the American record industry. In her 40-year career with RCA, she won 6 Grammy Awards and produced 15 Gold Records for a variety of leading artists, including Elvis Presley.) I told her that as far as I know, she is still alive and living in the Poconos. Sadly, however, in January 2007, because of money problems she was having, she had to sell some of her record memorabilia at an auction that was held near her home in Mount Bethel, Pa. I feel so bad when I hear things like this: people whose work gave us so much pleasure and who now find themselves in dire straits. By the way, among the items auctioned off were one of her Grammy Awards and several of her Gold Records -- including one of the Gold Records she earned with Elvis.

Speaking of Elvis, Norma told me that there are masters of Elvis Presley’s recordings that RCA has actually lost. They even lost the stereo master to one of her father’s Living Voices LPs that she wanted to lease the rights to. In the end, because of this, she had to accept the mono version. In addition, when she wanted to reissue her father’s Living Strings LPs, Where Did The Night Go and In The Still Of The Night, RCA only had one of the masters in the computer, In The Still Of The Night. The other one, Where Did The Night Go, took them 6 months to find. In fact, just to get the Living Strings/Living Voices Christmas LP masters for the upcoming CD took 7 months: she made the request in October 2008 and didn’t receive them until May 2009. She said RCA never kept a proper file, and since there were no computers back then, stuff could easily get misplaced or lost. Hard to believe, isn’t it? -- That a major record company like RCA could have such disorganized archives? But I’ll just bet it’s the same with the other record companies as well.

Thanks for checking in with her about the two songs Chip.  I had emailed her, but didn't hear anything back.

While this would have been a "nice to have" just for the sake of having all the Johnny Douglas / "Living..." Christmas recordings available in one package - I'm not quite "gutted" by the fact that they won't be included.  Fortunately they are available in digital form on "The Most Beautiful Sounds of Christmas" CD that pops up every year on auction sites and in used-CD bins.

I did not want to give her the impression that I was anything less than thrilled with the release she is planning - because I am!  However, if given the opportunity to add the songs to a future repackaging of the disc, I think it would be a fitting tribute to offer a definitive and complete collection of Johnny Douglas' Living Strings / Living Voices Christmas music.

Re :   Dulcima now has the info and cover art up on its website:
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Mike,   I was e-mailed that my pre-order will be sent mid October. Can't wait!

For those customers who pre-paid, we were able to dispatch your orders last Thursday and you should receive them shortly.  They were dispatched early to try and avoid the threatened postal strikes here in the UK.









To listen to a couple of the tracks please click on the link below which takes you to the relevant page on our website. 

If you would like to order your copy of ‘The Spirit of Christmas’ album, you can also do this on the link below. 

http://www.dulcimarecords.com/catalogue/22/the-spirit-of-christmas/

Early Season Greetings to you all!

Happy Listening!

Best regards

Norma