12/25/2022
TODAY'S CHRISTMAS ALBUM – my Last post and a mystery.
This is the one and only Christmas album I can remember that my parents bought. They played it every night for a couple of weeks before Christmas when my sister and I went to bed. I know every song by heart, which song follows which song and every pop and click. I loved this album. After my folks died and the house was being prepared for the estate sale, I saw the album had been tossed and I picked it out of the trash bin.
It’s not all that great. Just some no name singers and stock Christmas arrangements, but it’s My Christmas and I wouldn’t part with it for anything. Almost 60 years old and it still plays, the surface noise and crackles just adding to the memories of the past.
…and now the mystery…
“Christmas at Home” – Fontanna his Orchestra and Chorus”, was released on MasterSeal Records in 1958. Masterseal was a budget supermarket label started as an offshoot of Re*****on Records which dates to 1950, Re*****on being an offshoot of Continental records of the 40’s. Re*****on had released many European recordings of songs in the public domain in America under several labels often changing the album cover art as well as the names of orchestras in order to dupe the public into thinking they were buying something different or new. When the LP became prominent in the 1950’s, new recordings were made for the American public since the quality of older recordings was no longer acceptable. However, the deception didn’t stop.
“Christmas at Home” was also issued on their Webster label using the same cover art but with one strange exception. The front of the album lists “Fontanna his Orchestra and Chorus”, the back of the album credits “John Clayton his Orchestra and Chorus”. The Masterseal recording released in Canada gives John Clayton all the credit, both on the album cover and the record itself. It gets even more confusing with over 7 versions of the album released over the years with different artwork, different labels (Silvertone, Masterseal Hi-Fi, Palace, Canadian Tire etc.), the same artwork but the album renamed, different orchestras credited, song titles shuffled even duplicated, some songs added, others deleted, mono versions as well as fake “stereophonic” and even one album with several organ instrumentals added in addition to the other songs. It’s all too long to detail here, I could though, I’ve done the research. However, being a hunt and peck typist, it would probably take me two or three days and a dozen pages, and you would be bored to death. ( I know what you’re thinking, “man, get a life”).
Bottom line…” Fontanna” probably never existed and was just a catchy name thought up by a PR man to put on one of many record albums. The Re*****on Records story itself is fascinating and would someday make a great book for an audiophile historian.
One final note…for a budget album, the cover art is great. Merry Christmas!