Month: May 2021

I added some information to the Minigroove (general information) page. I’ve copied and pasted the addition here for your convenience.

Correction:
From old news paper articles it can be determined that the first 10 and 12 inch albums were released in 1951. It’s an ongoing search to figure out what was released by Philips in which year. It appears to be quite a mess actually.

Addition:
Recent observations led me to think Philips 07XXX series (for jazz, big band and other more popular genres) were released according to the following scheme:

070XX Most releases before 10/1956
071XX Released from 1956
072XX Released later than 9/1956
073XX Released later than 9/1956
074XX Non-existent?
075XX Released later than 9/1956
076XX Most releases before 10/1956
077XX Most releases before 10/1956
078XX Non-existent?
079XX Non-existent?

This means that the 070XX, 076XX and 077XX ranges were released first, than came 071XX, to be followed by 072XX, 073XX, 075XX.

Sources: My own collection, Discogs and especially the Philips catalog “Amerikanische Serie, hauptcatalog 1956/57”, which lists releases published before Sept. 30, 1956. When going through the pages all I can find are issues from the 070XX, 076XX and 077XX ranges and a few from the 071XX range.

More research is needed though.

This 10inch record features tangos, waltzes and pop songs, including a cover version of Les Paul and Mary Ford’s “Mister Sandman” (written by Pat Ballard). The record gives less to enjoy than the title suggests. The cover art is a bit silly too, though it has some naïve charm at the same time (the name of the artist is not given, but it could be Cornelius van Velsen).

The Continental Juke Box series appears to feature five volumes; the first issues came in the 10inch format (No. 1, 2 and possibly 3), the others in the 12inch format.

See also “Continental Juke Box No. 4” (with a more interesting cover design, made by a David Houthuyse as David·H).

Click on the image above to see all images for this record.

“The Norman Luboff Choir was one of the leading choral groups of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. They came to prominence through their participation in the very successful Christmas broadcasts with Bing Crosby which ran from 1955 to 1962. History was made in 1956 when Luboff and his choir recorded with Harry Belafonte on “Calypso”, the first album to sell one million copies. The choral group toured yearly from 1963 to 1987, and recorded more than 75 albums. The holiday albums Songs of Christmas (1956) and Christmas with the Norman Luboff Choir (1964) were perennial bestsellers for years”. (from Wikipedia)

Philips released many sides by this group, all leased from Columbia Records. The songs on this EP were first released on Columbia LP CL 657 in 1955.

I listened to this EP and I didn’t like it. I’m not such a choral fan and I guess it’s also because it’s a white group; they can sing but it doesn’t swing… But it features a cool picture sleeve.

Click on the image above to see all images for this record.

I reorganized things a little, by removing the ‘oddities’-menu. The items which were listed there are now integrated in the ‘other’-menu, while the Japanese series “Jazz Behind The Dikes”, from 2007, has been omitted from the website entirely.

According to a contributor on Discogs, the Philips Hi-Q equipment was launched in 1955 and this record could be from the same year. I tend to think it’s from 1956, because of the text “All Philips records are hi fidelity records!” on the back cover. The record wasn’t commercially available but was used for various demonstration purposes. I guess it was sent to shop owners and used on hi-fi meetings.

Click on the image above to see all images for this record.

Another record associated with Youth For Christ. Less obvious than on Philips P 13091 R, which I added yesterday, but the YFC logo is shown on the back cover again. Both 10inch records appear to be from a series titled “Jeugd In Actie”, so I’ll have to change that in the main listing. The Moody Chorale, a students choir from the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, was founded in 1946 and is still active today – so beware!

Click on the image above to see all images for this record.

Another oddity, a promotional record for the Youth For Christ movement. YFC was organized in 1941 in the USA by Billy Graham a.o., to be introduced in the Netherlands in 1946. This 10inch record was recorded in Haarlem, the Netherlands, on October 25, 1958. If you read the lyrics it’s hard to believe these were meant to please the youth back in the days. The back cover states that YFC is no church or sect and no doubt that’s true but you should stay away from it nevertheless (YFC’s still active around the globe).

Click on the image above to see all images for this record.

It’s been some time since I last worked on the website. The thrift stores were closed and the fading chances of finding something worthwhile correlated with my low motivation to add things to the website. There’s still enough to do, but the Corona malaise put it all on the back burner.

The shops were re-opened, I found a few Minigroove releases and felt like picking up on things again. Let’s see if it lasts… 🙂

I added the info for the releases I found and added images for one of them: “Music For The Millions No. 5“, with it’s weird and thus interesting cover…