Astor « Off The Record

12 Discs Part 12 – Christmas Disco – the Mistletoe Disco Band

Posted by Bruce on June 24, 2010 in What the?..., Xmas with No Comments

And now, the conclusion of my 12 Discs of Christmas posts. This one, from 1977

LP Title: Christmas Disco

Performed by The Mistletoe Disco Band

Label: Mistletoe (released in Australia by Astor Records in the Astor Gold series)

Catalogue Number: MLM 1232

Credits: Engineeding by Steve Lao. Art Direction by David Lartrand (these are the only credits on the LP!)

Side 1

Sleigh Ride

Jingle Bells

Santa Claus is Coming To Town

Jingle Bell Rock

Silver Bells

Side 2

Winter Wonderland

Little Drummer Boy

Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer

Joy to the World

It seemed back in the day Disco was at it’s height, there seemed to be a disco version of one thing or another – even Christmas carols.

This release had an unusual re-release history after this was released. There had been many incarnations of this LP (some with many more tracks – and probably likely has been re-released on CD!)

this concludes the 12 discs of Christmas (even though it’s June!). Normal posts will resume shortly

Hawaiian Holiday by Jim Jensen’s Hawaiians

Posted by Bruce on June 20, 2010 in International with No Comments

We interrupt our “12 Discs” program to post a Hawaiian music LP.

LP Title: Hawaiian Holiday

Performed by Jim Jensen’s Hawaiians

Label: W&G Records (re-released by Astor)

Category: International

Catalogue Number WG 45/TVS/5664 (Astor catelogue: WG 5664)

Produece by Jack Varney at the W&G Sound Studios, Melbourne

Photography: Barrie Bell

Cover Layout: Karen

Side 1

Moonlight in Waikiki
Ukulele Lady
Blue Hawaii
Ten Tiny Toes
Forever More
Little Brown Gal
Harbour Lights
Little Grass Shack
Song Of The Islands
Let’s Hula

Side 2

Hawaii Sing To Me
Magnetic Island
Rose of Waikiki
I Lost My Heart on Hayman Island
Moonlight and Shadows
Malahine Mele
Flower Lei
Don’t Sing Aloha When I Go
Moon of Manakoora
Aloha Oe

A collection of songs of Hawaii (and the south pacific) performed by Jim Jensen’s Hawaiians

This is Jim’s third LP (and the only one that I know of) that was re-issued by Astor in the late 1970′s from the W&G catelogue.

It could also be possible that this (along with a couple of others) were due to be released by W&G before they closed their record manufacturing operation, and Astor ending up releasing them.

I’m wondering if Barrie Bell is the same studio photographer that works at GTV 9 in Melbourne? Possibly.

We will resume the “12 Discs of Christmas” posts tomorrow morning.

12 Discs – Part 7 – Banjos for Christmas by Jack Cotton

Posted by Bruce on June 19, 2010 in Xmas with No Comments

On the “Off The Record” blog, I cover all styles, and in Part 7 of my “12 Discs” series, I have carols played on banjos.

LP Title: Banjos for Christmas

Performed by Jack Cotton and his Sleighriders

Label: Astor (under license from Rediffusion International Music, Catalogue number not known)

Australian Catalogue Numbe AGS 1015 (LP) and 4AGS 1015 (Cassette)

Category: Christmas

No production credits

Side 1

Jingle Bells
Sleigh Ride
Christmas Trees
Here We Come A-Sailing
Good King Wenceslas
Christmas Time
Jingle Bell Rock

Side 2

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Winter Wonderland
The Happiest Time of The Year
Santa Claus is Coming To Town
Christmas Song
Medley: Ding Dong Merrily on High. Deck The Halls, Joy To The World

This LP is one of the more rarer releases by ITV affiliate fom the 1960′s Associated Rediffusion. The volume containing an interesting collection of carols played on banjos.

We’ve had country christmas LP’s, Christmas albums in the more traditional sense, and more to come between now and June 24th, so stay tuned.

One Shot Labels 2

Posted by Bruce on March 7, 2010 in Labels with No Comments

Here, I will be showing part 2 of the series of record labels that had not changed much during their years on vinyl

The first one, is Ron Tudor’s Fable records. This label did not change during the two decades their titles were released on vinyl:

Today, Fable’s music publishing division specialise in production music

Next in our labels gallery is the Select label of United Sound (1970-1971). Around half a dozen releases were issued

Label number three is from Landfall Press, this time with the Peter Pan logo.

Our next label in our gallery is the label of Sound and Film Enterprises of Australia, P/L, Crest Records

here is the label for the precursor to the J&B label, Dyna House (a number of titles released on the Dyna House label were re-issued years later by J&B

Like the J&B label, this appeared in a range of colour combos.

Next is the (short lived) record label of TCS Records, Sea Bird (as far as I know, only two records were released)

Next is the record label for budget record company Rainbow Products. This was their regular label in the early years. The logo changed in the mid 80′s but I’m not sure if they changed the label design.

next up is the record label of stalwart digest magazine, Readers Digest for Australia (this one is from the 1980′s)

(Update: 8/5/2010) Two more labels are being added today, the first is a one shot release on the Domino label from Bill Hayes’ 1976 LP “From Me To You With Love”

the next (new) label was a one shot release from a small record label (it was mainly a distributor. This was the only known product that the company produced themselves) the company was Message records.

Update: 17/7/10: Another one shot label from the gallery, this was the label owned by Mike Brady, Full Moon Records (which in it’s short life was distributed by Astor.) Below is the label.

There’s more to come.

Labels Gallery – Astor Records

Posted by Bruce on February 3, 2010 in Labels with No Comments

here is the first of this month’s galleries, and today, I am posting the label gallery of Melbourne based Astor records. (c. mid 1960′s – 1982)

The label was originally a record division of Radio Corporation (not to be confused with RCA) manufactring record players, radios and televisions (the electronics division closed in the late 60′s)

the first two labels are their general labels for their international series dating from the mid 1960′s (the first one is for their LP’s and the second is from their 45s

the label’s design changed in the 1970′s to the following design below:

for locally produced releases, the following colourful design was used for both LP’s and singles

Latest addition: I have located Astor’s “Golden Hour” series which features a full hour of whatever the LP is about. The label appears here.

in 1977, Astor purchased the record label of engineering and printing company White and Gillespie (W & G records), many of their records were later re-issued by Astor using the above label design. (Because I have found a few more labels in the W&G gallery, it’s being moved to it’s own post.

A final note on Astor. in 1982 Astor’s back catalogue was taken over by PolyGram (now Universal Music) It is not known whether Universal still has all of Astor (or W&G’s) back catalogue of recordings.

One Shot record labels part 1

Posted by Bruce on January 29, 2010 in Labels with No Comments

Amongst my new years resolutions this year is to post a minimum of 2 label galleries a month over the year (until I have more or less completed what I intend to post)

Technically my poll from earlier this month was the first lot. Today, I am posting my second gallery and is part 1 of a gallery of record labels from companies that had a small number of releases.

the first label comes from a release from record company Endeavour records

I have only seen one release by this company and it was the LP entitled “Reach for the Sky” by Apollo 100

the next label in the gallery is for Landfall Press. The company had a number of releases between 1974 and 1977. The following is their custom release label

In part 2, I’ll post a Landfall general release with the Peter Pan records logo. (probably in March)

the next label is for Melbourne based record label, Pisces records (which was released first through Festival and later through Astor records (Astor’s gallery is coming soon))

In case if anyone is wondering, yes, it’s the same Johnny Young of “Young Talent Time” fame.

Here is another one shot. Impact Music Promotions only had the one release, a compilation LP of disco music (I however have a sneaking suspicion this was a one-shot release of K-Tel (as the address was the same as where K-Tel International had it’s offices at the time.))

and finally, a record company that had three or four releases (it turns out that Omega made at least two dozen releases) before finally disappearing into the ether – Omega records.

the label is from a compilation LP of comedy and novelty hits (such as Rod Boucher’s “No Worries Luv”, John Williamson’s first hit “Old Man Emu” and Ray Stevens’ “Bridget the Midget”