13 November 2007

Childhood Treasures

In lieu of this week's 12 free albums, let's talk about some of the earliest recordings we enjoyed, shall we? There are several sites and blogs on the web sharing the childhood treasures we would like to share with newer generations, but that have never been reissued. Here are a few of our favorite sources.

KiddieRecords.com
Ford says: "Kiddie Records Weekly is a three year project celebrating the golden age of children's records. This brief but prolific period spanned from the mid forties through the early fifties, producing a wealth of all-time classics. Many of these recordings were extravagant Hollywood productions on major record labels and featured big time celebrities and composers.

"Over the years, these forgotten treasures have slipped off the radar and now stand on the brink of extinction. Our mission is to give them a new lease on life by sharing them with today's generation of online listeners. Each recording has been carefully transferred from the original 78s and encoded to MP3 format for you to download and enjoy. You'll find a new addition every week, all year long.

"So whether you are hearing these records for the first time or reuniting with a childhood favorite from long ago, we hope you take great pleasure in your trip down memory lane!"


Tale Spinners for Children and Children's Vinyl Record Series
Matt writes: "There were a number of children's vinyl record series sold in the US during the 1950's and 1960's. Among them were Tale Spinners for Children, Golden Records, Mercury Storyteller, Pathways of Sound, Telegeneral Let's Pretend and Riverside Wonderland."

Secret Caverns
Wow! That is really the only review you need. It is just fabulous. Secret Cavern of Read Along Treasures is a great source for childhood (especially British) audio and video. Clean, sparce design and clean, clear rips. Top notch.

Way Out Junk
All my correspondence with Tony has been one way: me thanking him profusely for all his hard work. That is fine, because it gives him more time to work his magic! He seems to have somehow gone up into the family homestead attics and recorded all of our old records. Great fun!

Children's Records and More and Mostly Ghostly
Dave shares mountains of childhood classics, also hosting selections that were once offered by Mondo Daddykins and Scar Stuff. Additionally, he operates Forbidden Crypts. Dave will also put together handsome packages of these recordings on CD for a small fee.

Power Records Plaza
"A place for fans of the classic Power Records to freely trade and exchange audio files of the classic recordings. No buying or selling is permitted. If you need a file, take one, if you have a file, add it to the list."

Maimone Digital
John states: "Our goal is to preserve Tapes, LP Records, Photos and Videos in a digital format that will last in pristine condition for years to come. To this end we have spared no expense to duplicate analog recordings as close as possible to the originals."

Read-Along Adventures
Joey, a collector of these little wonders, offers much of the old see-hear-read catalog in little Flash packets.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for the shout out over here. Sorry I'm not a better correspondent. I've started going back to school (after 20+ years) to get my Masters Degree, so the blog (and replies to faithful readers like yourself) has suffered. I read and appreciate all I get though. Thanks again for the mention (and the other links)!

    Tony
    Way Out Junk

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  2. Like Tony I thank you for the mention on your great blog. I have about 40 blogs I check twice a day, and yours is one of them. All of these blogs you mention have awesome selections. I have 5 grandkids I'm trying to get interested in listening to music and stories, and they seem to finally be coming around.

    I recently found another great source of Kids records HERE. Thanks again.

    Dave

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  3. Great to hear from you Dave and Tony! Thanks for writing, and more importantly, thank you for the countless hours of hard work you put into preserving these childhood treasures. Can you imagine how many smiles that you two are responsible for around the world?

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  4. Many, many I hope. Most of what I have left to share are children's records so I think you'll see my Children's Records Blog busier than Mostly Ghostly in the days ahead. Although i do have some horror stuff left also.

    Dave

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  5. It seems to me that the linke site, KidsAudioBooks is simply posting bits from 2005 and 2006 Kiddie Records Weekly and some OTR shows that can also be found elsewhere on the web. If you find appealing titles in those books, you'll want to check for them at Kiddie Records Weekly to get the COMPLETE artwork and stories. That all comes without flashing gifs, ads and embeded noise, too!

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  6. I agree that their mouse over sound effect is annoying. However, I do know that they DO in fact have many records that Kiddie Records Weekly doesn't. I was not trying to take away from Kiddie Records Weekly at all becuase that site IS awesome. Just trying to give an extra source of some great kids music.

    Dave

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  7. The kiddie recordings I hope most to find again are the "Superscope Story Teller Presents" series of books and cassettes. They pop up now and then on eBay, but seldom with the titles we had in our house. Our family traveled seemingly nonstop, and our parents were clever to set us up with these read-alog cassettes for long trips.

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  8. Wow! I loved the Superscope Story Teller books! I'd love to find those again too! I had forgotten about them before reading your blog! Thanks for helping me remember!

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  9. you can find some of the Superscope Story Teller books (english & persian) here:
    The Little Mermaid :
    http://my.opera.com/robertdeniro/blog/show.dml/2594698
    (Snow White):
    http://my.opera.com/robertdeniro/blog/show.dml/2611009
    (Gulliver's Travels ):
    http://my.opera.com/redman62/blog/the-big-bad-wolf-superscope-48-stories
    (The Big Bad Wolf ):
    http://my.opera.com/redman62/blog/pinocchio-golam-ali-shabani-press

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  10. I have a vast collection of Superscope recordings. They are all MP3. I located the audio tapes and digitized them. I've tried to locate anyone who has rights to the recordings, but I've had no luck.

    If you are interested, email me: dan (at) dotsonmail (dot) com.

    ReplyDelete

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