The Longines Symphonette Society – Love it or Leave it
And how could anyone leave it? The Longines Symponette Society is one of the phattest groups around. Sure, they have their unmemorable albums (the campfire songs one could be like that, I can’t remember (if that tells you anything)) but when you get one of their super 10 album collections (i.e.: 20 star guitar, The American Composers Hall of Fame) there are bound to be some musac gems…
December 1st, 2007 at 5:49 am
I agree. I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s listening to my parents big collection of Longines Symphonette Society boxed sets of all sorts of music.
My favourite, by far, is Christmas by the Fireside. It IS Christmas to me. This year my Mother – 76 years young – had the set digitally transfered to discs and sent me and my siblings copies of it! What a great Christmas present and an incredible walk down memory lane!
March 16th, 2008 at 5:10 am
I too agree. “Christmas by the Fireside” was the official Christmas music at our house growing up. I have all of the albums and plan to do what your mother did and get them digitally transfered.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:33 am
After I received my digitally remastered “Christmas at the Fireside” I began to play it ad nauseum for my friends. They all requested my Mother make copies for them. The word is spreading! “Christmas by the Fireside” is the Christmas music of choice in Brooklyn, New York. Totally cool!
October 25th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Help! Help!
I recently purchased a 6-LP-Boxset titled “This is my America” featuring The Longines
Symphonette Society with Guest Conductor “Paul Whiteman” – but no information sheet
was included with the records.
So here is my question: Where can I get some informations about the soloist, musicians
and arranger ? This is such a beautiful music treasury. If you can give me a link,
I’ll be thankful as much as can be.
Edward Jegge in Zurich, Switzerland.
October 25th, 2008 at 9:57 am
hmmm… I don’t have that album. Here are the only LSS recordings that I have (http://music.ahsodes.com/display.php?st=artist&value=The Longines Symphonette Society).
I did find this at falalalala.com:
“The Longines Symphonette Society (owned by the Longines watch company) was very prolific in releasing classical and easy listening records in the 1960’s. I’m sure all of us who trawl flea markets, antique shops and yard sales are familiar with their LP boxed sets.
There seems to be very little information about the company and record label (at least on the net). And most of the records that I have include lots of information about the technical process of the recording and mastering process, but preciously little else about musicians, conductors, etc. There is a little info about personnel (and a Christmas collection is mentioned) at the Robert Farnon Society website. Not a lot to go on, but it’s something.”
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Where can I get a CD version of Christmas at the Fireside? I have my mother’s boxed set, but the records are so scratched that some of the songs skip. I would love to have a CD (or tape) that doesn’t sound so scratchy! I have searched the web to no avail. Can someone help?
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Honestly, I’ve never seen or heard of any Longines albums on cd except for burned copies. Then again, there may have been at some point. I sort of doubt it, though. Maybe you can find someone who will sell you their vinyl copy of CbtFs and include a burned cd… (I’ve seen people do that on e-bay before. I’m assuming including the vinyl as part of the sale is what makes it a legal transaction and not copyright infringement…
December 8th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I have been looking for years for the Christmas At The Fireside to be released on CD as well. The closest thing I have been able to find is a DVD that Rhino released. It’s a Virtual Fireplace Video called “The Happy Holiday Hearth” that I bought a few years back. It doesn’t have all the tracks but it’s better than nothing and the tracks are in top quality form. I took the VOB files off the DVD and converted them to mp3 format. It will suffice until this hopefully gets re-released one day.
December 12th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Thought I’d chime in about the Paul Whiteman set since I saw a set at a local used record outlet only a few days ago. I looked at it only briefly and found no booklet or other info enclosed. This may be because of having been misplaced by its previous owner or the set may not have had a descriptive book included when purchased as Longines could be pretty slapdash with their production values. (I never thought terribly highly of Longines sets…..they cost more than Reader’s Digest product and generally had poorer quality besides costing more, musical merits notwithstanding.)
I get the feeling you may not have heard of Paul Whiteman. He was a major figure in the popular music of the 1920’s and probably is most famous now for having commissioned George Gershwin in 1924 to write “Rhapsody In Blue”. He introduced it with Gershwin hiself at the piano and months later made the first-ever recording of it, again with Gershwin at the piano. Though time has largely obscured his once-tremendous fame, he remained well enough known through the rest of his life (he died in 1967) to continue to appear with some frequency on radio and later television and to make occasional recordings. I don’t know a lot of details of his recordings but the last ones I specifically am aware of are a series of LP’s from the mid-to-late 50’s for the Grand Award label. That label eventually became part of the ABC company and since Longines put out some albums from ABC material, maybe the Longines Whiteman set is from those recordings. This is just a guess — I don’t know.
September 2nd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Just bought a BUCK OWENS box by the Logines……There’s no booklet of info. This was a sealed box set. There’s no info on this box set either. get recordings.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Hmmm… How is the Buck Owens set? any good?
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I really am interested in this buck owens longines set. If anyone has any more information, fel free to chime in!
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:37 am
I have the Paul Whiteman “This Is My America” set–anyone know value of set in excellent condition–dont think records were ever played. Am liquidating my collection of records to take care of Mom
August 7th, 2011 at 7:42 pm
Please help. I recently purchased a boxed set of Christmas at the Fireside and it is missing the first LP. Does anyone know where I can find a replacement?
August 8th, 2011 at 7:07 am
I have a box edition of Christmas at the Fireside and it is missing the first album. I would love to be able to complete the set. Can anyone help me?