Tuesday, 14 July 2020

WE WILL NEVER BE INDIVIDUALLY (UPDATED)...


Copyright relevant owner

A record that used to be part of my family's collection back in the '60s was a GALA GOLDENTONE single of the LAUREL & HARDY theme song from LARRY HARMON's animated TV show.  It was orange in colour, and is, today, seemingly quite a collectable due to its rarity as it never seems to come up on eBay.  In the States, it was on the LITTLE GOLDEN RECORD label, and was 45 r.p.m. as opposed to the UK version being 78 r.p.m.


Anyway, I've been searching for one for a while now, but with no success, and, as I'm hardly what could be considered a patient person, I decided just to make my own copy.  The two tracks from the disc are available on YouTube, so I recorded them, transferred them onto a CD, made an inlay card, etc., and what you see in the accompanying photos is the result.


At first I was going to make the front of the CD inlay card the exact same as the cover of the single, but it would have required too much work to remove some of the 'wear' on it.  (Also, it was the US version.)  Instead, I focussed on the main image and title (which is chiefly what I recall), did a little tidying up, and created an interior and rear inlay card of which I could be proud.  And I am!  I made the label from a pic of the original record on the Internet, as I wanted to capture the 'spirit' of that little orange record from my childhood.


Update: After thinking about it awhile, I decided to redo the label to accommodate the orange colour of the original record.  If you closely examine the pic below you'll see the 'GG.48' that was etched onto the inside plastic margin of the 1963 record.  In fact, the A Side had 'GG.48A' and the B Side had 'GG.48B', but I removed any reference to two sides as both tracks are now on one side of the CD. 

Well, Crivs - what do you think?  Pretty neat, isn't it?  I have three or four spare copies in cardboard sleeves (not plastic CD cases), which I'll give (one per person) to anyone who wants one (first come, first served) at my own expense, so if you'd like to be one of the lucky recipients, let me know in the comments section.  Of course, you could always copy the YouTube clip like I did, but if you're anything like me, then you'll prefer having something more tangible.  (Update: You're too late - none left.)


To hear the song, click below.  It's preceded by an instrumental version, so if you forward 1 minute 20 seconds ahead, you'll hear the vocal performance.  If you click on full screen mode, as the song progresses, the full cover image gradually comes into view, enabling you to see why I didn't use it as it is.  Anyway, all that remains now is for all you Crivvies to tell me how brilliant, talented, and gifted I am.  Go on, it won't hurt as much as you think.  (Well, it certainly won't hurt me!)

5 comments:

  1. Well, I may be biased, but I think you did a brilliant job on it. By the way, did I ever tell you I think you're wonderful? (Hark at me - now I'm talking to myself.)

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  2. Nice job! Funny you did this, I just read the article about the restored films being released . They should show their movies on tv don’t you think? They have aged very well. https://cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/10944-REVIEW-LAUREL-HARDY-THE-DEFINITIVE-RESTORATIONS-FROM-MVDvisual.html

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  3. Yeah, I saw Mark Evanier mentioning them on his blog not that long ago, PS. I've got a boxed set that contains two versions of some of their films - black and white plus colourized versions, but having them in crystal clarity would be good. They used to be shown on telly quite regularly back in the '60s and '70s. Seems that today's TV stations think that their viewers wouldn't be interested.

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  4. I'm genuinely stunned that you can make a professional-looking CD in this way! For somebody who likes to live in the past you are certainly no slouch when it comes to modern technology!

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  5. "Shucks, it weren't nuthin'!" (he said, with false modesty). To be honest, CJ, I sometimes genuinely surprise myself with what I can do. Mainly because I don't have a particularly high idea of what I'm capable of, so when something turns out good, I think "Did I do that?"

    So, ironically, not having a clear or overblown sense of my abilities leads to a disproportionately huge feeling of pride in the result. (Unless it all goes t*ts up of course.)

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