Continental Merry-Go-Round

In the Days Before Compact Discs

When I was five a man named Emile Del Tour picked up his baton and conducted an orchestra in the performance of about one dozen lush, happy pieces which were joyful to the heart and soothing to the mind.

It so happened that in that same year my parents briefly owned a business called John's Record Shop. Monsieur Del Tour's album, Continental Merry-Go-Round, was one of several which they brought home from the store. I was raised on this album and lots of other 33 1/3 rpm LP (long playing) albums. I played all the albums many, many times. But I think I played Continental Merry-Go-Round more often than any other, with the possible exception of Frederic Fennel conducting the Eastman Wind Ensemble in British Band Classics, most of them by either Gustav Holst or Ralph (say "rafe") Vaughan Williams.

I've been able to get the British band classics in a couple of different performances on CD, but the Emile Del Tour album eluded me. A couple of years ago I began to see it on Ebay,. but we were broke and, besides, I didn't know how to use Ebay. Then, about two weeks ago, I found it again. It claimed that the copy was in new condition. How can that be, thought I. I'm only five years older than the record and I'm far from being in new condition!

Hannah is living with us now. She's a modern young woman and she easily made the purchase for me over the ether in about two minutes. We reimbursed her. The vendor said that the record would arrive somewhere between 24 October and 16 November." I guess they don't like to get pinned down. Anyway, it arrived today! It did appear to be in remarkably good condition. It came with a paper envelope, the original cardboard "shuck," and a plastic envelope to put around that.

It had been in the house less than an hour when I set it gently on the passenger's seat of our little SUV and drove to Budget Tapes and Records. For $20, a lot of money but small compared to the decades I've spent missing that album, the owner of the store will put it on his big, heavy, professional turntable and dub it onto a CD. The album label and cover art will also be on it! He's done this for me twice before and we got wonderful results both times. I can play my favorite music as much as I want without wearing out the record with a diamond needle!

In about a week, when we get it back, I'll photograph it and write about it again. Maybe one of the women in this house will even teach me how to attach some of the music to my blog post!