Vintage Christmas Entertainment with the World Record Club - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Junk Box Nick · 26th Dec 2013, 2:11 pm

Earlier in the year I aquired a Philips AG4656 portable record player - an early 1960s mains model with an amplifier consisting of a single UCL82. It is now working quite nicely and despite the speaker housed in the detachable plastic lid with no back it produces remarkably good round sound - at least to my aging ears - and is the first player I've had to play vinyl in many a year.

Back in the 1960s I pestered my parents for a record player and one finally arrived at Christmas 1964. Popular records at the time were expensive, 6s 8d for a single and 32s 6d for LPs and so, to build a collection of records my mother joined something called the World Record Club. I remember being distinctly unimpressed at a couple of LPs consisting of covers of recent pop hits but there were others she bought of light music, 'standards' and show tunes.

One I remember arriving - probably in 1965 - is an LP called "Winter Sunshine" which was basically a Christmas album. My mother, who much preferred TV, soon tired of having to buy a record from the club every two months and cancelled the membership. However, this LP survived the attic, house moves and ultimately clearance and eventually came down to me.

Yesterday I gave it an airing for probably the first time in the biggest part of fifty years on the AG4656 and, though I can remember it from when it arrived, discovered, for what was presumeably a budget label, a remarkably well produced album of interesting jazz arrangements of Christmas instrumentals songs with vocals by singers Frenesi Watson and Mark Richardson. It certainly provided welcome respite from Christmas TV and proved a happy trip down memory lane.

A Happy Vintage Christmas!

Nick

26th Dec 2013, 2:11 pm	#1
Junk Box Nick Octode Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: West Midlands, UK. Posts: 1,571	Vintage Christmas Entertainment with the World Record Club Earlier in the year I aquired a Philips AG4656 portable record player - an early 1960s mains model with an amplifier consisting of a single UCL82. It is now working quite nicely and despite the speaker housed in the detachable plastic lid with no back it produces remarkably good round sound - at least to my aging ears - and is the first player I've had to play vinyl in many a year. Back in the 1960s I pestered my parents for a record player and one finally arrived at Christmas 1964. Popular records at the time were expensive, 6s 8d for a single and 32s 6d for LPs and so, to build a collection of records my mother joined something called the World Record Club. I remember being distinctly unimpressed at a couple of LPs consisting of covers of recent pop hits but there were others she bought of light music, 'standards' and show tunes. One I remember arriving - probably in 1965 - is an LP called "Winter Sunshine" which was basically a Christmas album. My mother, who much preferred TV, soon tired of having to buy a record from the club every two months and cancelled the membership. However, this LP survived the attic, house moves and ultimately clearance and eventually came down to me. Yesterday I gave it an airing for probably the first time in the biggest part of fifty years on the AG4656 and, though I can remember it from when it arrived, discovered, for what was presumeably a budget label, a remarkably well produced album of interesting jazz arrangements of Christmas instrumentals songs with vocals by singers Frenesi Watson and Mark Richardson. It certainly provided welcome respite from Christmas TV and proved a happy trip down memory lane. A Happy Vintage Christmas! Nick