"Little Drummer Boy" Harry Simeone

Well, on the original "Sing We Now of Christmas" album, which was issued on CD as "Little Drummer Boy" (Casablanca 822744), everything is in stereo except that one song, so presumably it was not recorded in stereo.

But the mono version sounds best on North Star's "Crooner's Christmas," which is in the database.

Yes, I must give this recording my vote for the #1 most faithful re-recording of any song ever. I did notice the difference right away (without having the pre-knowledge I was listening to a re-recording.) For one thing, there's one point about 3/4 of the way through the song, where it stops and a note is held out. On the re-recording, it was probably held out about 3 (or more) seconds longer than on the original. That was the dead giveaway to me.

Another very good re-recording is Stonebolt's "I Will Still Love You" on the Stonebolt CD. The group had to do that because the master tapes could not be located (and thus, weren't even available for the Varese Sarabande CD that came out later). This re-recording (on the Stonebolt CD) isn't as dead-on as the "Little Drummer Boy" one, but I found it quite impressive that the group could get it so close so many years later.

EdisonLite wrote: Another very good re-recording is Stonebolt's "I Will Still Love You" on the Stonebolt CD. The group had to do that because the master tapes could not be located (and thus, weren't even available for the Varese Sarabande CD that came out later). This re-recording (on the Stonebolt CD) isn't as dead-on as the "Little Drummer Boy" one, but I found it quite impressive that the group could get it so close so many years later.

Is the version on The Lost 45s the original?

Also, back to "The Little Drummer Boy," looking at iTunes, there's a (3:03) version on a UMG release copyrighted 1978 (released in 1988). On pure listen, I can't tell whether it's mono or stereo (I was never all that good at distinguishing them unless it was too obvious). Is this the original?