The Chipmunk Song 45 version now on CD!

Yep, it's really true. The 45 version of "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" has finally been issued on CD on the new British import from Ace Records, "The London American Label - 1958." Liner notes state it was taken from the 1958 British single master tape. Sound quality is excellent... very good quality source.

This CD contains other rarities, including Jimmy Clanton's "Just a Dream" from a tape source with the opening guitar note intact. (Though I will say their tape for this is rather hissy. They had previously released this song minus the guitar note on one of the "Golden Age of American Rock 'N' Roll" volumes, and while the sound was good, I could tell it had been No-Noised. Now I know why.)

Let's all encourage Ace to to continue this incredible series by buying this CD!

Edited by Brian W.

Correct. Mono, with Alvin's voice cracking on the first "hula hoop" and the breaths between each "Christmas" on the opening line.

All the tracks on every volume of the "The London American Label" series are mono; they're all sourced from the mono singles masters.

I have the Chipmunks Christmas LP that my parents bought when I was a kid, and "The Chipmunk Song" on it is in mono, while all the other songs are in stereo. So do some of the LPs actually contain the 45 version of it?

Brian W. wrote: VWestlife wrote: I have the Chipmunks Christmas LP that my parents bought when I was a kid, and "The Chipmunk Song" on it is in mono, while all the other songs are in stereo. So do some of the LPs actually contain the 45 version of it? No, the version on "Christmas With the Chipmunks" was remixed for that album. The original mono album of "Let's All Sing With the Chipmunks" does contain the 45 version. The 45 version can be identified very clearly by when Alvin sings the words "hula hoop" on the first chorus. His voice cracks badly in the 45 version, and in the later version he hits the right note. (Which is silly, because it takes away the meaning when David Seville says right after that, "Alvin, you were a little flat." In the 45 version, he IS flat.)

Don't the chipmunks also, on their very first words on
the classic, in the original 45 Liberty mono, sing
"CHRIST-mas christ-0MAS time is near"..My friend Tiffany
and I heard the now all-too-familiar remake, with
"CHRISTmas..ChristrMAS time is near:"(caps, of course, to
indicate high accents),..Just as fun as the long
version/edit issue IMHO,:), and timely for this time of
year! :D

Here is the "stereo" vinyl LP version which sounds like an attempt to make a mono recording into something resembling stereo by twiddling with the balance knob and adding reverb (notice the long reverb when Theodore says "OK"):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSmG7yv6vo8

The "stereo" version (from CD?) that has the same balance shifting but lacks reverb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdN_8OlJGs0

Here is the full, wide stereo version with Simon in one channel and Alvin in the other:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdFhMffotGE


Edited by VWestlife