Make horrid scars and gashes.

4.30.2006

Dean Gitter "Ghost Ballads" (Riverside, RLP 12-636, 1957)

Perhaps most famous for his production work on Odetta's debut album "Sings Ballads And Blues" (a primary influence on a young Bob Dylan), Dean Gitter involved himself in the 1950's folk scene under a variety of guises. Producing records mostly for Riverside (though the jacket claims "various record companies" as his clients) and working his hand in folk publishing to boot, this looks to be his lone solo album. Luckily for us it's a cool collection of mostly traditional (and sometimes just trad sounding) folk numbers with supernatural themes that run the gamut from spookily evocative to playful, all housed under a perfect 1953 Charles Addams illustration. The music itself is composed of nothing more than Mr. Gitter's voice and his acoustic guitar, and along with the zipped song files I've included a large scan of the back cover liner notes, which (in the folk tradition) are extra informative about each song's history. Taken as a whole the package does a nice job of providing the backdrop not only for the tunes being sung & played, but also for the time (a half century ago!) that this LP was produced.


Link Removed

12 Comments:

Blogger Dave said...

Awesome jason. Thanks. I have this one, but you've once again saved me the trouble of uplaoding my LP to my PC. It's great to see all of the inside info for each of these LPs you put up. Not sure where you learn all this stuff, but it's is great to know. Thanks once again.

Dave

4/30/2006 3:12 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had seen a picture of this LP somewhere some time ago, but never saw it available for sale or heard any of its tracks. It was one I was very curious about. Now I'm a fan of its folkie fantoms!

Thank you for making us all happier collectors! You are a mensch!

Max the drunken severed head

4/30/2006 4:35 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This one is wonderful and a little different. Aside from Robbie the Werewolf I'm not aware of too many other folk song halloween albums. I'd never heard it before, and had a major flashback when I remembered that we had to learn "Skin and Bones" to sing for Halloween in elementary school music class! Love the Addams cover art as well. Thanks for this great share!

4/30/2006 5:04 PM

 
Blogger Tara said...

Hey great blog you have here! This is my kind o'stuff! :)

5/01/2006 12:51 PM

 
Blogger Claytonian said...

This is a great blog. I'll see if I can't convince my friend to record some songs from the record "bawdy sea shanties" for you.

5/02/2006 3:46 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is awsome!!!! I work for Dean Gitter and I have been trying to get a copy of this album from him for some time now.

5/31/2006 12:52 PM

 
Blogger Dave said...

anonymous - try ebay. That's where I got my copy.
Dave

6/02/2006 11:56 AM

 
Blogger Jason said...

Anonymous: Outstanding! Be sure to pass on my enjoyment of the album to him; it's a damn cool collection for sure!

6/03/2006 7:31 PM

 
Blogger Alice Wood said...

Thanks so much for this - dean gitter ghost ballads - from a UK folky fan. Amazing to find this :-)
I have the Boris Karloff LP too!

1/31/2008 8:07 AM

 
Blogger sin-jin said...

Any possibility of a Re-Post of this for 2008 ?

9/08/2008 7:11 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Or 2015? ;)

9/08/2015 9:30 PM

 
Anonymous Dave said...

https://app.box.com/shared/bgpvamd42n

5/09/2016 9:40 AM

 

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