WILLY WONKA CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY 3-SONG ACETATE ALTERNATE LYRICS DEMO

$

47

PLEASE NOTE: I WAS INFORMED THAT THE SOUND SAMPLE HAD GOTTEN MIXED-UP WITH ANOTHER ONE & BECAUSE SOMEONE HAD BID, THE ONLY WAY TO CORRECT THIS ERROR WAS THE END THE AUCTION EARLY.  I'VE CORRECTED THE SOUND SAMPLE BELOW, I THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.

This is a 10” single-sided 3-track 33 1/3 RPM acetate titled “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.  The 3 songs listed on this acetate are: “The Candy Man”, “Cheer Up Charlie” and “Chocolate March”.  While the titles of the first two songs are listed as part of the film’s music and soundtrack, “Chocolate March” does not appear under that title in the film’s music or soundtrack.  

Interestingly, a lot of the verse lyrics to The Candy Man are nothing like I’ve heard before, make sure you give them a listen.  I’m not sure if this may be an early working demo or not, but because of the very different lyrics, it points to that.  Also, “Cheer Up Charlie” has rather different lyrics and as I mentioned above, I can’t find any reference to the song “Chocolate March” in relationship to Willy Wonka or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  

Unfortunately, the name of the artist/singer is not listed on the acetate label, but it appears that it is the same singer for these 3 songs.  The composers/songwriters for the songs on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory were Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and by listening to a couple Anthony Newley songs, it may just be him singing.  

This acetate is in G condition with storage wear, scuffs and scratches.  There are also a couple other condition issues that I’ll show in the photos, but I’ll describe them here.  There’s a chip to the acetate coating in the run-in groove that shows the metal underneath, which runs up to the groove that is right before the first groove of the music and about 1.5” to the right is a small air bubble beneath the acetate coating across the run-in grooves and up to one groove before the music starts.  Even though it appears the there’s a hole right through the acetate as seen in the 4th photo, it is just the missing acetate coating the is reflecting the flash of my camera.  There’s also a 1/4” x 1/2” pressure mark that caused light, thin cracking in a somewhat oval shape and across the center running with the grooves is what appears to be a thin 1/4” long piece of the acetate coating missing that may be 1 or 2 grooves wide (see 3rd photo).  It is unfortunate, but this pressure mark and corresponding issue with the acetate coating does cause a problem with the play, as you’ll hear in the sound sample below at the 35-second mark during The Candy Man, it skips forward several grooves/seconds.

Please hear snippets of this acetate in the following media player.  I played the disc on an Ion turntable with external speakers, which has a lightweight tonearm that I believe was better suited to avoid wear and I held my iPhone centered between the speakers.  I think this captured the sound pretty accurately.   

     What you’ll hear are the complete tracks on this acetate except for The Candy Man due to the problem noted above.   Where you hear the dead air, that marks the next track.  

I’m in downsizing mode and this week I’m be posting 63 acetates, test pressings and other interesting and hard to find records all in separate auctions that I’ve collected over the last 30-40 years.  The range of speeds of these acetates, test pressings and records run from 16 2/3 to 33 1/3 to 45 to 78, with sizes ranging from 7” to 10” to 12” and single and double sided.  There also are quite a variety of vanity paper labels for the studios who cut these, as well as a number of them that have no paper labels, with some having grease pencil notations around the spindle hole or notations on the paper sleeve or with no writing at all.  I’ve tried to include as much information I could find on these discs, as well as through doing research and as you’ll hear, I’ve included sound samples for each.

I’ve chosen not to clean any of these acetates, test pressings or records to not cause any potential damage to these rare and fragile recordings.  With that said, if you choose to clean these yourself, you may just find that the condition and quality of the audio may be improved.  When these acetates, test pressings or records were found in an original paper sleeve whether it had important notations on it or not, I’m including it even if it is torn beyond repair and then placed the acetate in another sleeve for protection.  

Just a note for those unfamiliar with metal acetates - these records are extra heavy from the center of the record being made of metal. These records are the first versions ever cut from the master tapes or from a direct live source (even before test pressings or promo copies and have the closest sound to original source material) for the purpose of feedback on the mix or performance by those involved in the recording process or just as a document for archival purposes.  These discs were expensive to make, so very few, if no more than one are usually made and as you can imagine, these discs are quite RARE and sometimes the mixes or performances can be different from the final release, if they were even released.  Test pressings are typically made once the mix has been approved, but pressed for final review before the commercial copies are pressed.

FOR INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: Packages are insured for free up to $200 USD, for $201 USD and over there is an additional insurance fee of $1.80 per $100 USD.  Please ask for a final total before making payment if your item(s) total $201 USD or more and I will send you the correct invoice.  I pack my records extremely well and haven’t had any damage occur due to my packing, but because it will be shipping through various hands from the US to your country, insurance is required and will be paid by the winning bidder.  Please don’t ask me to reduce the cost of the merchandise on the customs form, as that will not cover the full insured value.  I thank you for your understanding.