Tex Ritter LP PICTURE DISC Rare w/cover PERFECT

$

40

RARE TEX RITTER PICTURE DISC

Singin' in the Saddle  (12" LP)

Up for auction is this very unique 12" LP produced by Bear Family Records (West Germany) in 1986.  (LC5197) Made in West Germany. (BDP 15231) Produced by Richard Weize with thanks to Tommy Floyd, Robert Hertwig, Keith Kolby and Dave Turner. Licensed from WEA Musik GmbH.

First, my apologies. My photography abilities are limited. However, rest assured the record and its cover are in as close to perfect condition as you will ever find. Bright, vibrant colors, no scratches, no soiling, no creases. However, the photos do not "come off" that way. So, I did one close up scan of the part of the record itself (side 1) so you can get the idea of the quality of the colors and condition. Unfortunately, my scanner is not large enough for the whole record, so the rest of the pictures are actually pictures, not scans, so you can see it in its entirety. If there appear to be any "marks" or blemishes in the pictures, they are purely from the glare of the lights from the flash!

Besides the outstanding pictures on the records, there are great graphics on the front and back of the record cover as well which show the same pictures as on the front and back of the record; and the inside of the record cover folds out to display a full size picture (about 25" wide and 13" tall) of "Tex Ritter". This is known as a "Deluxe Gatefold Cover", and it is a very unique procedure seldom used when producing 12" LP's.

(Try and find this album, in this condition, ANYWHERE else but right here, on Ebay! I was able to find one other of this particular Tex Ritter Picture Disc on the internet, available from a collector record site. That one was priced at $65.00 without the cover. Don't know if there are others out there for less money, but you will be hard pressed to ever find one of the quality of the one I am selling here today!)

The songs  are as follows:

Side 1

High Wide And Handsome, Headin' For The Rio Grande, Out On The Lone Prairie, Arizona Days, My Sweet Chiquita, Jailhouse Lament, (I'm) Hittin' The Trail (For Home), I'm A Natural Born Cowboy

Side 2

Ride Ride Ride, Ridin' Down The Trail To Albuquerque, Sing Cowboy Sing, Down The Colorado Trail, When It's Lamplightin' Time In The Valley, Singin' In The Saddle, Sundown On The Prairie, Al Viva Tequila

More Info

Bear Family Records took great pride in the sound quality of thier records, and went to great length to "master" these to a top grade listening level. No doubt they did the same with this album.

I have no idea if this record was ever played. I purchased it at an "estate sale" of a gentleman that had passed away who ran a record collectors shop in Xenia, Ohio, so there was no way for me to ask where he got it or if he knew if it was ever played. It does not appear to have ever been played, but I certainly cannot guarantee that.

If you have additional questions, e-mail me and I will try to answer them as quickly as I can. I am in and out alot, and sometimes I am gone for a number of days at a time, so be patient.

I will (or have already) also be listing additional picture dics of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and one other Tex Ritter, for those that are interested, so watch for them. Same great condition as this LP!

SHIPPING INFO & COST

Buyer to pay actual shipping charges from my zip code 45069. (Obviously this does not weigh much) Buyer can specify the shipping method of ther choice. I never charge a handing fee, nor do I charge for any of the packing materials.

Additional Info about Tex Ritter

For those who are interested (he was the father of John Ritter of Three's Company" fane

TEX RITTER

Singing cowboy Tex Ritter stood as one of the biggest names in country music throughout the postwar era, thanks to a diverse career that led him everywhere from the Broadway stage to the political arena. He was born Maurice Woodward Ritter in Marvaul, TX, on January 12, 1907, and grew up on a ranch in Beaumont. After graduating at the top of his high school class, he majored in law at the University of Texas. During college, however, he was bitten by the acting bug and moved to New York in 1928 to join a theatrical troupe. After a few years of struggle, he briefly returned to school, only to leave again to pursue stardom.

Ritter was playing cowboy songs on the radio when he returned to New York in 1931 to act in the Broadway production Green Grow the Lilacs; during scene changes, he also performed on his guitar. Thanks to his success on the stage, he began hosting radio programs like Tex Ritter's Campfire and Cowboy Tom's Roundup before entering the studio with producer Art Satherley in 1933, where his deep, lived-in voice graced songs like "Rye Whiskey." He caught the attention of Hollywood producer Edward Finney, who was searching for a cowboy singer in the mold of the highly successful Gene Autry and was tapped to star in the 1936 Western Song of the Gringo. Over the next two years, Ritter starred in a dozen films, including 1937's Trouble in Texas (co-starring a young Rita Hayworth), before Finney's studio, Grand National Pictures, folded. Ritter then switched to Monogram Studios, for whom he made some 20 Westerns, including 1940's Take Me Back to Oklahoma with co-star Bob Wills; work at Columbia and Universal followed, and by the time of his movie swan song, 1945's The Texas Rangers, he had appeared in a total of 85 films.

As Ritter's Hollywood career went into decline, his music career began to blossom, and in 1942, he became the first country artist signed to Capitol Records, where he recorded everything from traditional folk tunes to patriotic material to sentimental songs. In 1944, Tex Ritter & His Texans topped the charts with the single "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You." The record's flip side, "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder," peaked at number two, as did the follow-up "Jealous Heart." 1945's "You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often" proved to be Ritter's greatest success, holding at number one for 11 consecutive weeks. Among his other successes in the 1940s were 1945's number one "You Will Have to Pay," 1948's "Rock and Rye," and 1950's "Daddy's Last Letter (Private First Class John H. McCormick)," based on the actual correspondence of a soldier slain during the Korean War.

Ritter recorded the theme to the Fred Zinneman classic High Noon in 1953, and the resulting single proved extremely successful with pop audiences, helping win him the job as the MC of the television program Town Hall Party, which he hosted between 1953 and 1960. In 1958, he issued his first full-length LP, Songs From the Western Screen, followed the next year by Psalms. After leaving Town Hall Party, he released the LP Blood on the Saddle, a dark collection of cowboy narrative songs, and in 1961, he returned to the country charts after an 11-year absence with the Top Five hit "I Dreamed of a Hillbilly Heaven." In 1963 Ritter began a two-year tenure as the president of the Country Music Association, and in 1965 he moved to Nashville to join the Grand Ole Opry. After an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 1970, Ritter died of a heart attack on January 2, 1973; his son John Ritter carried on the family name as a popular actor in TV sitcoms like Three's Company and Hooperman.