Columbia C 298 (Album)
As You Desire Me
with the Norman Luboff Choir
Issued June 1952 – Four Record Box Set
Also issued as a 33 rpm LP, Columbia CL 6210
Also issued as a 45 rpm Album, Columbia B 298
The 33 rpm LP, Columbia CL 6210
Tracks on the 33 rpm LP:
Side 1:
As You Desire Me
Matrix No. RHCO 10131 * Recorded 19th February 1952
Something To Remember You By
with the Norman Luboff Choir
Matrix No. RHCO 10096 * Recorded 18th January 1952
Easy Come, Easy Go
with the Norman Luboff Choir
Matrix No. RHCO 10047 * Recorded 10th December 1951
Blue Moon
Matrix No. RHCO 10133 * Recorded 19th February 1952
Side 2:
I’m In The Mood For Love
with the Norman Luboff Choir
Matrix No. RHCO 10097 * Recorded 18th January 1952
September In The Rain
Matrix No. RHCO 10098 * Recorded 18th January 1952
Spring Is Here
Matrix No. RHCO 10132 * Recorded 19th February 1952
Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me
with the Norman Luboff Choir
Matrix No. RHCO 10048 * Recorded 10th December 1951
The 78 rpm Album, Columbia C 298
Tracks on the 78 rpm album:
Disc 1, Columbia 39720: ‘As You Desire Me’, and ‘Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me’
Disc 2, Columbia 39721: ‘Something To Remember You By’, and ‘Spring Is Here’
Disc 3, Columbia 39722: ‘Easy Come, Easy Go’, and ‘September In The Rain’
Disc 4, Columbia 39723: ‘Blue Moon’, and ‘I’m In The Mood For Love’
Confusion about the 45 rpm album, Columbia B 298
According to Jim Marshall’s Jo Stafford Discography, the 45 rpm version of the album ‘As You Desire Me’ was a 2-EP set. This seems to be correct, because Discogs.com (a “user-built database of Music”, full of information provided by record collectors) says the same thing:
https://www.discogs.com/Jo-Stafford-As-You-Desire-Me/release/9227219
The accompanying illustration, an image of the 45 rpm album cover, shows that a label with the words ‘Columbia Extended Play’ has been stuck on the record sleeve.
However… the information and images on 45cat.com (another online database, filled with information provided by record collectors) seem to prove that Columbia B 298 was NOT a 2-EP set. The images show a 45 rpm disc with only one track on each side: http://www.45cat.com/record/b298
According to 45cat, the disc depicted is just one of four discs, with numbers 4-39720 through 4-39723.
But that’s not the only proof for the thesis that B 298 was a 4 x 45 rpm album. Someone who sold it at Ebay, said exactly the same thing. And he owned the set, so he should know how many discs it consisted of, shouldn’t he? Unfortunately, this particular Ebay item is no longer on sale, only this Google Image shows what it looked like, and what description the seller added (click on the image to see it in full size):
To add to the confusion, Wikipedia comes up with the following information:
“As You Desire Me was an album by Jo Stafford, released by Columbia Records as a 10" long-playing record (catalog number CL-6210), a box set of 45-rpm records (catalog number 39720), and a two-EP set (catalog number B 298), in 1952.”
It is clear that this information is incorrect; 39720 is, of course, the label number of one of the records in the 78 rpm version of the album. Unfortunately, many other websites have copied this ‘fake information’ already.
This being said – the question remains whether there are, indeed, TWO 45 rpm versions of ‘As You Desire Me’: both a 2-EP set and a 4x45rpm box set? I tend to think there was only one 45 rpm version, namely a four disc set. But, then again… why would they have stuck an ‘Extended Play’ label on it?
Do you know more about the 45 rpm version(s) of this album? Please write me at info@jostafford-discography.com
NOTE
According to Jim Marshall’s Jo Stafford Discography, this album was released in April 1952. It is mentioned, though, in the ‘Advance Record Release’ section of Billboard’s June 14, 1952 issue. This, combined to the fact that the first of many reviews of this album appeared in newspapers in the second half of June*, leads me to the conclusion this album must have been issued in June, 1952.
(* The earliest review I found at newspapers.com was the one published in The Indianapolis News on June 12, 1952; many other reviews of this “new album” date from July, August, or September 1952).