Patriotic Songs for Children

Historically, the term "album" was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of short pieces of printed music from the early 19th century. Later, collections of related 78 rpm records were bundled in book-like albums^[1] (one side of a 78 rpm record could hold only about 3.5 minutes of sound). The only way an “album” could be put together was to sell three or four 78s in a bound set of sheathes. These sets, known as folios were increasingly popular. Whilst they had originally been neutral – blank albums into which the distributor could insert whatever 78s he liked – the idea of using a theme to link the records in the folio was catching on. By the late 1930s, this trend had developed to the point where artists were going into studios to record six or eight titles with a folio set in mind. This in effect was the birth of the concept album, although it would not be until LPs became commonplace that the phrase gained any currency.^[2]

The first album issued by Decca, probably in 1938, was Moussorgsky Songs by Vladimir Rosing, on catalogue number A-1. (List of Decca albums). Patriotic Songs for Children was one of the first concept albums of 78 rpm recordings issued by Decca Records.

These previously issued songs were featured on a 3-disc, 78 rpm album set, Decca Album No. A-50.

Disc 1: (2400)^[3]

Disc 2: (2476)^[4]

Disc 3: (2477)^[4]