Riddle Me This

Here's another great lost Christmas LP from one of the great arrangers of his day. While not quite up there with the great Billy May in my book, Nelson Riddle had plenty of great songs to his credit. But as far as I know, he didn't release very much Christmas music. That's why I was a little surprised to find this record in my collection the other night. This appears to have been a gift from Avon to all of their sales representatives back in 1970. And what a gift. 13 songs arranged and conducted by Mr. Riddle, with vocals on 11 of them. You've heard all these songs before, but Nelson brings a little something extra to them that you you just can't get elsewhere. I've included a scan of the letter I found in the sleeve, wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the president of Avon at the time, Fred Fusee. And that goes for me, too. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc, etc, etc. My present to you is this album, Nelson Riddle Orchestra And Chorus-Avon Wishes You A Happy Holiday And A Joyous New Year (Avon AV 10170, 1970). And if you want more from Avon, go check out this post of an Avon record from two years earlier.

UPDATE: It would appear you can download this music from iTunes now, so no more share. There's been some discussion that my rip is what iTunes has for download, but more on that later...