Christmas In July 2007-Day 3

Day the third! Still plenty of good stuff, so don't tune out yet. Two songs today from the smooth Ray Conniff (one with The Singers, and one with his orchestra and chorus) and one from some group you've never heard of... First, the two Conniff tracks. Track one is My Favorite Things from the album Music From Mary Poppins Featuring The Academy Award Winner "Chim Chim Cher-ee", The Sound Of Music, My Fair Lady And Other Great Movie Themes (Columbia CS 9166, 1965). That may be the longest title of a record I've shared so far. My fingers hurt just from typing it in. Those of you who don't think of My Favorite Things as a Christmas song will have to forgive me. I rather like it, and I've got plenty more versions of it in the can here for sharing throughout the month. I'm sure there'll be at least one day when that's all you get. Track two by Ray Conniff is the real kicker in today's share. This is now my favorite version of Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy, here titled An Improvisation On "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy." The LP for this one is Concert In Rhythm-Volume II (Columbia CS 8212, 1959), and like I said, it's awesome. Track three, and the odd man out this go-round, is Silver Bells by The Klokken Ringers from the LP A Festival Of Bells (Omnisound N-1020, 1978). Remember that old Hershey's Kisses commercial they play at Christmas time where each Kiss is a hand-bell, and together they play a little tune? Well, that's what this track is, those same sort of bells. The full credit on this record says The Klokken Ringers from the New Hackensack Reformed Church, Wappingers Falls, New York. Betty Garee, Director. And then there's bunch of talk about how you should buy the record if you're a bell ringer, an active bell choir director, hi-fi/stereo enthusiast, or just someone looking for unusual sounds. What more can I say? Just download it and listen.

Whoops, forgot to mention the fun from this day last year where you can get five different versions of I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, almost all of which are pretty interesting. Check it out!