Frankie Laine, RIP

I just saw on the internet where Frankie Laine passed away. So here's a small tribute, a Christmas song I found on We Wish You The Merriest ( Columbia CS 8499, 1961) called 'You're All I Want For Christmas'.

25 Days Of Christmas-In A Nutshell

So, I finally got busy and made a cover for my Christmas CD I put together back in December. I was motivated by the fact that my buddy CaptOT was going to put a review of it on his blog, and he wanted to put up something visual. So I threw together a cover for you and him both. I also put all the files into a single downloadable chunk, so those of you who missed it back in December can get it all at once. If you want to read about any of the included tracks, follow the links below to the original posts. Also, I didn't have scans of the original LP covers for two of the tracks when I posted them, so I'm throwing those in at the bottom of this post, if you are interested.

(Note-The tracks below are in reverse order. I guess you could play them in this order if you really wanted to, though...)

Tennessee Ernie Ford-Christmas Dinner
Harry Kari-Oh! Oh! Don't Ever Go
Dorothy Collins-Mister Santa
Connie Canuso-Somebody Painted Rudolph's Nose A Chocolate Brown
Sandy Offenheim-If Snowflakes Fell In Flavours
Up With People-Jingle Bell Beat
The Ames Brothers-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Jimmy Boyd-Santa Got Stuck In The Chimney
Lou Monte-Italian Jingle Bells
Les Paul-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
The Harmonicats-Winter Wonderland
Steve Allen and Ricky Vera-Can I Wait Up For Santa Claus?
Ricardo Montalban & Randy Newman-La Campanilla
Ralph Carmichael-The New Hallelujah
Lawrence Welk With The Lennon Sisters-Santa From Santa Fe
Billy May-March Of The Toys
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

Two For Tuesday-Part Six

Yep, it's Tuesday, and that means two cool tracks for you to add to the pile. Actually, as a special treat, this week you get three tracks, because I couldn't decide on just two. The theme this week is James Bond, so here are two versions of Goldfinger, and one version of Diamonds Are Forever. The first version of Goldfinger is a vocal version, by the Johnny Mann Singers. It's a little disconcerting to hear those sweet female voices harmonizing about the evil Auric Goldfinger. This track is from If I Loved You (Liberty LST-7411, 1965). The second version of Goldfinger is by Enoch Light And The Light Brigade from Discotheque Vol. 2 (Command RS 882 SD, 1965). It's a swingin' thing, trust me! Lastly, you get Diamonds Are Forever, by the oh-so-smooth Percy Faith And His Orchestra from the LP Joy (Columbia C 31301, 1972). If you like Bond music that's a little off-model, then these three tracks are going to right up your alley. You might say they've been shaken, not stirred. OK, that was pretty bad. Let me just give you the download link and go...

On Into February

This week features a calendar page filled with snow, or at least one of them is filled with snow. The shot above is a walkway near Brandywine Falls in the Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio. I shot that in January of last year on the one day it snowed during the whole week I was there. This year they've got piles and piles of it on the ground, but not last year. The other shot is a statue I found at the Ringling Museum here in Sarasota that's slowly being consumed by the overhead banyan tree. This shot is from about two and a half years ago, but I spotted the same statue on a recent visit. It's a little bit more obscured now, but it's not gone yet.

Volume 6 For Hi-Fi Living

This is the second record I'm sharing with you today. I didn't get one up all last week, so I sort of felt bad. This record gets me right back on track. And as fate would have it, this is the best one so far in the Hi-Fi Living series. The Latin rhythms here will really get you off your can and out on the dance floor. Well, maybe not, but they won't put you to sleep, either, like some of the records in this series. This also marks the half-way point of the set, so if you haven't downloaded all 6 of the records, follow the links below to the rest of them. For now, ignore the Super Bowl, and go download Don Amore And His Orchestra-Latin Holiday-Vol. 6 For Hi-Fi Living (RCA Custom RAL-1006, 1957). Oh, and for those of you who like the little interludes they've been putting between songs, they aren't on this one. I don't know why, they just decided to skip them this time for whatever reason.

Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5

UPDATE: As several of you with better ears than mine have noticed, the tracks were all screwed up. But I think I finally figured out why. The labels on the record itself don't match the track listing on the sleeve! I think the record is correct, but I labeled the tracks using the sleeve. On the vinyl, it says side one, but lists the same tracks that the sleeve says are on side two, and vice versa. So that seems to have been the problem. Someone screwed up fifty years ago, and we're just fixing the problem today. I doubt if this is a particularly rare problem, either. Just yesterday I pulled a record out to play, and both sides had a label stating Side 2. So there you go. Anyhow, the link above has now been corrected. The music is still the same, it just has different names attached to it.

PS-Don't forget to watch The Police tonight on the Grammy awards. You can turn it off right after that.

Volume 5 For Hi-Fi Living

It's a week late, but finally, I present to you, Volume 5 For Hi-Fi Living! This time, it's love songs from the Broadway stage. The notes on the back mention that two of the tracks actually come from movies, not plays, but I couldn't tell you which ones those are. This is also the third set from Hill Bowen. I haven't looked ahead to see if he does many more, but to this point he's far and away the most popular orchestra leader in this 12 volume set. So please be my guest and download Hill Bowen And His Orchestra-Love On Broadway-Vol. 5 For Hi-Fi Living (RCA Custom RAL-1005, 1957).