Friday, December 05, 2008

Modern Stone-Age Melodies


I have a question for you. How did people celebrate Christmas before the birth of Christ? I know, I know, some of you will point to the pagan Yule celebrations and to the winter solstice, etc, etc, etc. But there are songs on this record from the stone age about Jesus, and it was clearly recorded before the year zero. This was an exciting find for me, as I'd never seen it in person before, but I had seen it on the internet. It was in pretty rough shape, but it played through without skipping and I was able to clean it up quite a bit so it's worth listening to. The cover was another story. I could have spent another hour on it, and it still would have looked pretty beat up. But you can at least see it now. Anyhow, if you want to get a quick Flintstone fix, why not download Hanna-Barbera Present Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm Singing Songs Of Christmas (Hanna Barbera Records HLP 2033, Mono, 1965)? You'll have a gay old time! (Note that the LP is called We Wish You A Merry Christmas on the record label shown below. Quality control and continuity were never strong points in the Hanna Barbera universe.)

1. Little Drummer Boy
2. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
3. 12 Days Of Christmas
4. We Three Kings
5. Deck The Halls
6. Silent Night
7. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
8. Frosty The Snow Man
9. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
10. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
11. Jingle Bells
12. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
13. Snow Flake

Note: The only original song on this LP is Snow Flake, and the only cover I've seen of it is on the new CD from The Barbary Coasters, Hark! I've heard it, it's great, go buy it.


Update: I think this record is coming out this year on CD or as a digital download, so I'm taking down the share. I don't know anything definitive yet, but I don't want to stand between the copyright owners and a few sales. When I find out anything more, I'll post the info and hopefully a link.

Update Again: The CD is out, or at least it's out on November 3rd! Here's the link to Amazon, but I think you can get this pretty much anywhere that CDs are still sold.

2 comments:

  1. Ernie, I really appreciate you posting this album. It was the first Christmas record I had as a child. I still have my copy but it's a little worse for wear. I look forward to having my wife and kids hear what Christmas was like for a "modern stone-age family".

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  2. Thanks for the note. This one might not stay up forever, so get it quick if you want it. I've been warned that Hanna Barbera can be as bad as Disney when it comes to sharing out their scratchy old records. Just sayin'...

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