Dino Is Back And In Stereo

I saw someone searching for this record in the logs, so I figured I'd go ahead and get it up here. This is a new rip of a stereo version to replace the mono version I first shared back in 2008.  I don't think it was ever a very popular download, but I thought it was good enough to revisit when I found a stereo copy this past year.  In fact, I may have had the stereo copy longer than that, intending to share it last year, but my hard drive failure precluded most of my sharing then. Anyhow, I've got it all recorded and ready to share with you this year.  I think you'll enjoy it if you give it a chance.  Please download Dino Martinelli-Dino Martinelli Plays Music For Christmas (Harmony (Columbia) HS 11010, Stereo, 1959).

1. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
2. What Child Is This
3. The First Noel
4. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
5. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
6. The Coventry Carol
7. Silent Night, Holy Night
8. O Come, All Ye Faithful
9. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
10. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
11. Joy To The World
12. O Holy Night

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July 2006

There may be a few of you out there who have just stumbled across my little blog this holiday season.  If so, then you might not know what goes on around in the hot summertime.  When it gets too hot to go out and take pictures, I turn to my record collection and look for Christmas music.  But not the easy-to-find stuff, I look for Christmas songs on non-Christmas albums.  And I've been doing this since 2006 now.  I've shared out almost 1000 songs that could be interpreted as Christmas music, but almost none of them have been from Christmas albums.  (Some of them turn out to be also found on Christmas albums, but I sourced them from a non-Christmas record.)  After all of the rapid-fire sharing during the month, I sort through what I found and shared, winnowing it down to the very best tracks, and I put together a compilation of the year's best stuff.  This is that collection from 2006.  Please be my guest and download The Best Of Christmas In July 2006 From Ernie (Not Bert).  All the tracks are listed below, and linked to the day when I first shared out the song in question.  I doubt if all of those downloads are still available, but some of them are.  Lots of good music in the downloads that are still active.

1. Clebanoff-Bobsled
2. Ted Heath/Edmundo Ros-Baby It's Cold Outside
3. Lionel Hampton-Gin For Christmas
4. Marty Gold-High On A Windy Hill
5. Eastman-Rochester Pops-Brazilian Sleigh Bells
6. Dinah Washington-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
7. Henry Mancini-Latin Snowfall
8. Yuji Takizawa & His Blue Bones Orchestra-White X-mas
9. Will Glahé-The Skater's Waltz
10. Esquivel-Sun Valley Ski Run
11. Billy Vaughn-The Chipmunk Song
12. Percy Faith-Little Bells And Big Bells (Glocke Und Glockchen)
13. Lawrence Welk-The Merry Christmas Polka
14. Jerry Murad's Electronic Harmonicats-March Of The Toys
15. Richard Hayman & His Harmonica Orchestra-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
16. Ian Fraser & His Orchestra-Sleigh Ride
17. Eddie Layton-Winter Wonderland
18. The Smothers Brothers-Swiss Christmas
19. David Rose-Christmas Tree
20. Eydie Gormé-Winter Night
21. Bernie Green With The Stereo Mad-Men-The Skater And His Dog
22. Enoch Light & The Brass Menagerie-My Favorite Things
23. The Four Freshmen-Santa Claus Is Flat Gonna Come To Town
24. David Carroll-The Ski Song (Slalom)
25. The Monterey Brass-We Need A Little Christmas
26. The Three Suns-Busy Holiday
27. Six Fat Dutchmen-Sleigh Bell
28. Billy May-Snowfall Cha-Cha
29. Dick Schory's New Percussion Ensemble-Holiday In A Hurry
30. Armengol-Ave Maria
31. The Crew-Cuts-Auld Lang Syne

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Stay tuned, more of these great collections to come!  (Got to give credit to my buddy CaptOT for that cover.  Captain, where are you?)

Behind The Music, Carol Style

I thought I'd go ahead and share this one out since it's got a lot of spoken-word on it, and you guys might like to use that for your mix tapes and stuff.  When I'm looking for music to record for Christmas, I search far And wide.  Thrift stores, junk stores, record stores.  OK, not so wide, but far.  This record turned in my own collection where it appears to have been for years and years without my paying any attention to it, then one day I looked at it and said "What's this then?".  It's a recording of a handful of carols, and a narrator who tells you the history as it was then known behind that carol.  Sort of self-explanatory, but I still gotta say it.  I think some of the stories have changed over the years, as research has proven or disproven things that were once believed to be true, but they're close enough for government work. Please help yourself to a copy of Carols Of Christmas And The Stories Behind Them (Christian Home Music-Produced For The Radio And Television Commission Of The Southern Baptist Convention, PR4M-1528 & 1529, 1963, Mono).  All narration is by Nicholas Ramsey, vocals as indicated.

1. The Story Of 'Away In A Manger'
2. The Baptist Hour Choir-Away In A Manger
3. The Story Of 'Hark, The Herald Angels Sing'
4. The Baptist Hour Choir-Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
5. The Story Of 'It Came Upon The Midnight Clear'
6. The Baptist Hour Choir-It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
7. The Story Of ' We Three Kings'
8. The Baptist Hour Choir-We Three Kings
9. The Story Of 'O Holy Night'
10. Joe Ann Shelton-O Holy Night
11. The Story Of 'O Come All Ye Faithful'
12. Cody Garner-O Come All Ye Faithful
13. The Story Of 'O Little Town Of Bethlehem'
14. Cody Garner-O Little Town Of Bethlehem
15. The Story Of 'I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day'
16. Oris Baldwin & Loeen Bushman-I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

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I need an intern who can type all this stuff up for me. :)

Christmas Baby

Someone left a comment a couple of weeks ago asking about this record.  I guess the download had expired, and she couldn't download it.  Well, because she asked nicely, here it is again.  This low-budget LP was first shared by me back in 2008, and I'm bringin' it to you again this year.  This is Fontanna, His Orchestra And Chorus-Christmas At Home (Masterseal MS-81, Mono, 1958).

1. Silent Night
2. Joy To The World
3. Let It Snow
4. Snow Flakes
5. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
6. You Are All I Want For Xmas
7. Adeste Fidelis (sic)
8. White Christmas
9. Winter Wonderland
10. I'll Be Home For Xmas
11. One Little Candle
12. Silver Bells
13. Night Before Xmas
14. We Three Kings Of Orient Are

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The Most Popular Share

I don't know why, I don't know how, but this is my most popular share ever, based on the number of downloads.  Well, volume one is the most popular, with volume two not far behind it.  I first shared these out back in 2006 (here and here), though not all at once like here.  Since then they've proven immensely popular.  So join the crowd and download Saint Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Carols (Roulette SR 25097, Stereo, 1959) and Saint Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Songs-Volume 2 (Roulette SR 25142, Stereo, 1961). You'll enjoy them, I'm sure.

Volume 1:
1. The First Noel
2. Come To The Manger
3. Carol Of The Russian Children
4. Gesu Bambino
5. Jesu, Thou Dear Babe Divine
6. The March of The Kings
7. Silent Night
8. Joy To The World
9. Carol Of The Bells
10. The Sleep Of The Child, Jesus
11. That Christmas Long Ago
12. Carol Of The Drum

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Volume 2:
1. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
2. The Christmas Hymn
3. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
4. The Christmas Carol Of The Indian
5. The Innkeeper's Carol
6. Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
7. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
8. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
9. Angels We Have Heard On High
10. Carol Of The Birds
11. Lo, How A Rose
12. Oh Holy Night

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Greetings 3

I've been sitting on this one for years, waiting for the time when I could get a decent recording of it, and the technology finally caught up with me this year.  The locked grooves on this glowing green 7" have caused me trouble for years, but thanks to ClickRepair this year, I was able to turn a loud mess into a reasonable share.  I hope you'll agree with me that it was worth the wait.  I've got quite a few promo 45s from Columbia around this same time period on this same green vinyl.  It's a different shade than the green 45s RCA put out a few years earlier, though it's not quite as bright as my scan makes it out to be.  Close, though.  Enough blabbing, here are a few more holiday greetings from your favorite stars on Columbia in the early sixties.  Please enjoy Holiday Greetings Voice Tracks (Columbia 7" 45 RPM JZSP 111921/2 Green Vinyl Promo).  If any of you include any of these (or any other of my shares) in a mix, lemme know about it!  I'd love to see what you've done with any of my babies.  Leave a comment pointing me (and others) towards the download, or send me a CD in the mail, I love to get mail!  :)

1. Jimmy Dean
2. Jerry Vale (2x)
3. Andy Williams
4. Patti Page (2x)
5. Percy Faith (3x)
6. Ray Conniff (4x)

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PS-I'm counting this as the third in a maybe-series of singles this year. One 7" a day keeps the RIAA away.

Greetings 2

Why stop at only one record full of Christmas greetings when you have two?  There not much more I can say about this one that I didn't say about the first one, except this is a year later, and doesn't feature anything so exciting as the Alice Cooper or Weird Al tracks from that last one.  Still, who wouldn't want to receive Christmas greetings from Willie Dixon or Steve Miller?  And I think the Paul Shaffer bit is pretty good, too.  It's short but sweet, this one.  (Thankfully, there's nothing here as bad as Living Colour on that last one.)  Go download The Best For '89 From The Entire Capitol Family (Capitol 12" 33 RPM SPRO-79471 (Same on both sides), 1989, Stereo).  This came in a plain red sleeve that I didn't scan, since it was plain.  Sorry.

1. Paul Shaffer
2. Anne Murray
3. Peter Blakeley
4. Steve Miller
5. Heart
6. Shadowfax
7. Crowded House (2x)
8. Megadeth
9. Flesh For Lulu
10. Climie Fisher
11. Johnny Clegg & Savuka
12. View From The Hill
13. Sequal
14. The Reivers
15. Melba Moore
16. Hazell Dean
17. Pat McLaughlin
18. Aslan
19. Tracie Spencer
20. Suave
21. Poison
22. Pete Bardens
23. Willie Dixon
24. Chapter 8
25. 101 North
26. Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
27. Bert Robinson
28. MC Hammer & The Posse
29. Richard Thompson

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Greetings 1

While it's still early in the sharity season, and you've still got a chance to use them, I'd like to share out the first of a few records that I've got featuring recording artists telling you how to spend your holidays.  Most of them want you to enjoy yourself, or spend time with your family, that sort of boring thing, but some of them are a bit cooler.  In fact, the one I'm sharing with you now features perhaps the coolest greeting ever, from the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Who wouldn't want to have safe, sane, social and Santafied season?  That's worth the price of admission alone.  Dig it!  This is from quite a bit later than my usual record shares, but I'm sure you can forgive me once you find your favorite artist on here.  Please download Holiday Greetings From The Epic, Portrait and CBS Associated Family (CBS Records EAS 1393 12" Same On Both Sides, 1988, Stereo).  I'm not looking forward to typing out the names of all these artists, but here goes...

1. Gregg Allman of The Gregg Allman Band
2. Billy Always
3. Basia
4. Robin Zandar of Cheap Trick
5. Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick
6. Cherrelle
7. Alice Cooper (2x)
8. Gloria Estefan (3x)
9. Europe (2x)
10. The Fabulous Thunderbirds
11. The Godfathers
12. Peter Coyne of The Godfathers
13. Gregory Hines
14. Insiders
15. Living Colour
16. Alexander O'Neal
17. Ozzy Osbourne (2x)
18. Quiet Riot (2x)
19. The Rave-Ups
20. Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon
21. Rhythm Cords
22. Dan Siegel
23. Slammin' Watusis (2x)
24. Henry Lee Summer (2x)
25. Jim Peterik of Survivor
26. Tony Terry
27. 'Til Tuesday
28. Luther Vandross (2x)
29. Gino Vanelli
30. Stevie Ray Vaughan (2x)
31. Weird Al Yankovic (3x)

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Better Minute

I forgot all about this record when I made my earlier comments about SESAC.  I thought this was a really big deal when I first posted it last year, and I still think it's great this year.  I recently ran it through ClickRepair when I found the original WAV files on my hard drive, so it sounds better than ever.  Then I really got lucky and found the old empty sleeve I had from many years ago, so I was able to get a better scan of the back cover, so that's new, too!  (Actually, the back cover on that copy wasn't great either, but between the two of them, you'll get one that looks just fine.)  So for a handful of quick Christmas jingles that wouldn't be out of place on anyone's mixtape, please download Elliot Lawrence And His Orchestra-Christmas Just A Minute! (Sesac PA 221/222, Mono).

1. Jingle Bells
2. Jumpin' At The Toy Shop
3. Toyland
4. Dancing Snowflake
5. Santa's Mambo
6. Ring-Around-The-Snowman
7. Deck The Halls
8. Auld Lang Syne
9. The Bell Carol
10. Silent Night
11. Joy To The World
12. We Three Kings
13. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
14. Adeste Fideles
15. The First Noel
16. We Wish You A Merry Christmas

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Half A Skitch More

Since my last post featured a track by Skitch Henderson (and I think he shows up in at least one future post I've got in the pipeline), here's a re-share of the Snow Holiday half of his 1962 LP for Columbia, Winter Holiday.  The other half of the album was subtitled Sun Holiday, and it's more along the lines of songs about places you might want to go on holiday, so I didn't include it.  I first shared this out back in 2006,  so I've had it around for a while.  There're a few more Skitch tracks around here, especially during Christmas In July, so you might want to use that search bar up top there to find them.  It's too late and I'm too far behind to do the work for you.  Sorry.  Now go download Skitch Henderson With The New York Philharmonic-Winter Holiday (Columbia MS 6381, Stereo, 1962).

1. Winter Wonderland
2. Moonlight In Vermont
3. Sleigh Ride
4. Winter Holiday
5. Around The Bonfire
6. Home Again
7. Troika

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Merriest, Indeed!

This is part two in my might-be-a-series-of-single releases this year.  I haven't decided if I want to try and keep up with it every day, but until I decide not to, I have to put something up each day, right?  This is a 4-song EP from the somewhat odd SESAC company.  I'm not sure if I have their story straight or not.  They don't seem to have released any commercial records, everything I've found by them has been of some sort of promotional nature.  It's all been fairly big-name artists, though, each one moonlighting from their regular label.  This time you get the great Skitch Henderson, Richard Maltby, and some vocal group called The Honey Dreamers who aren't bad, but I've never heard of them.  The selections aren't strictly Christmas, but they're certainly festive enough that no one will know the difference if you drop one into the mix.  It's short but sweet.  Please download and enjoy The Merriest Time! (Repertory/Sesac AD-35 7" 45 RPM, Mono).  If anybody has any more info about this release, or the SESAC/Repertory company in general, please don't be shy, share with me!

1. The Honey Dreamers With Richard Maltby And His Orchestra-Wild Bells
2. Richard Maltby And His Orchestra-Jangle Waltz
3. Richard Maltby And His Orchestra-Skater's Holiday
4. Skitch Henderson And His Orchestra-The Merry Bells

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Be sure to follow label instructions, this record is designed for repeated listening!

Not For Share

If you've enjoyed all the French-centric shares today, then you might also enjoy this LP by French-Canadian songstress Gisele MacKenzie. I used to share it out around these parts, but it's now available for download from iTunes, so that means I can't give it to you for free anymore.  By all accounts, my rip of the LP sounded better than their official download, but I can't break the rules just because something sounds bad.  Go on over there and give it a listen, I suspect you might enjoy it enough to pay $5.99 for the whole LP.  Now if I could just figure out how to link to iTunes when none of their links seems to work in a regular browser...  Let's try this.  This was Gisele MacKenzie-Christmas With Gisele (RCA Victor LPM-2006, Mono, 1959)

Francophone New 2

 My fifth, and unless I think of anymore, final, French Christmas record of the day is this contribution from Mireille Mathieu.  Mireille is still an active artist today, but her only Christmas music on CD appears to be German, which is just a little odd.  After I'd recorded this record, I found a Spanish 7" that featured four of the tracks from this American 12", and on the 7", they credit the orchestra to Paul Mauriat.  There is no mention of Mr. Mauriat on my record, so you won't find his name anywhere on the MP3s I'm sharing.  To my ears, it sounds like it could certainly be him, and the time period is right as well.  So if you want to stick his name on these tracks alongside Mireille, please be my guest.  This is Mireille Mathieu-Mireille Mathieu's Christmas (Capitol ST-490 (Recorded In France), 1968, Stereo).

1. Noël Blanc (White Christmas)
2. Petit Papa Noël (Little Santa Claus)
3. Noël D'Aubervilliers (Christmas In Aubervilliers)
4. La Cambo Mi Fai Maou (Song Of The Shepherds)
5. Il Est Né Le Divin Enfant (The Holy Child Is Born)
6. Vive Le Vent (Jingle Bells)
7. Douce Nuit (Silent Night)
8. Rin Rin (Maria, Maria)
9. Les Enfants De Noël (The Children's Christmas)
10. Les Agnes Dans Nos Campagnes (Gloria In Excelsis Deo)

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Francophone 3

Continuing on with today's French theme, here's a great little record featuring five dozen French girls.  I've never listened to it and tried to count how many women I hear singing, so I guess I'm going to have to take their word for it.  This is another of those records I've been sharing since my inaugural year, 2005, so I think it's badly in need of a remaster.  But until then you'll have to listen to this, my original rip of  Les Djinnes Singers-60 French Girls With The Christmas Bell Ringers-Joyeaux Noel (ABC Paramount ABCS 397, 1961, Stereo).  Note that there are actually two separate and distinct artists on this records, The Les Djinns Singers and The Christmas Bell Ringers.  I suspect that ABC Paramount didn't have enough leased French Christmas music to put out a full record at the time by a single artist, so they had to consolidate two smaller releases into one album.


01. Les Djinns Singers-Minuit, Chretriens (O, Holy Night)
02. Les Djinns Singers-Nuit Des Nuit (Silent Night)
03. Christmas Bell Ringers-Good King Wenceslas
04. Les Djinns Singers-Il Est Ne Divin Enfant (He Is Born A Divine Child)
05. Les Djinns Singers-Noel 'Trois Anges Sont Venus Ce Soir' (Christmas 'Three Angels We've Seen This Night')
06. Christmas Bell Ringers-Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
07. Les Djinns Singers-Non Beau Sapin (O Tannenbaum)
08. Les Djinns Singers-Pour Noel (For Christmas)
09. Christmas Bell Ringers-God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
10. Les Djinns Singers-Noel, C'est L'Amour (Christmas, This Is Love)
11. Les Djinns Singers-Noel Blanc (White Christmas)
12. Christmas Bell Ringers-O, Come All Ye Faithful

Come to think of it, I haven't seen my copy of this record in quite a while.  I need to keep my eyes open for it.  I think I've seen a mono copy recently, but not the stereo one. You can see more of those candles down at the bottom on the cover of the mono version, I remember that...

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Francophone New

I'd always heard rumors of a second Paul Mauriat Christmas album, but I didn't believe them.  Surely a Christmas collector as avid as myself would have stumbled across it by now.  But then, there it was.  In a stack of otherwise uninteresting records, there was a second Paul Mauriat Christmas album!  I had to run right home and listen do it, as I find myself doing with way too many Christmas records.  Unfortunately, to my ears, this one is also inferior to the previous one, and there is a bit of overlap, but it's still worth having.  There's also the added use of a chorus, which I don't think was present on the other album, maybe that will appeal to you some.  So if you're as curious about it as I was, please be sure to download Paul Mauriat Orchestra And Chorus-Joyeux Noel (Fantasy 8389, Stereo, 1968).

1. It Is Midnight
2. The Holy Child Is Born
3. Adeste Fideles
4. Gloria In Excelsis
5. O Tannenbaum
6. White Christmas
7. Christmas Prayer
8. Three Angels Have Come This Evening
9. Shepherd, Let Us Leave The Watch
10. Silent Night, Holy Night

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Francophone 2

From Raymond Lefevre I always roll into Paul Mauriat, so why should this year be any different.  And like the Lefevre record, I've re-ripped this one this year for your increased listening pleasure.  These are some of the best instrumental versions of these tracks to be found anywhere, certainly among those versions with a French accent.  I know, it's hard for music to have a French accent, but listen to these and you'll see what I mean.  I shared this out my first year, and strangely enough, it didn't get any comments in that first year.  Hopefully, it's grown on you since then.  Please download the new and improved Paul Mauriat And His Orchestra-The Christmas Album (Philips PHS 600-255, Stereo, 1967).

1. Jingle Bells
2. White Christmas
3. Trois Anges Sont Venus (Three Angels Appeared)
4. Silent Night, Holy Night
5. Rin Rin
6. Entre Le Boeuf Et L'ane Gris (Among The Cattle And The Grey Donkey)
7. Gloria In Excelsis Deo
8. Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant (The Divine Infant Is Born)
9. O' Tannenbaum (O' Christmas Tree)
10. Adeste Fideles
11. O' Holy Night
12. Petit Papa Noel (Little Father Christmas)

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PS-If you want a great version of Little Drummer Boy as done by Mr. Mauriat, be sure to check out this day back during Christmas In July (and August and September). It's a really great addition to this album. And stay tuned for a little something new from Paul later...

Francophone 1

One of my favorite album covers to feature each year is this one.  The music is pretty good, too.  I've shared this out every single year since 2005, and every year it's been a big hit.  This year I'm proud to say that I've re-recorded it, so it's going to sound a little bit better than it has in the past.  I think it's in a higher bitrate than it was in the past, too.  The cover doesn't look any better to my eyes, but my Photoshop skills aren't increasing as fast as my audio recording skills.  Maybe someday I'll find a nicer copy of the cover.  This is Raymond LeFevre And His Orchestra-Merry Christmas (4 Corners Of The World FCS-4257, 1968, Stereo).

1. Silver Bells
2. White Christmas
3. Jingle Bells
4. Little Father Christmas
5. O Tannenbaum
6. Angels We Have Heard On High
7. Silent Night
8. O Holy Night
9. He Is Born The Child Of God
10. Three Angels Came That Night
11. O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)

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The Other Waring

One of the things I probably should have remastered for sharing this year was this companion piece to that last Fred Waring record I shared out.  This one was recorded and released in the same year, so I'm assuming that the Stereo designation on this copy is Fake Stereo.  I first recorded and shared this back in 2007, so my rip has been around for a while now.  It's got some good stuff on it, and it goes really well with that other recording.  This is Fred Waring And The Pennsylvanians-Christmas Time (Decca DL 78172, Fake Stereo, 1955).

1. When Angels Sang Of Peace
2. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
3. Deck The Hall
4. Joy To The World
5. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
6. The Coventry Carol
7. A Music Christmas Card-O Christmas Tree-The Sleigh
8. Kentucky Wassail Song-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
9. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
10. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
11. Heigh Ho The Holly-See Amid The Winter's Snow
12. Behold That Star-Carols Of The Bells
13. Luther's Cradle Hymn
14. Alleluia
15. Gloria In Excelsis

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Revised Waring

Since I gave you that Fred Waring-narrated promo disc a couple of posts ago, I thought I'd go ahead and give you my revamped version of his greatest Christmas record ever, and one that somehow still isn't available on CD.  My original rip of this from 5 years ago is my second most popular download ever, and I hope this new rip sounds better than that old one, inspiring another thousand or more downloads.  For those who don't recognize the cover by sight, this is Fred Waring And The Pennsylvanians-'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Decca DL 8171, Mono, 1955)

1. Jingle Bells
2. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
3. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
4. 'Twas The Night Before Christmas
5. Adeste Fideles (O, Come All Ye Faithful)
6. Beautiful Savior
7. The First Nowell; O, Little Town Of Bethlehem; Carol Of The Bells
8. Cantique De Noel (O Holy Night)
9. Oh Gathering Clouds
10. Silent Night

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A Little Bit More World

While I'm thinking about Capitol's Capitol Of The World series, here's a neat little item that pulls some tracks from those albums.  It's a cardboard disc from Time Magazine, introduced by James A. Linen, the then-current publisher.  I don't know when this came out, or how it got distributed.  Maybe it was included with the magazine at some point, or perhaps it was a gift to new subscribers, I'm not sure.  Either way, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.  I got some pretty good sound out of it for being plastic-coated cardboard, and probably over 50 years old.  Go download my first single of the season, Time For Christmas.

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Around The World

 I've decided to kick things off this year with a Capitol promo LP put out way, way back in 1957.  I found this at a Goodwill store back in the summer, and had to drive straight home to listen to it.  These promo LPs are almost as rare as hen's teeth, and records that feature unreleased stuff are even fewer and farther between.  This one doesn't feature any music that you can't find elsewhere, but it's got a lot of narration by the great Fred Waring, and for me, that's worth the price of admission.  The first side features songs from the Capitol Of The World series, which put out it's first batch of Christmas records in 1957.  Side 2 features cuts from then-new albums that would all become obsolete the next year with the rollout of stereo.  I'm going to give you the whole thing, and there are some tracks here that you can find on CD out there, so you have to promise run out and buy them at your earliest convenience if you don't already have them.  Deal?  OK, here's the track list:

Side 1

1. Fred Waring-Narration
2. Christmas In Italy-Buon Natale
3. Fred Waring-Narration
4. Christmas In Sweden-Julpotpourri Danser
5. Fred Waring-Narration
6. Christmas In England-The First Noel-Away In A Manger-Bring In The Holly Bough Medley
7. Fred Waring-Narration
8. Christmas In Germany-O Tannenbaum
9. Fred Waring-Narration
10. Christmas In Holland-Gloria In Escelsis Deo
11. Fred Waring-Narration
12. Christmas In Spain-Villancico Del Vestitidito
13. Fred Waring-Narration
14. Christmas In France-Dans Cette Etable
15. Fred Waring-Narration
16. Christmas In Mexico-Aldehuela De Belem
17. Fred Waring-Narration
18. Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians-The Christmas Song

Side 2

1. Fred Waring-Narration
2. The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra-The First Noel
3. Fred Waring-Narration
4. The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra-Hark The Herald Angels Sing
5. Fred Waring-Narration
6. Frank Sinatra-It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
7. Fred Waring-Narration
8. Frank Sinatra-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
9. Fred Waring-Narration
10. The Roger Wagner Chorale-Adeste Fidelis
11. Fred Waring-Narration
12. Jackie Gleason-Winter Wonderland
13. Fred Waring-Narration
14. Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians-Sleigh Ride
15. Fred Waring-Narration
16. Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians-Silver Bells

If any of that looks interesting to you, please download Christmas Around The World-Selections From New Capitol Christmas Albums 1957 (Capitol Records PRO 424 (Christmas Around The World)/425 (Christmas In Hi-Fi), 1957, Mono).

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If that picture of Fred on the cover up above looks familiar, that's because they cribbed it from this other Fred Waring release of 1957, Fred Waring And The Pennsylvanians In Hi-Fi. And somehow I wound up scanning an English pressing of the stereo copy. Odd...

Welcome To Christmas 2010!!

OK, this is your official welcome message to Christmas 2010 at Ernie (Not Bert)!  This year has been a long time coming after the hard drive debacle of last year that greatly curtailed my sharing.  This year, I've backed everything up double, got a lot of stuff already zipped up and ready to go, so it promises to be a bang up year.  This is my sixth year of trying to share the greatest lost Christmas music in the known universe with you.  My goal is to share music that has fallen through the cracks, stuff that was once important to someone, but has somehow been forgotten in this era of MP3s and digital downloads.  I've got full albums and singles, vinyl both thick and thin, a cardboard flexidisc, and who knows what else to share with you this year.  I took some time to re-record some of my old favorite shares this year, so you're going to see a lot of those as well as lots of new stuff.  As usual, all shares are zipped up and comes with images of the cover and label.  Most of the current shares are MP3 files at 192 Kpbs stereo, 96 mono.  Everything I give you was recorded by me from my own records, unless I mention otherwise, but that's pretty few and far between.  I've got a couple of things in here this year where folks have given me records, and I really appreciate their generosity, I'll give credit where credit is due when I post those.  I also hope to point you to some of my own favorite sharity sites on the internet, places where you can go and get records that are probably better than the ones I share.  One thing I don't do is share CDs, or records that are available on CD.  I don't care how hard you may have to work to find the CD, I'm not going to send you a copy of it, so please don't ask.  Lots of things I've shared in the past are now on CD, or available for legal download somewhere like iTunes or Amazon.  I'll try to point you to those places when I can if you're looking for something that used to be shared here.  It's a good thing when labels take the time to restore their old stuff, so I enjoy seeing old stuff made available again.  Often I wish they'd do a better job of it, but something is better than nothing.  Anyhow, I'm blathering, so let me just say thank you to all the folks who come by during the season.  I enjoy all the music I record, and I hope you do too.

The Last Thanksgiving Soundtrack

I promise, this is the last filmstrip soundtrack about Thanksgiving I have to share with you today.  And I'm going to hold off a while on the Christmas filmstrip soundtracks I have ready to go, just to give you a bit of a break.  In fact, this 12" record has a Thanksgiving story on one side, and a Christmas story on the other, and I'm going to give both of them to you, how's that?  So technically, this is my first Christmas share!  I'd hoped to have something better as my first, but this is what happens when you don't think these things through.  Please download Lollipop Dragon Helps Santa b/w Thanksgiving In Tum Tum from the series Holiday Adventures Of The Lollipop Dragon (Singer/SVE L 106-4RR, Mono).  It's not that bad, really...

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Another Thanksgiving Soundtrack

Yes, it's another soundtrack to yet another filmstrip about Thanksgiving.  This time it's Thanksgiving For King (Singer/SVE A107-3RR, Mono), a nice story about a boy and his bird.  It's a tad predictable, but think about the audience this was intended for.  The narrator here is Mary Skol, and if you should happen to notice this is side two, you might be interested in knowing that the flip side was Rumplestiltskin.  It appears to be from a series called Children's Stories, but this was the only record from that series among the many soundtracks I've found.

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Have at it!

Ye Olde Thanksgiving Share

First shared out two years ago, this is the soundtrack to one of those filmstrips you used to dread watching in grade school.  At least I dreaded watching them.  They were only about two steps above a travelogue slide show at your aunt's house, and that was only the good ones.  I've never found any of these with the original film strips, but I'm not sure what I'd do with them if I did.  Heaven knows how hard they'd be to scan.  Someday, maybe.  Until then, why don't you go ahead and download Maurice Copeland-Narrator & Adele Scott-Organist, Squanto And The First Thanksgiving (Society For Visual Education XTAC-83759 (One Sided 12" 33 RPM), Mono).  I've stumbled across a few more of these in the past year, so if you like this sort of thing, stay tuned.  If not, come back tomorrow...

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It's Thanksgiving!! Finally!

Well, here we are, the day I thought would never come, or the day I knew would sneak up on me before I could get ready for it.  Either way, it's finally Thanksgiving, and that means the beginning of the Christmas sharity season.  As I've done now for six years (it only seems like forever), I kick off the season with my favorite Thanksgiving song, Thanksgiving Day Parade by Spencer Ross (Columbia 4-41532 7" 45 RPM single, Mono, 1960).  I re-recorded my single this year to see if i could get a little better sound out of it (as I did with many, many of my old shares this year.  You'll see...).  I started using a great little program called ClickRepair this year, which does a really, really good job of, umm, removing clicks (more on that later).  To this day, I don't know anything else about Spencer Ross, so maybe it's high time I did a little serious checking.  Hmmm, according to this article in the Billboard archives (more on those later, too...), Spencer Ross was a pseudonym for someone named Bob Mersey.  The flip side of this record, Tracy's Theme, was the 'hit', this side seems to have disappeared until I found it.  And Spencer Ross disappeared, too, although that article mentions a follow-up coming soon on a different label.  All these years and I never bothered to look that up...  Anyhow, I've also got a couple of new tracks this year for you that I'm throwing into the download as well, just to make it worth your while.  First up is The Pete King Orchestra And Chorale (whose Christmas LP is a big favorite around these parts) with Bless This House from Songs To Celebrate (Kapp KS-3284, 1962, Stereo).  I shared another track from that LP with you back during Christmas In July (and August and September...), so the LP may sound familiar to you.  Next up is a children's ditty called Timothy Turkey performed by Rosemarie Jun & Robert Spiro from the LP Children Sing Around The Year (Decca DL 4406, 1963, Mono).  Again, you first saw a track from this LP back in August as part of Christmas In July (and August and September).  OK, that's three tracks, but you also get two tracks that I shared out new last year for Thanksgiving, bringing the total here to 5.  Not bad for the first share of the year.  Those two tracks are The Big Clown Balloons, performed by The Merrill Stanton Voices from the LP Meredith Willson's Here's Love (Columbia Special Products CSRP 8899, 1963, Stereo) and Thanksgiving Day, from the LP Hits From The Gang Shows (Fontanta 680932TL TFL.5104, Mono). credited to Ken Jones. Look at me, I've rambled on for an hour about five measly tracks. How am I ever going to get through the season?  OK, now to the downloads.  I know many of you hate RapidShare.  So I'm going to try a couple of other download services this year, all of the in parallel for as long as I can keep it up.  RapidShare is still my default sharing site, mostly because I have a pre-paid membership which makes it really easy to use, but that's of no use to you if you can't download my shares.  There are three links to the download below, get it from wherever you feel is easiest.

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And there you have it.  Be sure to check back often as it's all down hill from here to Christmas Day!

Soon, Very Soon

Thanksgiving is tomorrow.  That's when the blog comes back to life.  Go buy yourself an external hard drive now.  :)