Louisiana Christmas

OK, my last post of a handful of singles went over pretty well, so here are a few more for you, all with a cajun/Louisiana bent to them.  This is dedicated to Mom and Dad who just got back from spending Thanksgiving in the Louisiana bayou.  First up is Cajun Night Before Christmas by Dave Pettijean with background music by Ronnie Kole (Viko 45-200, Stereo).  Short, but sweet. (The flip side of this one was something about crawfish, not at all Christmassy.)

Second is a single from former journalist and LSU professor Jules A. d'Hemecourt, IV performing 12 Days Of Christmas and another take on Cajun Night Before Christmas (Te-Jules 12373, Mono).  I think this is my favorite of the Night Before Christmas versions.  I've got a Justin Wilson one somewhere, too, but I'm not going to share that one.  Sorry.

And since Ronnie Kole showed up on that first record up above, here's a Christmas single he released with his trio on Paula, Silent Night, Holy Night backed with Winter Wonderland (Paula 317, Mono, 1970).  Not sure when I've ever heard drum fills like this on a Christmas record.

Go get your Cajun on!

MediaFire

And for those of you who dig the music of Louisiana, I recommend you go spend a lot of time at The Singing Bones, a fellow blog that's dedicated to the great 45s with that music flavored by gumbo and alligator.  I don't know if she ever shares out any Christmas music, but the music there is all well worth hearing.

From The Request Lines

I get lots of requests to repost stuff during the year, but by the time the season rolls around, I've forgotten about most of them.  So sorry if I don't repost the stuff you're asking about in August.  But someone asked for this one to come back today, and here it is. First shared out in mono back in 2007, then upgraded to stereo in 2008, this is Arthur Godfrey With The Richard Wolfe Children's Chorus-All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth (RCA Camden CAS-1092, Stereo, 1967).

1. Christmas Is For Children
2. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
3. Frosty The Snow Man*
4. A Holly Jolly Christmas*
5. Medley: Jingle Bells; Jolly Old St. Nicolas; Up On The Housetop; We Wish You A Merry Christmas
6. All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)
7. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town*
8. Suzy Snowflake*
9. The Twelve Days Of Christmas
10. 'Twas The Night Before Christmas*

*Arthur Godfrey solo, no children on these.

MediaFire

Jazzband Redux

Here is the first of the records I've re-recorded for sharing this year.  I shared this record in my very first year of Christmas sharity, and I've brought it back in that same old tired recording ever since.  But this year, I went back and recorded it again, well, actually, I recorded another copy I've found since then that I thought looked a little better.  I didn't rescan the cover, and the front is exactly the same as the back, so that's why it isn't in there.  I did add scans for the labels, for those of you who enjoy such things.  Anyhow, this is The World's Greatest Jazzband Of Yank Lawson & Bob Haggart-Hark The Herald Angels Swing (2011 Remaster) (World Jazz WJLP 5-2, Stereo, 1972).  I know you'll enjoy this new and improved recording.

MediaFire

1. Hark The Herald Angels Swing
2. Little Drummer Boy
3. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
4. Silent Night
5. Joy To The World
6. Jingle Bells
7. White Christmas
8. I'll Be Home For Christmas
9. The Christmas Song
10. Winter Wonderland
11. Deck The Halls

Hip Christmas

I finally remembered to update my links over on the right side of the blog this morning, getting rid of some old sites that aren't around anymore and adding one that really deserves your attention.  Randy over at Hip Christmas (and before that the Christmas part of Randy's Rodeo) is a really great collection of info about Christmas songs.  While I tend to dwell on things that were released ages ago, he collects info on stuff that was released just yesterday, although he doesn't ignore the old stuff.  He's even got a few downloads hidden away if you look around.  So head on over to Hip Christmas when you get the chance, you won't regret it.  And tell him Ernie sent you.  And that he should send all his cool (err, I mean hip) music to me!

Alberghetti (Not Spaghetti)

Here's a little album that I didn't know existed before I flipped across it almost a year ago.  Anna Maria Alberghetti must have seemed like the next big thing for a while back in the 60's, but then she sort of faded from view as far as I knew.  She had a Christmas song on one of those Goodyear collections, and a few LPs with no Christmas content that I'm aware of.  This one seems to have come along pretty late in the game, 1984 to be exact, and it's not even a full LP of AMA.  The flip side is by some singer who came and went without much of a trace, Reino Moisio.  Perhaps someone out there knows more about this record than I do, and I hope they chime in with some info.  That big gold sticker on the front "The Gold Seal Christmas Classic Album" sort of makes me think this was a free promo giveaway for something or somebody, and I see copies online with other stickers along those lines.  I also suspect this could have been a vehicle attempting to launch the career of Mr. Moisio by grabbing at the coattails of Ms. Alberghetti.  Well, download it and read all the stuff on the back, search the Google and come to your own conclusions.  All I can tell you is that it's some nice Christmas music.  This is Merry Christmas From Anna Maria Alberghetti And Introducing Reino Moisio (Celebrity House TW 2001, Stereo, 1984).

MediaFire

Whoops, I forgot that I was supposed to be listing all the songs when I post these records.  I knew I was finishing up the posts too quick...

1. Ave Maria
2. My Favorite Things
3. The Little Drummer Boy
4. Medley: O Holy Night; Silent Night; We Wish You A Merry Christmas
5. Ode To Joy
6. Medley: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; Deck The Hall; Joy To The World
7. Glory To God
8. Angels We Have Heard On High
9. The Holy City
10. Reprise: Ode To Joy; Joy To The World; The Holy City

1-4: Anna Maria Alberghetti
5-10: Reino Moisio

Christmas Sisters

One of my goals this year was to record more singles.  Over the years, I've pretty much stuck to the Christmas albums, because that's what I had, it's what I could find, and they were easier.  But this year, I vowed I would get a stack of singles ready for the holiday season and share them with you.  There seems to be a much great variety of stuff on the small records, or maybe it's just new to my ears.  I think more of it is available to be shared because they are harder to find, so that's a big plus for me.  Today I've got three little records for you, two by The Lennon Sisters and one from Ruby Wright that the Lennon Sisters copied.  First up is Christmas Moon b/w Peppy The Peppermint Bear (Dot 45-16017, Mono, 1959).  I think I shared the Peppy song with you a long time ago in a Christmas And A Half post, but you probably missed it.  Here it is again with better sound, so don't miss it.  If you look close at the label, the credit is actually to Lawrence Welk Presents The Lennon Sisters.  Now that's control! Be careful, though.  This record provided 105% of your daily recommended allowance of harpsichord.  So if you're sensitive, better to only listen to one side a day.

Next up is another, earlier single from the Sisters, Let's Light The Christmas Tree b/w Merry, Merry Christmas (Brunswick 9-55044, Mono, 1957).  The orchestra is handled by George Cates, another cohort of Lawrence Welk, but at least Welk's name isn't on this one directly.  If you look closer still, you'll see both tracks are credited to Ruth Lyons, a name that should be familiar to Christmas music fans everywhere.  It turns out this this single is a side-for-side copy of another record, one directly created by Ruth.

I won't bore you with the story of how this record came to be made, but you can read all about it over at The Captain's excellent Christmas Yuleblog.  As you can see, sort of, both sides are the same as both sides of the Lennon Sisters disc.  Yes, there's a bit of title economizing on the wordy Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Xmas, which I guess also allowed them to spell out all of Christmas as well.  This record has been shared out quite a few times in many places all over the internets (including over at Lee's place just this morning...), but I wanted to do it again, just so you can compare and contrast with the Lennons above.  For the search engines, this is Let's Light The Christmas Tree b/w Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Xmas by Ruby Wright With Cliff Lash And His Orchestra And The Dick Noel Singers (Fraternity F-787, Mono,  1957).

And, if you've read all that, then you deserve to be able to download the music.  Here you go...

MediaFire

Local Christmas

Here's the first of many old reshares this year, this one first appearing at Ernie (Not Bert) in 2008.  This is an organ LP from a small town about 50 miles north of here, one of two Christmas records released by Terry Charles.  Last time I checked, the other one was available from either his website, or the website of the group that owns the organ, I don't remember which.  Perhaps I should look that up again before I share this, as it might now be off-limits.  Nope, looks like this one is still un-released. I'm not going to say too much about this LP, you can always read what I wrote back in '08 or '09.  I know these organ records aren't exactly my most popular shares, but they do have their appeals.  If this appeals to you, then please be my guest and download Terry Charles-Christmas With Terry Charles-Wurlitzer Pipe Organ (Private Pressing SYB-635/636, Stereo).

1. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
2. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
3. The First Noel
4. Angels We Have Heard On High
5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
6. As With Gladness Men Of Old
7. Angels From The Realms Of Glory
8. Joy To The World
9. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
10. Silver Bells
11. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
12. I'll Be Home For Christmas
13. Silent Night
14. O Holy Night

MediaFire

Christmas With Elvis

What better way to kick off the 2011 Christmas sharity season than with Elvis?  But since I don't want to get my humble blog closed down by RCA Victor, I'm going to have to go with Elvis, Jr. and not the boy from Tupelo.  I stumbled across this LP a few months ago at one of my regular Goodwill haunts, flipping past it the first time without the name Elvis registering, but my subconscious kicked in and made me flip back to it.  And I'm glad it did, because it's certainly something worth sharing out here.  You can check out the website of Elvis, Jr. here, but there's no mention made of this LP.  I don't know that I quite believe the story told over there, but you can read it and make up your own mind.  For me, I'll go back and listen to my gatefold copy of Elvis' Christmas Album at least twice before I listen to this one again.  But your mileage may vary.  This is Christmas Blessings From Elvis Jr (Son Records BS 003, Stereo, 1986).

MediaFire

Welcome Christmas 2011

Well, Thanksgiving is drawing to a close, although all this turkey in my belly will take a week or more to finish digesting.  And around here, the end of Thanksgiving means the beginning of Christmas, thus the Jack Davis Santa Claus above.  It's going to be a wild wacky month around here.  I've got lots of things to share, both old and new (well, newly recorded), but not a lot of time to share it in.  Work has been demanding a lot of my time lately, so I don't have as many things ready to go as I would like, and little free time to post the things I do have.  So if it seems a little thin around here this year, that's why.  If you're looking for a ton of stuff to download, check out all the stuff from last year, most of the shares on MediaFire are still good.  I'm going to try to avoid wasting my time re-posting all of those things and stick to the newer stuff or the older things that haven't been available for a while.  We'll see how that goes.  Anyhow, I don't want to blather on all night, I'll have more than enough chances to chat during the month.  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and you've got a great Christmas to look forward to.  Let's jump in!

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!  For the umpteenth year in a row, I'm celebrating the beginning of the Christmas music season by sharing a small handful of Thanksgiving songs that I've collected, including one new one this year.  Most of the things I'm sharing with you here are the same as last year, including my favorite Thanksgiving song of all, Thanksgiving Day Parade by the pseudonymous Spencer Ross.  You can read all about the reruns (and the story of who Spencer Ross really is) at my post from last year.  The new track is Thanksgiving by Charles Dorian And His Orchestra from the LP Calendar Sketches (Dot DLP-3046, Mono, 1957).  I found this one back during the Christmas in July celebration, but I've held onto it until now.  So here's the download link for the collection of six tracks.

MediaFire

Yes, just one download site this year.  Uploading to three sites took forever last year, and all of those shares were gone in a few months, except the ones on MediaFire.  So they're getting all my business this year.  Here's a list of the other tracks in the download, all the same as last year.

Thanksgiving Day Parade by Spencer Ross (Columbia 4-41532 7" 45 RPM single, Mono, 1960)
The Pete King Orchestra And Chorale-Bless This House from Songs To Celebrate (Kapp KS-3284, 1962, Stereo)
Timothy Turkey performed by Rosemarie Jun & Robert Spiro from the LP Children Sing Around The Year (Decca DL 4406, 1963, Mono) 
The Big Clown Balloons-The Merrill Stanton Voices from the LP Meredith Willson's Here's Love (Columbia Special Products CSRP 8899, 1963, Stereo)
Thanksgiving Day, from the LP Hits From The Gang Shows (Fontanta 680932TL TFL.5104, Mono) credited to Ken Jones

Thanksgiving

Is tomorrow really Thanksgiving?  It's really snuck up on me this year.  Well, I guess I knew it was coming, I've just been so busy with work lately that I haven't been able to do much preparation.  Maybe I should have tried to get Photoshop installed on this new computer sometime between June and now.  Should have got that big 11x17 scanner that I kept looking at.  But we'll see what happens.  Stay tuned and hope for the best.