New Old Waring

One of the most popular shares ever around these parts is Fred Waring's Twas The Night Before Christmas, each and every year I get dozens of emails from people who are excited to be able to download and listen to it after losing touch with it over the years.  I thought I was familiar with all of Fred Waring's Christmas catalog though, From their early recording of The Nutcracker Suite through the later stuff on Capitol, but I'd never seen the LP I'm sharing with you tonight.  It's an ambitious recording featuring mostly music by Roy Ringwald plus a couple of Christmas standards.  And I guess those Roy Ringwald pieces have some standards built in, too.  I'm sure you'll really enjoy this addition to the Fred Waring canon.  This is Fred Waring Presents The Pennsylvanians In The Song Of Christmas (Decca DL 8084, Mono, 1948).  I think this originally came out on a set of 78s, which I've never seen, but mine is an early LP.

1. The Song Of Christmas
2. The Christmas Crib
3. The Twelve Days Of Christmas
4. White Christmas

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2006 Redux, Part 2

Here's another installment of my 2006 Christmas In July reposts, covering the next ten days.  For those of you who aren't familiar with what goes on around here in the middle of the hot, long summer, I post random tracks gleaned from non-holiday records, the random versions of Christmas songs that for whatever reason show up on non-Christmas records.  It's quite interesting, sometimes, what you find in strange places.  I think I shared a hundred or so tracks in 2006, the first year I did this.  In 2011, I shared out over 400, but that number is artificially inflated because I've been rerecording some of my old favorites with better sound.  Anyhow, go download part 2, and if you missed it, here's the link to part 1.

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Christmas Corp

This is one of the newer yet odder things I'm going to share with you this year. It's a 12" single from a rock band I've never heard of, performing an original song, as well as a cover of a classic Wizzard tune.  It came in a plain white sleeve with the sticker on it that you see above, although I'm afraid my scanner hasn't done the best job of reproducing it here.  It's not a bad song, mind you, it's just...odd.  This is Vibra Corporation-The Vibra Corporation Christmas Single (Passport 12" 45 RPM PSC-7910, Stereo, 1977).

1. Snow White Rock Christmas
2. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

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Taking a cue from the cryptic note on the album sticker, more info can be found under The Intergalactic Touring Band.

2006 Redux, Part 1

I've resisted the urge to reshare my Christmas in July stuff for many years, but perhaps the time is right.  None of the older shares are available anymore, and I've forgotten what in many of the downloads, so revisiting them is probably a good idea.  I'm not going to list out what's in any of them, 'cause I'm lazy, but you can always go into the blog archives for the month of July back in ought-six and see what I was sharing.  I believe this first batch is days 1-10.  Enjoy!

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ADVENTure In Carols

You've probably heard me mention FaLaLaLaLa.com a million times, but I want to do so one more time to tell you about a little compilation we're putting together over there.  Every year the proprietor (The King of Jingaling) of said website puts together a great collection of Christmas tracks, but has chosen not to do so this year.  So some of us members are trying to put together our own collection, one track at a time, each from a different member.  Think of it as an Advent calendar of music from the last 70 years or so of popular music sourced from spinning analog discs.  If this sounds up your alley, head on over and check it out.  You don't need to be a member or anything, and it's free!

Zottola (Not Mottola)

Following up on that last post featuring a bit of Tony Mottola, here's a guy you've probably never heard of called Glenn Zottola. Don't feel bad, though, I'd never heard of him, either, until I found this record.  I'm the sort of guy who will buy just about any record that purports to be Christmas music if the price is right.  And by right, I mean cheap.  I can buy Christmas records all day long at the Goodwill, Salvation Army and other thrift stores, and at $1 each, I can get a lot more music than $0.99 for a download.  So I wind up with a lot of interesting stuff, much of which I never do anything with, but sometimes I put on a record that seems a little more interesting than the others, and that's how I came to play this one.  And I liked what I heard.  It's pretty light jazz, at least to my ears.  But several of the tracks feature vocalist Maxine Sullivan, and she's just great.  I may be wrong, but I don't think she ever recorded a Christmas record of her own, so this may be the only holiday music she left behind, and I see that she passed away the year after this record was released.  Everything I know about this record comes from that sticker on the front cover.  It was released by radio station WYRS in Stamford, CT (though it seems to have moved since 1986).  I like how the label and catalog number have been integrated into the street sign of the cover art, too, that's a nice touch.  I could go on and on, but you need to download and listen to this one.  If anyone knows anything more about this record, this radio station, Glenn or Maxine, please don't keep it to yourself.  Please download and enjoy Glenn Zottola And His Allstars Featuring Maxine Sullivan-Christmas In Jazztime (Dreamstreet DR-110, for WYRS 96.7 FM, Stamford, CT, Stereo, 1986).

1. Let It Snow
2. Jolly Old St. Nick (with Maxine)
3. Winter Wonderland
4. White Christmas (with Maxine)
5. Silent Night
6. Jingle Bells (with Maxine)
7. Christmas Song
8. Greensleeves
9. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

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Burl

First off, apologies for not posting anything at all yesterday. I was tired from working all day, and to tell the truth, I'm pretty tired tonight, too, but I've got to get something up for you guys. And what a something I have tonight. For the first time since 2007, I've found a Christmas release from Burl Ives that I don't think has seen the light of day since it's release in the early seventies.  The record in question is a collection of Christmas songs claiming to the favorites of US presidents past (and at the time, some fairly present).  There's nothing on here that's going to take the place of Holly Jolly Christmas in the national psyche, but for those who love a Burl Ives song at Christmas, this is a great discovery.  But there is a bit of a mystery that needs to be worked out, and perhaps my readers can help.  I've found mentions of this record online in a few spots, but it shows a different catalog number, and I think it mentioned narration.  My record doesn't have any narration, just the music.  Is it possible there were two different releases of this record?  Mine's an old library copy (you can see the stamp on the label scan below, and I think there was a card taped to the back side that was pulled off causing a giant gap in the liner notes...sorry), and perhaps those were different than the versions sold to the general public?  Anyone have this record or remember it?  Anyone?  OK, anyhow, this is Burl Ives, Music Conducted By Tony Mottola-Christmas At The White House (Caedmon TC 9102, Stereo, 1972).  Listening to this as I post it, I remembered that at least one of the songs is performed to a non-traditional melody.  And there are some interesting stories in the liner notes about how they decided what songs were favorites of what presidents, and how they found some of the more obscure songs.  Interesting stuff to a Christmas music buff, I think you'll really enjoy this.

1. The Little Drummer Boy (Richard M. Nixon)
2. Joy To The World (John Adams)
3. Adeste Fideles (Thomas Jefferson)
4. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (Zachary Taylor)
5. While Shepherds Watch'd Their Flocks By Night (George Washington)
6. Silent Night (Lyndon B. Johnson)
7. Christmas On The Sea (Theodore Roosevelt)
8. We Three Kings Of Orient Are (Abraham Lincoln)
9. O Little Town Of Bethlehem (Ulysses S. Grant)
10. Shout The Glad Tidings (Andrew Jackson)
11. Silver Bells (John F. Kennedy)
12. Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Laden (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

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PS-I forgot I shared another rare Burl Ives track back at Christmas And A Half of 2008, but I don't think the share is any good anymore. Perhaps I should repost that one sometime...  Or the Monkey Joe track for that matter.

Rerun Ralph

Is it possible that I didn't reshare this with you last year?  Shame on me, this is one of those records that needs to be shared every five minutes until someone gets wise and re-issues it for real.  I've been singing the praises of this LP since 2005, even finding a cleaner copy and re-recording it for you in 2008, which is the version I'm sharing with you again tonight.  I'm not going to tell you all about it, you can go read all those other posts if you want.  Just trust me when I tell you that you should have this in your collection.  This is The Ralph Hunter Choir-Christmas Surprises From The Ralph Hunter Choir (RCA Victor LSP-2063, Stereo, 1959).  Oh, and it was rereleased as Living Voices Sing Christmas Music (RCA Camden CAS 725, Stereo, 1962), with a different cover but it's the same music.  That's why that other cover is stuck down at the bottom of this post.

1. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
2. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
3. Jingle Bells
4. Winter Wonderland
5. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
6. White Christmas
7. Wassail Song
8. Carol Medley: Joy To The World; God Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen; Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. The First Noel
10. Indian Christmas Carol
11. Latin Lullaby (Cancion De Cuna)
12. Silent Night

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PS. You can find more Ralph Hunter here and here.

Old Wayne

As I mentioned in my last post, here's a really old share from 2006 that hasn't been seen since.  David Wayne narrates a couple of Christmas stories for you here, but it's been so long since I've listened to them that I can't tell you much about them.  Maybe this is something you had as a child and you'll enjoy hearing it again.  If you like it, leave me a note.  :)  This is David Wayne Narrates The Little Star Of Bethlehem & The Toy Box, John L. Eastman Conducting The Cricket Symphony (Cricket CR-X1, Mono, 1959).

1. The Little Star Of Bethlehem
2. The Toy Box

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Masterwork

I knew it was going to be like this.  It's hard to post anything when you don't get off work until after dark.  But I'm going to try to soldier on.  Tonight is a little something I thought was pretty special, for a couple different reasons.  First, it's pretty rare that I see a record I've never seen before, and such was the case with this one.  And when I found the sleeve, it didn't have the right record in it.  I went through an entire rack of records looking for the sleeve that matched the record I found in this one, in hopes that this record was in that sleeve, and thankfully that's where I found it.  Second, if you look close at the album cover, you'll see a few familiar names.  David Wayne has narrated another record I've shared here before (I should probably throw that one up again, I think I remember someone asking for it).  Ralph Hunter is the man behind the incredible Christmas Surprises, a favorite share every year.  And Ashley Miller has an organ track on a Command LP that I've shared here as well.  And Norman Vincent Peale, well, I think he wrote the story, but for the most part I think they just attached his name for the star power.  This appears to be a tie-in to a book he wrote and released in 1956 that didn't prove to be quite the big deal that had been anticipated.  But it makes for a nice share.  This is The Coming Of The King-The Story Of The Nativity In Music And Words (Columbia Masterworks ML 5165, Mono, 1956).  Side one is the story of The Nativity, narrated by David Wayne, choir conducted by Ralph Hunter and organ by Ashley Miller.  The flip side is a nice selection of carols by The Columbia Carolers.  All good stuff.

1. The Coming Of The King
2. Silent Night
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
5. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
6. The First Nowell
7. Deck The Hall
8. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
9. Good King Wenceslas
10. O Come All Ye Faithful
11. Joy To The World
12. The Coming Of The King

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Remastered Strings

Hey, check it out, it's a remastered version of a share from 2008, and not only does it sound better, none of the tracks skip this time around!   I really wanted to share this out back then because I thought it was nice and I'd only ever seen the one copy, but I was disappointed when three of the tracks skipped badly.  After going three years and never seeing another copy (although I did find two EPs pulled from the LP, but they only covered two of the three skipping tracks), I took another stab at my only copy of the record using two different turntables and a few tricks I've picked up in the meantime, and I got a good rip!  So be sure you grab this one and replace your old copy.  This is The Somerset Strings-Music For Christmas At Home (Epic LN 3159, Mono, 1955).

1. Sleigh Ride
2. White Christmas
3. Silent Night, Holy Night
4. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
5. Good King Wenceslas
6. The First Nowell
7. Jingle Bells
8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. Once In Royal David's City
10. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
11. Away In A Manger
12. O Come All Ye Faithful

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A Klein Rerun-Volume One

Someone all the way from Chile asked for this one to come back, along with all my other old John Klein shares.  So I'm going to see what I can do here over the next few days.  In the meantime, here's a record I first shared back in 2006 in mono, then I upgraded to a stereo version in 2008.  This is the stereo version, oh, and it's also got a little insert in the ZIP file that I found in the original LP.  Please enjoy  John Klein, Orchestra And Chorus Arranged And Conducted By Henri Rene-Let's Ring The Bells All Around The Christmas Tree (RCA Victor LSP-2914, Stereo, 1964).

1. Silent Night; O Little Town Of Bethlehem; We Wish You A Merry Christmas
2. All Around The Christmas Tree
3. Sleigh Ride
4. Joy To The World; Adeste Fideles; Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
5. The Little Drummer Boy
6. O Holy Night
7. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen; O Christmas Tree; Deck The Halls
8. I'll Be Home For Christmas
9. Greensleeves
10. Away In A Manger; The First Noel; It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
11. The Christmas Song
12. Ave Maria (Bach-Gounod)

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Starlight, Starbright

This was one of those records where as soon as I picked it up, I knew I'd be sharing it come Christmas time.  It's a 10" album, usually the purview of my friend Buster, but I'm gonna share this one out anyway.  Even if you don't like the choral music on this one, you've got to love that cover!  This is Carols For Christmas By The Starlighters Chorus (Capitol 10" 33 RPM H9007, Mono, 1949).

1. Joy To The World
2. Deck The Halls
3. The First Noel
4. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
6. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
7. O Come All Ye Faithful
8. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
9. Gather 'Round The Christmas Tree
10. Silent Night

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Seasonings

For those of you that make mix tapes (I doubt if anyone actually makes tapes anymore, really), or at least compilations, here are some public service announcements from your friends, The Seventh-Day Adventists.  For whatever reason, these remind me of Growing Pains, so I'm guessing they're from that same time frame, the early to mid-80's.  Some of these are really, umm, reaching.  Try 'em on for size and let me know what you think.  This is Seasonings-Thirty Second Seasonal PSA's Produced By The Seventh-Day Adventists (A Sunspot Production 7" 33 RPM SP-1046, Stereo).

1. Jamie's Letter
2. Santa & Bobby
3. Papa & Tony
4. Neighbors
5. Warm Hugs
6. Holiday Salute
7. Mistletoe
8. Runaway
9. Worried Helen
10. The Christmas Story
11. Grandma's Gift
12. The Bell Ringer

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Technical Note:  I hate records with locked grooves!  Oh, there was a postcard in the sleeve that you were supposed to return after you played the messages, but whoever got this one never sent it back.  I scanned it and put it in the download folder for you.  I knew you'd want to see that, too.