On The Seventh Day Of Christmas

And with this album, I'm caught back up to the Twelve Days of Christmas! Hooray! Now if I can get five more shares together, I'll be doing good. This album is one of those things that really should already be in your collection, but I was so happy to finally find myself a nice copy of it, I had to rip it, and since it's just sitting there on my hard drive taking up space, I may as well post it and sing it's virtues. Trust me, it's good.  There's some classic tracks on here, especially the stuff that was written especially for this album and was never recorded elsewhere.  Are any of you with cover bands listening?  Cover a few of these songs for me, I'll buy your record!  OK, enough, this is Al Caiola And Riz Ortolani-Sound Of Christmas (United Artists UAS 6617, Stereo, 1967).  By the way, Happy New Year!

1. Sleigh Ride
2. I'll Be Home For Christmas
3. Buon Natale
4. Silver Bells
5. One Bright Star
6. Little Drummer Boy
7. Holiday On Skis
8. White Christmas
9. Christmas Card
10. Bossa Nova Noel
11. Santo Natale
12. The Christmas Song

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On The Sixth Day Of Christmas

Almost caught up to the actual day of Christmas now! Well, close. Hopefully I can get there today, but we'll see. I had thought this was a remaster of something I'd already shared, but turns out that it's a completely different album.  So if you've still got that old share laying around, now you've got two Christmas records from Owen Bradley!  Lucky you!  This is Owen Bradley & His Quintet-Joyous Bells Of Christmas (Decca DL 8652, Mono, 1957).  Enjoy!

1. White Christmas
2. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
3. Winter Wonderland
4. Here Come Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)
5. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
6. Jingle Bells
7. Adeste Fidelis
8. Silent Night
9. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
10. The First Noel
11. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
12. Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem
13. Joy To The World; God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Away In A Manger

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On The Fifth Day Of Christmas

I know, I know, it's not really the fifth day of Christmas, but I'm battling back from a hard drive loss that basically meant I needed to rebuild my PC from the OS up. So cut me a little slack. I think there's still enough music in my sack to finish the twelve days, but after that I'm about tapped out. Well, until next year, that is. I've been very lucky these past few weeks in finding some great Christmas records, some of which I hope I get to share with you next year. But first, I need to make it to the end of this year, and there's only a few days left. This time I've got a little family Christmas for you, courtesy of The Murk Family.  No, I've never heard of them either, but they created this Christmas record that looked interesting enough to catch my attention, so I recorded it and now I'm sharing it with you.  Give it a listen and let me know what you think.  This is Christmas With The Murk Family (Toya T-MFM-2007, Stereo).  Anybody with some more info about these folks, do share.

1. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
2. The Christmas Song
3. Baby Brother
4. The Only Thing I Want For Christmas
5. I'll Be Home For Christmas
6. White Christmas
7. Russian Carol
8. Poem: Another Christmas
9. Love Came Down At Christmas
10. Adeste Fidelis
11. Carol Of The Italian Pipers
12. Poem: The Christmas Story
13. Carol Medley: There's A Song In The Air; It Came Upon A Midnight Clear; Silent Night; Joy To The World

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On The Fourth Day Of Christmas

I've heard some complaints that I haven't shared enough organ stuff, so here's a great organ Christmas LP that'll really get you goin'. I sorta feel bad about sharing this one after Christmas, but there just aren't enough days in the year to share out all the great stuff I want to put out there.  So download this and save it for next year, it's worth the wait!  This is Earl Grant-Winter Wonderland (Decca DL 74677, Stereo, 1965).

1. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
2. Count Your Blessings Instead Of Sheep
3. Silver Bells
4. Carol Of The Drum
5. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
6. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer
7. Winter Wonderland
8. Silent Night
9. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
10. White Christmas
11. Jingle Bells
12. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear

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On The Third Day Of Christmas

Another record that falls into the category of "I can't believe it's never been out on CD", this is a really nice collection of instrumental Christmas music.  It's the second Christmas album from George Melachrino, the first one being from the days of mono, and it's on CD, oddly enough.  I see where you can get this one on iTunes if you live in the UK, though, so you folks can't download it, sorry.  This is George Melachrino And His Orchestra-Christmas Joy (RCA Victor LSP-2044, Stereo, 1959).

1. Winter Wonderland
2. Adeste Fideles (O Come, All Ye Faithful)
3. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
4. Fairy On The Christmas Tree
5. Sleigh Ride
6. Silent Night
7. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. Jingle Bells
10. The First Noel
11. White Christmas
12. Good King Wenceslas
13. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
14. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
15. Christmas Alphabet
16. Joy To The World

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On The Second Day Of Christmas, Sorta

Well, it's taken a while, but I think I have a computer again. The old hard drive is toast, it can't even make it through a CHKDSK scan, but I managed to copy most of my old stuff off f it first. I haven't had to dig into a backup copy for anything yet, but I'm sure there are some missing files here and there.  It's taking a while to start over with the OS, though, finding all the software I had installed, learning how I had things configured before the loss.  But I'll get there.  In the meantime, I need to get caught back up for The Twelve Days of Christmas!  Today is what, the fifth day, and I'm making my second post?  I've got a ways to go.  Anyhow, this is a nice little piece from Decca that they licensed from Deutsche Grammophon, a strategy with which they had a great deal of success.  There's good music here, some familiar, some not so familiar, but you'll enjoy it.  This is Hans Carste And His Orchestra With Organ And Bells-Noël Noël-A Musical Christmas (Decca DL 78809, Stereo, 1958).

1. Silent Night
2. Adeste Fideles (Oh Come, All Ye Faithful)
3. Come Hither Ye Children
4. O Tannenbaum
5. The Snow Falls Quietly
6. See, The Conquering Hero Comes
7. White Christmas
8. O Thou Cheerful One
9. The First Noel
10. Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
11. Winter Wonderland
12. From Heaven Above To Earth I Come

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Soft Drive

Well, in what may be considered good timing by some, my hard drive has developed a bit of an itch.  I spent most of last night trying to back up my data, but it's taking a long time to do anything.  No idea when I'll get things fixed up, but I'm optimistic it'll be by this weekend.  Stay tuned for more Christmas music.  Maybe.

Before Christmas Sneaks Away

Before the day gets away from me, here's another secret share. I don't want to say who this is, or who provides the music, or what company released it, but I can say that Family Circle magazine was involved.  Stories like this aren't every popular with my readers, so I didn't rush to get this out any earlier, but I'm sure that it will find it's target audience somehow.  Just try to keep it on the down-low.  Readers with long memories might remember a secret share from last year that was very popular (Oddly enough, this came out in the same year). Those folks might benefit from scanning down through the comments over there...

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Merry Christmas...And Thanks!

I just wanted to make a special post to thank all of the people who stopped by and enjoyed the blog this season!  Thank you to everyone who left a comment and told me the story about the first time they heard such-and-such a record, or they how they were able to hear music that they hadn't heard in 40 or 50 years.  Thank you also to everyone who sent me a personal email.  Sorry I couldn't reply to all of them, and sorry I couldn't repost whatever you were looking for, some things just need to stay gone.  I hope you all had a great time.

PS-No thanks to this guy for reposting lots of my stuff, even stuff I just shared out this year, mostly with no credit whatsoever.  Most of the other stuff he's posting that I didn't share came from many of my friends in the community and their sites.  That's not cool, man, not cool at all.

On The First Day Of Christmas

Years ago, this was a favorite share over at Cheerful Earful, but after Inkydog closed his place up, I decided to rip my copy of it and share it with you. Problem is, mine is a mono copy. So, until I manage to dig up a stereo copy somewhere, you're going to have to listen to this with only one ear. For those of you are hanging around now that Christmas is almost at an end, I'm going to try to keep going until the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, which I believe ends at Epiphany.  So stay tuned, and lets see if I can make it until then.  I've still got plenty of goodies in the bin, all recorded, I just need to finish up the art and get 'em posted.  But I'm a lot lazier than you might think.  But for tonight, I've got this one all ready to go.  Please be my guest and download Hugo And Luigi And Their Children's Chorus-The Sound Of Children At Christmas (RCA Victor LPM-2254, Mono, 1960).

1. Medley: We Wish You A Merry Christmas; The First Noël
2. Silver Bells
3. The Twelve Days Of Christmas
4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
5. Medley: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing; Good King Wenceslas; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
6. The Sleigh
7. The Little Drummer Boy
8. Medley: Deck The Halls; Adeste Fideles
9. Winter Wonderland
10. White Christmas
11. Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
12. Medley: Silent Night; Jingle Bells

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Mary Christmas

For this Christmas Day, I wanted to give you a little more down to earth. So here's Sister Mary Arlene-Christmas In Song By A Sister Of St. Dominic (St. Dominic, Amityville, LI, NY, Adrian Associates LP-102, Mono).  Her name didn't show up on the original above, but I found a later re-issue that outed her (bottom).

1. Adeste Fideles
2. Silver Bells
3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
4. Winter Wonderland
5. Villancico Yaucano
6. Puer Natus In Bethlehem (A Boy Is Born In Bethlehem)
7. Resonet In Laudibus
8. Silent Night (Noche De Paz)
9. Christmas Was Meant For Children
10. Alegria, Alegria, Alegria
11. White Christmas
12. O Holy Night

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Merry Christmas to everyone out there!

Sing Along

Odd concept here... Instead of people singing along to a normal piano, it's people singing along to a player piano! So does that make it the karaoke of it's day? I mean, canned music is canned music, right? Well, this does have the advantage of vocal arrangements by Mr. Dick Hyman, so that's a good thing.  But still, a player piano?  And to make it even odder, an instrument more closely associated with an earlier century was 'programmed' with a tune from just a few years earlier, The Chipmunk Song.  Bet you never thought you'd hear that coming from a player piano!  (It's questions like that that keep me up at night.)  So here, you go, please download The Piano Rolls And Voices-All Time Christmas Hits (RCA Victor LSP-4000 (Vocal Arrangements By Dick Hyman), Stereo, 1968).

1. Winter Wonderland
2. Silver Bells
3. It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas
4. Sleighride
5. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
6. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
7. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
8. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)
9. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
10. Frosty The Snow Man
11. White Christmas

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O Happy Day

From the guy that brought you the famous version of O Happy Day, here's a little bit of gospel Christmas.I don't know too much about this, but it's from pretty late in the game (1985), so I was a little surprised when I didn't see it available.  There seems to be some other Christmas music available from Mr. Hawkins, but not this one.  I'm sure if I'm wrong, someone will let me know.  So if you're still with me this close to Christmas, please download Edwin Hawkins-The Edwin Hawkins Christmas Album (Birthright LS 5904, Stereo, 1985).

1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
2. Night Medley: Away In A Manger; Silent Night; O Holy Night
3. The First Noel
4. White Christmas
5. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
6. Follow The Star
7. Joy To The World
8. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
9. The Christmas Song
10. O Come All Ye Faithful
11. Emanuel

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Paul The Second

And now, the LP that made me think Paul Mickelson albums weren't going to be all that exciting.  That's because this one isn't all that exciting.  It came out two years before that one I shared earlier, and it's all bells.  It's also very long, so I suppose it has that going for it.  This is Paul Mickelson Playing The Symphonic Carillon And Vibraharp-Christmas Bells (RCA Victor LPM-1115, Mono, 1955).

1.  I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
2. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
3. Jesu, Bambino
4. Joy To The World
5. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
6. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
7. Good King Wenceslas
8. I Wonder As I Wander
9. Away In A Manger
10. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
11. The First Noel
12. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
13. Silent Night
14. As With Gladness Men Of Old
15. There's A Song In The Air
16. O Christmas Tree
17. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
18. Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
19. Deck The Halls
20. Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
21. Angels, From The Realms Of Glory
22. O Come, All Ye Faithful
23. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
24. Gloria In Excelsis Deo
25. O Holy Night

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Oh, I found three slightly different back covers for this one, and I stuck them all in the download.  I'll assume the one without all the advertisements for other records is the original, but the two with the ads, I've no idea of the order those came in.  Maybe if you date the records shown...

Paul The First

Some surprisingly spry and sprite songs here from a man best know as an organist. Or at least best known to me that way. I put this record on the turntable not expecting too much, but came away quite surprised. I need to quit judging things by the cover or by what else I've seen them do, and just listen to the record. There's lots to enjoy here, so I'll let you get to it.  This is Paul Mickelson Orchestra And Choir-The Best Of Christmas (RCA Victor LPM-1517, Mono, 1957).

1. Festival Of Carols: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing; The First Noel; Carol Of The Bells; It Came Upon The Midnight Clear; Joy To The World
2. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
3. We Three Kings
4. Christmas Candle
5. Gloria In Excelsis Deo (Angels We Have Heard On High)
6. O Holy Night (Cantique De Noel)
7. Fantasy Of The Sleigh Bells: Jingle Bells; Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer; Sleigh Ride
8. Away In A Manger
9. Deck The Halls
10. White Christmas
11. Silent Night
12. O Come, All Ye Faithful

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Christmas In Tijuana!

What a great Christmas record! For the past few weeks, I've been listening to Christmas music pretty much non-stop, and several times a track from this record has popped up and I've had to stop to see who and what it was.  That doesn't happen too often, as I'm either familiar with what's playing or it's yet another straight version of Silent Night.  But this one has a couple of unique songs, and unique takes on others.  It's not exactly new to the sharity community, though, I think The King even shared it out a few years back, but I finally found a copy of my own so I'm sharing it with you this morning!  It's not really credited to anybody, but it's a product of the notorious George Garabedian, so I'm crediting it to him and his players.  For a little bit of holiday just south of the border, please download The George Garabedian Players-Phillips 66 Presents Tijuana Christmas (Mark 56 546, Stereo, 1968).  There's also a part two that I don't have.  I should add that to the want list.

1. Jingle Bells
2. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
3. Christmas Sleigh Bells
4. Let It Snow, Let It Snow
5. Tijuana Christmas
6. White Christmas
7. Santa Claus, Santa Claus
8. Sleigh Ride
9. Winter Wonderland
10. Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem/It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
11. Adeste Fidelis/Silent Night

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PS-Just when I was starting to get a little smug about getting a share up every single day of the Christmas season, I come home last night to no cable. I spent two hours on the phone with Comcast to no avail. Thankfully, t was back up this morning, but too late for a perfect season. We'll see what I can get up today, but I really do need to do some Christmas shopping...

Hi-Fi!

I've been skipping out on the remasters lately, since I've only got so much time left, but I wanted to throw something up tonight while I'm waiting on some files to transfer.  I really should find a faster interface than USB...  Anyhow, this is a remaster of an old share from 2007, featuring some organ music in hi-fi.  Gotta love anything that advertises it's hi-fi-ness. There are some nice arrangements on this piece of red vinyl, some slow and boring, but some nice and exciting!  I think this is a share that you'll really enjoy, and it sounds great!  This is Ramona Gerhard At The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ-Christmas In Hi-Fi (Soma MG 1202 (Red Vinyl), Mono).

1. Medley: Silent Night; O Tannenbaum; We Three Kings; Deck The Halls With Holly
2. Ave Maria
3. Christmas Song
4. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
5. Medley: O' Little Town Of Bethlehem; Jolly Old St. Nicholas; God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; We Wish You A Merry Christmas
6. White Christmas
7. Sleigh Ride
8. Noel, Noel

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And I've even got two different covers this time. The one below is a new scan of the one I originally shared, but I went with the other one this time, just because it's different.

Susie & Allie & Tammy

Did you like my Little Marcy share from earlier in the season? Well, guess what? I've got some more in the same vein as that one, only this time, instead of a doll on strings, we've got a couple of hand puppets. And just to make things interesting, everyone's voiced by Tammy Faye Bakker!  How great is that?  Well, at least one of the puppets is an alligator, so it's got that going for it.  If you've got the stomach for it, please download Susie & Allie-Christmas With Susie & Allie (PTL Club PTL-LP-1848, Stereo, 1984).

1. Frosty The Snowman
2. White Christmas
3. Winter Wonderland
4. O Christmas Tree
5. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
6. Jingle Bells
7. Away In The Manger
8. The Christmas Story
9. Joy To The World

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Shifting Gears

And now for something completely different. How about some country gospel? I just love throwing something up that's totally out of left field.  Well, maybe not left field, but certainly out of character for the blog.  I brought you a USAF radio show many years ago that featured Connie singing a few songs, and at the time, I didn't know she had a Christmas LP of her own.  I think this came out a few years after that one, though, but I'm not certain.  (I don't think that old share is any good anymore, and I don't really want to repost it right now...sorry.)  So she's not that out of the blue, really.  I think you'll like this little change of pace.  So go download Connie Smith With Backing From The Jordanaires And The Holladay Sisters-Joy To The World (Columbia C 33553, Stereo, 1975).

1. What Child Is This
2. O Holy Night
3. Go Tell It On The Mountain
4. The First Noel
5. The Little Drummer Boy
6. Sweet Little Jesus Boy
7. Away In A Manger/Silent Night
8. Joy To The World
9. O Come All Ye Faithful
10. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

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Now, I really, really, REALLY need to do some Christmas shopping...

In The Navy (With Danny)

In a more perfect world, I'd plan these shares out much better.  I'd have everything done and ready to go when Thanksgiving rolled around, I'd be able to get out and enjoy more of the holiday instead of sitting here in front of the computer for hours at a stretch.  But that's not how I roll.  In that perfect world, I'd have shared this record out at the same time as that other record featuring Danny Thomas, or maybe last year when I actually recorded it, but that's not how it happens.  Things just sort of happen at random, and I sort of like it that way.  Danny Thomas is the host of this record, telling short anecdotes between songs performed by various Navy bands, some good, some meh.  But it's worth a listen, and there are probably some good clips in here for your mixes.  Well, maybe your mixes next year.  This is Christmas Greetings-A Special Holiday Greeting From Danny Thomas And Your Local Navy Recruiter (V #72357, Stereo, 1973).  Some nice near-disco on some of these band tracks, too.  Check it out!

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(If my count is correct, this is the 100th share of the season.  I haven't done 100 new and/or different things yet, but I'm awful close.  Congratulations to me!)

Re-Bells

The return of a share from way, way back in 2006, one of those things I bought just for the album cover, but it turned out to be a nice collection of tunes performed on bells with an organ.  Maybe you like that sort of thing, maybe you don't.  But this one sounds nice, and it sounds even better since I re-recorded it this year.  I don't think the old share had scans of the labels, either, and those are in there now.  So all-in-all, it's a nice little collection for you to download.  This is Arthur Lynds Bigelow, Bell Master, & Marjorie MacComb, Organist-Ring! Christmas Bells (Columbia CL 915, Mono, 1956)

1. Gesu Bambino
2. Tune Of The Sleigh Bells
3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
4. Veni, Veni, Emmanuel
5. Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
6. A La Venue De Noel
7. Good King Wenceslas
8. There Once Fell A Heavenly Dew
9. Born Is Jesus The Infant King
10. The Holly And The Ivy
11. Silent Night, Holy Night
12. Noel d'Aquin

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Holiday Harmony

Tonight, a little something from the budget department of Columbia Records. I'm not sure what even possessed me to buy this, given the out-of-focus cover picture and the horrible condition of the vinyl, but I did anyway.  I tend to buy almost every Christmas record I see, and especially things on major labels that I've never seen before.  There's a certain level of competence that one expects artists to achieve before they get a contract with a major label.  Smaller labels, not so much, and I pass on a lot of those records, though not always as I'm sure you've seen around here this year.  But I digress.  I bought this record and recorded it just to see what sort of thing it was.  It's a competent choir, doing some of the expected Christmas tunes, and a couple of small surprises, but nothing you haven't heard elsewhere and probably better.  But I'm sure there's one person out there who had this record as a child, and when they stumble across it here, they will be overjoyed to hear something that takes them back to 1957 and their earliest Christmas memories.  This record is for that person.  And when you find it, please download The Harmony Choristers-Lehman Engel, Conductor-Christmas Hymns And Carols (Harmony (Columbia) HL 7073, Mono, 1957).

1. Wassail Song
2. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
3. Silent Night, Holy Night
4. Holy Day, Holly Carol
5. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
6. Sing We Noel Once More
7. Good King Wenceslas
8. The First Nowell
9. Midwinter
10. Deck The Hall With Boughs Of Holly
11. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
12. Pat-A-Pan
13. O Little Town of Bethlehem
14. In Dulci Jubilo
15. Corpus Christi
16. O Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)

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Soul Food

This is another one of those records that should already be in your collection, but I was very excited to recently add a hard copy to my collection. And when I get a hard copy of something, I rip it for myself. And in this case, you're the lucky ones who get to listen to my work.  Not that I can take much credit for it, the anonymous musicians who formed The Soulful Strings should get all of the praise for making such an interesting record.  That's all I'm going to tell you about this listening experience.  See for yourself, download The Soulful Strings-The Magic Of Christmas (Cadet LPS 814, Stereo, 1968).

1. The Little Drummer Boy
2. Snowfall
3. Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairy
4. Deck The Halls
5. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
6. Sleigh Ride
7. Merry Christmas, Baby
8. Jingle Bells
9. The Christmas Song
10. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers

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Holiday In Hawaii

Hooray! The power is back on. Not as much time as I would like to get posts up tonight, but at least I can get something up. So I've got this great record of instrumental holiday tunes played in a Hawaiian style.  No idea though if anyone associated with this was even remotely linked to Hawaii, but it sounds nice.  I've got a mono copy, but I know it exists in Stereo, so if anyone wants to send a hard copy my way, that would be great.  Until then, you'll have to make do with the mono version of The Paradise Islanders-Christmas In Hawaii (Decca DL 4122, Mono, 1961).

1. Jingle Bells Rock
2. Silver Bells
3. Christmas Island
4. White Christmas
5. Medley: The First Noel-Cantique De Noel (O Holy Night)-Joy To The World
6. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
7. Mele Kalikamaka (The Hawaiian Christmas Song)
8. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
9. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree
10. Christmas In Hawaii
11. Medley: Adeste Fideles-Deck The Hall-Silent Night
12. Jingle Bells

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Christmas Is Cancelled!

Well, for the time being anyhow.  Transformer next door is blown.  Fire is burning.  Power has been turned off to the whole neighborhood.  Running on batteries for now, but who knows for how long.  Update later.

Love That Lenny

I was looking around for something to remaster and post tonight, when I came across this classic LP from Lenny Dee. And I thought, who wants to hear a boring old rehash when I can bring you something that's been shared at just about every other Christmas blog ever on the planet, only in my own unique version? I even scanned the LP cover and most of the colors came out wrong! So if you don't already have this in your collection, and you really should, please download Lenny Dee-Happy Holi-Dee (Decca DL 74146, Stereo, 1961).  And the sweet vocalists you hear on three of the tracks?  Those are the Anita Kerr Singers.

1. Sleigh Ride
2. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
3. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
4. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
5. Mister Santa
6. Jingle Bells
7. Jingle Bell Rock
8. Silver Bells
9. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
10. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
11. Christmas Time Is Here
12. Auld Lang Syne

Whoops!  Looks like this one finally made it to CD this year.  It's included (along with a bunch of other non-Christmas tracks) on a CD called Lenny Dee's Christmas Cracker.  Shame they didn't use this great cover art.

St. Luke

A special little treat from you here, again from crusty old 10" records spinning at 78 RPM. What you are looking at is what many record historians regard as the first true Christmas album. This collection of four 10" records was created as a set, to be sold together, not as a collection of singles as all other Christmas albums had been prior to this.  Not that there were too many before this, but there were.  This one hails from 1944, and I'm sure it was a welcome diversion to the strife of WWII, though I'm not sure who would have been able to afford it at the time, or how Capitol was able to press up copies.  But such mysteries lend a little interest to life, I suppose.  This is a bit rough in places, and it certainly sounds like it was ripped from shellac.  I think I have two copies of this, and I picked and chose the best I could.  So for a step back in time, please download and enjoy Capitol Presents Christmas Carols By The St. Luke's Choristers-William Ripley Dorr, Conductor (Capitol Album A-2 4x10" 78 RPM, Mono, 1944).  Why are there nine tracks?  The last side features two songs, that's how!

1. O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fidelis)
2. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
3. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
4. The First Nowel (aka The First Noel)
5. Silent Night
6. Away In A Manger
7. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
8. Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly
9. Christmas Eve Is Here

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