Friday, November 23, 2012

A Real Shiner

Since I already sorta let the cat out of the bag on this one on my Torrents post, I'll go ahead and throw it up here as an official post.When I spotted that cover, I thought it was yet another repackaging of those same old kiddie records from Peter Pan or Synthetic Plastics or Precision Radiation or their ilk, but I was wrong.  This was a real, though short-lived, label, and a real, though little-known, artist.  I think they were looking for a different audience than who would really appreciate this music, but whatever, at least they got it out there.  Merv Shiner was a country artist who had a huge hit with Here Comes Peter Cottontail back in 1950, and he stayed active in the music industry for many years after that, looking for another hit like that one.  He never really found anything that took him back into the public eye like that song did, but he did release some interesting stuff, including this Christmas record.  Maybe the Christmas Kiddie label was attached to appeal to fans of his Peter Cottontail days, I don't know.  But it's a nice record, and good luck finding a copy for yourself.  This is the only one I've ever seen, and I nearly passed it over.  That just goes to show you kids, buy every single Christmas record you see, and sort out the garbage later!  That said, why don't you go ahead and download Merv Shiner-Greatest Christmas Kiddie Hits (Certron Corporation CS-7012, Stereo, 1970).  1970, that sure was a great year!

1. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
2. Little Drummer Boy
3. Oh, Little Town Of Bethlehem
4. Here Comes Santa Claus
5. Twas The Night Before Christmas
6. Frosty The Snowman
7. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
8. White Christmas
9. Pancho's Snowball (this right here is the track you want for your Christmas mix!)
10. Jingle Bells
11. Away In A Manger
12. I Saw Mommie Kissing Santa Claus

MediaFire
Torrent

3 comments:

  1. Thanks! It's not bad, the two tracks that's worth the effort are "Away in a Manger" (the keyboards/harpsichord, done nicely) and the melody for "Pancho's Snowball." Otherwise, the music sounds more suitable for Johnny Cash and others with a distinctive voice while Merv sounds a bit generic (don't mean it in a mean way).

    However, a nice album for Christmas listening. Thanks again.

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  2. I have searched and searched for this album. My family had it when I was little and I still remember all the words to Pancho's Snowball. I want to download these songs so badly but itunes doesnt have them & i can't get MediaFire to work on my iPad. :( Any suggestions?

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  3. @ Sherry, I have this Merv Shiner Christmas album in Excellent condition on * both * the Cover Jacket and the Vinyl too. There isn't even any "spindle hole" markings to indicate it was ever played! Please let me know if you're interested in buying it, Thanks, Paul

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