Music In A Box

Continuing on with a loose theme of resharing things out of the ordinary, here's an album recorded from music boxes that has nothing to do with Rita Ford or some old museum!  A track from this one popped up on random play today and I enjoyed it, so here it is for you!  I first shared this out back in 2008, so it's been around for a while though I don't think it's grown stale.  For some pleasant background sounds, please download The Sounds Of Christmas-The Wonderful World Of The Music Box, Bells And Chimes (Warner Bros. WS 1238, Stereo, 1958).

1. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
2. The First Noel
3. Jolly Old St. Nicolas
4. Away In A Manger
5. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
6. O Christmas Tree
7. O Come All Ye Faithful
8. Silent Night
9. Joy To The World
10. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
11. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
12. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
13. Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly
14. Jingle Bells
15. Winter Wonderland
16. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
17. White Christmas

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Kimball, Not Gum Ball

I got an odd request for something that I didn't think anybody liked, so here it is.  From 2005, one of my least popular shares ever.  I've never remastered this one, so it's low, low, low bitrate, and the sound itself might be a little dodgy. (I've gotten a bit better over the years, I like to think.)  I have found another copy or two in the past ten years, and given a little thought to a re-recording, but never got around to it.  Someday...  In the meantime, you'll have to make do with this copy of A Kimball Christmas (KPO 82-004, Stereo, 1982).

1. Byron Melcher-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
2. John Norton-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
3. Hal Vincent-Mary's Little Boy Chile
4. Bill Ryder-Silver Bells
5. Byron Melcher-Just A Closer Walk With Thee
6. Byron Melcher-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
7. Hal Vincent-Blue Christmas
8. John Norton-Christmas Medley
9. Wade Bray-Sleighride
10. Bill Ryder-O Holy Night

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That Other Ray

I was surprised to discover recently that Ray Charles has passed away this year at the ripe old age of 96.  To be honest, I wasn't aware that he was still alive, but it's my own fault for not checking.  I've been preaching the gospel of the other Ray and his Christmas tunes since 2005, so this year marks 10 years!  Just in case you've somehow missed it for all this time, here's Ray's official Christmas record, The Ray Charles Singers-Here We Come A-Caroling (MGM E3467, Mono, 1956).

1. Here We Come A Caroling
2. Silent Night
3. Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly
4. The First Noel
5. O, Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
6. Lullay, Thou Little Tiny Child
7. Angels We Have Heard On High
8. What Child Is This (Greensleeves)
9. I Saw Three Ships
10. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
11. Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabelle
12. Away In A Manger
13. Good King Wenceslas
14. O, Little Town Of Bethlehem
15. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
16. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
17. God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
18. Rise Up, Shepherd, An' Foller
19. Joy To The World
20. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
21. Here We Come A Caroling

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  And then there's this...I'm still not entirely sure about this one, though I first shared it with you in 2006.  This LP has the same tracklisting as Here We Come A-Caroling, but it's in stereo.  Is it a re-recording?  Is it fake stereo?  Was the original recorded in multi-channel years before that was a common practice, then remixed?  It's going to take some serious sleuthing to figure all that out, and I don't have the drive.  So maybe you can figure it out.  Just leave me a comment with your answer.  Either way, this is The Ray Charles Singers-Christmas At Home (MGM SE-4166, 1963).

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If two albums of (the same?) Christmas music isn't enough for you, here's a seasonally inspired LP from Mr. Charles and his singers.  I think it's every bit as good as the Christmas record, which is doubly impressive since he cranked it out in the same year.  So don't be afraid to download The Ray Charles Singers-Winter Wonderland (MGM E3387, Mono, 1956). This is a 2012 remaster of something I've been sharing since way back in 2005.

1. Winter Wonderland
2. Button Up Your Overcoat
3. June In January
4. When Winter Comes
5. Snowfall
6. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
7. Winter & Theme For Indoor Sports
8. Moonlight In Vermont
9. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
10. When Winter Comes A-Callin'
11. Jingle Bells
12. By The Fireside

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While you're here, you may as well go ahead and download the other three seasons...   Set these aside for now and break them out when seasonally appropriate.  You'll be glad you did.

The Ray Charles Singers-Spring Is Here (MGM E3162, Mono, 1956).

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The Ray Charles Singers-Summertime (MGM E3529, Mono, 1957).

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The Ray Charles Singers-Autumn Nocturne (MGM E3145, Mono, 1954).

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Still not enough?  Find a couple more tracks here and here.

Christmas, 2015

I know, I know, you want me to share such-and-such with you from 8 years ago because you grew up with it or your mom liked it or whatever.  OK, I get it, I appreciate it, but I can't reshare everything or keep the old shares up, it's just too much work.  And too many shares are going to draw the attention of someone who might not like Christmas sharing.  But like last year, maybe I can throw up something now and then just to keep the home fires burning.  And the first interesting request of the year came in almost a month ago for something I hadn't thought of in a long time...

This is Tammy, one of the many dolls that used to compete for shelf space with Barbie and I'm sure many other forgotten dolls of the sixties.  And sure enough, she put out a Christmas album.  For slightly more info, you can go and read what I wrote about her back in 2010, or you can just download Tammy-Merry Christmas With Tammy (Little World Records (Ideal Toy Corp., Midnight Music) LW-906, Mono, 1965).

1. Intro
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
3. O Christmas Tree
4. Deck The Halls
5. Silent Night
6. Winter Wonderland
7. Joy To The World
8. Greensleeves
9. Hark The Herald Angels Sing
10. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
11. O Come All Ye Faithful
12. Jingle Bells
13. The Story Of The Night Before Christmas-With Pepper!
14. We Wish You A Merry Christmas


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And if Tammy is too cool for you, there's always Heidi.  Heidi first graced my blog back in 2008, so she's been around a long, long time. I'm sure you want to see what life was like back before George Lucas went to film school, so go give a listen to Heidi-The Night Before Christmas (Majorette M-304, Mono, 1965).

1. Introduction
2. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
3. Silent Night
4. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
5. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
6. O Christmas Tree
7. Deck The Halls
8. Frosty The Snowman
9. Joy To The World
10. The First Noel
11. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
12. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
13. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
14. And The Night Before Christmas Story

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