Eh, Dino

Going way back to Christmas of 2010 for this one, and even earlier for the mono version, this is a great little LP from the budget department of Columbia Records.  Not sure what it is about these budget recordings that attracts me, but I suspect it's the fact that I haven't heard the music ten thousand times already.  This Dino did a few other albums, but not too many, so I'm betting this is something you haven't heard from a person you haven't heard of.  Please enjoy Dino Martinelli-Dino Martinelli Plays Music For Christmas (Harmony (Columbia) HS 11010, Stereo, 1959).

1. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
2. What Child Is This
3. The First Noel
4. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
5. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
6. The Coventry Carol
7. Silent Night, Holy Night
8. O Come, All Ye Faithful
9. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
10. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
11. Joy To The World
12. O Holy Night

Zippyshare

First In A While

I have not found a new picture by Demilio in a long time, and then this popped up today in a stack of records!  I'm sure most of you don't remember, but I used to collect and post LP covers that this artist did for the London label (originating with Decca UK, I believe) back in the 50's.  I know nothing about him, and only a little about what albums he did.  This particular one is from Stanley Black-Carnival In The Sun (London LL 1100). Isn't it great?  You can see more of these covers if you search the blog here.

...To All Of You

Another day, another share.  If this one looks familiar, I don't know why.  All you have to do is closely examine the tracklist to see that it has different artists (mostly) than the record with the same cover shared out yesterday.  Took me a while to realize I hadn't bought the same record again, though that happens a lot more often than I like to admit.  (Do I have this in stereo?  With the insert? Is this cover different?  Is that copy I got yesterday in decent shape?  Does this inner sleeve feature different advertising?)  Anyhow, this is another record that has a few celebrity greetings and intros for songs, and will go great on your Christmas CD that I know you're hard at work on now.  Or if you're done with it, squirrel this away for next year (and don't forget to send me a copy!).  This is Songs For The Season (#2) (Narwood Productions For The US Army Reserve, Stereo).

1. Andy Williams

2. Eydie Gorme

3. Danny Davis

4. The Lettermen

5. Vic Damone

6. Jack Jones

7. Lena Horne

8. Hank Thompson

9. Booker T.

10. Johnny Mathis

Zippyshare

RIP Florence Henderson

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Florence Henderson yesterday.  2016 has been a rough year as far as the deaths of beloved celebrities and the trend looks like it's going to continue. Like just about every other kid in America my age, I grew up watching reruns of The Brady Bunch.  I didn't realize at the time that it was just a ripoff of a couple of different movies, but then everything is derivative of something.  I'm not aware of any Christmas music put out by The Brady Bunch, so this promo record for The US Navy will have to do.  Florence introduces a track and gives a short spiel about those poor folks serving in the military and being away from home in the holiday season.  I first shared this in 2007, and I don't think it's seen the light of day since.  It even took me a while to find my files tonight when I thought about it.  If memory serves, this was the first ever record of this type I ever found.  I included 4 or 5 of the introductions on a tape I made back in the 90's, even though they all use very similar scripts.  My tapes weren't very creative, I assure you.  Perhaps that's why I don't do them anymore.  Anyhow, please join me in honoring a small part of the life of television icon Florence Henderson and download A Different Kind Of Christmas (The United States Navy).

1. Eddy Arnold
2. Phyllis Diller
3. Jack Webb
4. Norm Crosby
5. Florence Henderson
6. Robert Young
7. Gary Crosby
8. Shirley Jones
9. George Maharis
10. Edie Adams

Wow, lots of TV icons in there!  I had forgotten some of those.

Zippyshare

From All Of Us...

While there're still plenty of days before Christmas, I've got a few spoken word Christmas greeting records I want to share out. I'll begin with this record from The US Army Reserve inviting you to support their mission in your local neighborhood.  I'm not sure of the year on this one, but I want to say early to mid-70's.  That's going by the dates on some of the songs included, and the few traces I found of this record on the internet.  So if you're looking for some interesting Christmas introductions for your comp this year, this is a good place to start.  This is Songs For The Season (Narwood Productions for The US Army Reserve, Stereo)

1. Mel Torme
2. Danny Davis
3. Patti Page
4. Tex Ritter
5. Sandler & Young
6. Skitch Henderson
7. Liberace
8. The Lettermen
9. Hank Thompson
10. Anne Murray

Zippyshare

Help Wanted

I think I need an intern.  Anybody out there know how to record vinyl & shellac, declick it, de-noise it, change the EQ, change the speed, cut the audio into tracks, tag all the tracks, scan the artwork, stitch the artwork, edit the artwork, create MP3s, add the artwork to the MP3s, bundle it all up, upload the package to a host, then type all the info into a blog post along with somewhat witty banter, and do it multiple times a day?  Must be familiar with Audacity, ClickRepair, iTunes, ICE, Gimp, Zippyshare, Blogger, 7-Zip and the Windows OS in general.  You also have to answer emails about why people can't download files shared out nine years ago on a hosting platform that no longer exists.  I'm afraid it's an unpaid internship and you don't get to keep the records. Oh, and credits earned are unlikely to transfer.  Vinyl hipsters need not apply.  Leave your resume and a cover letter in the comments. (That should give me more time to go out and dig some crates!)

Return Of The Blue Christmas

One of a few remasters I hope to bring you this year, I got a new copy of this EP recently in a trade (Hi, Simon!) and I was excited because now I have the cover.  I didn't even know there was a cover until last year at record show when a dealer showed me a couple shopping bags full of Christmas singles that weren't for sale.  Among the many treasures he let me see in those bags was this EP cover. But now I have a copy of my own, and I'm sharing it with you. I think I first shared this with you back in 2007, but here it is sounding better than ever, and with a nice picture sleeve to boot!  Please enjoy Blue Barron-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town EP (MGM X1055, 1953, Mono).

1. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
2. Red Cheeks And White Whiskers
3. Santa Claus Lullaby
4. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Zippyshare

Air Force Two

This is the record that was released the year following the one I just shared, and it's more great stuff from your local Air Force recruiter.  I first shared this back in 2012, and I was so happy to have found it and shared it.  It's another rare one, this time featuring Sandler & Young on one side, and The Free Design on the other.  Believe me, you want those tracks from The Free Design.  Looks like I never typed out all the tracks on this one, looks like there are an awful lot of them.  But don't let that deter you, you want this one!  Please grab yourself a digital copy of The United States Air Force Presents The Now Sound Of Christmas And A Christmas Party 1968 Featuring Sandler & Young And The Free Design With The United States Air Force Band (Advertising Division, Hq. U.S. Air Force, Stereo, 1968).

Zippyshare (Full sides, complete show as presented on the record)
Zippyshare (Everything cut into tracks with weird and abrupt fades)

Air Force One

One of the finds I was most excited about this season is this little beauty right here.  One of a series of albums put out by the Air Force in the sixties as a way of driving recruitment efforts, it pairs a couple of big stars with the USAF in-house band, The Airmen Of Note.  I've brought you several other editions from this series in the past, and I even brought you a track lifted from  this one and put out on a sampler back during Christmas In July last year.  But this year, I finally grabbed a copy of this one, the one I've been waiting years to find.  I just happened to look it up one day and someone was selling it on Amazon, so it pays to keep checking.  My only bit of sad news is that it's a mono copy.  I did a bit of research, and I do believe there are stereo copies out there, but they have to be few and far between.  So before I get too excited about this and type another dozen paragraphs, please download and given a listen to this otherwise unreleased music from Nancy Wilson, The Doodletown Pipers, Boris Karloff (fresh off of his Grinch work!) & The Airmen Of Note in From The Nation's Capitol The United States Air Force Presents Christmas (United States Air Force No Number "A Public Service Program", Mono, 1967).

Side 1-It's Christmas Time With Nancy Wilson & The Doodletown Pipers
Side 2-Timmy Discovers Christmas With Boris Karloff

Zippyshare (Two long radio shows as presented on the record)

1. Intro
2. It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (Nancy Wilson)
3. Magic Little Music Box (Nancy Wilson)
4. We Need A Little Christmas (The Doodletown Pipers)
5. What Child Is This (Nancy Wilson)
6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (The Airmen Of Note)
7. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve (Nancy Wilson)
8. Go Tell It On The Mountain (The Doodletown Pipers)
9. O Holy Night (Nancy Wilson)
10. Christmas At Our Place (The Doodletown Pipers)
11. Finale
12.  Promo
13. Intro
14. Overture
15. Timmy Discovers Christmas (Boris Karloff)
16. Outro; Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
17. Promo

(I actually chopped it into quite a few more tracks than this, but they're all just called Intro To... or something like that.)

Zippyshare (Everything chopped up into individual tracks, with sometimes abrupt fades)

Whew, I'd forgotten how much work it is to post stuff up here!  I'm not going to be sharing as much this year a in years past, it's just too much work!

And...We're Back!

Well, here we go.  2016, who'd have believed it!  I don't have a whole lot to say, other than welcome to Ernie (Not Bert) and our somewhat annual celebration of the Christmas music that you've never heard before.  Well, actually, a lot of it you will have heard before because I shared it out years ago and you downloaded it then, but maybe there'll be a new record to share here and there.  For those of you just joining us, I like to share out old Christmas records around here, things that I find in junk stores across the state, things that have fallen out of favor over the years.  All of it is lovingly transferred by me from my old copies of the vinyl or shellac, images are scanned in and stitched together to give you a reasonably good likeness of the physical copy I worked with.  I make no promises of audio fidelity or good music or pretty pictures.  But hopefully you'll find something worth your time and effort.  I know I enjoy putting all this stuff on random play and then letting it play away.  Please remember, this blog runs on comments, so don't be afraid to leave a note now and then.  And big thanks to Inkydog for his help restoring the cassette scan you see above.  I'd never seen that version of the Maxell Blown Away guy before, but when I discovered it, I had to buy the tape and share the picture with you.  Merry Christmas!