Christmas In July 2017 Day 32

Well, the first 31 days were pretty easy, let's see how much further down this road we can go.  I've got a kind of loose theme for tonight, at least for most of the tracks.  I've been saving up a bunch of oddball 70's and 80's seasonal tracks, much later than the sort of thing I usually share.  Some singer-songwriter stuff, folk-rock, country-rock, I think there's even a new wave track in there for some reason.  But the theme doesn't carry all the way through, I couldn't find enough tracks to fill up a whole day.  You'll see once you look through the list.  Not a lot of big names, either.  Just some stuff I found that caught my eye.

1. Winter Moon by George Anne Egerton from the album Single Minded Lady (Single Minded Lady Music NR 17860, Stereo, 1989).  This is getting pretty late-model for me, but I thought it would make a nice addition.  CDs had pretty much taken over the future of music by this point, so there's more of this stuff on CD than vinyl.

2. Simple Gifts by Friends Of Fiddler's Green (Bob & Evelyne Beers, Martha & Eric Nagler And The Boyer Family) from The Seasons Of Peace-A Great Family Sings (Biograph BLP-12033, Stereo, 1971).  I've shared some other tracks off of this one, but I thought it fit the theme pretty well.

3. Rain On Snow by Samantha Jones from Call It Samantha (Ascot (United Artists) AS 16027, Stereo, 1968).  I remember the title on this track didn't match between the album cover and the actual vinyl.  So I listened to it and decided Rain On Snow was correct.  The back of the LP said Rain Or Snow.  Spelling and proofreading are important, people.  I thought this had a very Claudine Longet vibe, except there's no French accent involved.

4. När Juldagsmorgon Glimmar (When Christmas Morning Gleams), some Scandinavian Christmas music fro you from Anne-Charlotte Harvey Accompanied By E. Craig Ruble, Stephen Gammell And Maury Bernstein from the LP Memories Of Snoose Boulevard-Songs Of The Scandinavian-Americans (Olle I Skratthuly Project SP-223, Stereo, 1972).  Hard to find foreign Christmas music, I was quite proud of this one.

5. Joy (Jeso, Joy Of Man's Desiring) by, believe it or not, Kenny Rogers And The First Edition Featuring Gene Lorenzo from the soundtrack of their TV show, Rollin' (Jolly Rogers (MGM) JR 5003, Stereo, 1973).  First off, I didn't even know that The First Edition had a TV show, so there's that.  Second, Gene Lorenzo was the newly added keyboard player in the group, I guess this was a chance for him to show off his chops.  A friend of mine asked recently if KR & The First Edition had done any Christmas music and I said no.  Then I found this!

6. Home For Christmas by The Mid South Boys from City Lights (Morning Star Records MST-4078, Stereo, 1987).  I have a bad habit of picking up just about every record I see and searching for Christmas tracks.  It takes forever, so I can only do it when I have time on my hands, but it does sometimes yield results.

7. Footprints In The Snow by Tom Eslick from Shadows (Kingswood TE-1, Stereo, 1972).  I don't remember anything about this one, so hold on a minute and I'll listen to it. Oh, yeah, Gordon Lightfoot guy.  About a third of the tracks were covers of his songs, and this one really sounds like him.

8. Diamonds In The Snow by Shirley English from her album Diamonds In The Snow (Private Press for Shirley English, Anchorage, Alaska, Stereo, 1979).  Yep, somehow this record migrated from Alaska down to Florida, and I grabbed it.  Gotta love serendipity!

9. Cold Wind Blues by Colwell-Winfield Blues Band from Cold Wind Blues (Verve Forcast (MGM) FTS-3056, Stereo, 1968).  You gotta have a little Blues with your Christmas, at least that's what Stubby always says.

10. Cold Snow by Jonathan Edwards from the eponymous LP Jonathan Edwards (Capricorn SD 862, Stereo, 1971).  I kid you not, the day after I ripped this one, I saw the CD at the store.  I didn't buy it, but I saw it.  Funny how that happens.

11. Christmas In Your Heart by The Wyld Ryce Band from the LP Gimmycks (Wyld Ryce (Canada) WRA1-297, Stereo, 1986).  This one was a real surprise.  One of my favorite finds of the season.  Love the way it turns into a wholly different song in the middle.  She sounds a little like Karen Carpenter, don't cha think?

12. A Child Is Born by The Monks Of Weston Priory from the album Locusts And Wild Honey-Songs For Celebration By The Monks Of Weston Priory (Weston Priory Productions XLP-1020, Stereo, 1971).  I think I have a whole Christmas LP by these guys, they seem to have been quite prolific.

13. Babe Of Bethlehem by Golden Ring from the album Golden Ring-A Gathering Of Friends For Making Music (Folk-Legacy Record FSI-16, Stereo).  Still not sure if Golden Ring is supposed to be the name of the group or the album or both.  So I just assumed both.

14. As Winter Falls by Lyon In Winter from As Winter Falls (Cryptovision CRL 1300, Stereo, 1986).  This is the new wave-ish one I mentioned.  See what you think.

15. Allelulia/Joy Upon This Earth by the great Pete Seeger from his LP Circles & Seasons (Warner Bros BSK 3329, Stereo, 1979).  I thought this one was pretty good.  Half of it was written by his father!

16. Silent Night by George And Madeline Brown from The Story Of The Music Box (Caedmon 10" 33 RPM w/ Book CB-2, Mono, 1952).  Well, I guess that's it for the themed music, we're back to random music box stuff.

17. Ave Maria (Kodály) (In Latin) (From Part 2-Summer) by The Budapest Children's Choir-Valeria Botka And Dr. Laszlo Czanyi, Directors from Recorded "Live" The Budapest Children's Choir At Carnegie Hall-Choral Music Of The Seasons (RCA Victor Red Seal LSC-2861 , Stereo, 1966).  I know there are dozens (hundreds?) of different versions of Ave Maria, but I was a little surprised to find this one included with the Summer section of the album.  More songs coming from this one, all from the Winter section, though.

18. March by French National Symphony Orchestra Conducted By Roger DéSormiere from that same old LP, Nutcracker Suite/Suite From The Swan Lake-Tchaikovsky (Capitol P-8140, Mono, 1954).  Am I almost done with this one?  I don't know anymore...

19. Carol Of The Drums, a new one recorded just tonight from an LP I had to clean the mold off of.  The artist is The University Of Wisconsin A-Cappella Choir and the album is Vision Of Peace (Soma MG 1217, Mono, 1959).  Pretty good stuff, but very quiet.  Turn it up so you can hear it, but beware the peak in the middle.

20. Song For A Winter's Night by Tony Rice from Me And My Guitar (Rounder 0201, Stereo, 1986).  I guess there was one more song to fit my theme after all. Maybe this is the one I was thinking about when I said something about Gordon Lightfoot above.  Especially since this one is actually written by Gordon Lightfoot.  My brain is Christmas-addled.

And that's it for tonight.  20 good songs, I think you'll enjoy them all.  Here's the link, don't forget to keep coming back around, I'm not even close to done yet!

Zippyshare