Christmas In July 2017 Day 34

Another day, another giant stack of Christmas music from the archives for you.  How much longer can I go?  I don't know, but we'll see.  Let's jump right in.

1. Winter Child by Michael Kamen, the artist now well-known as a film composer, but this comes from his rocking days and the album New York Rock (Atco SD 7020, Stereo, 1973).  This track would have fit in very well on my theme day a little while back.

2. Snowfall by Joe Harnell from Golden Piano Hits (Columbia CS 9266, Stereo, 1966).  This track turns up in a lot of places, it's one of the ones I have to keep my eyes out for.

3. Sleigh Ride as performed by Piano Rolls from the cheapie album The Sound Of Piano Rolls (AKA The Sound Of Piano Rolls In Percussion) (International Award Series AKS-199, Stereo).  Kinda neat.

4. Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring by Lorin Hollander, Pianist, from the LP A Lorin Hollander Concert (RCA Victor Red Seal LSC-2912, Stereo, 1966).  I just found this one today when I stopped at a Goodwill after lunch.  There's Christmas music everywhere, I tell you, everywhere!

5. Horse And Buggy by Leroy Anderson from Leroy Anderson Conducts His Music (Decca DL 78954, Stereo, 1960).  Listen to this and compare it to Sleigh Ride.  Tell me he wasn't trying to rewrite his earlier hit.

6. The Holly Bears A Berry by Golden Ring from Golden Ring-A Gathering Of Friends For Making Music (Folk-Legacy Record FSI-16, Stereo).  I've never been quite clear on the significance or symbolism of this song.  I guess I should look that up.

7. From Heaven Above by The Concordia Choir-Paul J. Christiansen, Conductor-Soloist Donna Lindeman, from O Crux (Concordia Records/Mark MC-14005, Stereo).  I wasn't going to record this one, but was reading the lyrics while recording another song on the LP.  Then I realized I was missing something.

8. Freeze And Melt by Sing & Learn from the album Seasonal Songs (Macmillan Educational Company 09015, Stereo, 1989).  Be sure you play along.

9. Footprints In The Snow (Preludes, Book 1, No. 6), some electronic sounds from Tomita and his LP Snowflakes Are Dancing-The Newest Sound Of Debussy (RCA Red Seal ARD1-0488 (Quadradisc), Quadrophonic, 1974).  The second album this season in quad.  This one isn't nearly as obscure as the other one was, though.  This one was in a lot of hip listeners record collections back in the day.  Seminal electronic music.

10. Christmas Message From Gemini 6 by Astronaut Walter C. Shirra With Narration By Bill Larson, another track from Voices Of Space (Century Records 32909, Stereo).  Sometime later I intend to share a version of this entire side of the record that hasn't been cut into tracks, so you can see how it all fits together.  This is how it begins.

11. Christmas Carol-Aguinaldo by Unknown Puerto Rican Children from Latin American Children Game Songs-Recorded In Puerto Rico And Mexico By Henrietta Yurchenco (Folkways FC 7851, Electronically Rechanneled To Simulate Stereo, 1968).  These unknown kids just keep popping up, don't they.

12. The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus by the great Ogden Nash from Ogden Nash's Parents Keep Out Read By Ogden Nash (Caedmon TC 1282, Stereo, 1969).  I love Ogden's witty poetry.  This track was also featured on his rare Christmas album, but I figured you needed to hear it again.

13. Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind ("As You Like It"; Act II, Scene 7) by Maxine Sullivan from the album Sullivan, Shakespeare, Hyman-Maxine Sullivan Sings The Songs Of William Shakespeare As Set To Music By Dick Hyman (Monmouth Evergreen MES/7038, Stereo, 1971).  Not only did Dick Hyman co-write all the tracks on this LP, he plays all sorts of keyboard instruments on it as well.

14. Waltz Of The Flowers, tonight's obligatory track by French National Symphony Orchestra Conducted By Roger DéSormiere, from Nutcracker Suite/Suite From The Swan Lake-Tchaikovsky (Capitol P-8140, Mono, 1954).  This late in the season, I find my stack of records to rip is almost half Nutcracker tracks.  And I refuse to subject you to that many versions of The Nutcracker Suite.  Promise.

15. Moonlight In Vermont by Willis Conover Presents The Orchestra-Joe Timer, Musical Director, from Willis Conover's House Of Sounds (Brunswick BL 54003, Mono, 1954).  Not entirely sure who Willis Conover was, or if he actually played on this LP.  I kind of lean towards no after reading the liner notes, but it's not exactly clear cut.

16. The Miracle Star And The Miracle Baby by Wendell Loveless With Hermon Voss At The Organ, from Great Stories From The Bible (Word W 3029-LP, Mono, 1958).  Because you need more spoken word stuff in your library.

17. Jingle Bells by The Alley Singers...Phil Stern And Al Brennan from the LP Side By Side (RCA Victor LPM-1629, Mono, 1958).  Now this is the type of track I hunt for!

18. Good Christian Men, Rejoice (December) by Concert Choir Of Pfeiffer College from Hymn Of The Month-Album 8 (Graded Press No Number, Mono, 1970).  I found a small pile of these Hymn Of The Month albums sometime back, but I just rediscovered them the other day, so I've pulled a few Christmastime hymns from them for your listening enjoyment.

19. From Echoes Of Christmas: Skaters Waltz-Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy as performed by George Feyer, Piano, from his sampler LP This Is Feyer-Echoes, The Best Musical Trips On Record-A Voxample (Vox SFP-1, Mono).  These are a couple of songs from Feyer's great Christmas LP.  If you've never heard it, it's quite the lounge artifact.

20. Christmas-East Cheam Style by Tony Hancock With Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques & Bill Kerr from the soundtrack LP Unique Hancock (BBC Records REB 150M, Mono, 1973).  I don't know the story of the show this is from, but when I see Christmas in the title of just about anything, I have to grab it and give it a listen.  This is a little skit about how much the star of the show is like Scrooge.

And that's it.  Long day, off to bed soon.  Enjoy the music from today!

Zippyshare