Friday, August 11, 2017

Christmas In July 2017 Day 42

Another good stack of stuff for you tonight, but you're going to have to wait until tomorrow for me to give you a track-by-track synopsis.  But trust me, you don't want to miss a day this far into the season!

Zippyshare

OK, next day, I've got some time to type all these titles in.  You guys must not like it when I don't post the contents since I didn't get any comments at all on this post.  I'll expect lots of them once I put these titles up here.  I'd hoped to get to this earlier today, but I've been out all day hunting for more Christmas in July records.  And boy, did I find some!  You'll probably see some of them later on tonight.  Anyhow, let's get to it.

1.  Winter And Spring ("Love's Labour Lost"; Act V, Scene 2) by Maxine Sullivan, another track from her LP Sullivan, Shakespeare, Hyman-Maxine Sullivan Sings The Songs Of William Shakespeare As Set To Music By Dick Hyman (Monmouth Evergreen MES/7038, Stereo, 1971).  Dick Hyman is one of those artists I try to pay a little attention to when I see him.  He played on a ton of stuff, and some of it is very good.  I think he lives around here somewhere, too, but I've never met him.  I went to the grand opening of an art exhibit a few years ago that his wife was in, but neither she nor he showed up.

2. White Christmas from Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians Sing America's Favorite Songs (Reader's Digest 8xLP RDA-238 "Courtesy Of Capitol Records Inc.", Stereo, 1981).  This is the first of a long series of tracks I probably shouldn't have started so late in the season, but here we go.  There was a whole side of Christmas music in this eight record set, and a couple of stray tracks as well.  There is a credit given to Capitol Records, so I'm thinking maybe these are just versions from his Capitol LPs, but it's also possible they're new recordings by an artist signed to the Capitol label.  I need to dig up the Capitol Christmas records to compare.

3. Toy Trumpet March-Christmas Morning-Angel's Return by Dimitri Tiomkin Conducting The Warner Bros. Orchestra from the soundtrack to the movie Giant (Capitol DW-773, Duophonic, 1963).  Wasn't this James Dean's last movie?  Or was it just one of the few he made during his short lifetime?  The year on this one is for the re-released Duophonic version.  I believe the soundtrack was originally released in 1957.  I don't think I've ever seen the movie, but I really enjoy this little bit of the music.

4. That Man Over There (Is Santa Claus) by Frank Chacksfield And His Orchestra, another great version from Meredith Willson's Here's Love (London PS 330, Stereo, 1963).  This record actually showed the Santa Claus subtitle, something I don't think I've seen elsewhere.  Someone had to tell me a few years ago that this was a Christmas song, I had never listened to a version with the lyrics.

5. Snowfall by LeRoy Holmes And His Orchestra, Piano Solo By Dick Hyman, from the LP Theme Songs Of The Great Swing Bands In Hi-Fi (MGM SE3708, Stereo, 1958).  There's Dick Hyman again!  That was quick, and entirely unplanned.

6. Snow (In German) 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).  Yep, I'm back to this one again.  Hope you're enjoying their kiddie voices.

7. Mary's Little Boy Child by Monnajean McIlwain from he album Ten Thousand Angels-Christmas And Gospel Favorites (Mus-I-Col 103727/103728, Stereo).  I tried to look up Monnajean to find a date for this album and was surprised to find a mention of here in a local newspaper.  The album itself made mention of Ohio, so I didn't expect her to run up locally, but that would explain why I've found more than one copy of the LP around.

8. Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming by Oratorio Chorus Of The Guelph Light Opera Company-Charles M. Wilson, Mus. Doc., Director, from Songs For All Seasons (Guelph Light Opera Company GLOC 1968, Recorded in St. James The Apostle Anglican Church, Guelph, Ontario, Stereo).  And that's the Canadian content for the night, in case you're keeping track.  I don't think this blog would be totally legal to play on the air in Canada, but we're trying.

9. Holiday In Poland-Polka (Swieto W Polsce) by Connecticut Twins Orchestra from the album Holiday In Poland (Stella S-LP 926, Stereo).  And there's our Poland track, by way of Connecticut.

10. Christmas-Little Star Beam by Betty S. Beem Smith from Birthdayland's Sing-A-Long Songs For Children (And Their Family) (United Sound V42116, Stereo).  A song for all the kids who's birthday falls on Christmas.

11. When Christ Was Born Of Mary Free by The Children's Choir Of The Mt. Airy Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pa. With Eleanor Newman, Soprano & W. Lawrence Curry, Accompanist, from Let's Sing Hymns For Junior Worship (The Geneva Press 69-0032, Mono).  This seems like a bit much for a bunch of kids, but maybe I'm underestimating the kids of yesteryear.

12. Waltz Of The Flowers (From "The Nutcracker Suite") by The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra-Carmen Dragon, Conductor, from This Is The Hollywood Bowl! (Capitol 2xLP ABO 8496, Mono, 1960).  This is a nice double album with a short bound-in book all about the Hollywood Bowl.  I had two copies and both were in mono, but I think a stereo version exists somewhere out there.  I mostly ripped it so that I could get those two thick records out of the stack of stuff to do. As for this actual track, I've shared it out before in stereo from a side-long version of the whole suite.  I'm sure I'll find it again some day.

13. Still, Still, Still (Austria), a great lost track by The Norman Luboff Choir from the double LP Songs Of The World (Columbia 2xLP C2L 13, Mono, 1958).  I believe this was the only Christmas track left off of a recent collection of all Luboff's Christmas recordings for Columbia Records.  I guess it got lost in the shuffle, which is a shame because it's a great track.  I think this is also the third record from this series of double LPs I've brought to you this year.  Odd coincidence...

14. The Snows Of Kilimanjaro by Earl Grant from Yes Sirree! (Decca DL 4405, Mono, 1963).  Not through with the Earl Grant yet, I think I still have one more song to rip and share.

15. Do Rabbits Have Christmas?, another short poem by Aileen Fisher from the album Poetry Parade-Poets Read Their Poetry For Children (Weston Woods Studios 2xLP ww703 & ww704, Mono).  Still got a lot of these little bits left in the stack.

16. Ave Maria by Mario Lanza Avec Orgue from Extraits De La Bande Sonore Du Film "Warner-Bros" "Serenade" (RCA (France) 530 210, Mono, 1956).  Not sure how I stumbled across a copy from France, but here it is.  And they did love their double quotes on this album cover.

Is that is?  Yes, I think it is.  Now I have to go finish up recording a few things before I share new stuff tonight.  We'll see how long that takes.  :)

4 comments:

  1. i wonder if david rose ever regretted starting (however inadvertantly) the ‘holiday’ fad for various instruments. it was bad enough that spike jones unstrung the original composition with cowbells, clucking chickens and a virtuoso tuba player. every tunesmith in the business then decided to apply the ‘holiday’ idea to bugles, piccolos, mbiras, theremins, didgeridoos, death knells, and anything else that came to mind… or to lips or fingers for that matter. now, we’re starting on countries. that’s all right with me (although i think they should be limited to places that have snowfall or at least where it’s cold outside). but for the late mr rose, perhaps a holiday by any other name…

    ReplyDelete
  2. Any night with lesser known Norman Luboff and Fred Waring material automatically raises things to the next level, whatever that is. With the rest of the selection being eclectic enough to satisfy most of our needs, nowhere here to go wrong. Thank you for another stellar night, and yes, I'm finally caught up once again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Any chance these CHRISTMAS IN JULY 2017 links can be reactivated? The material sounds fascinating! Thank you in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm afraid the Christmas in July stuff is a one-time only deal. Best bet is to grab it when it's new or hope I find another copy of the record and re-do it in another year. Good news is that as of this writing, all the 2018 Christmas in July shares are still up, so go get grabbing!

    ReplyDelete

All comments are greatly appreciated, but replies aren't guaranteed...