Dame Edith Not Edna

Tonight is a record that I have looked at for years, but never listened to or recorded.  I finally corrected that situation last night, and now here it is for you to listen to as well.  I've not got much clue as to who Dame Edith Evans was, other than being an English actress of a certain age and talent.  I guess I had secretly hoped for something more along the lines of Dame Edna, but I don't think that's the case here.  More like Dame Judi Dench, perhaps, but without the cool Bond connection.  Doesn't matter, though, since she only features on the long side A track, anyway, alongside The Chorleywood College Blind Children's Choir.  They handle all the singing work, Dame Edith just narrates.  A little digging at Discogs leads me to believe this is a recording from an English kiddie record circa 1959, just licensed and padded out for a 1962 US release. (You can even hear a convenient fade in the middle where they flipped sides on the original 45 release.)  The flip side of this one contains six tracks from four choral groups located around Washington DC.  Nothing too exciting, I'm afraid, but you never know until you try.  This is The First Christmas Including 19 Favorite Christmas Carols (Wonderland RLP 1469, 1962, Mono).

1. Dame Edith Evans With Chorleywood College Blind Children's Choir-The First Christmas (Once In Royal David's City; Away In A Manger; While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks; From Far Away; Love Came Down At Christmas; Hark! The Herald Angels Sing; Ding Dong, Merrily On High; Unto Us A Boy Is Born; We Three Kings Of Orient Are; O Little Town Of Bethlehem; A Day! A Day Of Glory; Little Child Jesus; O Come All Ye Faithful)
2. Washington National Cathedral-Patapan
3. Washington National Cathedral-Benedicamus Domino
4. First Baptist Church Group-Silent Night
5. Georgetown University's Singers-Veni-Veni Emanuel
6. The Church Of The Reformation Choral Group-Lay Down Your Staffs
7. The Church Of The Reformation Choral Group-Sing Noel

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Past, Present And Future

OK, let me go ahead and say this right at the beginning.  This is a weird one.  You'd think it's just another Christmas album by noted choral director Ken Darby and his singers, but that would be too easy. Perhaps the cover clues you in if you look closely at the odd colors and the warped typeface.  The creepy guy in the center ornament doesn't help either.  I hunted this record for a long time before it finally came my way.  I'd seen it mentioned on contemporary Decca Christmas LPs, but for some reason it never turns up.  After you listen to it, you might understand why it's a little rarer than Bing and Burl albums.  I don't really know how to explain it.  It's not bad.  But it's not catchy or poppy, either.  It could easily be the soundtrack to something, but it isn't.  I'm thinking the closest thing it might compare to is Gordon Jenkins' themed albums, like Manhattan Tower or Seven Dreams.  It's like that, if that means anything to you.  It even gets a little sci-fi on the future part, talking about listening to the sounds that left Earth many years ago.  Or is that the past part?  I don't know, it's all too trippy for me.  I'm going to go listen to my copy of Rotary Connection-Peace, that'll make this one sound like Nat.  Maybe.  If you're feeling brave, why not download and listen to Chorus And Orchestra Under Direction Of Ken Darby-The Spirit Of Christmas--Past, Present And Future (Decca DL 78939, Stereo, 1959).  Funny story, I recorded this one two years ago, but then promptly misplaced the record.  I didn't scan it before I lost it, so couldn't do much with it.  Today I found another copy and was able to scan and share it real quick.  Ha, that sure was funny!  I crack myself up!

1. The Spirit Of Christmas Past; Adoremus Te; Noel De Thevet; The Friendly Beasts; Come To Bethlehem; The Coventry Carol; Mary Treads The Snow; Stille Nacht; The Bell-Ringers Carol
2. The Spirit Of Christmas Present; 'Twas The Night Before Christmas; White Christmas; We'll Dress The House
3. The Spirit Of Christmas Present (Con't); Caroling, Caroling; Some Children See Him; Come Dear Children; 'Twas The Night Before Christmas
4. The Spirit Of Christmas Future; To You Who Are As Yet Unborn
5. The Story Of Christmas
6. Another Christmas
7. Finale: Saviour, Saviour

Zippyshare

Old And Red

I get a lot of requests to share my old shares here at the blog, some of them fairly frequently.  However, I think this is the first time I got a request for something that never even got a comment the first (in 2007) or the second (in 2009) time around.  I had just about forgotten about it myself, though I knew I had shared something by Mundell Lowe before.  I'm not aware of any other Christmas music he released under his own name, though as a long-time session musician, he must have played on uncounted releases by other artists through the years.  This being a flexidisc, I'm sure the sound is only marginal, and since I recorded it ten years ago, the recording and bit-rate may not be too up-to-snuff either.  So take it for what it's worth.  This is The Mundell Lowe Ensemble-The Sounds Of Christmas (Ameridisc Red Flexidisc 7" 33 RPM, Mono).

1. Medley: Adeste Fidelis, O Little Town of Bethlehem, The First Noel, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, Silent Night and Joy To The World

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LaFalce Not LaFace

The first share of the year is housed inside this gem of an album cover.  I almost didn't notice that it was Santa Claus at first glance, and I certainly didn't realize he was riding a reindeer until some careful study.  It's drawn in a pretty cool stained glass-looking motif, and there's a signature that looks like Lachman or Leichman, is that someone famous?  I'm not coming up with any hits at Google, but if anyone knows anything, please let me know.  The recording artists here are an a capella group consisting of nine brothers, though I'm not certain if their family name is La Falce or LaFalce.  I see it both ways around the internet, but this LP is pretty consistent in putting a space in there.  It's much less consistent with title of the LP. The front cover says Christmas Sung By The La Falce Brothers, the back cover says Christmas...With La Falce Brothers, and the vinyl just says Christmas.  Take your pick, I don't remember what I put in the track tags.  This album can't have been very popular.  This is the only copy I've ever seen, and it's not listed in many of the usual places around the internet.  The La Falce Brothers appear to have given the fame machine a good shot in the late Fifties, but I don't think they caught on like some other family groups like, say, The Osmonds.  It's certainly worth a listen, I think you'll like it.  This is Christmas With The La Falce Brothers (Jubilee JLP-1058, 1957, Mono).  And this cover is a lost classic!

1. O Come All Ye Faithful

2. Twelve Days Of Christmas

3. We Wish You A Merry Christmas

4. O Little Town Of Bethlehem

5. Joy To The World

6. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

7. Angels We Have Heard On High

8. The First Noel

9. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

10. Deck The Hall

11. Ring Silver Bells

12. I Saw Three Ships

13. Lullay, Thou Little Tiny Child

14. O Holy Night

15. Silent Night

16. What Child Is This

17. Hark The Herald Angels Sing

18. O Come, O Come Emanuel

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Christmas 2017!

Good evening, and welcome to Christmas 2017 at Ernie (Not Bert)!  It's been a few months since I've been around, and in that time I've been busy doing anything and everything except recording Christmas music.  So this year may be a little thin on new music, but only compared to past years.  I'm sure I'll still have a record or two to share that you'll enjoy, and hopefully enough stuff that you'll be able to find something you'll actually like.  I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to say, but it's all escaped me here in the moment I sit down to type this.  In addition to not preparing for the past few months, I've also come down with a bad cold this week, so I haven't been able to do much at all ahead of time.  I have been doing something that I haven't done before, and that is trying to get all the shares from last year loaded up and ready to download again.  So all of you that weren't around last year, soon you'll be able to sift through all the posts from last season and download to your hearts content.  I think I'm about a third of the way through that project, so there are things there to download now, but certainly not everything.  Also, we had a most excellent Christmas in July this year, and for the first time, all of those shares are still active at Christmas!  So be sure to look through those posts and download some really great Christmas music from non-Christmas albums.  I stretched it out through the months of July and September, encompassing over 600 songs this year, so there's something in there for everybody!  Other than that, just keep checking back from now until New Year's to see what old and horrible Christmas music I've dug up to share with you this year. you shouldn't go away disappointed.

And remember, leave me a comment when you can.  All bloggers thrive on comments.  We get hundreds of hits per comment, but the comment means more than all of them.  Just say howdy, let me know where you're from, what you like, what you didn't.  You can leave a request, but there's not much chance I'll have it or have the time to get to it.  But you never know.  Please don't leave lists of all the Christmas music you want, though.  That just ticks me off.

That's it from me for the moment.  Give me a few minutes and I'll get the first share of the year up.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and thanks for stopping by!