Christmas In July 2020-06
Good evening, and welcome back! Tall stack of goodies again for you tonight, so let's jump right in.
1. Ten Wheel Drive With Genya Ravan-Candy Man Blues from Construction #1 (Polydor 24-4008, Stereo, 1969). Not Christmas, but different nonetheless.
2. Deodato-Ave Maria from Whirlwinds (MCA (Canada) MCA 410, Stereo, 1974). A very different treatment of this that you've probably not heard before.
3. Los Fronterizos-Cantoria De La Basilica Del Socorro-Directed By Father R.P. Segade-Conducted By Ariel Ramirez-Navided Nuestra-La Anunciación (Chamamé) from Misa Criolla-From The Argentine-A Folkloristic Expression Of Religious Emotions (Philips (Netherlands) 6527 136, originally released 1964, Stereo, 1980). The first of a series of interesting takes on the Christmas season from this LP.
4. The Boyle Junior Band, Kenneth V. Gargaro-Director-Chipmunk Song from Big Band-The Boyle Bands "69" (Engle Associates Recording No Number, Stereo, 1969). It may have ben one of the most popular new Christmas songs of it's day, but you don't find too many versions of this one. I was so excited!
5. Eddie Maynard And His Orchestra-Vocals By Patrice Roselle & Rosemary Hayes-My Favorite Things from Selections From The New Broadway Musical The Sound Of Music By Rodgers And Hammerstein (Parade Records SP 378, Mono, 1960). Budget label dreck.
6. The Texas Boys Choir-George Bragg, Conductor-Sydney Laudenslager, Harp-As Dew In Aprille-This Little Babe from Britten: A Ceremony Of Carols-Gregg Smith: Bible Songs For Young Voices (Vox Turnabout TV-S 34544, Stereo, 1973). I made a note in the comments on this one about this being listed as two songs on the sleeve, but playing through as one long song on the vinyl. I'm sure that took me forever to figure out, but I don't remember much about it. That's the problem with recording this music so far ahead.
7. South Denver High School Choir-Richard B. Eichenberger, Director-Hodie Christus Natus Est from The South High School A Cappella Choir 1954 (No Label LP3 Transparent Red Vinyl, Mono, 1954). Some homemade goodness for you here. Love the colored vinyl!
8. Mission Viejo Chapter-Sweet Adelines-Toy Soldiers On Parade from Phoenix-35th Annual International Convention & Competition (Sweet Adelines 2xLP SHX-81-48, Stereo, 1981). Hard to find much barbershop Christmas music.
9. Snowtime by an unknown artist from New Vistas For Concert Band Vol. VII (Jenson Publications 2xLP JP-1100, Stereo, 1980). Your daily demo track.
10. Alexei Cherkassov, Piano-January-By The Hearth from Tchaikovsky-The Seasons (Columbia Masterworks/Melodiya 2xLP MG 35184, Stereo, 1978). This was an interesting album, and I'm going to wind up sharing a lot of tracks from it. Two complete versions of Tchaikovsky's series of songs for each month of the year, both of them recorded in the then-USSR.
11. Esther Williams And Ricardo Montalban-Baby, It's Cold Outside from Original Sound Track Hits-Recorded Directly From The Sound Tracks Of MGM Musicals (Lion (MGM) L70122, Mono, 1959). I think this was the original version of this creepy duet, though this is a reissue on a later collection of movie songs. Khaaaaaaaan!
12. Cyndi Grecco-Love Him In December from Making Our Dreams Come True (Private Stock PS 2014, Stereo, 1976). Couldn't find anything about July, so this will have to do.
13. Rocky River High School Choir, Harlan L Thomas-Conductor, Jeanette Livermore-Soprano, Bob Miles-Baritone-Oh, Mary Where Is Your Baby? from Rhythms In River 1963 (Delta Records Of Ohio XCTV-90394/90395, Stereo, 1963). I find lots of these high school records, don't I?
14. Jimmy Sturr And His Orchestra-Ice Castles from Born To Polka (Starr Records L.P. 568, Stereo). Yes, a polka!
15. Jimmy James-All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) from Dumb Ditties (K-tel NU 9330, Stereo, 1977). Yes, the infamous K-Tel. It appears that this version was created just for this record, I couldn't find head nor tail of this artist anywhere else. Good for us then.
And that's it. It takes so long to type all this in, I'm tuckered out afterwards and need to take a nap. Here's the link, see you tomorrow!
I have to admit I never expected to hear a big band version of the Chipmunk Song.
ReplyDelete"Hard to find much barbershop Christmas music" - thank goodness.
Rocky River is one town over from where I live. Have you been hanging out around here?
If I were hanging out in Ohio, I'd be sure to let you know. :)
ReplyDeleteMy experience with Britten's "This Little Babe" was as our choir women sang it. We had a harpist for that one. The harp music sounded very familiar. Maybe the tempo was faster for our performances, would have to dig one of my recordings out to check.
ReplyDeleteAs always, SO MANY THANKS to you for finding, digitizing, cleaning up, and sharing these, Ernie. You make July a better time than it would be otherwise.
Eventually, if you're interested (and if I can find one), I'll send you a seasonal CD that our then-choir did as a fund-raiser late in the 20th century.
Thanks again, Ernie.
Sweet! I love the music of the late 20th Century! :)
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to chime in to say that I really enjoyed January by the Hearth. It really doesn't scream out "Christmas" but for whatever reason, I really liked this track.
ReplyDeleteAlways appreciate the feedback. There should be another version of that composition coming later on in the month.
ReplyDelete