Saturday, July 17, 2021

July The Seventeenth

Time for yet another installment of The Best Of Christmas In July from Ernie (Not Bert), this time from 2017. It was a long time ago (even though it turns out I didn't post the collection until last year), so the music is a little hard to remember, but at least I can remember when I found St. Nicholas Avenue. It was up on the northern end of Manhattan Island, somewhere in the parts that still retain a bit of a Dutch influence after all these years. I knew as soon as I took the pic that it would wind up on a Christmas In July cover, and sure enough, here it is! Some finds are just that easy. The music is a nice long collection of stuff that was new in 2017, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.  Go give it a listen and I'll see you again in a couple of days.
 
1) Vic Damone-Arr. & Cond. By Norm Geller-The Sal Carson Orch.--Christmas In San Francisco
2) Mieke And Nina--Sint Nicolaas Potpourri (St. Nicholas Medley)
3) The Ringers On-The-Green--Fum, Fum, Fum
4) Bob Lowry With Joseph Kahn-Piano--Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
5) The Wyld Ryce Band--Christmas In Your Heart
6) Ted Heath And His Music--Baby Doll (Theme From "Baby Doll")
7) Earl Grant With Chorus And Instrumental Accompaniment Directed By Thurston Frazier--Children Go Where I Send Thee
8) Silver Burdett Records--African Noel
9) Friends Of Fiddler's Green (Bob & Evelyne Beers, Martha & Eric Nagler And The Boyer Family)--The Peace Carol
10) The Goodies--Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me
11) Jose Melis, His Piano And Orchestra--March Of The Flowers
12) Glenn Yarbrough--We Won't Freeze
13) Hugo Montenegro, Moog Synthesizer Performed By Eddie Kalehoff--A Hazy Shade Of Winter
14) Gloria Lynne With The Earl May Trio--On Christmas Day
15) Kitty Kallen & Richard Hayes--Silver Bells From The Paramount Picture "The Lemon Drop Kid"
16) Jo Stafford With Orchestra Conducted By Paul Weston--I Wonder As I Wander
17) The Somerset Strings--The Bells Of St. Mary's
18) Leslie Uggams-Arranged And Conducted By Glenn Osser--Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
19) The Kermit Leslie Orchestra--Walking On Ice
20) The Murk Family With Accompanist-Arranger Betty Bowman--Winter Medley: The First Snowfall Of The Winter; Winter Wonderland; Frosty The Snowman; Let It Snow; You Belong To Me; We've Got Our Love To Keep Us Warm
21) The Big Band Swing Sound Of Charles Bud Dant Featuring Singing Instrumentals By The Clark Sisters--March Of The Toys
22) Harry Koenig--White Christmas
23) The New Singing Sergeants With The US Air Force Band--We Need A Little Christmas, From "Mame"
24) Liz Anderson--The Spirit Of Christmas
25) The San Sebastian Strings-Narrator: Gene Merlino, Vocal Solo: Anita Kerr--When Winter Comes
26) The Singers Unlimited--Snowfall
27) Anne-Charlotte Harvey Accompanied By E. Craig Ruble, Stephen Gammell And Maury Bernstein--När Juldagsmorgon Glimmar (When Christmas Morning Gleams)
28) B. Bumble & The Stingers--Nut Rocker
29) Adele Addison And The Jubilee Singers--Go Tell It On The Mountain
30) Country Joe And The Fish--Dirty Claus Rag
31) The Tokens--Perhaps, The Joy Of Giving
32) Arlo Guthrie--The Pause Of Mr. Claus-Edit
33) Frederick Fennell, Eastman Wind Ensemble--Christmas Festival
34) Tony Fontane--Christmas
35) Jimmy Newman--Blue Lonely Winter
36) Toni Arden With Chorus And Orchestra Conducted By Earl Sheldon--Ave Maria
37) Pete Seeger--Allelulia/Joy Upon This Earth
38) Frank Chacksfield And His Orchestra--Adeste Fideles March
39) Trio Shmeed-Orchestra Conducted By Don Costa--Winter Time
40) Joe Harnell And His Trio--Sugar Plum
41) The Norman Luboff Choir--Still, Still, Still (Austria)
42) Zacharias And His Magic Violins--Northern Lights (Nordlicht), Polka
43) The McNulty Family--Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake
44) Guitar Magic--God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
45) Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra--Blue December
46) The Lions--Happy New Year Twist (Auld Lang Syne)

Thursday, July 15, 2021

July The Fifteenth

Today marks the halfway point of the month, and this is more than halfway through my old Christmas in July collections. Not sure how this is going to end, but planning ahead was never my strong suit. I think this is my favorite cover of all the collections, it's simple but effective. Great shot of some Christmas bulbs in a box on a table of Christmas decorations at the local Salvation Army store. I wasn't even thinking about a cover shot when I took the photo with my cellphone, but I thought about it later when I was looking for a pic, and here it is. The overlay across the bottom was inspired by a reissue series some label was doing a few years ago, it may have been a removable piece of plastic on the actual CDs, but in my version, it's just a transparent white overlay. At the end of the day, it made a great cover and I'm proud of it (unlike that hack job from yesterday...). This collection of Christmas in July tunes from the 2015 season first came out in 2016, which is really quick for me. Do the tunes hang together after all these years? I think so.  Looking through the tracklist, I can remember many of them, so they at least made an impression. Give it a spin, and let me know what you think!

 
1. The Arthur Lyman Group-Greensleeves
2. Jimmie Davis-Going Home For Christmas
3. Blossom Dearie With Bob Dorough-Baby It's Cold Outside-Live
4. Chet Baker And The Carmel Strings-Christmas Song
5. Johnny Kemp-Christmas Time In Nassau
6. Bob Vernon-Go Tell It On The Mountain
7. The Marshall Family-Children, Go Where I Send Thee
8. Judy Holliday & Gerry Mulligan-It Must Be Christmas
9. The Clark Sisters-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
10. Duane Eddy-Long Lonely Days Of Winter
11. Turk Murphy-Santa Claus Blues
12. The Anita Kerr Singers-Snowbound
13. 101 Strings-The Sound Of Christmas
14. The Bek Brothers-The Virgin Mary
15. The Airmen Of Note With Nancy Wilson-What Child Is This
16. Leslie Uggams-Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
17. Chuy Reyes And His Orchestra-Rumba De Fleur
18. Sue Brason-Chanukah (Is Here At Last)
19. The Louis Castellucci Military Band-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
20. Marlene Dietrich-Der Trommelmann
21. Doris Day-Christmas Story
22. The King Sisters And The Children-Chree-See-Mus
23. Connie Francis-Ave Maria
24. Red Carter-Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
25. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Choir-O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
26. James A. Miller-Little Baby Jesus
27. Les Brown And His Band Of Renown-Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
28. Jimmy Joyce-Department Store Santa Claus
29. Tom Glazer With Jeffrey Alden-Auld Lang Syne Parody

MEGA

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

July The Thirteenth

Well, what can I say about that cover... It's certainly not my favorite I ever did. I think I had just recently finished scanning an album I wanted to share on the Word label, so I just took the record label and ran with it. Clearly, I didn't run far enough. I didn't even spend any time trying to match the font color to the original.  Sigh. They can's all be winners. And even better, I duplicated a Merle Haggard track on here from the 2009 best-of. Hopefully there's some good music on here to make it worth the download. There were four long years between 2012 when I shared out these tracks during Christmas in July and 2016 when I finally shared out the best-of. That may be a record. I can be lazy sometimes, what can I say? Here's a list of the tracks, no links I'm afraid, as I'm too lazy busy.

 
1. Dennis Hinman-Christmas In July
2. The McGuire Sisters-Be A Santa
3. Hap Miller-Sun Vally Twist
4. Nina-Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?
5. Hal Blaine-Love-In (December)
6. Gaylord & Holiday-Italian Christmas Song
7. Elton Britt-The Skater's Yodel
8. Rosemary Clooney-Me And My Teddy Bear
9. Jerry Murad's Harmonicats-Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite
10. Monte Kelly-Snow-Snow
11. Shirley Temple-That's What I Want For Christmas
12. The Camarata Contemporary Chamber Orchestra-Traineau (The Sleigh Ride)
13. The Gentlemen's Agreement-The Twelve Days Of Christmas
14. Ogden Nash-A Word About Winter
15. The Chad Mitchell Trio-Super Skier
16. The Alley Singers...Phil Stern And Al Brennan-Jingle Bells
17. Jim Mandell-The Reason Everybody Likes Christmas
18. The Guitars, Inc.-Snowfall
19. Jane Morgan-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
20. The Dukes Of Dixieland And Clara Ward-Children Go Where I Send Thee
21. Neal Hefti-White Christmas
22. John Davidson-Snowbound
23. Ichiro Masuda Qunitet-Frost Flowers
24. Hugo Winterhalter-Blue December
25. Joe Bushkin-Everyday Is Christmas
26. Merle Haggard-Blue Christmas
27. Leo Addeo-June In January
28. The American Breed-Powder
29. The Harry Simeone Chorale-The Toy Drum
30. Vincent Price-A Visit From St. Nicholas

MEGA

Sunday, July 11, 2021

July The Eleventh

I'm posting late, but I'm still getting this job done. This was probably the biggest collection of music I'd ever shared, a full two CDs worth of Christmas in July, and I think it holds together just as well as any of the shorter collections. You'll get a lot of listening pleasure out of this one from 2011.

 
1. Lena Horne-Sleigh Ride In July
2. Count Basie-Summer Frost
3. The Sportsmen-Jingle Bells
4. Lew White-The Wedding Of The Painted Doll
5. Carolyn Hester-Virgin Mary
6. Red Nichols-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
7. Morgana King-'Twas The Night Before Christmas
8. The Carnegie Pops Orchestra-March Of The Little Lead Soldiers
9. Paul Anka-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
10. Ira Ironstrings-Hot Toddy
11. Carmen McRae-Winter In May
12. Gerry Robichaud-Snowflake Breakdown
13. Jane Morgan-Toyland
14. Bent Fabric-The Drunken Penguin
15. Jackie Kannon-Santa Claus Calling
16. Ian Whitcomb-Reindeer-A Ragtime Two-Step
17. Grand Fantastic Strings-Troika
18. The Cuff Links-Put A Little Love In Your Heart
19. Laurence Naismith, Janis Paige & Fred Gwynne-Pine Cones And Holly Berries
20. Floyd Cramer-Our Winter Love
21. Sylvia De Sayles-Warm Winter
22. Living Brass-A Hazy Shade Of Winter
23. Pope John Paul II-On A December Night
24. The Wesleyan Ringers-Joy To The World
25. James Walker-Chipmunk Song
26. Charles Dorian-Dancing Snowflakes

1. Perry Como-My Favorite Things
2. Jacky Noguez-A Marshmallow World
3. The All Churches Children's Choir-Luther's Cradle Hymn       
4. Leroy Anderson-Clarinet Candy
5. Idlers-Brothers Lift Your Voices
6. Johnny Pecon-Snowflake Polka
7. Danny Kaye-Jingle Bells
8. Living Strings-Sleigh Ride
9. Tommy Roe-It's Now Winter's Day
10. 101 Strings-Fuyu Geshiki (Japanese Snowflakes)   
11. Joanie Sommers-Winter In New England
12. Pee Wee Hunt-The Iceman Cometh (Skater's Waltz)   
13. George Hamilton IV-Natividad (The Nativity)
14. Lawrence Welk-Holiday Waltz
15. Hap Palmer-Hanukkah
16. Los Admiradores-Greensleeves
17. Arthur Godfrey-The First Snow Of Winter
18. Russ Case-The Doll Dance
19. Ted Schumate-Dann Reno Jazz Quartet-Christmas Time Is Here   
20. Drexel Park Presbyterian Church Senior Choir-Carol Of The Bells   
21. Cicero Pig-December
22. Judy Collins-Christ Child Lullaby
23. Roger King Mozian-The Bells Of St. Mary's
24. Tinker Reason-The Christmas Song
25. Art Gilmore-New Year's Eve At Time's Square

MEGA

 Well, I've got half of them linked to the original post. I need to go back and finish them, but I'm tired. Maybe later...