December 4th Past

OK, I've been doing this long enough now that I don't need to tell you what's up, so I'll just jump right in.

2016

Ring the bells with The Blenders, a group of clean-cut musicians assembled by Lawrence Welk that weren't The Lennon Sisters.

2017

A secret share that I can't tell you about...

2018

An Air Force Christmas radio show with Johnny Mathis himself.

2019

Carol Channing!

2020

Sleigh rides at 78.

Not From Georgia

We're far enough into the season now that I think you deserve a little Canadian Content. And, like killing two birds with one stone, this is also a product of Radio Shack! How are you gonna beat that? As you can tell from the cover image above, this is a girl group taking on a handful of carols, including covers of songs made popular by Eartha Kitt and Elvis. The Eartha song is the one you expect, but the Elvis is not a song you hear every day. Lots to enjoy on this little record, so please download and enjoy The Peaches-Christmas With The Peaches (Realistic Canadian Series 7" 33 RPM 68-8100 (Radio Shack), Stereo, 1975).

1. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
2. What Child Is This
3. Carol Medley
4. Silver Bells
5. Santa Baby
6. Why Can't Everyday Be Like Christmas

MEGA

December 3rd Past

You want links to old shares from this day for the past five years? Then you're in the right place my friend!

2016

Looks like this was the third day in a row with Christmas Seal greetings.

2017

Some Christmas tunes from Carla Bley, recording for Scholastic back in the day.

2018

Christmas in Germany!

2019

This is a great collection of Canadian production music!

2020

Looks like I had the blues for Christmas on this day back in 2020. I was also blue about all my music being on 78 and coming from The Internet Archive. I guess that's not the worst thing though, at least I had music to share with you.

Indians (Not Cowboys)

This is another one of those records that I've been after for a long time, but to no avail. I thought I had it about two years ago at a Goodwill store when I found a whole cache of albums by the same artist, but when I pulled out the record from the sleeve, it was the wrong one. Then I went through all the other records in the stack, and they were all the right record for the sleeve they were in. So I missed out, though I still bought the sleeve because it was in really nice shape. I finally gave up the search and paid a little more for a copy from Discogs, and that's what I'm sharing with you today (though the scan is that empty sleeve I found way back when, it was in pretty nice shape). If you're looking at this cover and thinking you're going to get music that sounds like anything from Native Americans, you may be disappointed. The Klaudt Indian Family was a traveling family who went from town to town preaching their version of the gospel. And their gimmick was a tenuous claim to Native American ancestry. I really shouldn't say tenuous, because I don't know really, maybe they actually were Native Americans. But they certainly played it up in a way that would be severely frowned upon today. If you look on the back of this LP, you'll see a picture of them dressed up in their full Indian regalia. Again, I don't know if they maybe had some legitimate ties to Native American tribes, but I kinda doubt it. Anyhow, it's good music, and I think you might enjoy it. This is The Klaudt Indian Family-Peace On Earth-Christmas Greetings (Family Tone Records KF-908, Mono, 1964). There are also two tracks on here that are just solo organ performances by Larry Turner, whoever he is. Read the sleeve notes and you'll know about as much as I do. I seem to remember there was a song listed on the sleeve that wasn't on the actual vinyl. What's up with that?

1. Indian Christmas Carol
2. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
3. The Coventry Carol
4. O Come All Ye Faithful
5. Away In The Manger
6. Angels From The Realms Of Glory
7. Oh, Holy Night by Larry Turner
8. Joy To The World
9. Silent Night
10. Oh, Thou Joyful Day
11. Caroling, Caroling
12. I Saw Three Ships
13. What Child Is This
14. White Christmas

MEGA

December 2nd Past

Welcome to the remembrance page for December 2nd! This is where we celebrate the past five years of the blog on this day by linking you to some (but not all!) of the stuff that was posted way back when. Let's see what history we can dig up today!

2016

More Christmas greetings from lots of famous folks for Christmas Seals.

2017

Not much on the blog this day back in 2017, in fact the whole season was fairly slim. But there's a great song from Betty Everett for you if you follow the link.

2018

A wee bit of Christmastime in Ireland for you.

2019

A big double album of Christmas on the organ awaits you if you follow that link. You've been warned!

2020

And on the 78 RPM side of things, here's a nice collection of female vocals for Christmas. Just the thing to keep you warm on cold winter nights.

Return To Spain

The first of my remasters for the year (and there aren't too many, I promise) is this great record from the early days of the United Artists label. I've really enjoyed this record since I first ripped and shared it back in 2008, and so, when I found a new copy of it recently, I decided to give it the old remaster treatment. I like to think that I've gotten better at squeezing decent sound out of old records sometime over the past 13 years, so give this one a listen and see what you think. It's good stuff, I promise, even if you can't understand a word they're saying. This is The Madrid Concert Orchestra And Chorus-Victorino Echevarria, Conductor-Christmas In Spain (United Artists UAS 6059, Stereo, 1959).

1. Zumba Zum
2. Long Live St Joseph And The Child (Viva San Jose Y El Nino)
3. Sleep Little Jesus (Dorm Jesuset)
4. Where Are You Going Little Shepherd? (Adonde Vas, Pastorcito?)
5. Tan-Tan
6. Sing Little Ones (Chicetes, Cantem)
7. And There Is A Star (Y Es Una Estrella)
8. To Bethlehem (A Betlem, Si Us Plau)
9. Between The Straw And The Ice (Entre La Paja Y El Hielo)
10. From Egypt To Bethlehem (De Egipto Para Belene)
11. The Child Came Down From Heaven (El Nino Bajo Del Cielo)
12. Lotan-Dago
13. The Tambourines Are Playing (Suenen Las Panderetas)
14. Bolo, Bolo, Bolo

MEGA

December 1st Past

Here we are in December already. Time flies when you're having fun, right? Let's see what the first of December held in the past...

2016

How about a nice fat set of Christmas Seal Greetings? Sprinkle these liberally around your Christmas comps, they're a fine complement to any collection.

2017

Some mono goodness from country cornpone comics Homer & Jethro.

2018

Christmas in England, which turns out to be a lot like Christmas in America, because, well, you know...

2019

A fine collection of Christmas music from Seeburg, the competitor to Muzak back in the day. And a much rarer record. Took me a long time to find that stereo copy.

2020

Well, somewhat unexpectedly, the theme of the 78 collection on this day last year was songs about December. How did I ever come up with that?

Santa Has A Snowmobile!

Betcha didn't know that at one time Santa had to use a snowmobile to make his rounds. And that snowmobile would go up to 35 miles per hour to get Santa all around the world in one night. OK, it may not seem quite fast enough, but I'm sure it got the job done. (He does eventually get it up to 65, but it seems to take a while...) I found this unique bit of Christmas history in an antique store with a record room in Arcadia, Florida, and they had a box full of the same record. The owner of the place said he'd cleaned out a storage locker and they'd been in there. Kinda makes you wonder who's locker that was. Could it have belonged to Santa himself? I have a storage locker myself, and if I ever quit paying for it, someone on Storage Wars is going to wind up with their very own record store. But let's hope that never happens. I'm sure you're going to enjoy this unique tale of Christmas product placement. This is Jud Strunk-Jud Strunk's Santa Song (Ad Media 7" 45 RPM 6416/6417, Stereo, 1969).

MEGA

After Christmas 2020

I hope you've been enjoying the little flashback posts that link back to the current date during the past five years here at the blog. It's a nice way to draw some attention to the history of the blog, and some of the things that are still available to listen to. But this particular post is to draw your attention to all the stuff I share out after the big day on the 25th. Some people turn off the Christmas music that day and don't dig it out until the day after Thanksgiving the next year. I enjoy the music too much to do that, and it takes me a while to get tired of sharing it with you, so the posts continue for a long time afterwards. As I did for 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019, here are links to all the shares that came out after the big day in 2020, all the way to the end. And what a season it was, I was sharing out Christmas music until February!

#35-Merry Christmas

#36-Xmas

#37-Scoop 3

#38-Snow

#39-Ladies Sing Christmas 3

#40-White Wonderland

#41-Non-English Versions 2

#42-Auld Lang Syne

#43-Happy New Year

#44-Scoop The Fourth

#45-Wintertime

#46-More Santa Songs

#47-Some Favorites

#48-Generic Christmas

#49-Scoop Number Five

#50-Little Bits

#51-Winter Sports

#52-Scoop Six

#53-Little Bits More

#54-Scoop Seven

#55-More Little Bits

#56-Scoop Number Eight

#57-Even More Little Bits

#58-The Ninth Scoop

#59-Yet More Little Bits

#60-Chanukah At Last

#61-Scoop Ten

#62-Hey Norton

#63-Little Bits Again

#64-Scoop Eleven

#65-Bonus Tracks

#66-The Dozenth Scoop

#67-Not Really Christmas

#68-Pieces Missing

#69-Lucky Scoop Thirteen

#70-Not Really Christmas 2

#71-Little Bits Continued

#72-Tchaikovsky Time

#73-Scoop Fourteen

#74-Another New Year

#75-Sacred & Folky

#76-Scoop Number Fifteen

#77-Winter Weather

#78-Not Really Christmas 3

#79-Scoop Sweet Sixteen

#80-The Last Little Bits

#81-Not At All Christmas

And I think that's it. Lots and lots of good stuff from the Great 78 Project over at The Internet Archive.

November 30th Past

End of the month, but still time for our daily recap of shares from years' past. What's in the old dustbin of history today?

2016

A great collection of short Christmas songs designed for use in advertising. Not a new share at the time, but an essential record in my opinion. Try it and see.

2017

Jim Nabors? Carol Burnett? In Hawaii for Christmas?

2018

Christmas in Singapore? Who knew!

2019

A collection of greetings from gospel artists, some obscure, some not so obscure.

2020

Some really, really old Christmas from 78s courtesy of The Internet Archive.

Buck Speaks!

I purchased this next record from the vaults of the estate of the late, great Buck Owens! After he passed away, they found a lot of records in his archives, and they're being sold to collectors like myself who want the original vinyl with cool provenance. Or something like that. I'd never seen this record before, and it's the sort of thing that's right up my alley. It features greetings from Buck and his stable of artists from 1970, including some of his fellow Buckaroo's and his frequent duet partner Susan Raye. I think all of Buck's Christmas music is now out and available wherever fine downloads are sold, so that sort of stuff is off the table, but I'm sure you'll enjoy these holiday greetings. It's not just Christmas, you also get New Year's, Easter, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and even a generic holiday driving message. Artists include Buck Owens, Don Rich, Buddy Alan, Susan Raye, The Hagers, David Frizzell, Tony Booth and Larry Booth. It's quite the selection, 54 tracks in all, though they're very short. This is Merry Christmas/Happy New Year (Buck Owens Enterprises 7" 33 RPM PRO-1, Stereo, 1970).

MEGA

November 29th Past

Is it still Thanksgiving weekend? No, I guess not. But that doesn't mean the music has to stop, only that it's going to slow down because I had to go back to work. Let's take a look at some shares from the past that should still be available, though don't forget you may need to look in the comments.

2016

Christmas on the isthmus! Where else are you going to get this stuff?

2017

Up, Up With People! I recently found a newer Up With People Christmas record, but it's much more polished and sterile than this one. Don't know if I'll get around to sharing it.

2018

Christmas on the vibraharp? Yep, we got that covered for you.

2019

More music from 3M? Yes, please!

2020

Another awesome collection of music from 78's, this time themed around Christmas on the range.

Burl Speaks!

A long time ago, I shared out a rare Burl Ives album where he performs Christmas songs believed to be the favorites of various US presidents. There was something in the liner notes that led me to believe maybe I had an abridged version of the LP, and I've been hunting for the other, ever rarer, version of the LP ever since. And guess what recently popped up on eBay? Thankfully, I don't think the seller knew this was a special variant of the album, so I was able to get it at a decent price, though not my usual dollar or less price. But since I'm not running around every weekend buying every LP I can get my hands on anymore, I was able to spend a little more this year and get some slightly better stuff than what I usually buy. And besides, how many more copies do I need of some things? I've discovered that I've got plenty of albums in the collection with multiple copies, either because I found a better copy, or because I forgot I had the other one (or two or three...). Anyhow, this new version features a bit of narration before each song, spoken by Mr. Ives, and it's a real treat to hear. Sometimes he strums along with the story, so it's not just dry explanations. I really enjoyed it, and I think you will, too. This is Burl Ives-Music Conducted By Tony Mottola-Christmas At The White House-Burl Ives Sings The Favorite Carols And Hymns Of America's Presidents (Caedmon TC 1415 (Historical Comment Version), Stereo, 1972). FYI, the actual songs themselves seem to be the same recordings as presented on the other version, but they are in chronological order by president here, while the other LP has them sequenced differently. (If for whatever reason you want the other version, you should still be able to download it here.)

1. George Washington Intro

2. While Shepherds Watch'd Their Flocks By Night

3. John Adams Intro

4. Joy To The World (Boston)

5. Thomas Jefferson Intro

6. Adeste Fideles (Portuguese Hymn)

7. Andrew Jackson Intro

8. Shout The Glad Tidings

9. Zachery Taylor Intro

10. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

11. Abraham Lincoln Intro

12. We Three Kings Of Orient Are

13. Ulysses S. Grant Intro

14. O Little Town Of Bethlehem

15. Theodore Roosevelt Intro

16. Christmas On The Sea

17. Franklin D. Roosevelt Intro

18. Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Laden

19. John F. Kennedy Intro

20. Silver Bells

21. Lyndon B. Johnson Intro

22. Silent Night

23. Richard M. Nixon Intro

24. The Little Drummer Boy

MEGA

November 28th Past

We're up to the 28th already, does it seem like the season is going by too quickly already? Well let's jump right in and see what this day held during season's past.

2016

An old reshare of an old classic. What's old is new again, right?

2017

Some small-town Ohio Christmas.

2018

Christmas in Spain. And more Christmas in Spain.

2019

An oldie but a goodie from Muzak!

2020

Based on website hits, this was one of the most popular of my collections of 78s from The Internet Archive. You folks seem to like the instrumental collections for some reason.

Christmas 1963

Did you finish up all your Christmas mix tapes yesterday? Well, if not, here's a whole new batch of Christmas greetings, this time a year earlier and from RCA Victor instead of Capitol. Still good stuff though. Oh, and the flip side is New Year's Greetings, so that's an extra bonus. Artists here are Ann-Margret, Eddy Arnold, Sam Cooke, Bobby Bare, Skeeter Davis, Al Hirt, Henry Mancini, Peggy March, Peter Nero, Charlie Rich, Jack Scott & Neil Sedaka. That's quite a wide spectrum of artists. Please be my guest and download Christmas Greetings From RCA Victor And Groove Recording Artists b/w New Year's Greetings From RCA Victor And Groove Recording Artists (RCA Victor 7" 45 RPM SP-45-128 Not For Sale, 1963, Mono). I had to buy a giant batch of Christmas singles on eBay to get this record for a decent price. But I'm sure you'll see a few other interesting singles pop up on the blog this season that came from the same lot.

MEGA