Hello 2022!

Hello! And let me be among the first to welcome you to 2022! Here in the future, we don't have to worry about all the things that troubled us in 2021, or 2020 before that. Well, who am I kidding? By the time you read this, it'll be the present, or even the past, and I'm sure nothing much will have changed. But as a sign of my faith in 2022, I'm going to start a new series. I'm going to try to post a new set of Christmas music from 78s sourced from the Internet Archive every Saturday in 2022! We'll see how long I can keep that up, but it seems like a reasonable goal. I had a bunch downloaded for the 2021 Christmas season, but I didn't have them all tagged and ready to go at the start of the season, and it takes a long time to do all that, so I wound up sharing exactly two songs from 78 during the season. I've got plenty of them in the pile now to last a while, and I'm working on more every day. No reason I can't keep this series up for a while with minimal trouble. I may need a bit of encouragement once in a while, so be sure to leave me a comment now and then, please. No rhyme or reason to what's coming, just a big pile of records. As I did in 2020, I'm just going to load up the scans so you can see what's in the pile. I'm too lazy to type it all in (which I will regret later when I can't find things, but so be it). Ten sides per post, unless there's some reason for a different number. Watch and see how I do!  Here's the first set, enjoy! And happy 2022!

MEGA

Edit-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist for searching.

1. The Lancers, Vocal Quartet With Orchestra & Chorus Directed By Van Alexander-I Wanna Do More Than Whistle (Under The Mistletoe)
2. Bob Houston With Sanford Gold Orchestra Featuring Johnny Smith & Bobby Hackett-It's Christmas Every Day (When You're In Love)
3. Sid Phillips And His Orchestra-Vocalist: Jill Allen-Little Jack Frost Get Lost
4. Johnny Maddox And The Rhythmasters-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
5. Hank Williams And His Guitar-The First Fall Of Snow
6. Selah Jubilee Singers-When Was Jesus Born
7. Song Spinners And Larry Fotine And His Orchestra-Christmas In Killarney
8. Kenny Roberts With Instrumental Accompaniment-Elfie The Elf
9. Johnny Lane With Lane Quartet-Hello Mr. Snowman
10. Edmundo Ros And His Rhumba Band, Vocalist: Edmundo Ros-Jingle Bells Calypso

Goodbye 2021

As we finally wind down another year, I'm afraid I don't have a New Year's post for you. You'll have to make do with this oddity of a soundtrack. I couldn't find any hint of a Christmas special called Miss Santa's Hollywood Snowflake, or even a person named T.C. Stubblefield, yet here we have a record by that person that claims to be the soundtrack to said film. There's even a movie poster for it in my LP! (I included a rough photo of it in the download, it's too big to scan properly.) Some internet sleuthing tells me that the T.C. part of T.C. Stubblefield most likely stands for Troy Cory (Stubblefield is his given last name, I think), and from there some things fall into place. Troy was an international entertainer who never seems to have broken through to the USA, and his exploits elsewhere aren't too well documented. This music appears to have been released under his stage name elsewhere with no mention of a film, so I'm wondering if perhaps the movie never got made. But then the poster and album cover both claim to be a still from the movie. And what a horrible still it is. They couldn't come up with a better photo out of the entire movie? I guess not. The picture is actually printed sideways on the LP jacket so that it wraps around the sleeve from front to back. I've rotated it for you above so that it at least appears like he's not laying sideways. I tell you, this is a weird package all around. I'm not sure how I feel about the music. It's not horrible, but it's not good. It's just sort of there. Maybe you know more about this record or this guy or this movie, or even what year this was released. If you do, please, please, please fill us in! This is T.C. Stubblefield (AKA Troy Cory)-Snowflake's First Christmas (VRA Radioplay Music VRA-00025, Stereo). Like several other shares this season, this record turned up in a Central Florida record store last month during a visit that almost didn't happen. It just goes to show that you never know what you might find, or when or where you're going to find it!

1. An Ol' Christmas Card
2. Christmas Around The World
3. Jingle Bells
4. Silver Bells
5. White Christmas
6. I'll Have A Blue Christmas
7. Motion Picture Soundtracks From "Miss Santa's Hollywood Snowflake" (credited to Troy, his daughter Priscilla, and someone named Manuella)
8. C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S
9. Ol' Little Town Of Bethlehem
10. Silent Night

MEGA

Spurred On

I don't think I shared enough Christmas stories with you this year. It's hard to find good spoken word stuff sometimes, and I didn't hunt down very much this year. But I do have this one single that features a story on one side with a related song on the other side. It's the story of Silver Spurs, the unlikely name of a very special elf who can help Santa in ways that others can't.  The Christmas canon is full of characters no one has ever heard of, and this is yet another addition to that group.  Hopefully you'll remember Silver Spur next year when the season rolls around. This is Dr. Dwayne Jorgenson-Narrator, Bill Barber, Jr.-Piano/Celeste & Keith Lester-Vocalist, Steve Barnett-Conductor-Silver Spurs; A Christmas Story b/w Silver Spurs; A Christmas Song (Knollwood 7" 33 RPM 26937, Stereo, 1975). I'm of the opinion that there is a book of some sort associated with this record, but I have no evidence of that. Perhaps one of you little elves can dig that up for me. Thanks!

MEGA

Quito Revisited

Next up in my short stack of remasters is this record full of singing missionaries in Ecuador. I found a new copy of the record this year, but I've been sharing this with you for a long time now. I stumbled across that new copy about three months ago, and they actually had two copies in the little thrift store for some reason. Well, they had two sleeves, but only one record. I probably should have grabbed the other sleeve since this one has the address label on it, but I thought maybe that added some character, especially since the address is in Bolivia. Of minor interest to collectors, this is a reissue of the original record I shared with you before. That version was on Singspiration, and this one is on Singcord, which I believe is another subsidiary of Zondervan. So that tells me that the record was popular enough to warrant a reissue at some point. And I, too, am reissuing it to you tonight. This is Christmas At Quito (Zondervan/Singcord ZLP-546, Mono, 1960). That date of 1960 comes from the RCA pressing info off the old copy. Not sure of the date for this reissue, but 1960 is close enough for our purposes. Enjoy!

1. HCJB Radio Staff Choral Ensemble-Fanfare
2. Vern Van Hovel And Joe Springer-Come To Bethlehem (Adorad Al Nino)
3. Gene Jordan-O Come, All Ye Faithful
4. HCJB Radio Staff Men's Chorus-Come, O Ye Shepherds (Venid Pastores)
5. Dolores Van Der Puy-Come To His Manger Bed
6. Jeanne Odell-Silent Night
7. HCJB Radio Staff Ensemble-Glorious Is Thy Name
8. Joe Springer-Christmas Candle
9. Dixie Dean-Joy To The World
10. Ruth Jordan-Though Christ A Thousand Times
11. Jack And Ruth Shalanko-Unto Us
12. Vern Van Hovel-Mary's Boy Child

MEGA

Downhill

I have a soft spot for songs about skiing. I don't know why, but in my head they get lumped together with the records about Winter, and those records get lumped in with Christmas. You probably don't share this strange association, so I decided to wait until after Christmas to share out this skiing record from the great Vaughn Monroe. Monroe recorded a few Christmas singles in his career, and had a hit with Let It Snow, but he never made a whole Christmas album, and there aren't quite enough of those singles to make one. But if you throw in these ski songs, you can get a whole lot closer. I don't know the impetus behind this record, but I wonder if it might have been a favor by Monroe for Charles Grean, the conductor of both sides and writer of one side. Monroe cut a few novelties in his career, and this is certainly in that category. It's interesting stuff though. Download and give a listen to Vaughn Monroe-Orchestra Conducted By Charles Grean-The Song Of The Skier (In This White World) b/w Learn To Ski By Mail (In Ten Easy Lessons) (MGM 7" 45 RPM K12968, Mono, 1960).

MEGA

Back To The Barbershop

I had a few records that were remasters this year that I didn't get to through the season, so I figure there's no better time to share one of those with you than right now. For those who don't know, I sometimes find a new copy of a record I shared long ago, or maybe I just decide to record the old record again because I think I can do better. Sometimes I just forget that I'd already done some record, so it happens by accident that I redo something, but that's certainly the exception rather than the rule. In this case it's a barbershop chorus record, one of only a few barbershop Christmas records I'm familiar with. (I did see a new one that I don't have shared out over at Lee's place this year, go check it out!) Sharp eyed readers will notice that the label scan this time around is different than the old copy. But otherwise, it's the same music, same cover, same everything. I think I even scanned my original cover because the new one had writing on it and a Christmas card taped to the front. But it's the same otherwise. Anyhow, if you wanna give it a listen, here is Yuletide Favorites-Barbershop Style (Official SPEBSQSA Recording, No Number, Stereo). I suspect this pressing is a little newer than the old one based on the label being printed in fewer colors. The longer a record is in print, the cheaper they try to make the costs.

1. Southern Gateway Chorus-While By My Sheep
2. Southern Gateway Chorus-Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
3. Roaring 20's-Angels, From The Realms Of Glory
4. Southern Gateway Chorus-O Come, All Ye Faithful
5. Southern Gateway Chorus-O Holy Night
6. Roaring 20's-It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas
7. Roaring 20's-Let's Have An Old Fashioned Christmas
8. Southern Gateway Chorus-O Christmas Tree
9. Roaring 20's-Children's Medley
10. Southern Gateway Chorus-We Wish You A Merry Christmas
11. Roaring 20's-Silver Bells
12. Southern Gateway Chorus-Jingle Bells
13. Arlingtones-I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
14. Arlingtones-Away In A Manger
15. Soundtracks-God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
16. Arlingtones-Coventry Carol
17. Soundtracks-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
18. Arlingtones-As With Gladness Men Of Old
19. Arlingtones-O Little Town Of Bethlehem
20. Soundtracks-It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
21. Arlingtones-Angels We Have Heard On High
22. Arlingtones-Silent Night
23. Soundtracks-Winter Wonderland
24. Soundtracks-I'll Be Home For Christmas

MEGA

Another From The Hawaiian Village

From the same people that brought you this old Alfred Apaka Christmas 45, this single is about 2/3 Christmas, and 100% interesting. Hawaiian Christmas is an interesting mix of old world reverence and island charm. These stories may not be music, but the vernacular makes them have a bit of a sing-song quality that I really enjoy. I think you'll enjoy them, too, even if you have to hold onto them until next season. This is Kent Bowman-Pidgin English Stories. (Hawaiian Village 7" 45 RPM HV-EP-3, Mono).

1. Kalikimaka Mele (Christmas Carol)
2. Kanaka Christmas
3. Little Lei Puahi & The Wild Puaa (Red Riding Hood)

MEGA