Christmas 2024
Good afternoon and welcome to the official kickoff post of the 2024 Christmas Sharity Season at Ernie (Not Bert)! I've been hard at work since a day or two after the end of the season last year in order to make this the best year yet around here. And believe me, it's taken almost all this time to put together what I have for you in this, the 20th anniversary of the blog. That's right, 2005 was our first year, and while we missed a few years in-between, it's been non-stop Christmas around here for all those years. What can I possibly do that I haven't already done around here? One word, plastics! No, wait, wrong movie. This season is a tribute to the 7" 45 RPM single, first developed by RCA Victor in 1949 and still being made today, though not quite in the same numbers. Surely you remember the small records with the big holes? (Well, I need to be careful how I describe it since not every record I'm sharing has the big hole, but most do.) Every single song I share this season (save for a few special bonus posts...) are things I've recorded from a record that's seven inches in diameter and spins at 45 RPM. It's taken forever, but I've recorded just about every interesting single in my collection over the past year. I'm adding in to that a bunch of singles that I've recorded in previous years, some of which I've shared and some of which I haven't. I've re-ripped some of my older shares so that they're are at a higher bitrate and maybe a little better fidelity. (For those of you hoping for more FLAC this year, sorry, I just couldn't swing it. Maybe next season.) My idea for this season is to imagine I've been invited to a record party at your house, and I've brought my green plastic Disk-Go-Case with all my favorite Christmas 45s in it and we're going to spin records for a couple of hours. You'll hear plenty of mono versions and single edits here because that's the way they were pressed on the little records. You're going to hear surface noise and scratches because that's the way some of these records sound. I've done the best I could, but I have a lot of records that have seen better days. If I don't share something you've never heard before, then you must have a really nice record collection! I don't want to over promise and under deliver, but this is really going to be a great year. It's taken more work than I usually like to put into the blog, but I really wanted to do something special. Now give me an hour or so and I'll start posting some goodies for you. Most days are only going to have a single post, but what a post it's going to be. Just you wait and see. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Thanks in advance for all the good music! I look forward to this every year, and have been following along since the early days of the Fa.
ReplyDeleteBeen a while. Thanks for keeping up the custom. :)
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving, Ernie! I am looking forward to this Christmas Season.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to you as well! Lots of good stuff to come!
DeleteHappy 20th anniversary Ernie. Thank you for making our Christmases more meaningful because of your generosity in sharing your Christmas music gems.
ReplyDeleteNo fun if I can't share some of those obscure music. :)
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving... Yes The Tradition continues with some of the Best Oldies for The Holiday Seasons. Glad that your here to help Brighten up Millions of Folks. Merry Christmas to you & yours. Looking forward to this years Cluster of Old Albums. But really if you were to just repost All of the many previous years that would be great. Take Care. Sincerely, Stan
ReplyDeleteSomeday when I'm older and lazier, I can just revisit the good old days, over and over again... :)
DeleteCongratulations on the anniversary! I've been here with you almost since the beginning, and I appreciate all the work - I'm looking forward to all the treasures you'll share with us this season!
ReplyDeleteYou keep comin', I'll keep sharin'. :)
DeleteThank you very much Ernie! Happy holidays and wonderful holiday music to everyone!
ReplyDeleteHappy Cyber Monday, as they say. :)
DeleteWelcome back, E(nB)!
ReplyDeleteGood to be back. Been waiting all year, gettin' antsy.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving and welcome back. It's officially the holiday season now that I can check in on all the great music.
ReplyDeleteWell, Walmart has been playing Christmas music for a while, so I figured it was time to join in. :)
DeleteThank you, Ernie :)
ReplyDeleteHappy American Thanksgiving, on this Blizzardy day, in Northwest Alberta, Canada :)
Probably a lot colder there than here in Sunny Florida. That makes it easier to get the Christmas spirit, right? :)
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving (and Anniversary), Ernie! What an exciting theme for this year's posts. Can't wait to see (and hear) all the goodies in your stacked case... Peter
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Pete! Hope the desert is treating you well.
DeleteLol! You do like to create work for yourself..Happy 20th and let's get this party started!
ReplyDeleteI just can't help it sometimes. :)
DeleteI'm curious to know why FLAC is any more difficult than mp3. Thanks for everything!
ReplyDeleteBecause my computer at home is slow and old and doesn't even recognize FLAC files as music.
DeleteWow! Time for a new computer! 😀 There are other lossless formats beside FLAC. How about AIFF?
DeleteI have them all in lossless format. They're in that green carrier at the top of this post. Well, not really, they won't all fit. But you get the idea.
Deletelol
DeleteThank you for all your work. I've followed you almost since the beginning. Thank you, also, for sharing with us about ClickRepair, whose creator has apparently passed away. I saw a post of his somewhere that he was ill and would no longer be working on the product. He mentioned that he would be receiving palliative care.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'll be looking for all your shares this season!
Yes, I don't know what I'll switch to if my ClickRepair quits working. I'm sure there are plenty of other products out there, but I don't want to have to dig through them and claw my way up that steep learning curve.
DeleteHooray, another holiday season with the great Ernie and his many, many records! Looking forward to the selections!
ReplyDeleteGonna be a good one. Grab a new hard drive and a flotation device!
DeleteThis is already going to be a great year! Very appropriate that you do "A 45 RPM Christmas" this year, being that I turned that age back in late May. The first stack already has got some of my favorites in it; will comment in that thread later. Christmas 45s are occasionally harder to find than albums; I have one full decorated Christmas box worth of them in my collection.
ReplyDeleteIn my area, Christmas 45s are much, much harder to find than albums. And they're always in worse shape. But the hunt is what makes it fun. I feel like I've done a pretty good exploration of the album world, so it's time to devote some attention to these boxes of smaller records. :)
DeleteOHYAZ, OHYAZ, OHYAZ - the big Charleston contest! Season’s greetings, Ernie, and many thanks for all you do here. Can’t wait to hear this year’s selections! All the best to you and yours this Xmas.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, and Merry Christmas to you!
DeleteThe Return of the King, Let the angels sing !!!
ReplyDelete-Organ
Well, I'm not the king, but maybe a baron or an earl... :)
DeleteMy body is ready for more Happy Hamsters.
ReplyDeleteI mean Chipmunks.
I mean Not The Chipmunks.
"You'll hear plenty of mono versions and single edits here because that's the way they were pressed on the little records. You're going to hear surface noise and scratches because that's the way some of these records sound."
You might know this already, but I've heard that a really convenient way to clean mono is to record it in stereo, and then you can combine the two channels so they phase out most of the crackles/noise.
Yes, that's sort of how the software I use does it. Sometimes it works beautifully, sometimes not so much. I noticed too late that my conversion software took all my mono files and turned them into stereo files with identical L & R tracks. Not sure why, but it's not the worst thing.
DeleteIf you mean the final MP3, that's probably a good thing. I don't know if it's still an issue, but I know back in the day, I had a few programs that had issues playing back mono MP3s.
DeleteI've never encountered any trouble playing mono MP3s, but I've had a lot of downloaders complain about them. They see the low bitrate and think it's a problem, but they don't realize the usual higher bitrates are doubled due to stereo channels. Max bitrate for mono files is 160.
DeleteHappy holidays and thank you for 20 wonderful, generous years. I credit you (read: hold you responsible) for my growing Christmas vinyl collection -- and hope to follow in your footsteps.
ReplyDelete...any year now. :D
Thanks for the note. Let me know when you have something to share, I'm happy to give it a listen. :)
DeleteHi Ernie!
ReplyDeleteI'm finally checking in here (Dec. 7), and I gotta admit, I'm REALLY excited about the singles collections. I love albums, but I've found that a lot of the most interesting, quirky, oddball & great tunes come from singles. I just grabbed the first 10 volumes, and I'm about to dive in.
Thanks again for this. The Christmas vinyl sharity community is my favorite tradition of the holiday.
Our family Christmas cards are coming in soon. Let me know if you are collecting them again this season.
Cheers!
Welcome to the party! Singles taken from albums tend to be the best songs, or at least the ones people thought were most likely to get airplay. And non-album singles are also someone's best shot at fame so I think singles are where it's at. They're just so hard to find!
DeleteSo happy you are still at it. You have been a joy to visit over the years. Appreciate all you do!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the note and the support! :)
DeleteHappy 20th anniversary! Your dedication to spreading holiday cheer is inspiring. For those seeking the best gift for Christmas, check out The Jacket Seller—we offer a wide variety of leather jackets for men and women, perfect for stylish and thoughtful gifting this season!
ReplyDelete