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!