Christmas In July '24-Day 20

It's day 20 and that means we are almost two-thirds of the way through the month. Seems like just yesterday we were on day 19 (brought to you by Amazon Prime, home of Alexa and Jeremy Clarkson!) and now here we are. Time flies when you're having fun. I hope all these Christmassy wintertime songs are helping you cool off in this hot, hot summer. I know many spots here in the US are seeing record-high temperatures that make your shoes melt as you walk from your car to your destination. I hope things are better down in the Southern hemisphere, though you might be having a record cold winter for all I know. What I do know is that I've got three songs for you today. Nothing too noteworthy, except that the zither track is the last one I have to share from that album so I hope you've enjoyed those. The others are a short sample piece of track, and a medley that's only sort of Christmas-adjacent. Enjoy!

1. Unknown Artist-It's Christmas (Choral Sampler For The Music Educator, 1980)
2. St. Joseph's Church-Folk Group-Directors: Doreen DiFiore and Sue Tozzi-Love Is The Answer and Let There Be Peace On Earth (Alleluia! Sing To The Lord)
3. Willie Dittrich-Stille Nacht (The Singing Zither-Christmas Music & Old Time Hymns, 1969)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 19

Day 19 is brought to you by Amazon Prime, where every day is a prime chance to separate you from your money. Not a whole lot of Christmas in today's share I'm afraid, but plenty of holiday-adjacent tracks. End of December is probably more of a New Year's song, but he mentions Christmas a couple of times so I left it in the Christmas pile. Feel free to retag it if you'd like. The we listen to our repeat track of the day featuring the always interesting Oscar Brand. Lastly we get the irrepressible Mrs. Mills doing a Christmas-via-commercial song for you. Anything that features Mike Sammes can't be bad, right? And I recently saw two mentions of Mrs. Mills' piano which I guess is more famous these days than she is. Paul McCartney pointed it out and played a bit in a documentary on Abbey Road Studios, and then it got a mention from Dr. Who in an episode where they traveled back in time to visit Abbey Road and meet The Beatles. Odd coincidence there, but that's the way it goes. Give 'em a listen and see what you think. Enjoy!

1. Randy Edelman-End Of December (The Laughter And The Tears, 1972)
2. Oscar Brand-The Frozen Logger (Paul Bunyan In Story And Song, 1969)
3. Mrs. Mills With The Jubilee Singers Directed By Mike Sammes-I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony) (Mrs Mills Jubilee Party, 1977)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 18

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'W'! (For those of you that haven't seen it, go watch the Jim Henson documentary "Idea Man" on Disney+, it's great.) I've got three tracks today from artists whose names begin with the letter 'W', and only one of them is a rerun from a past year. Let's see what's in the pile. Up first is our favorite new group name of the year, The Wintersauce Chorale. Then there's a long dronefest from The Wind Harp, an actual aeolian harp that plays music as the wind blows across the strings. You'll either like it or you won't. Bringing up the rear is a rerun from The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir. Interesting selection today, I'll give it that. Enjoy!

1. The Wintersauce Chorale-George Guilbault, Director-Brian Marble, Associate Conductor & Accompanist-Ave Maria (Winters Are Warmer)
2. The Wind Harp-Winterwhite (Song From The Hill, 1972)
3. The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir Directed By Soo Chul Chang With Ralph Carmichael And His Orchestra-Jingle Bells (The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir, 1962)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 17

Day 17, a rare prime number day. I'm sure Amazon will try to co-opt that somehow, but for now, we'll just try to enjoy it for what it is. And what it is is another collection of three Christmas songs from non-Christmas albums. The first is a surprisingly funky take on Shakespeare from Cleo Laine, the second is Silver Bells on a zither, and the third is another sample track from a music publisher. This one is a complete track, so that's nice compared to the others that are just one minute samples. All good stuff, I'm sure you'll enjoy.

1. Cleo Laine Featuring The Music Of John Dankworth-Winter (Love's Labour's Lost) (This Is...Cleo Laine: Shakespeare-And All That Jazz, 1964)
2. Willie Dittrich-Silver Bells (The Singing Zither-Christmas Music & Old Time Hymns, 1969)
3. Al Cobine-Trilogy Of European Carols (Come All Ye Shepherds (Czech); Joseph Lieber, Joseph Mein (German); The March Of The Kings (Old French)) (Studio P/R In Concert-New Concert Band Music for 1978-79, 1978)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 16

Day 16! A little over halfway through the month. Hope everyone is having a great time! A couple spoken word tracks for you today, and one that's only partly spoken word. We start with a rerun of a winter tale as told by Ed Begley, Jr.'s father, then we move on to a Spanish-language track that begins with a long spoken word bit before the song proper begins. No idea what they're saying, but I know Navidad means Christmas. Lastly is a weird spoken word piece that claims to be a song, but it's not. Might not be everyone's cup of tea. Give it a listen and see what you think. Enjoy!

1. Ed Begley-The Winter Of The Blue Snow (Paul Bunyan In Story And Song, 1969)
2. Grupo Coral Exodo, Director: Jesús Porras Ruiz-Navidad (Grupo Coral Exodo, 1977)
3. Charles John Quarto-Christmas Song (Charles John Quarto, 1971)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 15

Wait, hold on a sec, I've forgotten what day it is again. Oh, the 15th, really close to the halfway point. I get lost around here sometimes. What's on tap today? We start out with some music performed on the balalaika, then some fine concert Tchaikovsky and bringing up the rear is some fine percussion work on a Christmas standard. Nice selections today, I think you'll have a good listen. Enjoy!

1. The Osipov Balalaika Orchestra Conducted By Vitaly Gnutov & Viktor Dubrovsky With Ludmila Zykina-Oh, Snow, Light Snow (The World Of The Balalaika, 1971)
2. The Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel Conducting-March (From The Nutcracker Suite) (Digital Delights, 1986)
3. The New York Percussion Trio-Jingle Bells Samba (Holidays For Percussion, 1959)

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Christmas In July '24-Day 14

Almost halfway through the month, I should check and see how my supply of music is holding out. I know there aren't too many records left in the pile to record, so that's either a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. I know there's not too much work left to do on that end of things, so that's the good thing. Unfortunately it means there aren't going to be a huge number of shares for the end of the month, though I think there may be a few days with four tracks instead of three. So at least there's that. Today's first track is a church choir with no date on the record. This song was written in 1962, so the date of release has to be sometime after that. Second is some more zither music for you, and lastly is a sample track (which means it's too short). Enjoy!

1. St. Joseph's Church-Folk Group-Directors: Doreen DiFiore and Sue Tozzi-Do You Hear What I Hear (Alleluia! Sing To The Lord)
2. Willie Dittrich-Suser Die Glocken Nie Klingen (The Singing Zither-Christmas Music & Old Time Hymns, 1969)
3. Unknown Artist-A Merry Christmas Polka (Choral Sampler For The Music Educator, 1980)

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