The Heaven's A-Blaze

I've got a double handful of remasters to share with you this season, and this is the first of those. It also comes with a little story about paying attention to what's in your record collection. I shared this record out with you many years ago in 2011. I didn't think too much of it then, but my tastes have changed a bit over the ensuing years, or maybe I just have warm memories of recording and sharing it back in the day. Listening to it recently while re-recording it for a new share, I'm struck by the fact that this doesn't sound like a bunch of high school students. This sounds to my ears like an adult choir. I'm wondering if they just leased an extant recording and put their own name on it to sell as a fundraiser? Not sure we'll ever know whether or not that's the case unless we can identify the actual singing group through a different release. Maybe there's a clue in the name of the conductor-arranger, Bob Lowden. Mmmm... Oh, and the other story. I had three copies of this LP in the archives, and I was into the scanning process before I realized they weren't all the same. Two of them were identical but the third copy appeared to have been custom printed for a special division of DECA located in Delaware. I don't believe the music is any different, but you can see some different printing on the jacket. I scanned both of them and included it in the download for you, completist that I am. I'm sure you'll enjoy this remaster of The DECA Blazers-Arranged & Conducted By Bob Lowden-Merry Christmas (Melrose DBX-1, Stereo, 1968). I was planning to drop the cover scan in here of the Delaware version, but then I realized they were both the same. So you can only see the one cover here but trust me, there are more scans in the download.

Update: A reader noticed that two of the tracks on the flip side were wrong according to the track listing on the sleeve (the one I used to tag the tracks). The tracklist is correct on the labels as near as I can tell. It moves Bring A Torn Janette down one slot closer to the end, and replaces What Child Is This? with Tannenbaum. I've uploaded a new version to MEGA, I hope it's correct now. That's screw-up number one for the 2025 Christmas season.)

1. Joy To The World
2. While By My Sheep
3. Carol Of The Bells
4. Angels We Have Heard On High
5. I Wonder As I Wander
6. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
7. Greensleeves
8. Carol Of The Drums
9. Silent Night
10. O Come All Ye Faithful
11. The Holly And The Ivy
12. Stars Of Ice
13. Go Tell It On The Mountain
14. Carol Noel

15. Tannenbaum
16. Bring A Torch Janette
17. Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
18. First Noel

MEGA

Season Opener

Time to get this season underway properly with the first Chirstmas share! I found this record at a used book store in Largo one afternoon when I was on my way home from dropping the wife off at the airport for a trip to NYC. It's rare I get to go there because they have thousands of cheap records and I can spend a lot of time going through them looking for hidden gems, meanwhile she's trying to stay occupied with nothing to do. So while she was headed out of town, I got to dig. And dig I did, finding this record with a gloriously misspelled Chirstmas right there on the front cover. It's a shame because I soon discovered this is a really good record and well worth anyone's time to give it a spin. Don't really know a thing about the artist, only that it's a local record that probably only got distributed at private shows or appearances, or maybe the majority of them got tossed because of that misspelling. If you can get past the laugh factor, please download and give a listen to Joanie Ryan-Waiting For Chirstmas (SIC) (No Label, No Number, Stereo, Unknown Year).

Update: I didn't even notice the use of a stock cover on this one. Click here to see plenty of uses of this same stock image, "Snowy Trees". 

1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas  
2. White Christmas  
3. Let It Snow  
4. Silver Bells  
5. The Christmas Song  
6. Sleigh Ride  
7. Waiting For Christmas  
8. Homes For The Holidays  
9. Merry Christmas Darling  
10. Happy Christmas 

MEGA

A Hearty Welcome to 2025!

Good afternoon! And welcome to the 2025 Christmas sharity season! It's been a long time since last Christmas (when I gave you my heart, and a whole awful lot of 45's!) but I'm back with a big long season just chock full of music you may or may not want to listen to. I've got good stuff, I've got bad stuff and I've got lots of stuff in between. You're just going to have to look and listen to figure out if it's a good fit for your playlist or not. I think there's something worth listening to in each and every one of these records, even if it's only one time. I've been recording albums for myself since just before Christmas of last year, I just got the itch to start ripping some of my new records and I haven't let up since. I think the most recent record I ripped was less than a week ago. Not sure if anything that recent will have time to get all the way through the process, but maybe. I don't have an exact count but I estimate I've ripped about 450 full albums in the past 365 days. I've also made over 3400 passes with the scanner to assemble all these album covers. I've generated over 20,000 files between all the individual songs and images taking up hundreds of gigabytes on my poor old hard drive. I have not finished all 450 of those records, nor will I share them all. Quite a few of them are just records I wanted to listen to and if you want to listen to them they are streaming on Spotify or Amazon or Apple Music (Does anyone call it iTunes anymore?). But I've got plenty of obscure stuff for you that so far has escaped the digital era. I've been thinking about what to say to you today for weeks now, yet when I actually sit down and begin to type it all flitters away like butterflies in a hurricane. Oh, I need to share the fact that most of the season this year will be on autopilot. Sometime just after the middle of the year, my wife's family invited us to spend the holiday with them in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I've never spent a Christmas away from my own warm home here in Central Florida, so this is truly going to be a Christmas adventure for me. I've spent the past two months trying to get all my records finished up and all the shares pre-posted so that the blog keeps going even when I'm in the great American Southwest. If I see something interesting out there (like snow!), I'll try to drop in a picture if I can. And I plan to respond to comments just as quickly as possible, so please leave plenty. You know that a blog like this exists because of feedback from the visitors, so please let me know what you like, what you don't like, what you think might be interesting or related to the record at hand. This place is the most fun when it's a little community of folks who are all here for the music. I'll also have a laptop with a terabyte of data stashed away just in case I need to fix something I've done wrong in the mad dash to the finish. It may take me a day or two if I need to correct a link or something, but I should be able to make it happen. When I found out we were going west for the holidays, I figured I'd have to cut back to a single post a day (like last year), but the harder I worked the further I got and I think you'll be surprised with how much I was able to pull together and how long we keep going. I don't want to give anything away, but it's going to get crazy around here at times. Tomorrow is Black Friday, and after you've gone and celebrated Record Store Day, stop by Wal-Mart and get yourself a new, giant external hard drive. (Be sure it's a Western Digital though. I got a Seagate last time that only showed 10% of the advertised space when I fired it up, and they refused to replace it, saying I had modified it somehow! I'm still angry about that and want my $150 back.) You're going to need that space because I'm sharing everything in FLAC this year. The files sizes are about double the size of the old MP3s and I know not everyone is going to be happy about the format change, but we've got to move forward sometimes and this is the year for me. There are plenty of software packages out there that will convert this music to whatever format you may need for your iPod, Zune, or even RealPlayer. Everything I have from my phone to my car handles FLAC with no problem these days, so I made the plunge and have not looked back. I'll think of more to say later, but I'll sign off for now. Don't forget to leave me a comment whenever possible, that's how I judge my self-worth this time of the year. I'll be reading them aloud to my in-laws as we sit around the fire each evening in our adobe hacienda. They love to hear what you guys have to say, or at least I hope they will. I plan to provide a soundtrack to each evening that will quite likely drive them all insane. Here we go, hold on tight! Keep arms and hands inside the vehicle at all times and take small children firmly by the hand!

But First, Thanksgiving

Today's the day you've been waiting for, I suspect, but not just yet. First, I need to do a little bit of Thanksgiving business. It's not every year that I have a share specifically for Thanksgiving day, but I was lucky to find this record and happy to share it with you. I guess Harvest Celebration is not quite the same as Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving is mentioned right there in small print above the title. That has to count for something, right? There is a track on here called This Is My Father's World, a title that takes on a whole new meaning when you realize that Richard Roberts is the son of Oral Roberts, and Patti of course was his daughter-in-law. I imagine there was a TV special or something associated with this LP, but I haven't done enough research to know for sure. Hopefully some one will clue me in if such a thing exists. But if you're wanting to give this a listen, please be my guest and go download Richard & Patti Roberts-Harvest Celebration (Light LS-5562-LP, Stereo, 1971). I'll be back this afternoon with the official start of the Christmas sharity season, I promise.

1. Harvest Prelude/Psalm 92
2. Harvest Celebration
3. This Is My Father's World
4. Psalm 50
5. Heritage Medley: This Is My Country; America; God Bless America; America The Beautiful; This Land Is Your Land; God Of Our Fathers; This Is My Country Reprise
6. The Giving Song
7. Psalm 136
8. My Father's Table
9. Lincoln Thanksgiving Proclamation
10. Thanksgiving Medley: To Our God Give Praise; To God Be The Glory; Old Hundredth

MEGA 

Seven Days

I figured I should chime in here and let you know that Christmas season starts in one week. I hope you have an empty hard drive handy. See you soon!

CiA 2025-Day 01

No, I'm not starting over. If you've been around for Christmas in July a while now, you'll likely recall that I try to share out a batch of Chanukah tracks for you on the first day of August each year, so the title above stands for Chanukah in August. And I was lucky enough to find three tracks for you this year. Not sure if there's a real highlight among the songs for today, I was just happy to have more than one song in the Chanukah bucket this year. Just take 'em for what they're worth and be glad I found something. Enjoy!

1. Mike Green, Catherine Slonecki, April Inyard, Scott Jasnow And Kelly Kaneblet-Dreydl Song-Israel (Holiday Songs Around The World, 1994)
2. Clear Springs Chorus, Directed By Miss Shari Steffen, Accompanist: Mrs. Patricia Paul-Shalom (Clear Springs Chorus Sings)
3. Cincinnati Children's Choir-O Chanukah (World Of Music-Sample Recording K-8, 1988)

MEGA (FLAC)

All The Best From 2024

I've been trying to get to this all month, but here we are on the last day of the month and I still haven't done it. No time like the present, I guess. This is a collection of all the best tracks I shared during Christmas in July back in 2024. It wasn't my biggest or best year, but I think it's a good collection of stuff that you can enjoy listening to once the season rolls around. I threw together a little artwork based on an LP from which I shared a track during this year's Christmas in July, and it was a record from Puerto Rico, so that's the only excuse I have for trying to do it in Spanish. I found it hilarious at the time, but the joke may wear thin pretty fast. I was happy that it still looks a little homemade, like it could have come straight off an album I dug out of the bins at Goodwill. But the music is the most important thing here, so download it and give a listen. This is Lo Mejor de la Navidad en Julio de Ernesto (no Roberto) 2024! (I thought recently that Umberto might be funnier than Roberto, but it was too late to make a change.)

1. Jackie & Roy-Sleigh Ride In July
2. Skywalk-First Snow
3. Earle Warren And The Countsmen-White Christmas
4. Gene Krupa-Arranged And Conducted By George Williams-Arab Dance (From "The Nutcracker Suite")
5. Randy Sparks & The Back Porch Majority-First Snow Of Winter
6. The Wintersauce Chorale-George Guilbault, Director-Brian Marble, Associate Conductor & Accompanist-Sing We And Chant It
7. Clifton Davis-O Little Town Of Bethlehem
8. George Shearing-Away In The Manger
9. The Valley Troubadours, Solo-Erwin Overby, Directed By Gloria Peterson-Let There Be Peace On Earth
10. Tracy Moore-Silent Night
11. John Denver-Please, Daddy
12. Composed And Conducted By David Amram-Mountain Snow
13. Ralph Blane Accompanied By Ralph Burns' Orchestra-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
14. Al Cobine-Trilogy Of European Carols (Come All Ye Shepherds (Czech); Joseph Lieber, Joseph Mein (German); The March Of The Kings (Old French))
15. Jim Curnow-Christmas Concert March
16. Ray Heatherton And Orchestra-Created, Produced And Directed By Hal Gross-Winter Song
17. Joseph Gershenson-Christmas Holly (Inter: Love Theme From "Madame X" and My Heart Still Hears The Music)
18. Grupo Coral Exodo, Director: Jesús Porras Ruiz-Navidad
19. The Gregg Smith Singers-Gregg Smith, Conductor-The Shepherd's Carol
20. Sascha Burland And Don Elliot With The Nutty Squirrels-Arranged And Conducted By Billy Mure-Bingle Jells
21. Charles John Quarto-Christmas Song
22. The Osipov Balalaika Orchestra Conducted By Vitaly Gnutov & Viktor Dubrovsky With Ludmila Zykina-Oh, Snow, Light Snow
23. Ray Repp-In The Month Of December
24. Willa Dorsey And The Sanctuary Choir And Orchestra Of First Baptist Church, Dallas Texas, Directed By Gary Moore-Wasn't That A Mighty Day
25. Unknown Artist-Tambourine Noel
26. Jackie DeShannon-Keep Me Warm
27. Sanctuary Choir And Sanctuary Orchestra Of The Music Ministry Of First Baptist Church Atlanta-What Did You Say Was The Baby's Name?
28. The Popular Front-A Puppy For Christmas
29. Robin & Linda Williams-Chilly Scenes Of Winter
30. Randy Edelman-End Of December
31. God's Little Monkeys-New Year's Honours

MEGA (FLAC) 

CiJ 2025-Day 31-New Year's

Well, I'm back from the weekend in Atlanta and nearly forgot that I need to finish up the month here at the blog. I know that I've missed a few of the archive posts, and I hope to get to those eventually even though I don't think they're very popular. The highlight of the day is a version of Auld Lang Syne by an anonymous chorus with music by Hugo Winterhalter that I did not know about previously. It's from a movie featuring the parents of Princess Leia. How's that for a Star Wars connection? Unfortunately, neither of them feature on this track, but it's still a good find in my book. All but one of the tracks featured today are in celebration of the New Year. I had to throw in one more track from one of the same records I've featured what seems like 100 times before, just to get rid of yet another song. I think I've still got songs to share from those and the month is over, so you're assured of at least a couple more posts after this one if I can find the time to post them.  Happy New Year to all and thanks for stopping by!

1. William Harrison, Pianist-New Year's Eve (More Easy Clarinet Solos, 1976)
2. Chorus With RKO Studio Orchestra, Conducted By Hugo Winterhalter-New Year's Eve On Time's Square (Auld Lang Syne) (Bundle Of Joy, 1956)
3. Jamestown High School A Cappella Choir 1990-1991-James A. Bogey, Conductor-Christmas Oratorio: Benedictus (Songs Of '91, 1991)
4. Mike Green, Catherine Slonecki, April Inyard, Scott Jasnow And Kelly Kaneblet-Feast Of Lanterns-China (Holiday Songs Around The World, 1994)
5. Guy Cherney-Auld Lang Syne (Everybody Sing, 1956)
6. Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra-Trumpet Solo: Charly Tabor-Auld Lang Syne (The Wonderland Of Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra, 1961)
7. Mel Kaiser, Engineer-New Years Eve-Auld Lang Syne (Documentary Sounds, Volume One, 1962)
8. Mel Kaiser, Engineer-New Years Eve-Times Square (Documentary Sounds, Volume One, 1962)
9. Jenson Publications-Resolutions (Superior New Works For Concert Band-Vol. IX, 1981)

MEGA (FLAC)

CiJ 2025-Day 30

Only a few days left in the month here, so you'd better start downloading if you've been putting it off. (And if you want even more downloads, pay some attention to those pointer posts I've been making in between the daily new shares. There are lots and lots more songs like these in the archives.)  The highlight of the day is a version of Winter Wonderland as performed by the members of a chorus linked to Peoples Gas. I have no idea what possessed me to pick up this record that was in a generic cardboard sleeve and pull it out, but I did, and I was richly rewarded for my efforts. That sort of thing doesn't happen every day, but it's nice when it does. You just never know what you're going to find.

1. June Albright On The Deagan Carillon At The Stephen Foster Memorial, White Springs, Florida-The Bells Of St. Mary's (Songs Of The American Home, 1960)
2. Phineas Newborn, Jr. With Dennis Farnon And His Orchestra-Moonlight In Vermont (While My Lady Sleeps, 1957)
3. David Mallett-Snowbound (Open Doors & Windows, 1983)
4. Jamestown High School A Cappella Choir 1990-1991-James A. Bogey, Conductor-Christmas Oratorio: Recitatives (Songs Of '91, 1991)
5. Peoples Gas Club Chorus, Director-George Haase, Accompanists-Helen Nettinga & Ferris Healey-Winter Wonderland (Peoples Gas Club Chorus, 1957)
6. Jenson Publications And Purifoy Publishing-Silent Night (Choral Celebration Vol. VI, 1984)
7. Jenson Publications-The First Noel (Superior New Works For Concert Band-Vol. XVII Easy Edition, 1985)
8. Jenson Publications-March Noel (New Music For Concert Band-Volume 27-Easy Edition, 1990)

MEGA (FLAC)

CiJ 2025-Day 29

We're so close to the end here I can smell it! Things are winding down around here, but that doesn't mean the quality is slipping, no sir! The track o' the day is a rousing version of Jingle Bells as sung by a bunch of kids with some quality instrumental support.

1. Mel Kaiser, Engineer-Street Noises At Xmas Time (Documentary Sounds, Volume One, 1962)
2. Ed Kilbourne-Chilly Winds (I Know Where I'm Going, 1965)
3. Buzz Martin-Settin' Chokers In The Snow (A Logger Finds An Opening, 1970)
4. Jean-Pierre Rampal, Maurice André, Saint-Laurent Children's Choir (Alain Çazade & Bertrand Lemaire, Directors) & Instrumental Ensemble (François Rauber, Director)-Jingle Bells (Children's Songs, 1985)
5. Yale Women's Glee Club, Soprano Soloist: Cayce Blanchard (on 'That Younge Child')-Selections From A Ceremony Of Carols: Wolcum Yule!; That Yonge Child; Bululalow; As Dew In Aprille; Deo Gracias (Yale Glee Club 1970, 1970)
6. Jamestown High School A Cappella Choir 1990-1991-James A. Bogey, Conductor-Hodie Christus Natus Est (Songs Of '91, 1991)
7. Jenson Publications And Purifoy Publishing-O Come All Ye Faithful (Choral Celebration Vol. VI, 1984)
8. Jenson Publications-The Little Drummer Boy (Sound Ideas For Concert Band Vol V, 1979)

MEGA (FLAC)

CiJ 2025-Day 28

Welcome to day 28! I added four more tracks to the pile to share today, but I'm still a little scared I'm going to run out before the end of the month. The alleviate that fear, I'm throwing in an extra demo track today and that number may increase in the coming days right through to the end. I had too many of those short snippets and not enough real songs in the pile. But it's still good stuff, I promise. And the featured track of the day is one of the best things I've been itching to share out all month. It's an actual Christmas track that's seemingly been lost to time. If you like free-form jazz from the mid-60's, then this is your jam. If not, well, you're getting it anyway. Enjoy!

1. Max Roach-In The Red (A Xmas Carol) (Drums Unlimited, 1966)
2. David Mallett-Northern Lights (Open Doors & Windows, 1983)
3. Jamestown High School A Cappella Choir 1990-1991-Madrigal Singers-James A. Bogey, Conductor-Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella (Songs Of '91, 1991)
4. The Yale Theater Orchestra-James Sinclair, Conductor-Holiday Quickstep (Old Songs Deranged, 1974)
5. Nashville Youth Symphony, Harry Lantz-Conductor-Song Of Winter (Happy Sounds, 1976)
6. Jenson Publications-What Child Is This (New Music For Concert Band-Volume 27-Easy Edition, 1990)
7. Jenson Publications And Purifoy Publishing-Silent Night (Choral Celebration Vol. VI, 1984)
8. Mel Kaiser, Engineer-Sleigh Bells (Documentary Sounds, Volume One, 1962)

MEGA (FLAC)

CiJ Years Past-Day 27

Day 27, pretty sure I can see the end from here. As usual, these are links to old Christmas in July shares that are still available, all posted on this day in their respective year. Enjoy!

2024

2023

2022 and 2022

2021

2020 and 2020

2019 and 2019

CiJ 2025-Day 27

27 days straight, haven't missed one yet. The secret is to post these things ahead of time. I avoided doing that for years, but as life became more complicated, it was easier to post when I had time and try to get a few days ahead when I could, then coast when I needed to be otherwise occupied. I hope you didn't think I was posting all this stuff live. Anyhow, I've got eight more tracks for you here, more goodies to get you in the Christmas spirit even though it's really hot outside. The highlight track today is a take on My Favorite Things, which I'm sure someone will object to as not a Christmas song. But for my purposes here, it fits right in and I was excited to find something to share on such a cool looking album. This was what some record labels were putting out in an attempt to beat The Beatles in 1964. It's a UK recording, as is at least one other record in the stack tonight. There's also song in there from a record used to perform in a dance studio. A real mixed bag today, enjoy!

 1. The Glasgow Phoenix Choir, Conducted By Peter Mooney-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring (Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring, 1970)
2. The Laurie Johnson Orchestra-My Favorite Things (Introducing England's New Big Band Sound, 1964)
3. Mixed Madrigal Group-Traditional Carols: Run Friends To Greet Him; Though Now A Babe; Last Night Came A Host Of Angels (Yale Glee Club 1970, 1970)
4. Statler Records-Tale Of The Toy Shop (Dance Of A Lifetime)
5. Reginald Dixon At The Organ Of The Tower Ballroom, Blackpool-Wedding Of The Painted Doll (Mr. Blackpool, 1964)
6. Jamestown High School A Cappella Choir 1990-1991-Men Of Tomorrow-Michael Hagadorn, Soloist-James A. Bogey, Conductor-Go, Tell It On The Mountain (Songs Of '91, 1991)
7. Ithaca College Band-Walter Beeler, Director-Bells Of Winter (Away We Go)
8. Jenson Publications-An Old English Christmas (Sound Ideas For Concert Band Vol V, 1979)

MEGA (FLAC)