Christmas In July 2026-Part 22

 

Howdy! Welcome to day twenty-two! Gotta be some good stuff in the pile today, I just know it. Let's dive in and see how deep the water is.

1. Leopold Stokowski And His Orchestra-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring (In Dulci Jubilo-A Baroque Concert, 1967)

We start with one of the great conductors and his take on a Bach classic. 

2. Red Garter-Jingle Bells (Santa's Musical Grog)

More musical grog from the man too cool to wear a black garter.

3. The Art Van Damme Quintet-The Things We Did Last Summer (The Many Moods Of Art, 1972)

This is the second version of this song by Art we've shared with you this season, only this time it's in stereo. I was surprised to find both versions in the same day at the same store, and they are both pulled from double albums! I was worried they were the same but give them a listen and you'll see that they aren't the same performance.

4. Tony Mottola-My Favorite Things (From "The Sound Of Music") (My Favorite Things-The Best Of Tony Mottola, America's Favorite Guitarist, 1975)

A not-really-Christmas track from America's favorite guitarist, or at least Enoch Light's favorite. Looks like I did a horrible job of photographing this album cover. I need to get my eyes calibrated back to a straight line.

5. The Rainbow Sound Of Bianco, His Harp And Orchestra-Greensleeves (Your All-Time Favorite Songs (As Chosen By Members Of The RCA Victor Record Club), 1964)

Who doesn't love Bianco and his harp? Certainly the members of the RCA Victor record club do, he was a popular offering in their club that wasn't available in stores. And if you really enjoy his style, he's got a full Christmas record that you can download right here, also a record club exclusive!

6. Toy Band-Theme II (March And Dance With Toy Band-My First Golden Record Library Volume 10)

Another short version of Greensleeves (same as the track above, sorry) with a little bit of weird out-of-context narration. You need some randomness in your life.

7. Bowmar Orchestral Library-Waltz Of The Flowers (Stories In Ballet And Opera)

Library music, and today's only Nutcracker representation.

8. Stuttgart Festival Band-William Harrison, Conductor-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Have Band Will Travel-Music Minus One Trombone)

Break out your trombone, I've got some music here that you need to complete.

9. Unknown Artist-Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (Mockingbird Flight, 1975)

An actual Christmas song, but one with no credits. Still very enjoyable.

10. Valery Lloyd-Watts, Piano-Cradle Song (Recital Favorites, 1978)

From an LP dedicated to the Suzuki Method of piano education. It's a nice little version and the cover is pretty nice, too. 

Is that it? I think it is. Plenty of goodies in the pile today, hope you found something to enjoy. If not, come back tomorrow, I've got more for you. 

MEGA 

Christmas In July 2026-Part 21

Day 21, finally old enough to drink, make mine a double! Nothing else too special about today, I'm afraid, just another ten tracks towards a giant collection of Christmas music for you to enjoy when the time is right.

1. Toy Band-Greensleeves (Theme I) (March And Dance With Toy Band-My First Golden Record Library Volume 10)

We begin with the first part of some weird bits from this kiddie record. Yes, the tune is Greensleeves, which for our purposes is the same as What Child Is This, but there's some weird story going on here that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I think you're going to get a small piece of this record from today right on through to the end of the month, and none of them are going to make much sense. But nothing about this blog really makes sense...

2. The Four Preps-The Things We Did Last Summer (The Things We Did Last Summer, 1958)

This is the track from our headliner LP up above. I just couldn't pass up that nice beachy scene that is the exact opposite of the wintertime sentiments of this song.

3. Ted Alan Worth-San Francisco Civic Chorale Chamber Chorus-A Cradle Carol (Great Hymns Of Faith-Praise To The Lord)

Ted is an organist who has graced this blog before, but this time he brought some vocalists along for the ride and think the song is more enjoyable for having them.

4. Wayne Johnson, Baritone Soloist-Let There Be Peace On Earth (Heart-Warming Songs)

A fairly local record, from the small town of Holiday here in Florida, just up the coast from St. Pete. This record had some pretty bad damage to the surface, but the software was able to clean most of it up. I think you'll get the idea.

5. Stanley Black Conducting The London Festival Orchestra AKA The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra-Chinese Dance (Tchaikovsky-Nutcracker Suite/Serenade For Strings, 1967)

Is this the only selection from The Nutcracker in the pile today? I think it is. Enjoy!

6. Malcolm Dalglish & Grey Larsen-The Three Little Drummers; Kate Caulfield's Jig; Paddy In London (Banish Misfortune, 1977)

There's not a whole lot of Christmas in this one, but I do remember hearing a version of the lead-in track Three Little Drummers on a Christmas LP by The Beers Family. That's the only time I've heard it refered to as a Christmas track, but I enjoyed hearing it again and threw it in the pile.

7. Melba Montgomery-Keep Me Warm (Melba Montgomery, 1973)

Melba is cold, go keep her warm.

8. Gooding Amusement's German Organ-Christmas Medley (Christmas With The Gooding Band Organ, 1984)

Another entry from this half-Christmas record. I don't remember what's in the medley, I hope it's not something from The Nutcracker.

9. Kermit Leslie And His Orchestra-Bermuda Holiday (A Holiday In Hi-Fi, 1958)

Another barely-related track from this great album. 

10. The Yoder Families-While By My Sheep (Come Let Us Join Our Cheerful Songs)

I almost missed this one but I thought about it for a while and came back and recorded it. I think it may be the most Christmas song of the whole day.

And that's all I've got for you today, not a single sheet music demo track in the pile! I don't think I'm completely done with those just yet, but there aren't many left. Unless I find another album, of course. :) 

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 20

 

Welcome to day the twentieth! We're about 2/3 of the way through the month and that's cause enough for celebration! Hope you had a great weekend and didn't melt in the heat. This music will help you to cool off, I promise.

1. The Polka Kings-Peppermint Polka (A Beautiful Morning With The Polka Kings)

Don't think I've shared this fine polka with you before, though there has been plenty of candy-flavored music shared around these parts in the past.  This one sits proudly alongside all those others that came before it.

2. United States Coast Guard Band-LCDR William Broadwell, Director-March Of The Toys (Heritage Of The March, Volume 20, Herbert-Berg)

I found this record in a pile of others from the same series at a Goodwill earlier this year. I knew somewhere in that strange series of march records had to be a Christmas-related track. And sure enough, I found one by Victor Herbert, of course.

3. Werner Müller And His Orchestra-Sleigh Ride (Werner Müller Plays Leroy Anderson, 1964)

The better track from this Phase 4 treasure. I shared a less-Christmassy track with you earlier, but this is the one you really wanted. It's a rerun from the past, but I thought it worth sharing again.

4. The Concordia College Choir-Victor Hildner, Director-Carol Of The Drum (The Concordia College Choir, 1956)

Another track from these guys, but something with a bit of special interest. This is a version of a song later popularized by Harry Simeone as The Little Drummer Boy, for which he claimed a composing credit. Notice that most of the song existed as arranged by Katherine Davis well before Simeone got his hands on it. An arranger credit would be fine, but he didn't compose anything.

5. The Banjo Barons-Arranged And Conducted By Marty Manning-For You A Lei; An Old Hawaiian Custom; The Hawaiian Christmas Song (Golden Hawaiian Hits, 1963)

A rerun, but a good 'un. Hawaiian songs as played on the banjo. And a Christmas song at that. The early sixties were an odd time.

6. Hope Publishing Company, Somerset Press, Agape-Come Christmas Morning (The Very Best Sacred Choral Music, 1979)

More music to sell arrangements by. I'm getting close to the end of the pile of these things, I hope you're happy.

7. The Choir Of Leeds Parish Church-Directed By Simon Lindley-Michael Harris, Organ-De Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy (Favourite Hymns And Christmas Carols, 1984)

Another track from these folks trying to raise money to rehab their church. It's still there today, over forty years later, so they must have been successful in their quest.

8. St. Cecilia's Men's Choir, Conducted By C. Irving Guyer-Ave Maria (Glory To God In The Highest, 1965)

Another track from this record I previously shared. Remember, it's the one with the stock cover that was used on another record I shared something from. You don't remember? Oh well, I thought it was slightly memorable but I guess not.

9. Steve Allen-Piano Solos With Rhythm Accompaniment-Can I Wait Up For Santa Claus? (Allen Plays Allen, 1956)

My favorite track of the day, and one of the favorite of the season (it will show up on the best-of collection for this year I promise!). This is an piano instrumental version of a song Steve Allen composed and recorded with Ricky Vera back in 1953. It's not too Christmassy in this version, but if you're familiar with the original recording, it's fun to sing along with.

10. Stuttgart Festival Band-William Harrison, Conductor-Joy To The World (Have Band Will Travel-Music Minus One Trombone)

Another track that you can play your trombone along with. Enjoy! And that's it for the day, an excellent crop of music. Have a go and let me know what you think down in the comments. 

MEGA 

Christmas In July 2026-Part 19

Day nineteen, I was starting to wonder if we'd ever get here. Lots of stuff going on behind the scenes here, not the least of which is my workload. There's not a lot of time to make a post every day. Thank goodness I came into the month with all of this music prerecorded. I've found a new track or two here and there, but the lions share was recorded during a marathon three weeks in June. The challenge now is just to keep making a post a day. I started out with a whole week of posts in the can but I've let that lead wither away to just a day or two and now I'm struggling to keep up. But it's worth doing, I think. Hope you're enjoying the music, there's some good stuff in the pile today.

1. Madison Junior And Senior Choir, David Alan Ayers-Director-The Coventry Carol (The Joy Of Christmas And Greats From America Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow)

One more track from this one. I think we're getting close to the end though. Hang in there.

2. Ray McVay Orchestra-I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (Nice 'N' Easy, 1972)

A single track from a European double LP of easy listening arrangements. That's to those Coca-Cola commercials from fifty years ago, I can consider this a Christmas song, though I'm sure some people are confused as to why it's here.

3. The Swe-Danes (Svend Asmussen, Alice Babs and Ulrick Neumann)-Hot Toddy (Scandinavian Shuffle, 1960)

I really enjoy this track. I have to look and see who it is every time it plays. It's a rerun, but a good 'un.

4. Jim Timmens And His Swinging Brass-Go Tell It On The Mountain (Hallelujah! Spirituals In Stereo Brass, 1960)

The track from the featured LP shown above. Was really excited to find something new on RCA Victor, likely the biggest and most popular record label of the late fifties and early sixties. They look good, they sound good and they are good in most other ways as well. You can't go wrong.

5. The Robert Shaw Chorale-Robert Shaw, Conductor-Raymond Viola At The Piano-Ave Maria (Sweet And Low/Schubert Songs For Male Chorus, 1954)

I didn't do an A-B test, but I think there may be two versions of this same track in the pile this season. They're from two different records, but I suspect they are the same. I didn't do it on purpose, but I didn't do much to stop it. Sorry.

6. Gooding Amusement's German Organ-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Christmas With The Gooding Band Organ, 1984)

Another track from the band organ. I did a little internet research and the best I could find about the current resting place of this machine is a private owner somewhere. Could you imagine having this giant music machine in your garage? I dunno if the rumor is true, but that's gotta be something.

7. Poldi Zeitlin, Pianist-The Doll's Funeral (Tchaikovsky 24 Pieces For The Piano-Masterwork Series For The Young Musician, 1952)

We don't often get funeral music around here, but I took the doll-Christmas connection to it's logical conclusion here.

8. Stanley Black Conducting The London Festival Orchestra AKA The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra-Waltz Of The Flowers (Tchaikovsky-Nutcracker Suite/Serenade For Strings, 1967)

Some more Phase 4 goodness for you.

9. Unknown Artist-We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Mockingbird Flight, 1975)

What, an actual Christmas song? We don't get enough of these around here. Enjoy it when you can.

10. Moe Koffman-Amazing Grace/Ave Maria (The Magic Flute Of Moe Koffman, 1984)

Another track from Moe Koffman that is not Swinging Shepherd Blues. And our second version of Ave Maria today. Sigh.

 That's it, thanks for tuning in. More tomorrow! 

MEGA 

Christmas In July 2026-Part 18

Welcome to day eighteen! Now that we're old enough to vote, we'll see who gets to stay on the island and who's going to be kicked off. I hope I get to stay. Enough nonsense, let's dive in, shall we?

1. The Highwaymen-Rise Up Shepherd (Standing Room Only!, 1961)

A rerun, but a good one. Always enjoyed this track. Did it show up on the best-of the year I first shared it? No, doesn't look like it did, but it did reappear later on a second-best-of collection. That's better than nothing, I guess.

2. Jester Hairston And His Chorus-Mary's Little Boy Chile (A Profile Of Negro Life In Song, 1965)

The track from our headliner today is by the great Jester Hairston. Christmas music aficionados will know him from the great work he did with Walter Schumann on his second Christmas album.

3. Bob Bradburn-My Toy (AKA My Marvelous Christmas Toy) (Happy Holiday With CHQT Radio's Bob Bradburn And The Jasper Place High School Stage Band)

A great Christmas-adjacent track written by Tom Paxton, though oddly enough Bob Bradburn grabs a writing credit on this album. Not sure how he thought he was going to get away with that. I think the title on the sleeve was different from the title on the label, so quality control must have had the day off when they put this record together.

4. Claude Thornhill And His Orchestra-Skater's Cha Cha (Dance To The Sound Of Claude Thornhill And His Orchestra, 1959)

Someone wanted a Claude Thornhill track that wasn't Snowfall, and this is the best I can do for you. It's a cha-cha based on Skater's Waltz. Lots and lots of people took that track and had a go at making it something else entirely, I guess it was because it was familiar and in the public domain.

5. Dick Whittinghill-Music By Billy Vaughn-The Cradle To The Cross (The Square And Other Great Narrations, 1965)

I love finding these oddball narrations. This one doesn't have as much to do with Christmas as I had hoped, but I couldn't leave it out after I went to all the trouble to find and record it.

6. Charter Wind Ensemble Under The Direction Of Caesar Giovannini And Bill Holcombe-12 Days Of Christmas (Charter Sound Series Volume 5-Concert Band, 1973)

I missed out by not sharing a version of The Twelve Days of Christmas on the twelfth day of the month. I hope day eighteen is close enough for you. I feel like I have another version in the pile somewhere, have I shared that already? Hmmm...

7. Arranger's Publishing Company-Christmas Medley (Marching Band, 1986)

More demo music (much like the previous track if I neglected to point that one out) only this time they couldn't even be bothered to tell you who they hired to play it. Oh well, so it goes.

8. The Arlingtones, Jay Giallombardo-Director-Winter Wonderland (A Chorus For All Seasons)

Yet another track from this month's favorite barbershop chorus.

9. Stuttgart Festival Band-William Harrison, Conductor-We Wish You A Merry Xmas (Have Band Will Travel-Music Minus One Trombone)

I'm not a big fan of substituting Xmas in place of Christmas, but that's the way it was on the record. I know the Greek letter Chi was used as a shorthand for Christ and all, but it still seems wrong. I usually don't care about such things, but this one bothers me a little bit.

10. The Choir Of Leeds Parish Church-Directed By Simon Lindley-Michael Harris, Organ-Hark, The Herald Angels Sing (Favourite Hymns And Christmas Carols, 1984)

Rounding out the top ten today is another track from Leeds in support of their rebuilding project. Hope it worked out for them.

 That's all, there ain't no more (at least for today, try us again tomorrow). 

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 17

G'day, welcome to part seventeen of this month-long celebration of Christmas from vinyl. Well, Christmas from non-Christmas records on vinyl to be more precise. I really enjoy finding these Christmas songs that just show up at random in places where they don't have much reason to be, and I also enjoy sharing them with you. The intent is to introduce you to some stuff you've never heard before and I think I've hit the mark yet again today. Let's see what's in the download. 

1. Marching Chippewa Band-Central Michigan University-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Marching Showcase '74-21 New Marching Band Arrangements, 1974)

A nice new arrangement of a hairy old chestnut. If you like it, I'm sure they'll be happy to sell you the sheet music.

2. Gooding Amusement's German Organ-A Little Boy's Christmas (Christmas With The Gooding Band Organ, 1984)

Another good track a side full of good tracks. I wonder if this band wagon still exists. I need to do some research on that. Huh, the Internet tells me that this company went out of business more than ten years before this record came out. Do I have the wrong date on it or is the Internet wrong again?

3. Red Garter-Sleigh Ride (Santa's Musical Grog)

Another track from a good side of music. I love these records where I can grab a whole pile of tracks for you. Makes my job easier. Takes forever when I can only record one song from each record.

4. Reginald Foort, F.R.C.O.-Nutcracker Suite: Waltz Of The Flowers (Waltz And Ballet, 1956)

More Nutcracker sweet! They really loved their pipe organs back in the middle of last century. I figure they're about due for a comeback, don't 'cha think?

5. The Concordia College Choir-Victor Hildner, Director-Silent Night (The Concordia College Choir, 1956)

Another record where I think I grabbed a whole side of music.

6. Madison Junior And Senior Choir, David Alan Ayers-Director-We Wish You The Merriest (The Joy Of Christmas And Greats From America Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow)

Sheesh, how many of these are in the pile today? Pretty sure I grabbed a full side on this one as well.

7. Petula Clark & Children-My Favourite Things (Ross Taylor's Production Of The Sound Of Music-The Original 1981 London Production, 1981)

Ah, here's one where I only grabbed one track off of a full album, and it was a real shock to find it. I see lots of versions of The Sound Of Music, but when I flipped it over and saw Petula Clark on there I got all excited. Sure enough, she sang the lead here and now I get to share it with you. Now you know why I put the album cover up at the top of this post. No idea why I couldn't be bothered to remove the price tag before I took the photo though. Lazy, I guess.

8. Robert Douglas As Narrator, With The Children's Hour Orchestra And Singers Conducted By Larry H. Laberer-In Winter (All About The Seasons, 1963)

This track has been popping up frequently as I listen to the music to share this season, and I feel like it's more frequent than anything else in the pile. I guess the algorithms are all messed up, or maybe it's just me. Anyhow, I'm sick of it so I'm sharing it just so it can go in the 'shared' pile and I won't hear it anymore.

9. The JM Choral Group-Novices And Postulates Of The Religious Of Jesus And Mary-Mother Marie Laetitia, R.J.M., Director-Patapan (Patterns In Song, 1960)

Another track from these nuns in training. I didn't know that's what they meant by Novices and postulates, but now I do. Someone will probably correct me about that, but I clearly didn't pay enough attention during Sister Act to know my nun-iverse.

10. Gordon Jenkins, His Piano, Orchestra And Chorus-Baby It's Cold Outside (The Great Movie Themes Of The 30's, 40's & 50's, 1964)

The great Gordon Jenkins plays a short version of an Academy Award winning Christmas-adjacent song. It's short because they tried to cram twenty or thirty tracks onto this record, so there's only a small slice of time for each song. Still good though. I feel like I've shared this out before though, but from an LP with a different cover. Maybe this is one of those albums that's been reissued a bunch to try and get you to buy something you already have.

MEGA