25 Days Of Christmas-Day 16

Sometimes I am just amazed at the stuff that has yet to be released on CD. Tonight's track for my 25 Days Of Christmas online compilation is just such a track. Most people have heard of Les Paul, or at least the guitar that bears his name. Les (and his partner Mary Ford) recorded very few Christmas songs in their career, but four of them were collected on this EP from Capitol sometime in the mid-fifties. I think two of them have shown up on various compilations and box sets, but the one I'm giving you hasn't, to my knowledge, seen the light of day in come 50-odd years. And that's a shame, because it's so good it hurts. Here's Les Paul-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town from Les Paul & Mary Ford-Christmas Cheer! (Capitol 7" 45 rpm EAP 1-543, 1954). Mary is nowhere to be found on this track, so I just credited it to Les. If you don't enjoy this one, then you're just not tryin'.

Previous tracks:
The Harmonicats-Winter Wonderland
Steve Allen and Ricky Vera-Can I Wait Up For Santa Claus?
Ricardo Montalban & Randy Newman-La Campanilla
Ralph Carmichael-The New Hallelujah
Lawrence Welk With The Lennon Sisters-Santa From Santa Fe
Billy May-March Of The Toys
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

The Harmonicats, Sorta

Last night I mentioned this album when I posted my daily track for 25 Days Of Christmas, so I figured I should go ahead and share it so you'd know what I was talking about. This album was recorded by The Harmonicats, but not the same group that brought you great space-age pop hits like Peg O' My Heart, etc. This is a group founded by one of the members of that original group, Don Les. The group leader was Jerry Murad, and he seems to have been the one that had most of the talent. Compare any of the tracks on here with the one I brought you last night, and you'll see what I mean. Not that anything on here is bad, it's just not great. And on top of all that, it's a pretty crummy label. One of the songs listed on the the cover, Upon The House Top (sic), is not even on the LP. Instead, you get O Little Town Of Bethlehem. Also, if you look at the Christmas ornaments on the cover, you can see the reflection of the photographer and his tripod, over and over and over again. Not to mention the whole thing is printed crooked! Come on, people. And the recording? Let's just say that I swear I can hear the microphone bump a harmonica more than once. Those noises are on the record, folks, it's not my crappy recording. But now that I've bad-mouthed it, do you still want to download Christmas With The Don Les Harmonicats (Halo 1005)? (Note that there was a track from this LP on a various artists record from Halo I shared earlier this month.)

Caroling, Caroling

The second record I wanted to rerun from last year by The Caroleers is this one. More correctly, I suppose it's The Caroleer Singers And Orchestra, but it's still the same collection of anonymous singers and musicians. Again, there's some great stuff on here mixed with some dreck. I love some of the original songs, but then I'm a sucker for Christmas music that you don't hear everyday. How many different ways can you sing Silent Night? OK, many, many different ways, but sometimes it seems like everybody sings it the same. So I get excited when I hear something new and different. But whatever you may like, there's probably some of it in here. Go download The Caroleer Singers And Orchestra-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Ambassador Record Corp. SX 1727).

Update: If you're looking for the Caroleer Rudolph LP with the green cover, go over to FaLaLaLaLa!

Double Update: You can now legally download this great LP here. Sounds a whole lot better than my scratchy old vinyl.

Caroling

Some of the most popular Christmas records out there are the recordings by The Caroleers. Problem is, there is no such group. These records collected recordings from any number of groups, then were reissued over and over again under different titles, different collections, different covers, different everything! But because folks had these budget-priced collections as kids, they still remember them fondly. Here's the first of two Caroleer shares I brought you last year, featuring two different covers for the same music. Why don't you go download The Caroleers-'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Diplomat SX 1720), and used that track order. The one below, The Caroleers-'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Diplomat SX 1720). Don't get me wrong, there's good music on these releases, some of it even great. But some of it's not, and it should all be released under the actual artists names. But it's too late for that now, I suppose.


Update: Now you can legally download this LP thought iTunes. Go get it!

A Break From The Ordinary, Part Two (Oodles Of Doodles CCIX)

As promised, here's the second volume of music from St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir. I don't know if this is the direct follow-up to the one I brought you last night, since they changed the title slightly, then labelled it Volume 2, but it's the same folks for sure. Same cover, even, with the same doodle on the back. Also as promised, I've thrown the doodle in below. It's a beautiful drawing of St. Patrick's Cathedral from the viewpoint of a couple of pigeons, err, I mean doves. So please be my guest and download Saint Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Songs-Volume 2 (Roulette SR 25142). This copy was in much better shape than Volume 1, so you should enjoy the sound quality much more here.

25 Days Of Christmas-Day 15

Hello, and welcome to day 15. In case you haven't been paying attention, I'm giving you a track a day (in addition to my normal shares) that is intended to be a nice little Christmas CD. Each one comes from some random slice of vinyl in my collection, and none of them really have anything in common. The collection is called 25 Days Of Christmas, and with a little luck, I'll have some artwork for you by day 25, Christmas. Depends on how much I can get done between now and then, really. It's a busy time of year, as I'm sure you're aware. Anyhow, tonight's artist needs no introduction to most of you, so here's The Harmonicats-Winter Wonderland from An All-Star Christmas "We Wish You The Merriest" (Columbia CS 8499, 1961). As far as I know, this was the only true Christmas recording from the real Harmonicats. There was a later album of Christmas music from The Don Les' Harmonicats, but it's wasn't really the same band. There were some sorta-Christmas tracks from these guys during Christmas in July, if you need some more of that great harmonica sound. The photo below is from the back of the LP shown above.
Previous tracks:
Steve Allen and Ricky Vera-Can I Wait Up For Santa Claus?
Ricardo Montalban & Randy Newman-La Campanilla
Ralph Carmichael-The New Hallelujah
Lawrence Welk With The Lennon Sisters-Santa From Santa Fe
Billy May-March Of The Toys
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

A Break From The Ordinary, Part One

Here's something a little bit different from my usual shares. I don't ordinarily do choral albums, but this one caught my eye a while ago. It laid in the pile for a while, then I found a stereo copy. I was looking for something to rip, and there it was, so I went ahead and did it. The record is pretty noisy, so it's not the cleanest music you're going to hear this season. It's not bad music, just a little out of the ordinary for me. If you like this sort of music, then you will like this. And if you do like it, stay tuned tomorrow, because I also have part two coming up. But for now, have a go at Saint Patrick's Cathedral Choir Sings Christmas Carols (Roulette SR 25097, 1958). There's a doodle that's repeated on the back side of both volumes, but the sleeve is in better shape on the second part, so you'll see the doodle here tomorrow with that post.

The C Is Silent In Chanukah

Chanukah began at sunset tonight, and last the next eight days, so I figure today is the best time to share my great Chanukah surprise this year. I didn't want to leave all my Jewish visitors out of the downloading fun, and when I stumbled across this record, I knew it would be a great share. You get to listen to all of the traditional music of Chanukah here, as well as some originals by Moishe Oysher. Also included is some great narration by Oysher's daughter, Shoshanna. You'll learn everything you need to know about the Festival Of Lights right here. I learned plenty myself. I thought the Maccabees were a type of honey from Paul McCartney. So go download The Moishe Oysher Chanukah Party (Rozanna J7OP-6641/6642), and enjoy!

If you need more Chanukah music, there was one great track shared out during my brief Chanukah In August celebration, and one not-so-great track. I think the links are still good on those. I should go record some Barry Sisters for you...

Daddy Sang Bass

One of my best finds from last year was this various artists collection of Christmas tunes. There's some interesting stuff on here from The Pied Pipers, Norma Zimmer and others, but the artist that I was most excited about finding was Thurl Ravenscroft. If you don't know who that is, download this and see if you recognize the voice. If that still doesn't do it for you, go watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the animated original, not the movie.). Then let me know if you've figured it out. Here's The Pied Pipers Sing Favorite Christmas Carols (Tops L 1650, 1958).

May Day

If you're a big Billy May fan like me, then this is the Christmas album for you. It's nominally an album by The Jimmy Joyce Singers, but the orchestra is by Billy May, and there are a few instrumental tracks, and those are all Billy. I could go on and on about this album, but all you need to know is in the music. If you want to read more, go read what I wrote last year. Otherwise, get busy and download The Jimmy Joyce Singers With Orchestra Conducted By Billy May-A Christmas To Remember (Warner Bros W 1237, 1958). I'm still looking for a stereo copy, by the way...

25 Days Of Christmas-Day 14

Tonight I've got another great Christmas song for you that I'd bet you've never heard. Well, I shouldn't make that bet, since I think there are people out there who've heard a lot more music than I have. But I'll bet that a majority of you haven't heard this one. Tonight's contribution to 25 Days Of Christmas is Steve Allen and Ricky Vera-Can I Wait Up For Santa Claus?, a great little song that I found on One Hundred Favorite Songs Of Christmas (MCA Special Markets SR 8726 DXS 504). Yes, there really are 100 songs in this set, spread out over 4 LPs, which means they compressed them to death, so the sound isn't quite what it should be. I'm sure this song came out as a 45 at some time, then was collected on this compilation later. It actually features Steve Allen on vocals, unlike some of this other Christmas work with Ricky Vera. I've got a couple of Steve's regular LPs copied to MP3, and I'm thinking of sharing them out after the holidays are over. They're pretty good, in their own snide little way. Anyhow, enjoy this great little Christmas tune!

Previous tracks:
Ricardo Montalban & Randy Newman-La Campanilla
Ralph Carmichael-The New Hallelujah
Lawrence Welk With The Lennon Sisters-Santa From Santa Fe
Billy May-March Of The Toys
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

Keno? No, KE-Notes!

Here's an interesting record that sort of fits in with that record I brought you from Snap-On earlier. This is a recording of a chorus made up of office workers from the advertising agency Kenyon & Eckhardt in the late fifties. A brief introductory track tells the story of this group, practicing all year long, then going from floor to floor bringing holiday cheer to the many people working at McMahon and Tate. No, wait, Kenyon And Eckhardt, I mean. I guess things were different in the fifties. I like the photo on the back. There's such a wide range of expressions there. One guy in the front is really belting it out, one poor woman is falling asleep, one woman seems frightened by the camera, one woman is nearly cropped out of the picture, it just gets better and better the more you look at it. And surprise! Pull out the vinyl and it's green! Cool! And only one side! So why don't you download and listen to the sounds of 1959 office life from Merry Christmas With The KE-Notes (Olmstead Sound Studios OSS-2267, 1959).

Sing Along With Mitch (Oodles Of Doodles CCVIII)

Ha! I bet you saw the title of this post and thought you were going to get an LP of Mitch Miller And The Gang singing Christmas tunes! Well, not quite. This is a collection of earlier recordings by Mitch Miller, most likely from long before he started issuing his sing-a-long discs. This collection consists of 18 great tunes for little kiddies to sing along with. The cover claims 24 songs, but I can only find 18. Maybe your luck will be better than mind. I love the cover on this one, too. I had three different copies in my collection, all with the same cover, but each with a different flip side. I suspect this one is the oldest, since there was actually a doodle on the back, instead of just advertisements for other records. And how about this doodle? Isn't it great? It features all your holiday favorites, from Rudolph and Frosty to Santa, angels and even a yule log! Oddly enough, they even credit the artist, Grace Clark. (Lowell Hess is credited with the front cover.) Please be my guest and download Christmas Songs And Carols-Chorus And Orchestra Under The Direction Of Mitch Miller (Golden Records GLP: 14, 1958).

Speaking Of Buck

Since that last post was about Buck Owens, I figured I'd share this picture with you. In the very early 70's, after the success of Hee Haw, no doubt, Capitol saw fit to reissue Buck's two Christmas albums in one double-disc package. I don't know how long it was available this way, but I've not seen very many of them. Like many similar compilations, they omitted some of the songs. Instead of the full 24 tracks from the original albums, here you only got 20 tracks. I'm not sharing this album out, since you can buy the originals on CD, I just wanted to share the picture with you. Enjoy! Wait, for the search engines, this is A Merry "Hee Haw" Christmas From Buck Owens And His Buckaroos (Capitol STBB-486, 1970

Buck & Susan, Sittin' In A Tree

Here's another country Christmas record that's been overlooked by the CD age. Back in the day, country superstar Buck Owens hooked up with the relatively-unknown Susan Raye to record these versions of songs he had previously performed on his two Christmas records with the Buckaroos. The results aren't really as groundbreaking (and certainly not original...) as those first recordings, but they are certainly worth hearing. For those of you who missed this last year, here's Merry Christmas From Buck Owens & Susan Raye (Capitol ST-837, 1971).

Country Crossover Christmas

Do you need a little country in your Christmas, but not too much? How about this little gem I brought you last year? Lynn Anderson used to be sittin' on top of the world (no, wait, that was Karen Carpenter) but now she's not even available on CD. Well, at least not this LP. (I guess it used to be on CD, but not for long, and not anymore. You can get one over at eBay for $75 if you really want it...) Go get yourself a copy of Lynn Anderson-The Christmas Album (Columbia C 30957, 1971) here for free! Pops & crackle included free!

25 Days Of Christmas-Day 13

Those of you that have spent enough time around my blog realize that I don't think a Christmas tune has to sing about Santa or Christmas or Jesus or Christmas trees. It just needs to have some sort of sense of place that makes you feel something. Context is everything, I suppose. Today's contribution to my 25 Days Of Christmas collection is not really a holiday track, but it has that sort of feel to it. It's an inspirational story about some bells in Chile, made all the better by the fact that the music is by Randy Newman and the narrator is Ricardo Montalban! I read a little about this 45 on the net, but not much. It's not from a movie, and it was never released commercially to my knowledge. This was years and years before Randy Newman had a hit with Short People, and even more years before he became a noteworthy film composer. it was also years before Ricardo Montalban hawked rich Corinthian leather for Chrysler. So please download this rare track and let me know if you think it fits. I'm sure you'll agree. Here's Ricardo Montalban With Orchestra by Randy Newman-La Campanilla (A&M 7" 45 RPM Single 847, 1968). The B-side to this is a strictly instrumental version. Enjoy!

Previous tracks:
Ralph Carmichael-The New Hallelujah
Lawrence Welk With The Lennon Sisters-Santa From Santa Fe
Billy May-March Of The Toys
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

Felix (Not Cat)

I think you folks need some sweet strings tonight. And who better to provide them than the great Felix Slatkin. If you dig through very much vinyl, you've probably come past plenty of this guy's albums, usually in a fancy gatefold cover with a big cutout in the center, allowing you to see some element of the inside that matches the cover. Take a close look at the scan above, and you can see that the diecut on mine was a little off, leaving part of a white ring around the hole. I guess after they spent all the money on the gatefolds and the punching, they didn't have the cash left to put some picture where the hole was so it didn't show white if the punch was a little off center. I have to apologize for the condition of the sleeve shown above. It's a bit rough, but it's the only one in my collection. And I really apologize for my scan of the inside of this package. I had a real hard time getting a uniform color across the eight separate scans it took to get it all in there, so it's pretty patchy in spots. But you'll get the idea, I hope. But how's the music? Smooooooth, and stringy, if that makes any sense. Why don't you download it and listen yourself? Here's The Fantastic Strings Of Felix Slatkin-Season's Greetings (Liberty Premier Series LSS 14013, 1961). I've got a different, uglier, cover for this somewhere from a later reissue that abridged it by a couple tracks. But when I say ugly, I mean it. At least this one has a plastic wreath on it. Plus, I'm too lazy to scan it tonight after two hours of fighting with the inside of this bad boy.

PS-You can download a couple more Felix Slatkin winter-themed tracks from my Christmas In July stuff here.

New Ray, Same As The Old Ray

I know how much you guys love those Ray Charles Singers albums I posted, so I was excited to find this newer album. I was even more excited to see that it was in stereo. I was not excited when I saw it had the exact same track list as their other Christmas LP, Here We Come A-Caroling. When something works well, why mess with it, I guess. But it does seem to be newer recordings from the same arrangements, so if you liked that one, you'll like this one. I have a hard time telling the difference, actually, except I can hear it with both ears instead of just one. So if you want more of the same Ray, why not go download The Ray Charles Singers-Christmas At Home (MGM SE-4166, 1963)?

A Greene Christmas

I mentioned the other day that I love celebrity Christmas records, and here's a rare one. Lots of you have heard the LP Merry Christmas From The Ponderosa, it's even been releases on CD. But this single by one of the stars on that LP has never come out since it's original release. And even more important, it's good. So don't waste another minute, and go download this rerun from last year, Lorne Greene-Must Be Santa (RCA Victor 47-9037, 1966).

25 Days Of Christmas-Day 12

Day 12 of my online Christmas CD, 25 Days Of Christmas, and it's time to get a little bit weird. Notice that if you misspell 'weird', you get wired. Well, they don't come much more wired or weird than this. It's a great version of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah. Nothing odd about that. But it's performed on the Moog synthesizer! And it's out there, folks, it's out there! Can you believe this came from a religious LP? You never know what's in the grooves until you drop the stylus in there. So please, please, please go right now and download Ralph Carmichael-The New Hallelujah from The Electric Symphony (Light LS-5541-LP). It's da bomb! (Those of you who've been paying attention may realize I snuck this out as a secret share earlier in the share-a-thon. Same track, I just tagged it different and added the cover art.)

Previous tracks:
Lawrence Welk With The Lennon Sisters-Santa From Santa Fe
Billy May-March Of The Toys
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

(Have these links been messed up the whole time? Why doesn't somebody tell me these things?)

Some Stories For Christmas

Here's a great record with some excellent Christmas stories for you. Your host here for the A side is Richard Kiley, who you may or may not have heard of (His was the voice of a tour guide in Jurassic Park. No, I didn't know that, I had to look it up...). He's joined by his daughter Erin on one track, a retelling of the famous newspaper column, 'Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus'. The flip side is carols from blog-favorite, The Ray Charles Singers. In fact, I think these tracks are recycled from one of the records I previously shared. but you can listen to them again, they're pretty good. So go download A Visit From Saint Nicholas (MGM PM 30).

Stereo Harp

The good Captain over at The Christmas Yuleblog shared out a Christmas record today that featured the harp as the primary instrument. In fact, on his share, it's the only instrument. That inspired me to share out this stereo update to something I brought you last year. (In fact, if for whatever reason you still want the mono, be my guest...). I was surprised at how much better this record sounded once I found a stereo copy. I think you might actually be able to enjoy it now. Last year, I didn't like it, and wrote it off as something less than worthwhile, but this year I encourage you to go get it! So here's The Rainbow Sound Of Bianco, His Harp And Orchestra-Joy To The World-Everybody's Favorite Christmas Music (RCA Victor CSP-104, 1962). I think this was released in conjunction with Reader's Digest or something. For more details, go see the Captain's review.

If you want more Christmas harp, there were a couple of tracks released here during Christmas in July. Go here and here. Oh, and here, too.

Kings Of Christmas-Part 2.5

Still don't have enough King Family for Christmas? Go get this bonus track I found last year. I'm not even going to get into the argument over whether or not this is a Christmas track... Here's Marilyn King-My Favorite Things from the LP The King Family Show (Warner Bros. W 1601, 1965). Good stuff...

Kings Of Christmas-Part 2

As I just mentioned, here's the other LP from the King family. Again, you'll have to go read last year's post to find out all about this wonderful LP, but it's worth it. Since I posted it last year, I've determined that some of the tracks are the same as my previous share, but not all of them. So why not download and enjoy Christmas With The King Family With The Alvino Rey Orchestra, Conducted By Ralph Carmichael, Vocal Direction By Jimmy Joyce (Warner Brothers W 1627, 1965). Well, this one looks like it came first, so maybe that other record has tracks from this one. Now I'm all confused...

Update: Looks like this one is coming out on CD for the 2009 Christmas season. That means I'm pulling down the share, and I encourage you to go out and buy the CD. If we don't buy these things when they come out through legitimate channels, then they'll quite releasing them...

Kings Of Christmas-Part 1

All of the stuff I've shared out in past years is in my iTunes library this time of year, and occasionally something will come up at random that catches my ear, and I have to look and see what it is. Several tunes from this album (and the next) have come up recently, and made me smile. I won't bore you with the details (you can always read last year's post for the particulars), but here is A King Family Christmas (Fleetwood FCLP 3038 or 3031, c. 1968). I think there is some overlap between this share and the next. I know for sure that the LP shown below is exactly the same as the one above. Well, the cover is completely different, but the music is the same.


Update: Looks like this one is coming out on CD for the 2009 Christmas season, or maybe it's the very similar release on Warner Bros. Either way, I'm pulling down the share, and I encourage you to go out and buy the CD. If we don't buy these things when they come out through legitimate channels, then they'll quite releasing them...

25 Days Of Christmas-Day 11

For the eleventh day of my online Christmas CD, I took a suggestion. Someone requested a track that I love, so why not? My buddy the King added a Lawrence Welk track to his online CD, so I'm also following in his footsteps. I guess I just can't do anything original. Well, at least this song is quite original. i didn't realize until just now that one of the co-writers is Milton Delugg! So quick, go out and download Lawrence Welk And His Champagne Music-'Santa From Santa Fe', Vocal By The Lennon Sisters from Jingle Bells (Coral CRL 757186, 1957). Pardon the crackles, but I wanted to grab this from my stereo copy, which has seen better days. Big thanks to Jeff Carder for writing his name on the cover all those years ago, too. That was fun to remove. Isn't 1957 too early for stereo? Perhaps this is a rerecording... Anyhow, enjoy the music!

Is this one on CD? Lemme check the Lawrence Welk Christmas database... Nope, doesn't look like it.

Previous tracks:
Billy May-March Of The Toys
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

Christmas In Tijuana-Part 3

Think you can handle some more Tijuana tunes? Well, try it and see. If it doesn't work out, take two aspirin and call your doctor in the morning. This last one has the best non-cheesecake cover of them all. My favorite is the dark-haired lady in the front. She looks like she's trying really hard not to laugh, but her mustache is about to fall off. And why is she the only one without an instrument? The blond lady in the back has some maracas as least. Maybe I'm over-analyzing the cover art here. Back to the subject. If you sign the waiver first, I can let you download Tijuana Voices With Brass Sing Merry Christmas (Pickwick SPCX-1005). Don't let the Pickwick name scare you, this is actually pretty good, if you like this sort of thing. Go get it now!

I forgot to mention that I shared out a Tijuana-type Christmas sing back during Christmas In July. You can go get it here.

Christmas In Tijuana-Part 2

What's that I hear you saying? You want more of that swinging sound from south of the border? Not a problem, here's another LP from the Mexicali Brass. They sure know how to sell some albums, don't they? That last one was great, but this lovely lady could sit atop my turntable any day! But they didn't always have their priorities straight, though. There's a credit on this LP cover for the Christmas goodies around her, but no credit for the model herself. What a shame... But enough about her, why don't you go download The Mexicali Brass-Christmas With The Mexicali Brass (Crown CST-10). As much as you may like the lady above, evidently some folks didn't. This same music was reissued a couple of times with the two different covers shown below, both times just called Jingle Bells (Custom CS-10). Not as exciting, are they?

Update 2007: The Mexicali Brass stuff is now available on iTunes and elsewhere for download. So no more free lunch here. Go there and get it legit. How do I link to iTunes? Hmmmm.....

Christmas In Tijuana-Part 1

Are you ready for a little Christmas down Mexico way? Or at least what America thought was Mexican in the late 60's and early 70's? Well, for starters, go over to The Christmas Yuleblog and download the LP I've showing you above (Tell 'em Ernie sent ya!). It's great (maybe the best of the bunch), and I'm sad that the Captain beat me to it. But what I lack in quality, I'm going to make up for in quantity. For the search engines, this is The Mexicali Brass-Winter Wonderland (Crown CST-545). This was one of the records I brought back from my trip to Vegas last summer, by the way. I always pack light for my trips, because I know I'm likely to wind up hauling stuff back that I didn't have on the trip out.

Well, guess what? Looks like the Captain has a mono copy shared out, and mine is stereo, so he's encouraged me to share it out as well. So if you want the mono version, head on over to The Christmas Yuleblog, but if you want stereo, click the name of the LP above, and it'll take you where you need to go.

Update 2007: The Mexicali Brass stuff is now available on iTunes and elsewhere for download. So no more free lunch here. Go there and get it legit. How do I link to iTunes? Hmmmm.....

Hollywood John

I would love to make a whole CD of Christmas songs from famous people. I don't know if I have enough yet, but I think I'm close. I'd have to throw in something from this LP that I shared last year, too. Do you recognize the guy in the picture? Yep, it's John Davidson. I remember him from Real People, I think. Or am I thinking for Fran Tarkington? Now I'm all confused. Just go download John Davidson-My Christmas Favorites (Columbia P 13348).

Way Back In July

You've probably heard me talk all about the celebration we had here back in July. I called it Christmas In July, which I thought was a great name, since I was celebrating the music of Christmas, and it was during the month of July. But did you know that there was a best-of? Yep, all of my favorite tracks got compiled onto a single CD called, imaginatively enough, The Best of Christmas In July 2006. And if you don't want to download each and every day's shares from each and every day in July, then you might want to grab this collection. It's the cream of the crop. You might also want to grab some artwork for it, too, prepared by friend-of-the-blog, CaptOT. I'm not going to tell you what all is on it, since I want it to be a surprise, but trust me on this, you can't go wrong! (If you really must know first, click on over to the link I gave you to The Christmas Yuleblog above. The Captain lists and reviews each and every track.) Go get it now!

Continuing Through December

I hope you're all enjoying the Christmas Sharity around here. During the rest of the year, I mostly just post pictures here. Once a week you'll get a calendar page like this one, designed to be printed out across two pages, with a fold in the center. Today's picture is a large banyan tree down on Gasparilla Island, near Boca Grande here in Florida. This tree was nearly destroyed in one of the hurricanes last year. It'll come back, no doubt, but it may be a decade or more before it looks like this again.

Christmas Sharity Recap 2006-Week Three

As another week comes to an end around here, I wanted to give you the list of all the shares from this past week, as well as the week before that, and the week before that. And before that, well, there were no shares then.

Week The Third:

Muzak Christmas (rerun) (62)
Bob Coe-White Christmas/Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (rerun) (??)
Richard Keys Biggs-Christmas Bells (34)
The Sisters Of Divine Providence-Christmas Mosaic (60)
The Happy Crickets-Christmas With The Happy Crickets (rerun) (56)
Woody The Woodchuck-Christmas Sing Song (rerun) (12)
The Surfers-Christmas From Hawaii (rerun) (74)
Emilien Allard-Noels au Carillon de l'Oratoire Saint-Joseph (59)
Skitch Henderson-Winter Holiday (68)
The Ray Charles Singers-Winter Wonderland (rerun) (83)
The Ray Charles Singers-Here We Come A-Caroling (rerun) (85)
George Feyer-Echoes Of Christmas (rerun) (82)
Arthur Lynds Bigelow-Ring! Christmas Bells (49)
Christmas In Cleveland (35)
Eddie Dunstedter-The Bells Of Christmas (rerun) (48)
Eddie Dunstedter-The Bells Of Christmas Chime Again (rerun) (57)
The Three Suns-Uncle Mistletoe/Sleigh Ride (76)
Leo Addeo-Organ And Chimes Play Christmas Carols (35)
The John McCarthy Chorale-Merry Christmas Sing Along (25)
The Town Pipers-Christmas Greetings (rerun) (54)
Big Tiny Little-Christmas With Big Tiny Little (rerun) (81)
George Wright-Merry Christmas (rerun) (stereo-33) (mono-15)
George Wright-Christmas Time (34)
The Sandpipers-Frosty The Snowman (rerun) (60)
101 Strings-Christmas Moods (rerun) (44)
The Lighthouse Singers-Christmas Carols Volume II (31)
Lew White-Christmas Time (21)
Billy Crystal-The Christmas Song (rerun) (44)
Merry Christmas From The Command Family Of Recording Stars (7)
Ashley Miller-Christmas Carols (7)
Songs To Sing At Christmas Time (13)

Week The Second:

Merry Christmas From... (rerun) (??)
Dennis Day-Christmas Is For The Family (rerun) (69)
Holiday People-Holiday Disco (72)
Max Fagen-Christmas Disco Party (102)
Warner Bros Stars-We Wish You A Merry Christmas (180)
Ephrem Zimbalist, Jr.-Adeste Fidelis (41)
Walter Schuman-The Voices Of Christmas (rerun) (92)
Mitch Miller-Be A Santa (64)
Cyril Stapleton-Children's Christmas Album (rerun) (49)
Ethel Smith-Christmas Music (??)
Godfrey Malcolm & Fredrico-Chimes Of Christmas (51)
Menudo-Feliz Navidad (rerun) (41)
Jose Melis-Christmas With Melis (91)
Charo-(Mamcita) Donde Esta Santa Claus (rerun) (159)
Bruce Woodman-Christmas Carols With A Latin Lilt (57)
60 French Girls & The Christmas Bell Ringers-Joyeaux Noel (rerun) (81)
Yank Lawson & Bob Haggart-Hark The Herald Angels Swing (rerun) (68)
William Clauson-Canciones De Navidad (33)
Natal No Brasil (46)
The Snap-On Male Chorus-Carols Of Christmas (rerun) (43)
A Kimball Christmas (rerun) (35)
Christmas Classics 1963 (70)
Frank Chacksfield-Music For A Merry Christmas (83)
The Three Suns-Christmas Party (rerun) (87)
The Three Suns-Your Christmas Favorites (rerun) (50)
The Three Suns-The Sounds Of Christmas (rerun) (80)
The Three Suns-Raggin' The Scales (50)
Lester Lanin-Christmas Dance Party (93)
A Christmas Sampler (rerun) (36)
Dick Leibert-Sing And Rejoice (rerun) (23)
Dick Leibert-The Sound Of Christmas (rerun) (32)
Dick Leibert-The Happy Hits Of Christmas (rerun) (52)
Dick Leibert-A Merry Wurlitzer Christmas (53)
Buddy Cole-The Organ Plays At Christmas (19)
Buddy Cole At The Pipe Organ-Pipes And Chimes For Christmas (37)

Week The First:

Ray Conrad-The Cotton Pickin' Lift Tower (25)
Six Family Mountain-Takin' A Ride With The Wind (13)
Spencer Ross-Thanksgiving Day Parade (Rerun) (27)
The Merriest Of Christmas Pops (119)
Fred Waring-Twas The Night Before Christmas (Rerun) (59)
Fred Waring-Nutcracker Suite (116)
Pete Fountain-Candy Clarinet (Rerun) (22)
David Wayne Narrates The Little Star Of Bethlehem (31)
Eddie Layton-Organ Music For Christmas (61)
Mike Douglas-My Kind Of Christmas (Rerun) (96)
Sammy Kaye-Christmas Day With Sammy Kaye (101)
Sammy Kaye-Christmas Serenade (81)
Sammy Kaye-Year 'Round Favorites (39)
The Moog Machine-Christmas Becomes Electric (Rerun, Remastered) (163)
Avon Campaign 21 (Rerun) (40)
Danny Robinson-Deck The Halls (58)
Buddy & Bunny Burden-Christmas Favorites (Rerun) (34)
A Family Christmas Album (53)
Slim Boyd-Christmas Country Style (98)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (Rerun) (144)

I'm afraid I don't have download totals for everything. Some nice people have been having some of my shares deleted, for kicks, I guess. We'll have to see how that works out. I hope the rest of you are enjoying the shares.

25 Days Of Christmas-Day 10

When I started out putting together the tracks for my online CD, 25 Days of Christmas, I had no idea what direction it was going to take. But so far, it seems to be a compendium of tracks from singles, or single tracks from non-holiday albums. I don't like the idea of throwing in tracks from albums you've just downloaded from me, that sort of seems like it's a waste of your time. Which isn't to say I'm not going to do that, it's just something I'm trying to avoid. Maybe if there's something in a download that's really great, and I want to really highlight it, I'll share it out on this comp. But that's all down the road. Today's share falls under the category of holiday track from a non-holiday album. I shared out a whole bunch of these back during Christmas In July (112 tracks in all!), but I somehow missed this one from the great Billy May. When it comes to big band, I don't think Billy could do any wrong. And here's a track you can add to his meager, yet fabulous, holiday cannon. Go get Billy May-March Of The Toys from Hey It's May (Pickwick PC-3010). I know it's Pickwick, which means it's a reissue of something else, but this is all I have. And I only have a mono copy. Anybody got a stereo version they want to share? Even in mono, this is one cracker of a track!

So, how's everybody enjoying the compilation so far? I haven't heard too many comments on these tracks. I know I'm getting a lot of downloads on them , though, so somebody must be enjoying it.

Previous tracks:
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

Grand Award (Not Command)

Keeping with the theme of the Command label, or more correctly, labels associated with Enoch Light, here's a Christmas record from his earlier label, Grand Award. I had no idea this existed, so I was quite shocked when I came across it one day in a pile of badly damaged records. This particular one was pretty rough, with tape holding the front and back together, and the record in between was in rough shape as well. But I took my time, cleaned the vinyl well, and got a surprisingly good recording out of it. And the songs were just great! I was very impressed. I've listened to this one quite a bit since I recorded it, and I don't do that with a lot of my albums. It's actually a compilation of several artists, including Enoch Light himself, Artie Malvin, Mike Stewart, and some other people that I haven't heard of. But again, the music is just wonderful. This is certainly one of my favorite finds and favorite shares this year. And for a label known for it's hideous album covers, this one isn't too bad. I spent a couple of hours trying to remove the tape in Photoshop, and I think I did a pretty good job. But the cover is secondary to the music. Let me quit gushing about this record while you go download Songs To Sing At Christmas Time (Grand Award G.A. 33-348). The record itself calls this Christmas Comes To Our House, which initially made me think the cover had the wrong vinyl in it, but all the numbers match. Maybe this is a reissue...

Also On Command

In my comments about Merry Christmas From The Command Family Of Recording Stars over at FaLaLaLaLa, I mentioned an earlier Christmas LP on the same label, one track of which was featured on that LP. Well, here's that earlier LP. As you might expect if you've been around here for the past week or so, it's Christmas tunes played on the organ. Big surprise, eh? I've been stuck in that rut for a little while now, but I'm trying to get out of it. This record was pressed and released solely for distribution in E. J. Korvette stores. I'd never heard of them, either, but I guess they were a sort of early cross between a Walgreen's and Sam's Club. You had to be a member to buy stuff, but membership was apparently free. They seem to have started in NYC, and never spread farther than Chicago or so, then went out of business by the late seventies, I think. But they did leave us a few copies of this Christmas album with a great cover that's right at home in the Command catalog. If you're still reading all this, why not go download Christmas Carols With Organ And Chimes Played On The Paramount Theater Organ By Ashley Miller (Command COM-K1 SD, 1963). Oh, about that cover, I shared an image of it during my Christmas In July doodle-a-thon back in 2005. So if it looks familiar, that may be where you saw it.

I'm Famous!!!

Those of you who are regular visitors here have peobably noticed that I'm all the time telling you to go over to FaLaLaLaLa.com to get this or that in the way of Christmas music. Well, today I get to tell you to over there to get a piece of Christmas music from me! The featured album this week is the one you see above, Merry Christmas From The Command Family Of Recording Stars (Command RS 920 SD, 1967). I'm so excited to be a small part of the celebration over there. Thanks to the King for inviting me to be a part of the festivities! This LP features tracks from all the usual suspects on Command, like Ray Charles, Doc Severinsen, Dick Hyman, Robert Maxwell and others. But you can read all about it over at FaLaLaLaLa. Go now!

If you're the Scroogey type, and don't want to go visit FaLaLaLaLa, you can download my original rip of this LP here. But you really should go and avail yourself of the King's version. He's got a way with vinyl I'm sure his version has tweaked it so that it sounds like it was mastered from the original tapes.

Oh, one more thing. You can get a bonus track from Robert Maxwell back at this post from Christmas In July. Oh, and this one, too. And if you want actual Christmas music from Enoch Light, you can go here and here and here. Actually, one of those is the same as the Robert Maxwell one, so don't grab it twice by mistake. Is that everybody I wanted to link to here? No, there's someone else... Ah, yes, Dick Hyman! My linking finger is getting tired... OK, my linking finger is back in shape now. There are two full Christmas albums from The Ray Charles Singers available here and here.

Marvelous

You remember Billy Crystal, don't you? Do you remember Saturday Night Live back when it was funny? Well, he was on it right after that. No, I'm kidding. Or am I? Either way, you should download this great single. They just don't make them like this anymore. Thank goodness. Here's Billy Crystal-The Christmas Song (A&M AM-2795, 1985), a great rerun from last year.