Christmas In July 2011-Day 19

Day 19, and back to the random collection of tracks I usually share out each and every day, no more of that cheating by bringing you a bunch of songs from the same record.  But it sure was nice to get to bed early last night...  Anyhow, let's begin.

1. Messiahmas Carol by The Liberated Wailing Wall from the record We Were Like Dreamers (Jews For Jesus/Hineni H-1002, Stereo, 1976).  I don't know what this whole Jews For Jesus thing is/was about.  I see the records they put out fairly often but I don't pay a whole lot of attention.  Thankfully I picked this one up and spotted a track I could share with you.

2. Silver Bells by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith from Original Guitar Boogie (Dot DLP 25600, Stereo, 1965).  Ummm, it's not Silver Bells as in Bob Hope, this is an original by Arthur Smith.  Close enough for my purposes, though.

3. Skater's Boogie by Jo Ann Castle from her album Ragtime Melodies (Hamilton (Dot) HLP 12126, Stereo, 1964).  This is a rerun, but it's a good song to repeat.  Hmm, looks like I pulled it from a different record this time.  I bet this is a budget re-issue of that other one.

4. Toyland by Jane Morgan, Orchestra Directed By Frank Hunter from Great Songs From The Great Shows Of The Century (Kapp 2xLP KX-5006-S, Stereo, 1958).  Good one.  She sings a verse I don't think I'd heard before.  This appears to be part of a series of Kapp albums I see a lot, Great Songs of this-and-that.  I'd seen four or five of those but never this one.

5. March Of The Toys by George Melachrino And His Orchestra from The Music Of Victor Herbert (RCA Victor LSP-2129, Stereo, 1960).  How else do you follow up Toyland but with something else by Victor Herbert from the same musical.  I think this is a rerun if memory serves (or not, I can't find it if I ever did share it out...).  So far, this is the only track that I've accidentally recorded twice this year.  Somehow I got two copies of the record in my stack, and they weren't together, and sure enough, they both got recorded at different times.  I think this is the better one.

6. White Christmas by Connee Boswell, Orchestra Conducted By Warren Vincent from the album The New Sound Of Connee Boswell (Design (Pickwick) DCF-1023, Stereo, 1960).  Now this one I know is a rerun.  I remember sharing it out and having no idea who Connee Boswell was.  Wait a minute, I've already shared this out this month already!  Sheesh, I'm really slipping tonight.

7. Christmastime In Ireland, another rerun, this time from Ruby Murray With Norrie Paramor's Music from the LP Irish (And Proud Of It) (Capitol ST 10327, Stereo, 1962).  It's such a great song, I had to bring it back, and I think this may be the first appearance here in stereo (but I'm not sure of anything tonight, to tell you the truth).  More from this one to come!

8. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, yet another rerun, but what a great version by Sarah Vaughn & Billy Eckstine With Orchestra By Hal Mooney from The Best Of Irving Berlin (Mercury MG 20316, Mono, 1957).  I think when Stereo came along in 1958, a lot of the great music recorded between the advent of hi-fi in 1949 and then suddenly was looked upon as obsolete.  And the things that were released really close to that magic date of 1958 never had a chance to grow into the public consciousness, so much more of it has been forgotten and overlooked than some other music.  But that's just my opinion.

9. The Chipmunk Song, one more rerun, this time from Billy Vaughn And His Orchestra from Golden Hits (Dot DLP 25201, Stereo, 1959).  Nice little version of this classic, so there's no harm in bringing it back.

10. Sleighride by Pete King, His Orchestra And Chorus from the very interesting LP Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies Of 1967-31st Edition (Dot DLP 3757, Mono, 1967).  I found this at a flea market sometime this past spring and I nearly fell over.  It's not too often I see something completely new and unexpected, but this was it.  The soundtrack to the ice follies, done by a great Christmas artist like Pete King, and with plenty of tracks for Christmas in July!  I paid my fifty cents and rushed it home.  I may even have recorded tracks from it that night.  The sleeve is in rough shape but it recorded OK.

11. My Favorite Things by Woody Herman And His Swinging Herd from the LP My Kind Of Broadway (Columbia CL 2357, Mono, 1965).  This is awful late for big band music, but here it is...

12. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing performed by Larry Seidel from The Glory Of God's Seasons (Grace Unlimited GU-002, Stereo).  You've seen music from this one earlier in the month.

13. Sleigh Ride In July by the great Lena Horne With Lennie Hayton And His Orchestra from her LP Songs By Johnny Burke And Jimmy Van Heusen (RCA Victor LSP-1895, Stereo, 1959).  No, this isn't really a Christmas song, but it sounds like a Christmas song, and it mentions July!  How great is that?

14. And bringing up the rear is the greatest version of Ave Maria you'll hear all year.  From the LP Virginia Belmont's Famous Singing Birds (Virginia Belmont Enterprises VB-713, Stereo), this is Virginia Belmont & Her Birds, Vocal Solo By George Sawtelle.  Yes, that's right, it's birds.  Birds singing.  Unfortunately, they don't know the tune, so George has to do most of the singing, but you'll enjoy it.

That's it.  13 tracks (plus one duplicate), many of them reruns from the past, but most of them are new.  They all make up a great collection of Christmas in July.  Here's the download link, now get jiggy with it!

Almost forgot, I dropped a bonus, non-holiday track in there for you again.  It's Jo Ann Castle from the same LP as the Christmas track above, neat little song called Honky Tonk Twist.