Christmas In July 2011-Day 6

Greetings!  Big thanks to all of you out there who have been downloading the first few days of my Christmas In July celebration.  I don't keep track of the numbers year to year, and the previous year is usually gone by the time I start the next one, but this year feels like it's going better than previous years.  For some reason, I do know that day one always gets more downloads than any other day.  Not sure why that is.  People seem to pick that day to check out the series and see if they're interested or not.  And then, unfortunately, I guess a lot of them don't come back.  Shame, that.  And double big thanks to those of you who've left a nice comment.  You know who you are.  Thanks!  Enough blather, on to the music.

Track 1:  We start with Greensleeves on the pipe organ performed by Eric Rogers from his LP King Of Sound (London Phase 4 SP 44068, Stereo, 1965).  Something about organs and Christmas...

Track 2: The Hallelujah Chorus by The Billy Graham Los Angeles Crusade Choir, Directed By Cliff Barrows from their self-titled LP (RCA Victor LSP-2788, Stereo, 1963).  RCA sure did release a lot of albums from Billy Graham, I wonder if they were huge sellers or if they just thought it was something they should do?

Track 3: I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm by Al Goodman And His Orchestra from the budget label LP Cheek To Cheek (Pirouette FM10, Stereo).  I think this is tonight's rerun/remaster, albeit from a different LP.

Track 4: The Little Drummer Boy by Brookside Jr. High School Music Department-Concert Chorus-William Bent, Conductor, and their album Winter Concert-Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 1971 (Brookside Jr. High School, Sarasota, Florida, United Sound USR 4026, Stereo, 1971).  You've already heard at least one track from this one, and I think there are still some more in the can.

Track 5: March Of The Toys by Lew White At The Organ With His Orchestra.  Yes, it's more organ.  The LP is Famous Melodies (RCA Camden CAL-132, Mono).  More to come from this one, too.

Track 6: Can you tell I'm just throwing things up completely at random this year?  Some years I bunch things together by title or theme or even sharing all the songs I've got by an artist at the same time, but not this time around.  I've thrown it all into a little felt-lined Yatzee cup and given it a good shaking, then whatever comes out first gets shared.  Track six is Perry Como With Mitchell Ayres And His Orchestra With The Ray Charles Singers performing that old semi-Christmas chestnut, My Favorite Things.  This comes from his album By Request (RCA Victor LPM-2567, Mono, 1962), my copy of which came all packaged up like a Stereo Action LP, even though it's mono.  Am I the only one who gets Perry Como and Andy Williams confused?  I must be, because they don't really sound much alike...  Anyhow, moving on...

Track 7: Reindeer-A Ragtime Two-Step by Ian Whitcomb from what seems to have been some sort of mini-revival of old music hall tunes.  This LP, Ian Whitcomb's Mod, Mod Music Hall! (Tower ST 5042, Stereo, 1966), his second, seemed to be the end of the very short-lived trend.  Do two records define a trend?  OK, maybe not.

Track 8: Snowfall by Earl Grant, another great rerun, from the LP Fly Me To The Moon (Decca DL 74454, Stereo, 1963).  Great version, well worth this revisit.

And that's it.  Eight more tracks, but two reruns, so it's really only six new things.  We're making good progress this year, both in the sharing department and the recording division.  Still plenty of items in the pipeline to bring you a whole month's worth of goodies.  So keep coming back for more.  Oh, here's the download link, I bet you were wondering where that was...