Christmas In July 2011-Day 23

In honor of my finding a whole stack of great records today for Christmas in July, and then getting a whole bunch of them ripped, you're getting twenty different tracks tonight from 20 different records.  I can't tell you how many hours of work that represents, because if I sat down and figured it out, it would be too depressing.  So I'm going to pretend that it took me five minutes and now I'm done.  So here, without further ado, are more Christmas songs than on your typical Christmas album.

1. Alaskan Rag by John Arpin from The Other Side Of Ragtime (Scroll LSCR-103, Produced In Cooperation With The Ragtime Society, Mono, 1966).  OK, so a song about Alaska is not very Christmassy, but at least it's cold...

2. Ave Maria-Arcadelt by The St. Elizabeth Choir-L.P. Valentino, Choir Director from The St. Elizabeth Choir Sings At The Vatican Pavilion (St. Elizabeth, South Huntington, NY, No Label 111765, Mono, 1965).  Is this another different version of Ave Maria?  Hard to believe...

3. Blue Christmas by The Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra Conducted By Mitchell Powell from the original soundtrack to the Billy Wilder film The Apartment (United Artists UAL 3105, Mono, 1960).  This is a rerun but I couldn't resist when I saw another copy of the record.  Unfortunately, it looks like my original share was a stereo copy and this one is mono.  It'll have to do for now, though.  And this isn't the song you think it is...

4. Dancing Snowflakes by Charles Dorian And His Orchestra from the LP Calendar Sketches (Dot DLP-3046, Mono, 1957).  This was one of the records I found today, and probably the one I was most excited about.  It features an entire suite of songs about the seasons, including three great winter tunes.  The front of the jacket promised four wintertime songs, but the back and the label itself only list three.  But they're all good.

5. Danses Caracteristiques From Nutcracker Suite by Leonard Bernstein With The New York Philharmonic from Leonard Bernstein Conducts For Young People (Columbia Masterworks ML 5841, Mono, 1963).  Six of the dances from The Nutcracker, all rolled up into one long sequence.

6. December by Cicero Pig With Sandpiper Chorus & Orchestra from Bugs Bunny Songfest (Golden LP 71, Mono, 1961).  Interesting little item here, with all the voices performed by Mel Blanc himself.  The second side is a collection of 12 songs about all the months of the year.  I've no idea who Cicero Pig was, so I looked him up.  Apparently, he's Porky's nephew, or maybe Petunia's.  A nice song for anyone who's birthday is in December.  Not true, but nice.

7. June In January from Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians from Movieland Melodies (Decca DL 8895, Mono, 1955).  Nice vocal version, but Guy puts me to sleep.

8. Peppermint Pipes by Count Basie And His Orchestra from Back With Basie-More Hit Performances Of The '60's (Roulette R 52113, Mono, 1964).  If I could get away with Clarinet Candy the other day, I think this should count, too.

9. Shan Shan Uma (Jingle Horse) by Takarazuka Dance Theatre from the self-titled LP (Columbia 'Adventures In Sound' WL 163, Mono, 1959).  The liner notes tell me that this track has nothing to do with Christmas, but the sleigh bells say otherwise...

10. Baby, It's Cold Outside as re-imagined by The Stereo Brass Choir from Stereo Dialogue For Brass (Columbia CS 8290, Stereo, 1960).  Someday I need to put all these wild experiments in stereo together into one Christmas collection.

11. Candy Candy Polka by Happy Louie And His Polka Band from Candy Candy Polka (Dyno DLP 5003, Stereo).  Another candy song!

12. Doll Dance by Vincent Lopez And His Orchestra from Nola And Other Piano Instrumentals (Carlton STLP 12/302, Stereo, 1959).  Good stuff, if not at all Christmas.

13. Green Sleeves by Oscar Clinton And His Orchestra from A Salute To The Great Band Leaders (Spin-O-Rame S-27, Stereo).  Probably not worth the effort.

14. Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring on the organ by Fenner Douglass from Fenner Douglass On The Flentrop, Duke University Chapel (Gothis 38114, Stereo, 1984).  I'm running out of things to say.  I guess I could mention that this is the second track from this LP I've shared.

15. The Month Of January by Tommy Makem from Songs Of Tommy Makem (Tradition (Everest) TLP 1044, Stereo, 1961).  You probably know Tommy Makem from his work with The Clancy Brothers.  And if you don't have The Clancy Brothers Christmas album in your collection, go find a copy.

16. Pine Cones And Holly Berries (With It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas) by Laurence Naismith, Janis Paige & Fred Gwynne from the original Broadway soundtrack to Meredith Willson's Here's Love (Columbia Masterworks KOS 2400, Stereo, 1963).  Been looking for this for quite a while and finally found it today.  Good luck finding any other holiday tunes from Fred Gwynne, who you may know as Herman Munster.  (Although now that I think about it, there may have been a couple of soundbytes from that show...)

17. The Sad, Sad Rocking Horse by David Rose And His Orchestra, another track from the album Cimarron And Other Great Songs (MGM SE3953, Stereo, 1961).  I think I've shared this out before from a different LP.  I always jump at the chance to share some David Rose.

18. Wedding Of The Painted Doll-Broadway Melody-Doll Dance, a medley from Lawrence Welk And His Orchestra from The Champagne Music Of Lawrence Welk (Dot DLP 25342, Stereo, 1961).  Turns out all the songs were written or co-written by someone named Freed.

19. Winter Dreams by Carl Stevens And His Orchestra, from another of those great percussion LPs, Skin And Bones (Mercury MG 20365, Mono, 1958).  I was excited to find something on here that I could shoehorn into Christmas In July.

20.  Child Of Winter (Christmas Song), an unexpected treat from The Beach Boys.  I dug this up one of those old Warner Brothers loss-leader double LPs from the seventies, The Works (Warner Bros 2xLP PRO 610, Stereo, 1975).  Seemed like an odd place to find a Christmas song, especially one so little known, but there it was.  I guess this was originally a single from the Beach Boys sometime in the early seventies that went nowhere.  I think it's been added to some of their Christmas collections since then, but it's still not something you hear very often.

And that's it.  Twenty songs, two seconds shy of an hour of music in there for you.  Hope you enjoy it.  Here's the download link, I'll be back tomorrow with more, but probably not quite this much more.

Christmas In July 2011-Day 22

Getting a bit of a late start tonight.  I've spent the last couple of hours trying to get this badly scratched record to play without skipping all over the place, but I think it's a lost cause.  I've had pretty good luck this year with most of the stuff I put on the platter playing just fine, but the gouges on this one in two spots are just terrible.  And they arc in just the right direction that the needle just follows them right along instead of the groove.  Other than those two spots it plays fine, though.  I'd tell you what it is, but I might still do something with it later...  Anyhow, let's see what's in the shared folder tonight, shall we?

1. Alpine Boogie, a rerun non-Christmas tracks from Ted Heath And His Music from the LP Big Band Beat (Richmond (London) B 20034, Mono).  Sounds really good thanks to ClickRepair!

2. Ave Maria (Hamma) by Novitiate Choir Of 1963-64, Conductor-S. Marie Cecile, O.P. from Investiture Of A Dominican Sister (Queen Of The Rosary Novitiate, Dominican Sisters Of The Holy Cross, Amityville, LI (NY) QR-1000, Mono, 1964).  Is this a version of Ave Maria that we haven't heard before?  I think so, but I can't be sure.  I hear so many of them, they all run together.

3. The March Of The Toys in a great vocal version by Jane Conners With Bill Anders & Jack Mitchell & The Happy Time Orchestra from the kiddie record Music From Victor Herbert's Babes In Toyland (Happy Time (Pickwick) HT-1002, Mono).  I don't really think you hear all of those folks on it since you only hear one guy singing, but they're all listed on the label and I had no way of knowing who was singing what.

4. Ring The Bells by Johnny Hall with Aunt Bertha And The Children's Bible Hour Staff from His Story In Song (Singcord ZLP 861S, Mono).  Still got tracks to go on this one, and you heard it here earlier.

5. Autumn Holiday by the great David Rose And His Orchestra.  I know Christmas is in Winter, but I couldn't resist anything from David Rose that I thought stood even a whisper of a chance of fitting in here.  This is from his LP Cimarron And Other Great Songs (MGM SE3953, Stereo, 1961).

6. Chorale-Prelude: From Heaven Above To Earth I Come By Samuel Roberts, Jr. from The Music Of Christmas, Lent And Easter (St. George's Church, Schenectady, NY SG102666, Stereo). I think we heard from this one a few days ago...

7. The Four Seasons by Kay Lande, Alan Cole And The Carillon Singers from another kiddie LP, Songs About: The Weather, The Four Seasons, What Time Is It?, The Days Of The Week, Holidays (Children's Records Of America CRA 20433, Stereo, 1974).  There's a little bit of winter in here somewhere...

8. Hallelujah by The Wesleyan Ringers, Lloyd R. Pilkington-Director, who we haven't heard from in a little while here.  This is still from the same album, though, The Glory of Bells (Silver Crest Custom STJ-111882, St. John's United Methodist Church, Hazlet, NJ, Stereo).  I think I've got a couple of handbell albums in the stack to record for Christmas, so if you like this sort of thing, come back in December.

9. Maria Wiegenlied (The Virgin's Slumber Song) by Erich Kunz With The Vienna State Opera Orchestra-Anton Paulik, Conductor from the album Erich Kunz Sings Best Loved German Songs By The Great Composers (Vanguard VRS-1063, Stereo, 1961).  Yes, it's in German.  But lucky for me, the lyrics are in English on the back of the sleeve.

10. My Favorite Things by Ronnie Aldrich And His Two Pianos from Stage And Screen Spectacular: All-Time Favorites (London Phase 4 SPD 12, Stereo).  I think this is a later collection of tunes from earlier records on Phase 4.  I couldn't find much info about it on the interwebs.

11. Swingin' Skaters by the ripoff group Percussion All Stars and the ripoff LP Velvet Brass And Percussion (AKA Dynamic Percussion on the vinyl) (Crown CST 230, Stereo, 1961).  However, even though I used the word ripoff twice, this is a really nice version of The Skater's Waltz!  I almost threw this LP back on the rack a couple of nights ago, but I didn't and I'm glad.  There were even some other good tracks on there that I ripped for myself.  You'll be surprised, I think.

12. We Need A Little Christmas by Lucille Ball And Cast from Mame (Warner Bros W 2773, Stereo, 1974).  Yep, Lucy sings.  She was fairly old by this point, though, and I think it shows unfavorably in her voice.  But perhaps that's what Mame would sound like, I don't know.

13. Come To The Manger by The Augustana Choir-Henry Veld, Conductor from the LP Augustana Choir (Word W-4005-LP, Red Vinyl, Mono, 1956).  I'll buy a lot of things on red vinyl just for the pretty record, but this one had some good stuff.  Maybe I'll record these folks' Christmas record on RCA for Christmas this year...

14. Miss O'Leary's Irish Fruit Cake by Ruby Murray With Norrie Paramor's Music from the LP Irish (And Proud Of It) (Capitol ST 10327, Stereo, 1962).  I've shared a couple of tracks from this LP in past years (in mono), but I never noticed that there was a song on here about fruit cake.  I don't think there are enough songs out there about fruit cakes, clearly a Christmas tradition that's being cruelly overlooked.

15. Winter Wonderland by Pete King, His Orchestra And Chorus from Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies Of 1967-31st Edition (Dot DLP 3757, Mono, 1967).  Another great track from this soundtrack to the Ice Follies, which I guess aren't the same as the Ice Capades, but close enough.

That's it, fifteen more tracks for your July pleasure.  Here's the download link, have a good night.  I'm off to bed now.

Christmas In July 2011-Day 21

Day 21...  Before I jump in with tonight's shares, I wanted to find out if anybody had any favorite tracks so far?  I know it's still a ways to the end, and I promised that I'd saved some real goodies for the end, but is there anything you've heard that really turned you on?  I don't think I've found any truly great tracks this year, I'm afraid.  Most years I find one song that really makes it all worth the trouble, and it's usually you guys that tell me which track that is.  Well, usually it's Stubby that tells me which one it is, but other folks have opinions, too.  Faves from previous years include The Mills Brothers with Count Basie, Eydie Gorme, Brook Benton, Sarah Vaughn & Billy Eckstine and others that I'm sure are escaping my memory.  Anyhow, let me know what you think, unless you're downloading these and putting them aside in a file to save them for Christmas time.  Where's the fun in that?  It's July, time for Christmas music!  OK, enough noise, let's jump in to a great selection of tracks for tonight.

1. Baby, It's Cold Outside by Marty Gold And His Orchestra, a rerun I pulled from one of those great Stereo Action LPs, Stereo Action Goes Hollywood (RCA Victor LSA-2381, Stereo, 1961).  Well worth a re-visit.

2. Chree-See-Mus by The King Sisters And The Children from the collection of King family tracks, Love At Home (Capitol T2352, Mono, 1965).  There's a bit of a story behind this track.  I first found a version of the song on a single by Commander Shea School Boy's Choir.  Great tune, great version.  Then The King Of Jingaling over at FaLaLaLaLa digs up this version by The King Sisters from a 7" single and shared it.  He later even sent me the single as a thank-you for turning him on to such a great song.  Then when I saw the song on this collection in amongst the non-Christmas stuff, I knew I had to share it here again.  This is the sort of thing that I dream about finding.

3. Flight Of The Bumblebee by Trio Raisner from Hi-Fi Harmonica (Decca DL 8342, Mono, 1958).  I know, it has nothing at all to do with Christmas, but I thought this was just such a great LP that I wanted to grab something off of it and share.

4. Go Where I Send Thee by The Kingston Trio from the budget collection The Patriot Game (Pickwick SPC-3297, Stereo, 1972).  I didn't dig deep enough into the Kinston Trio discography to find out where this song originally came from, but it doesn't matter.  Great Christmas tune and I'm sharing it here.

5. Greensleeves by Liberace And Gordon Robinson from The Magic Pianos Of Liberace And Gordon Robinson (Coral CRL 57305, Stereo, 1960).  I don't know if the dual piano treatment really adds anything to this song, but getting to share anything by Liberace is always a bonus.

6. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm by Machito And His Orchestra from Irving Berlin In Latin America (Forum Circle SF 9040, Stereo, 1966).  A rerun, but again, well worth returning to.  Isn't Machito an alias for someone else, someone who shouldn't have been releasing records like this?  Nope, I must be thinking of someone else...

7. June In January by The Ray Charles Singers from their album Lovelier Than Ever (Metro (MGM) M-562, Mono, 1966).  Both June and January are a little bit out of my time period of July and December, but I'm going to let it slide for the other Ray Charles.

8. My Favorite Things by Dick Contino from Dick Contino Plays & Sings The Hits (Dot DLP 3639, Mono, 1965).  Gotta love the accordion.

9. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers from Miss Inez and her album Miss Inez Plays The Conn Organ (Tibia Tone 11657 (Dallas, TX), Mono).  I think Miss Inez (Brown Teddlie) was a radio or TV personality in Texas when this was released.  To the Google!

10.  The Skater's Waltz by Edmundo Ros And His Orchestra from the LP Heading South...Of The Border (London Phase 4 SP 44153, Stereo, 1971).  Someday I should put together a Christmas collection of all Phase 4 stuff.  This one may be a rerun, I'm not sure.

11.  Sleigh Ride, more accordion, this time from Mogens Ellegaard And His Orchestra and his album Accordion Time (Vox STVX 426.090, Stereo, 1959).  Nice!

12.  Snowflake Breakdown by Gerry Robichaud from 16 Great Fiddle Tunes By 16 Great Fiddlers (Banff RBS 1123, Mono).  From accordions to fiddles, we gather it all here at Ernie (Not Bert)!

13. 'Twas The Night Before Christmas by Morgana King from Everybody Loves Saturday Night (Ascot AM 13020, Mono, 1965).  This is the sort of thing I hunt for, a bona-fide Christmas song that few folks have ever heard.  And done to the tune of On Top Of Spaghetti, no less!

14. Warm Winter by Sylvia De Sayles, Conducted By Peter Matz from the vinyl The Best Is Yet To Come (Regina R 296, Mono, 1964).  Another great tune that really makes my search worthwhile.

15.  Winter In New England by Joanie Sommers, Arranged And Conducted By Stan Applebaum from Sommers' Seasons (Warner Bros WS1504, Stereo, 1963).  Third great tune in a row!

And that's it, 15 more tracks.  I'm tired of typing.  Here's the download link, see you tomorrow.

Christmas In July 2011-Day 20

Two thirds of the way through the month, this is day 20.If I'm counting correctly, this puts us over the 200 song mark by a bit of a margin, so it's safe to say this is going to be our biggest, and possibly best, Christmas in July ever.  And it's about time, too, I mean, what is this, year six?  'Bout time I get it right.  Let's begin...

1. The Bell's Of St. Mary's, another one of those things I shouldn't share, but here it is.

2. March Of The Toys by Mantovani And His Orchestra from The Music Of Victor Herbert (London LL 746, Mono, 1953).

3. Three Mocking Birds (American Folk Tune) by the Drexel Hill Junior High School Choir from Drexel Hill Junior High School Music Concerts 1965-1966 (Recorded Publications Company Z-71661/2, Mono, 1966).  Another song that was unknown to me before I heard it here.

4 & 5.  What A World We'd Have If Christmas Lasted All Year Long, Regular & Instrumental, by Hap Palmer from his album Holiday Songs And Rhythms (Activity Records AR-538, Mono, 1971).  Another pair of tracks from this album you heard from earlier.  You'll also hear from it again, but not this month...

6. Ave Maria-Schubert by Isaac Stern with Milton Katims Conducting The Columbia Symphony Orchestra, I think from Humoresque (Columbia Masterworks MS 6825, Stereo, 1965).  I say I think this is where it's from because the record I pulled out didn't match the sleeve exactly.  The artist and songs were the same, but the sleeve gave a different title for the album, and it said mono.

7. A Hazy Shade Of Winter by Arthur Fiedler And The Boston Pops from Arthur Fiedler And The Boston Pops Play The Music Of Paul Simon (Polydor PD 5018, Stereo, 1972).  Finding an Arthur Fiedler record on any label other than RCA Victor just strikes me as odd...

8. Holiday Waltz By Lawrence Welk And His Orchestra from Waltz Time (Dot SLP 25499, Stereo, 1963).  Don't laugh, Larry Welk made some of the greatest Christmas records ever.  He wasn't all champagne music and PBS!

9. In Dulci Jubilo by Fenner Douglas from Fenner Douglass On The Flentrop, Duke University Chapel (NC) (Gothis 38114, Stereo, 1984).  Because you needed more classical Christmas on the big organ.

10. March Of The Toys-Toyland by Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra-James Walker, Conductor, another song from Wonderful World Of Music For Children (Reader's Digest 6xLP RDS38-M, Stereo)

11. Natividad (The Nativity) by George Hamilton IV, a pleasant country surprise from Down Home In The Country (RCA Victor LSP-4435, Stereo, 1970).  Nice.

12. Sleigh Ride by Ira Wright And His Orchestra from The Great Stereo Pops Of Leroy Anderson (Rondo-Lette SA 86, Stereo, 1959).  I thought for sure I'd shared this one out before, but I can't seem to find it.  It's a budget label release, so there's a good chance it's shared out under someone else's name somewhere.

13. Troika by Grand Fantastic Strings from the LP Polyushka-Polye (RCA (Japan) JRX-108, Stereo, 1973).  This is not the Midnight Sleighride song, but it's still good.  The record has been in the pile to record for years and years, but I never threw it on the turntable before tonight.  My loss, I guess, this is interesting stuff.

That's it for tonight, thirteen more tracks, only a few hundred more to go before the end of the month.  OK, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.  Here's the download link, come back tomorrow for a further fix of Christmas in July.

PS-the first share of the month just topped out at a little over 100 downloads, so congratulations to me!  Now, if all of those people would come back and get the rest of the shares I've offered this month...

Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire

Here's another photo I should have shared with you way back when. This was at Rockabilly Ruckus, an annual concert at Skipper's Smokehouse where they bring in a couple dozen bands and play variations on rockabilly all day and most of the night.  At one point, the Psycho Devilles came onstage, and who knew what was about to happen... I'd wondered why this guy's bass had a big stainless steel skin on one side, and as soon as he picked up that can of lighter fluid, I knew what was about to go down. I crouched down in a good spot with my camera and let the rapid-fire picture taking commence. This was probably my best shot of the night. I think I was trying to share my pictures of that night with you when Blogger decided to quit working for a while. By the time it got back to normal, I'd lost the urge to share.

The Face Of Evil

I was thinking earlier today that there are a lot of pictures I haven't shared with you this year, since I've been neglecting the blog a lot. First one that came to mind was from my visit to DC back in April and this grotesque at The National Cathedral. Yes, that's Darth Vader peering down at you from way up high on the side of the church. He's hard to spot, but I managed it on this, my second trip to find him. It took a whole lot of lens to get this shot, and I'm not perfectly happy with it, but it will do. If you've got a little time to spend in DC, the National Cathedral is well worth the trip.

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.

Christmas In July 2011-Day 18

Day eighteen, and I'm either giving you a special treat or I'm cheaping out tonight.  All the tracks this evening, all 19 of them, are from the same 4 record set entitled 101 Best Loved Songs Of Faith And Inspiration (Album Set Productions 4xLP GT15, Stereo).  It's performed by various groups and individuals, all under the banner of The United States Coast Guard Academy Chorus.  One entire side of one record was Christmas music, and then each of the other three records had a song or two that easily fit into the Christmas mold.  So I ripped them all and I'm giving them to you tonight in one big pile.  Here's a list of artists and songs for you.

Mary Langdon-Ave Maria
New London Trio-Go Tell It On The Mountain
Carol Fiske-Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring
Cadet Quintet-Ave Maria
Faculty Quartet-O Sanctissima
New London Chorale-O Come O Come Emmanuel
Cadet Choirs-Lo How A Rose
New London Chorale-O Come All Ye Faithful
Hilde Selin-I Wonder As I Wander
Idlers-O Little Town Of Bethlehem
New London Trio-Coventry Carol
Idlers-Brothers Lift Your Voices
Idlers-Do You Hear What I Hear
New London Chorale-Deck The Halls
Cadet Quartet-We'll Dress The House
Idlers-God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Mary Langdon-Away In A Manger
New London Chorale-I Did Not Go To Bethlehem
All Cadet Singers-Silent Night

Lots of different styles in there, more than you might expect.  I'm certain there's something in there you will really like.  Here's the download link, go get it!

Christmas In July 2011-Day 17

Before I jump into tonight's shares, I wanted to show you that I've already filled up an entire shelf with records I've recorded from this month. Every record on that shelf is either something I've recorded a song from, or a duplicate copy of something I recorded. (About 20% of the time I have two copies of a given record to record, so I get to choose the one that looks the best.) I didn't realize I had recorded so much until I ran out of room and had to start a second shelf. Those four or five you see on the left end of the shelf above the center one are more stuff I've recorded, and that stack has grown since I took this picture this afternoon. It's turning out to be a really good July around here. So let's jump in, shall we?

1. Carol Of The Bells (Ukranian Carol) by the Drexel Hill Junior High School Handbell Choir from the LP Drexel Hill Junior High School Music Concerts 1965-1966 (Recorded Publications Company Z-71661/2, Mono, 1966).  I know I make fun of these guys alot, but this is actually pretty good.  And short.

2. Clarinet Candy by Leroy Anderson Conducting His Orchestra from his album The New Music Of Leroy Anderson (Decca DL 4335, Mono, 1962).  Sort of a play on the Pete Fountain Christmas song, Candy Clarinet.  Or at least that's what I was thinking when I threw it in here for you.

3. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers by Red Nichols And His Pennies from The Pennies Jump (Craftsmen (PRI) C 8064, Mono).  It's a cheap-o label, but it's a nice version.  I'll take what I can get, where I can get it, and when.

4. Troika (From "Lieutenant Kije") by The Philadelphia Orchestra With Eugene Ormandy from Spectaculars! (Columbia Masterworks ML 6139, Mono, 1965).  It's not Sauter-Finegan, but it will do.

5. The Bells Of St Mary's by Jerry Burke and the album Golden Organ Hits (Dot DLP 25541, Stereo, 1964).  Is this a rerun?  I guess not, but it sure sounds familiar.

6. Charlie's Waiting For The Snow by Carol Hall from her album Beads And Feathers (Elektra EKS-75018, Stereo, 1972).  I think I've shared out quite a few of these late-60's, early 70's folkie tracks this year.  I should put them into their own collection sometime.

7. Greensleeves by the possibly non-existent Bob Freedman Orchestra from the LP Big Band Swings The Classics (Omega OSL 120/PLS 3021, Stereo).  Does this even sound like Greensleeves to you?  Something is afoot here, and I think it might be some cheap-label screw-up.

8. I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (with a little bit of What The World Needs Now thrown in for good measure) by the Seventh Army Soldier Chorus from the album We Believe In Music (US EUCOM Public Affairs Office United States European Command, Stuttgart, Germany, Stereo).  This appears to be a promo thing put out by the US European Command sometime in the early seventies.  I always get excited when I find these, I don't know why.

9. Nutcracker Suite: March, Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy, Russian Dance, Chinese Dance, Dance Of The Reed Flutes by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra-James Walker, Conductor from the 6 record set Wonderful World Of Music For Children (Reader's Digest 6xLP RDS38-M, Stereo).  I hadn't brought you any tracks from this mammoth collection in a while, so I figured you were due.

10. Tell Me Shepherd by St. George's Choir Of Men And Boys, Frederick Monks-Master Of The Choristers, the album is The Music Of Christmas, Lent And Easter (St. George's Church, Schenectady, NY SG102666, Stereo).  Something I hadn't heard before.

11. Luther's Cradle Hymn by The All Churches Children's Choir from their album Sunday School Songs (RCA Camden CAS-1062, Stereo, 1965).  Nice version.

12. The Bells Of St. Mary's (crap, I duplicated a song...) by Roger King Mozian and his LP Spectacular Brass (MGM E3844, Mono, 1960).  I was trying not to duplicate songs in a single post, but now I've gone and messed up.  Oh, well, hope you like both versions.

13. Fuyu Geshiki (Japanese Snowflakes) by 101 Strings, Conducted By Richard Müller-Lampertz, Koto Solos By Shinichi Yuize.  This is from their album Songs Of The Seasons In Japan (Alshire S-5019, Stereo).  Got a couple more tracks from this one to share with you yet, all good stuff.

14. A Marshmallow World by Jacky Noguez And His Orchestra from the LP Dance Along With Jacky Noguez (Jamie JLP 70-3013, Mono, 1960).  I don't think you hear this song enough.  There should be more versions of it out there.

15.  Jingle Bells by Milton Kaye from the album Nickelodeon And Calliope-Hiccups From The Gaslight Era (Cook 10350, Mono), specifically, side 2-On The Steam Calliope-Circus And Showboat Tunes Played By Milton Kaye.  Nice little version to round out tonight's shares.

That's it, another 15 tracks.  I can't keep doing this many forever, but I'm trying to make up for some of those early days this month with only 5 or 6 songs.  We'll see how long the music flows like rain around here.  But in the meantime, here's the download link, hope you had a good weekend and I will see you tomorrow.