Friday, July 31, 2015

The Return Of Christmas In July-Day 31

Here we are, the very last day of Christmas in July.  What a long, strange trip it's been.  Tonight is pretty much the same as last night, more songs for New Year's.  Here goes...

Auld Lang Syne starts us out in a version by Connie Francis And The Jordanaires-Conducted By Joe Mele from another LP that's a thrift store staple, Sing Along With Connie Francis (Mati-Mor Superecords 8002, Mono).  This is a promotional LP for Brylcreem that I see all the time, but never paid much attention to until recently.  And sure enough, there was a track I could use.  Version two of Auld Lang Syne is by Van Alexander And His Orchestra (who graced us earlier this month with Gordon MacRae, I think) from the album Let's Dance The Last Dance (Capitol T1457, Mono, 1959).  Version three is by Ann Moray from a half-song, half-spoken word LP, The Love Songs Of Robert Burns (Spoken Arts 754, Mono, 1959). And fourth is a parody version, or at least a new funny verse, by Tom Glazer With Jeffrey Alden-Orchestra Conducted By Tony Mottola from that same LP of theirs I've been doling out to you for much of the last week, I Like Holidays! (RCA Camden CAL-1055, Mono, 1964).  It's pretty funny, but short.

Next up is New Year's Day, a nice little track by 101 Strings from the radio promo LP American Holidays And Special Occasions (Special Radio Copy-No Number, Mono).  I think there was a standard release of this LP, but it omitted one of the short tracks, which was probably just an edit of the longer version.

Track six is the first of the reruns tonight, it's Happy New Year-Reprise, a short little part two to a track I shared yesterday, again by The McGuire Sisters-Directed By Dick Jacobs from the LP Children's Holiday (Coral CRL 57097, Mono, 1957).

And bringing up the rear is Nat King Cole-Arranged & Conducted By Gordon Jenkins from his posthumous LP The Unforgettable Nat Cole Sings The Great Songs! (Capitol ST 2558, Stereo, 1966).  Jenkins wrote this song and recorded it about three times, I've shared those with you here before, as well as this version with Nat.  They're all nice songs, something I think should be more popular than it is, but I could say that about a lot of the things I share here.

Anyhow, that's it for tonight and for the month.  Here's the download.  Hope you had a great time!  Leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite tracks were.  I've already started a best-of folder for a future collection from this month.  No promises about when that might be completed, but you never know.  Thanks for all your support his month, it's been good to be back.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks, Ern - the pleasure has been all ours!

    One of tonight's artists, Van Alexander, died a few weeks ago:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/30/arts/music/van-alexander-composer-of-a-tisket-a-tasket-dies-at-100.html

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  2. Ernie, it's been great to have you back for Christmas in July. Thanks for brightening things across the 'interwebs' up this month.

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  3. Thanks Ernie! Great to have you back for a whole month!

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  4. Ernie, thank you so much for all of your hard work - it's so great to have you back and it made my July!

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  5. And I enjoy your commentary as much as the music, so thanks for that, too! Laughed out loud more than a few times!

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  6. How can anyone pick a favorite from all these songs? What a treasure trove. I love Ed Ames, Connie Francis, Blossom Dearie, Steve Lawrence, The Clark Sisters, The Hi Los and so many other s and of course I love the instrumentals. Marlene Dietrich was a surprise. Stan Freberg a hoot. This is a great selection of some commonly heard and seldom heard selections. Thank you for all your efforts.

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