Christmas In July 2017 Day 20
Day 20, that's almost 2/3 of the way through! Making good time now. Got plenty of stuff in the share folder, and I still have plenty of records in the to-be-ripped pile. So I'm going to start trying to dump more tracks a day on you. I started at five a day and tonight I've got lucky thirteen for you. So it's like a whole various artists Christmas album for you. Just sequence it and you're good to go. Not sure how good these tracks sound together, but then sometimes you get an album that's just not right... Anyhow, let's see what's in the pile for you tonight.
1. African Noel by Silver Burdett Records from Making Music Your Own-Kindergarten Record IV (Silver Burdett Records 75 180 4, Mono, 1966). As good a place to start as any. I've only ever heard one other version of this song, and I think it was about the same time period. I need to research it a bit.
2. Baby, It's Cold Outside by Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery from Jimmy & Wes-The Dynamic Duo (Verve V6-8678, Stereo, 1967). Very good, swinging version of this perennial favorite.
3. A Christmas Festival by Frederick Fennell from The Music of Leroy Anderson, Volume 3 (Mercury Living Presence MG50400, Mono, 1965). Good stuff, wish I'd found it in stereo, though. I'll keep digging, don't worry.
4. Out In The Cold Again by Don, Dick 'N Jimmy from Spring Fever (Modern LMP 1205 (aka Crown CLP 5005), Mono, 1957). From a budget label before they really went downhill. I had two copies, and one was on really poor looking vinyl. The other seemed OK, though.
5. Hanover Winter Song by The Dartmouth College Glee Club-Paul R. Zeller, Director, from the LP Reflections On Dartmouth (Recording Made Especially For James Campion, Inc., Hanover N.H. OSS-2381, Mono, 1966). For some reason, I seem to see a lot of copies of this LP. I think it was sold in a store as a souvenir of the college, not as a concert remembrance, so that may have increased the audience somewhat.
6. The Bells Of Saint Mary's by Connie Francis, another track from her Kennedy tribute In The Summer Of His Years (MGM SE 4210, Stereo, 1963). I think all the tracks on this LP came from earlier albums, but I didn't check too hard.
7. Christmas Cradle Hymn by the Christmas snowman himself Burl Ives With The Radio Kids Bible Club Children's Choir from the album Songs I Sang In Sunday School (Word WST-8130-LP, Stereo, 1963). You can't go wrong with Burl at Christmas.
8. Dream Pantomime From Hansel And Gretel by Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra-Julius Rudel, Musical Director from that bank promotional LP Christmas In Concert And More... (Allentown Record Co. For Buffalo Savings Bank, No Number, Stereo, 1979). I certainly do seem to be sharing out a lot of classical stuff this year that I might not ordinarily touch.
9. Christmas Day by Bob Hope, a bit of standup from his themed album Holidays (Spear/Bell Records Spear 4700, Stereo, 1973). I was going to do a whole day of little standup bits, but I couldn't find enough of them to fill a whole day. Sorry.
10. Sleigh Ride by Bing Crosby With The Pete Moore Orchestra from his last LP Seasons (Polydor PD-1-6128, Stereo, 1977). Hope and Crosby, Crosby and Hope. See what I did there?
11. June In January by Billy Vaughn from Ode To Billy Joe (Dot DLP 25828, Stereo, 1967). Surprisingly good. I don't know what I was expecting but I thought this was a pleasant surprise.
12. Medley: Silent Night, Holy Night; Little Town Of Bethlehem; Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Organ Solo) by The Banjo Barons-Arranged And Conducted By Teo Macero And Marty Manning from the LP The Banjo Barons Play Music For Happy Times (Columbia CL 2089 "Radio Station Copy-Not For Sale", Mono, 1963). I don't hear any banjos on this, do you? Very odd...
13. Ah! Sweet Mystery Of Life; Sweethearts Waltz; March Of The Toys; Toyland; Streets Of New York; Thine Alone by Andre Kostelanetz And His Orchestra from Music Of Victor Herbert (Columbia Masterworks ML 4094, Mono, 1949). This was from the very first year of the LP. Columbia had just started making these things. Pretty cool that something like this survives, but I guess there are plenty of older recordings out there.
And that's it. Too much typing for one night. Hope you find something you like. Lemme know!
Zippyshare
i’m not much on organ music. but when you add wes montgomery to anything, i’ve got to listen. as a teenager in the 60s, i used to listen to his albums in order to learn guitar technique. i will never forget trying to learn the octave technique that was a montgomery trademark (you can hear it here). on keyboards, it’s easy. on fretboards, it’s not; but wes made it seem so. so i’d listen to the same passages over and over again. this meant repeatedly picking up the tonearm and strategically repositioning the needle, while getting myself ready to play along on my cheap gibson electric plugged into an even cheaper brandless amp. the amp in turn was plugged into a standard 110-120 volt wall socket. and when you hold an electric guitar with one hand (keeping it in position, ready to play) and pick up the tone arm of a live stereo set with your other hand, your body completes an electric circuit, and now 120 volts zap through you with unforgettably shocking results. but that didn’t stop a smart kid like me. next time i held the guitar by the wood body instead of the neck with its metal strings. but when i leaned over to reach the tonearm, the guitar would slide forward and i’d have to catch it so it wouldn’t fall on the floor, and i’d instinctively catch it by the neck and i’d get shocked again and i’d let go of the tonearm which went ripping through the surface of the vinyl with one of those loud awful noises. i never did find a good solution to the problem. but i did learn octave technique… paid a heavy price for the experience.
ReplyDeleteanyway, if you ever find any wes montgomery albums with a bunch of nasty scratches concentrated here and there in the vinyl, that might be one of mine.