Christmas In July 2019-Part 35
Good morning, happy Monday! Well, it may not be a happy Monday yet, but as soon as you listen to these twelve new tunes, it'll be much happier.
1. The Friends Academy Band-Rick Van Santvoord, Conductor-O Come, All Ye Faithful from The Friends Academy Band 1965-1966 (Audiodisc Recording Blank No Number, Recorded Christmas Concert December 1965, Mono, 1966). This is the first of two tracks I pulled from this truly home-made disc, and boy does it sound it. The recording is OK, but the performance is sub-Salvation Army band. Which I guess is one of the joys of what I do here. Sometimes it's so bad, it's good.
2. Butterfly Music Box-Silent Night from Music Boxes And Chiming Clocks From The Alec Templeton Collection (RCA Victor LPM-1867, Mono, 1958). I was really excited to find this record in an antique mall in St. Pete. I think I had to pay $2 for it, since everything in an antique mall is a valuable treasure, but it could have been worse and I was happy to have it.
3. Little Johnny Everything And His Sister Judy With The Norman Leyden Child's World Orchestra-The Story Of Christmas from Fun For Everyday With Little Johnny Everything & His Sister Judy (RCA Victor Children's Bluebird Records LBY-1005, Mono, 1958). Pretty nice little song from an album for the kiddies on a major label. They at least put some time into it.
4. Bill Justis-Swingin' Shepherd Blues from Bill Justis Plays 12 Top Tunes (Smash MGS 27036, Mono, 1963). Swingin' music for the teen set, though I'm not sure this is what the teens for looking for in 1963.
5. Josef Locke With Orchestra Conducted By Herbert Curruthers-Ave Maria (In Latin) from Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes-The Best Of Josef Locke Volume 2 (EMI (UK) GO 2038, Mono, 1992). Well, you don't hear the Latin version every day.
6. Columbia Pictures Publications-Jazzle Bells from March Into 1984 With Columbia Pictures Publications (Columbia Pictures Publications No Number, No Sleeve, Stereo, 1984). I think I found this demo record inside a sleeve for another record. I would have thrown it back, but with a title like Jazzle Bells, I knew I had to hold on to it for dear life and share it with all of you! Why did I name this one after the publisher instead of going with my usual Unknown Artist? I don't know...
7. Arthur Winograd Conducting The Virtuoso Symphony Of London-March From The Nutcracker, Op. 71 from Marches For Children (Audio Fidelity FCS 50,007, Stereo, 1959). I haven't been sharing very much music from The Nutcracker with you this year, trying to make up for an overdose last year. I hope you appreciate that. It sure would be easy to record and share twenty more full versions and spend my days relaxing instead of pulling one song per album...
8. Mahlon Merrick And His Orchestra-Snow Flurries from Urania Stereo Sampler (Urania USS 58, Stereo, 1958). My favorite track of late, I love this style of strings!
9. Skitch Henderson, His Piano And The Stereosonic Strings-Snowflakes from Autumn In New York (Mount Vernon Music MVS 107, Stereo). A track I first shared with you last year or the year before, but now it's in stereo. And it's very similar to that previous song, which is what reminded me to go ahead and share this one.
10. Wayne Johnson With The Evangel Quartet-Sweet Little Jesus Child from Spiritual Classics (Music City MC WJ 114, Stereo). I should have saved the best for last. Sorry.
And that's it. Does this make your Monday any better? I like to think so. Here's the download link, enjoy the tunes!
You're right - I was a teenager in 1963 and I do not recall looking for a recording of the Swingin' Shepherd Blues.
ReplyDeleteI am sure the Skitch and Mahlon Merrick tracks will make my Monday better. Not so sure about Little Johnny Everything And His Sister Judy With The Norman Leyden Child's World Orchestra.
Little Johnny Everything is going to be your new best friend! His sister Judy, not so much...
ReplyDeleteI’m about 4 posts behind in listening (just about able to keep up!) and I just wanted to say thank you for sharing all of these gems
ReplyDeleteYou're doing pretty good then. I was about four posts ahead in posting, but now I'm down to one...
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the party, btw!
Sorry...I'm way behind this year...and I'm choosing this year's kettle music rotation two months late on top of this... So far there's eight or nine are clear standouts with four maybes...
ReplyDeleteThanks Ernie...and keep up the good work...
i don’t have to tell you that my favorite christmas rendition so far is by the “friends academy band”. marvelous, simply marvelous. some people merely have no talent. then there are those who have no shame and wish to share their embarrassments with the world. you say there’s more to come. great. pour it over me.
ReplyDeletethe reason why you have a blog and i don’t is because of people like mahlon merrick. i never heard of him. in fact, once you cut out all the usual suspects, i haven’t heard of 90% of the people you post… and i know more about by-gone music than 90% of the general population. anyway, i liked “snow flurries”, and thus as is my wont, i looked up mahlon merrick. found nothing for about ten minutes because i kept entering malcolm merrick. but once that hurdle was passed, as i’m sure you know, i found out this guy had a career that rivaled the likes of skitch henderson (did anyone else keep hearing “peg ‘o my heart” amid the melody of skitch’s snowflakes?). he wrote the famous theme song to one of my favorite shows, the gillette cavalcade of sports, aka the friday night fights. actually, my real favorite was “make that spare”, a 15-minute bowling show that only aired if the fighters got knocked out in the early rounds and the cavalcade ran short. i used to root for the summary demise of long-forgotten tomato cans just so i could glimpse the kegling expertise of don carter, ray bluth, and my hero, eddie lubanski.
little johnny sure knew how to capture top billing and, at the same time, characterize his sister as nothing. but i hear she later quit the act and when she grew up, they say she was really something else.
I didn't actually Google Mahlon Merrick. I kinda figured it was a made up name since I found his track on a compilation of odd things. Shows what I know. Now I'll have to keep my eye out for the record this track actually came from.
ReplyDeleteLet us know what makes the kettle cut, Santa...
Among other records, Mahlon Merrick led the wonderfully titled LP "Music for Playboys to Play By" with the Hollywood Playboys Orchestra, but is best known for being Jack Benny's music director.
ReplyDeleteThe LP also has a great cover:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71kFoYwggmL._SS500_.jpg
Oooh, I'll have to keep an eye for that one. Who am I kidding, I would have bought that one on sight! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, me too, but I've never seen it. I was thinking I have another Mahlon Merrick record, but darned if I can find it. It must be him accompanying someone.
ReplyDelete