Friday, July 10, 2020

A Blast From The Past 1

Something I've been meaning to do for a long time now is finish up the Best-Of collections from older Christmas In July celebrations. I've previously put out collections from 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2015. As you can see, things got a little sporadic at the end, and I missed a few years when I moved in with my then-girlfriend (some things are more important that Christmas music). Not sure how I managed to squeeze in a 2015, actually, but it seems to have happened somehow. Anyhow, I didn't do another Christmas in July until 2017, but I've done them pretty steady since that year. However, I haven't done any best-of collections since that one in 2015, until now.  I finally got my act together and put some artwork into a usable format, I put the tracks I had set aside so long ago into a single folder. I did some rudimentary sequencing (very rudimentary), tried to rename everything in a consistent manner, renumbered the original tracks, put them into a ZIP file, and here it is for your enjoyment!  It's a long 46 tracks, which I didn't really split up into two discs, though I'm sure it won't fit onto one. Does anybody still put things on disc?  I guess not... Anyhow, here's the tracklist for you.

1) Vic Damone-Arr. & Cond. By Norm Geller-The Sal Carson Orch.--Christmas In San Francisco
2) Mieke And Nina--Sint Nicolaas Potpourri (St. Nicholas Medley)
3) The Ringers On-The-Green--Fum, Fum, Fum
4) Bob Lowry With Joseph Kahn-Piano--Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
5) The Wyld Ryce Band--Christmas In Your Heart
6) Ted Heath And His Music--Baby Doll (Theme From "Baby Doll")
7) Earl Grant With Chorus And Instrumental Accompaniment Directed By Thurston Frazier--Children Go Where I Send Thee
8) Silver Burdett Records--African Noel
9) Friends Of Fiddler's Green (Bob & Evelyne Beers, Martha & Eric Nagler And The Boyer Family)--The Peace Carol
10) The Goodies--Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me
11) Jose Melis, His Piano And Orchestra--March Of The Flowers
12) Glenn Yarbrough--We Won't Freeze
13) Hugo Montenegro, Moog Synthesizer Performed By Eddie Kalehoff--A Hazy Shade Of Winter
14) Gloria Lynne With The Earl May Trio--On Christmas Day
15) Kitty Kallen & Richard Hayes--Silver Bells From The Paramount Picture "The Lemon Drop Kid"
16) Jo Stafford With Orchestra Conducted By Paul Weston--I Wonder As I Wander
17) The Somerset Strings--The Bells Of St. Mary's
18) Leslie Uggams-Arranged And Conducted By Glenn Osser--Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
19) The Kermit Leslie Orchestra--Walking On Ice
20) The Murk Family With Accompanist-Arranger Betty Bowman--Winter Medley: The First Snowfall Of The Winter; Winter Wonderland; Frosty The Snowman; Let It Snow; You Belong To Me; We've Got Our Love To Keep Us Warm
21) The Big Band Swing Sound Of Charles Bud Dant Featuring Singing Instrumentals By The Clark Sisters--March Of The Toys
22) Harry Koenig--White Christmas
23) The New Singing Sergeants With The US Air Force Band--We Need A Little Christmas, From "Mame"
24) Liz Anderson--The Spirit Of Christmas
25) The San Sebastian Strings-Narrator: Gene Merlino, Vocal Solo: Anita Kerr--When Winter Comes
26) The Singers Unlimited--Snowfall
27) Anne-Charlotte Harvey Accompanied By E. Craig Ruble, Stephen Gammell And Maury Bernstein--När Juldagsmorgon Glimmar (When Christmas Morning Gleams)
28) B. Bumble & The Stingers--Nut Rocker
29) Adele Addison And The Jubilee Singers--Go Tell It On The Mountain
30) Country Joe And The Fish--Dirty Claus Rag
31) The Tokens--Perhaps, The Joy Of Giving
32) Arlo Guthrie--The Pause Of Mr. Claus-Edit
33) Frederick Fennell, Eastman Wind Ensemble--Christmas Festival
34) Tony Fontane--Christmas
35) Jimmy Newman--Blue Lonely Winter
36) Toni Arden With Chorus And Orchestra Conducted By Earl Sheldon--Ave Maria
37) Pete Seeger--Allelulia/Joy Upon This Earth
38) Frank Chacksfield And His Orchestra--Adeste Fideles March
39) Trio Shmeed-Orchestra Conducted By Don Costa--Winter Time
40) Joe Harnell And His Trio--Sugar Plum
41) The Norman Luboff Choir--Still, Still, Still (Austria)
42) Zacharias And His Magic Violins--Northern Lights (Nordlicht), Polka
43) The McNulty Family--Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake
44) Guitar Magic--God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
45) Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra--Blue December
46) The Lions--Happy New Year Twist (Auld Lang Syne)

I told you it was long.  It's also surprisingly good. Some months ago I dumped all my favorite old tracks from Christmas in July onto a disc of MP3 files, and put it in the car player.  That was almost 5 months ago and it's still in there.  Of course that was during a national pandemic that has greatly restricted the amount of time I spend in the car, but I still drive back and forth to work every day.  My point is, it's very listenable, and very enjoyable.  Lots of new and unfamiliar songs, nice versions of classics, and some nice not-strictly-holiday stuff to break up the sameness.  I'm sure you will enjoy it.  No guarantees on the other missing years, or even that I'll be able to upload the old ones anytime soon, but we'll see.  For your Christmas in July enjoyment, here is The Very Best Of Christmas In July From Ernie (Not Bert) 2017!


PS-Saint Nicholas Avenue is in NYC somewhere near the middle of Upper Manhattan. I remember we were on our way to the oldest private home on the Island, and then we walked across The High Bridge.  So where is that, Washington Park?  Something like that. I wasn't surprised when I spotted it, the place did used to be called New Amsterdam after all.

10 comments:

  1. Ernie, dude! MAN, the hits just keep on coming! Thanks for your ongoing contributions to the holiday brain.
    Looking through my archives, nope, no 2017 Best of, although I think I saw 80 folders of 2017 CiJ content.
    Whoops! No, that was the Christmas-during-Christmas folder.
    Found it! 51 folders in that one. Thanks for putting the Best Of together!
    I've dumped this one onto a USB that already has over 2500 individual tracks on it, looking forward to it being my in-car attitude-maximizer.
    Ernie, again, thanks.

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  2. Thanks your Christmas music! Its appreciated anytime of the year. (PS I think you were visiting the Morris–Jumel Mansion or Morris House in Washington Heights. Its in uptown Manhattan, just south of the Bronx. It was built in 1765 and owned by the widow of Aaron Burr. Alexander Hamilton was one of its famous visitors. Enough NYC history. Thanks again for the music

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  3. No, the 2017 is brand new, it's only ever existing in my iTunes playlist before now, and on that CDR in the car. Working on 2018 now, but it's boring work. We'll see how far I get.

    Yes, that sounds like the right house. There was a nearby street with a lot of little identical houses on both sides along a cobblestone street, looked really out of place in a modern metropolis. More like a 18th Century time warp. Really weird...

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  4. Just a great thing to see this morning! Thanks, Ernie.

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  5. Great idea! I don't know how you find the time.

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  6. Thank you all for the comments. If there's nothing on here that you like, then I think you may be at the wrong blog! :)

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  7. Always fun to check out the tracks ENB considers the pick of the litter. I can't imagine there are many people on the planet that have listened to more mediocre Christmas music than you. Thank you for your service.

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  8. Well, I'm sure I share out way too much stuff in general, and way too much dross in a season. This helps cut trough the dreck and demonstrates that there is some really good music in there worth listening to. And this is just what I liked, there's certainly other stuff in there that other folks may like more. :)

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  9. The thing about Xmas music is that it's rarely the stuff I think I should love that ends up connecting. I grew up being a hard rock / metal fan and two of my favorite Christmas records are by Jackie Gleason. There is SO MUCH Christmas music out there, it's such a treat when something I never knew existed stands out. I love that you share all of this stuff and let the listeners decide.

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  10. Yeah, I share it all because if I had to listen to it, you have to listen to it. :)

    But it's nice to have a collection to remind people about the good that there is in the endless stream of church choirs and educational records. I'm surprised I don't get anyone that posts up a playlist of their favorites for the year, but I guess that's a lot of work for not much reward. :)

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