One of my most favorite discoveries this season is the record you see before you. It's the type of home-produced record that you hope to find. I'm not sure I can articulate why I like it, but I do. The singing is OK, but not great. The songs are mostly originals, but not particularly memorable. Production is dodgy and the record was pretty noisy on top of that. But it's got heart. When you listen to this, you know that these kids meant what they were singing about, and they were enjoying themselves, and the loved to do it. This group put out a couple other records according to
Discogs (which is missing this one, I suppose I should add it), and those others may be worth seeking out if you can find them. I don't imagine too many of these were pressed. The question I had was why are there 23 people in a group called 17 Young Christians? I guess they added some people to the group as time went on and they didn't want to change the name. Beside the point, really. Download this one and give it a listen. Put yourself in their shoes and try to imagine the joy they felt in putting something like this together. Maybe some day they'll put this out for again, with a nice remaster and some championing like Irwin Chusid did for
The Langley Schools Music Project. I can dream, can't I? This is
17 Young Christians-
Christmas In Song (St. John Of God Church, Central Islip, N.Y. SP 9905/9906, Stereo, 1971). There's a FB group for these guys, but it's not very active. I'll mention this there and see if I get any more info.
1. Christmas In Song
2. Do You Hear What I Hear?
3. Look Towards The Sky
4. The Best Day Of The Year
5. Christmas Comes Once A Year
6. The Joy Of Christmas
7. Following The Star
8. Remember It's Christmas
9. Explain It To Me
10. Remember When
11. Everything
12. Hymn
13. I'll Be With You
14. Merry Christmas To You All
MEGA
I did manage to track down one former member of this group through a FB group. Unfortunately, she joined the group after this LP came out, but she remembered it from when it was first released. She had plenty of fond memories of singing with the group for a number of years. I'm glad I was able to speak to someone with such a close connection this this album. Now if we can get someone who's actually on this LP to stop by!
ReplyDeleteJust finished listening - it's so charming, filled with gladness & sadness, pure joy... Truly thank you for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for listening and enjoying this one. I've been trying to draw some attention to it but no one seems interested. :(
DeleteI'm reluctant to open this one because it reminds me of something I was forced to do in the fourth grade. Thank goodness THAT wasn't recorded!
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not like that at all. These kids wanted to do this and were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Try it!
DeleteYou talked me into taking a chance on this one but what is your return policy?!?
ReplyDeleteMoney back guarantee!
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