Since that last post was a double album from Neiman Marcus, here's another double album from them as well. Only this time it's actual music, and it's pretty good stuff. However, I don't think this one sold very well either. Imagine yourself in the store at Christmas time and you see that plain white embossed cover on a rack. You pick it up to see what it is, flip it over, and guess what? The back is blanker than the front. And of course it's shrink-wrapped, so you can't open it up to see what might be in there. Perhaps there was a sticker on it that's been lost to time, but I still think was a hard sell back in the day. It's all original songs by a couple of artists no one has really ever heard of. The fourth side is a long instrumental suite of melodies from the original songs, I had to familiarize myself with the songs quite a few times before I could start to pick out the melodies in the suite. I just don't see a lot of shoppers being drawn to something like this when they could pick up a compilation with Nat, Bing and Dean on it at the music store next door. But as I mentioned, it's good stuff, though the production is a bit dated. Give it a listen, see if you like it. I found my copy in a record store in Atlanta many years ago, paid a little too much for it, but you grab something when you see it, especially if you've never seen it before. I've since found another copy that was much cheaper, but that was years after that first one. This is
Zimmers & Whitaker-
Christmas Love (Neiman-Marcus 2xLP No Number, Stereo, 1980). Now I need to see if I can find Christmas releases from Neiman Marcus from 1978 and 1979 to complete the series.
1. Christmas Love
2. Joseph Was A Carpenter
3. Santa's Wish
4. A Christmas Memory
5. Near Bethlehem
6. Tonight We Trim The Tree
7. Sounds Of Christmas
8. Star Spangled Night
9. There Will Be Winter
10. The Two Trees
11. God Bless Us, Every One
12. Poor Little Day After Christmas
13. Little Babe, A Lyin' In A Manger
14. Thank You For Your Love
15. Rattle Those Packages
16. The King Of Glory
17. A Christmas Fantasia On Themes By Zimmers & Whitaker (Instrumental)
MEGA
Wow! I really like this album! The musical style is very 70's pop; I was reminded of the Carpenters, Helen Reddy, Petula Clark. Two thumbs up for this rare find! Thanks, Ernie.
ReplyDeleteIt has high points and low points. I think you could make a great single album, but it's an uneven double LP, especially with that long instrumental medley to fill out side 4.
DeleteDefinitely an odd one, but apparently Neiman-Marcus sold at least two copies of it.
ReplyDeleteKeep looking, you'll find the third! :)
DeleteI love your site, it has brought me so much Joy and wonder. Especially the foreign language albums.
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out some of the songs from Christmas Singalong in German are mislabeled.
Ihr Kinderlein, Kommet ( Maria Durch Ein' Dornwald Ging )
Maria Durch Ein' Dornwald Ging ( Silent Night)
Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Am Weihnachtsbaum Die Lichter Brennen)
Am Weihnachtsbaum Die Lichter Brennen ( In Dulci Jubilo )
In Dulci Jubilo ( Maria Auf Dem Berge )
Maria Auf Dem Berge (Ihr Kinderlein, Kommet)
I don't speak German, just listened to it often.
Thanks so much for sharing, really appreciate your generousity
Kelly
I believe you're correct. That's what I get for not listening closely when I'm working on these things. Let me see if I can move this comment over to the appropriate post and handle it there. Thanks for paying attention!
DeleteShould be all better now. I grabbed the track titles from the Discogs listing instead of typing them in from the labels, and sure enough, they were out of order. I think I've got it all fixed now. Check it out!
Deletehttps://ernienotbert.blogspot.com/2023/11/halfway-around-world-2.html
Hi Ernie, While I am not familiar with Neiman-Marcus, just possibly these albums could have been flogged in their Christmas Books they put out each year for their clients who would rather spend money uselessly on themselves than helping those less fortunate. I cannot think they had these albums at the checkouts like those "every man store's, i.e. J.C. Penny or Sears or whomever" did.
ReplyDeleteWas it NM that put out those crazy catalogs with super-expensive items like full size X-wings and fighter jets? I bet I could find copies of those catalogs somewhere and check...
DeleteHi Ernie, Yes, they were the ones who put out those catalogs as per the web. I once read that one year they were selling kittens that were breed to look like miniature Couger or something? I seem to remember the picture in the newspaper the cat had spots or something. You placed your order and there was up to a two year wait. I do not remember the cost but it was very expensive. In other words, kitten farming, how cruel. At least with the music/stories this was not inhuman, I hope...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, on the Internet Archive, they list a CD from the 2002 Christmas Book. Samples only. I wonder if you bought it from the Christmas Book or? I could not find anything that might have old Neiman-Marcus Christmas Books online, maybe someone does.
Hmmm, this is going to be harder than I thought...
DeleteThis one's been growing on me. Maybe it's because it's Christmas-y without rotating through the usual list of carols, maybe it's the late 70s easy listening vibe hitting an early-childhood nostalgia button in my brain somewhere. Thank you for sharing this find!
ReplyDeleteIt's got some great tracks. Bloated for a double album though, as most doubles are. :)
Delete