09-Here's A Kiss For Christmas
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Here's another collection that was really fun to put together. It started out as a batch of Christmas songs with 'Kiss' in the title, but I later decided to fill it out with songs about mistletoe, and later just romantic songs in general. I think there's still a little bit of filler in there, too, but not too much. The best things here are a really rare Sammy Davis, Jr. track done for Christmas Seals that still seems to be missing in action from his digital discographies, and a track called Kiss An Eskimo by a guy from Alaska. I remember having to pay up a bit for that one, but it came with a nice picture sleeve and I got plenty of cheaper records at the same time, so it all balanced out. That's how I try to order stuff from Discogs when I can. I'll get one nicer record and a bunch of cheap ones to make the average shipping work out better. Hard to stomach paying $10 to ship one record, but paying $20 to ship 20 singles ain't so bad. Your mileage may vary, but it works well for me. Problem is that sometimes a vendor has only one record I want. Anyhow, it's a good collection, I'm sure you and your significant other will enjoy this little collection. Enjoy!
1. Bobby Whitaker-Marry Me For Christmas
2. Bonnie Guitar-Arranged & Conducted By Cliff Parman-I'll Be Missing You (Under The Mistletoe)
3. Brook Benton-Arranged And Conducted By Fred Norman-Our First Christmas Together
4. Children's Christmas-Aid, Vocalists: Lauren Echo And The JM Children's Chorus-Christmas Love Is Everywhere
5. Cliff Richard-Mistletoe & Wine
6. Dora Hall-Kissin By The Mistletoe
7. Eddie Loper-Don't Hang The Mistletoe
8. Isaac Hayes-The Mistletoe And Me
9. Joe Dowell-A Kiss For Christmas (O Tannenbaum)
10. Johnny Kaye-Arranged & Conducted By Morty Jay-A Christmas Love
11. Keely Smith-Orchestra Conducted By George Greeley-Silent Night
12. Lester Lanin And His Orchestra-Jingle Bells
13. Lionel Bart, Accompaniment Directed By Roland Shaw-Give Us A Kiss For Christmas
14. Mike Thomas-My Christmas Love
15. Rhys O'Brien-The Word Called Love (The Sound Of Christmas)
16. Sammy Davis, Jr.-Arranged And Conducted BY Marty Paich-Here's A Kiss For Christmas (The Christmas Seal Song)
17. The Fontane Sisters With Perry Como And Orchestra Conducted By Hugo Winterhalter-Kissing Bridge
18. The Carolers-True Christmas Love
19. Art Mooney And His Orchestra-Vocal By The Art Mooney Choir-The Mistletoe Kiss
20. Bill Withers-Let Us Love
21. Cheryl Poole-How About Your Love For Christmas
22. Cheryl Springer And Ron Carney-Love On Your Gift List
23. Grandpa Jones-Christmas Roses
24. Harry Lee-Kiss An Eskimo
25. Malchak & Rucker-All I Want For Christmas Is Your Love
26. Mimi Hines With Ray Martin And His Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
27. The Dudes-Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer
28. The Flashcats-Stocking Full Of Love
29. The Lancers With Orchestra And Chorus Directed By Van Alexander-I Wanna Do More Than Whistle (Under The Mistletoe)
30. The McGuire Sisters With Chorus & Orchestra Directed By Dick Jacobs-Give Me Your Heart For Christmas
31. The Norman Luboff Choir-What Child Is This
32. The Somerset Strings-Away In A Manger
33. Seymour (The Heartbeat Trumpet) With Chimes And Organ-Deck The Halls
34. Dinah Shore-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
35. Larry Muhoberac With The Recordets-Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
36. Patti Page-White Christmas
37. Paul Mickelson, Bells & Orchestra-Joy To The World
38. The Mariners-God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
39. The Three Suns-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
40. The Cathedral Choir-Angels We Have Heard On High
41. Bill Durkin And Full Orchestra-First Noel
42. Ed Sullivan Presents Music Of Christmas-O Holy Night
43. Leland W. Sprinkle Sr-O Come All Ye Faithful
44. Leonard Feather-Ralph Burns And Their Orchestra-Cupid
45. Smokey Robinson And Bobby Rogers Of The Miracles-Season's Greetings
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Yeah, that Sammy record looks like a gem! Would love to have it myself.
ReplyDeleteI like how you throw in the Motown greetings record without even mentioning it.
So would I!! At least I can access it here and on YouTube.
DeleteTook me a bit of searching to find the Sammy Davis record. Not sure why it's not better known seems like it would have been a great addition to the spate of Rat Pack Christmas collections that came out in the past couple of decades. I guess the licensing is just too tangled up. :(
DeleteI do agree that it would have been a perfect addition to the Christmas With the Rat Pack collection. Sammy only recorded (to my knowledge) a handful of Christmas songs: the one posted here, "Jingle Bells", "It's Christmas Time All Over the World" and a duet with Carmen McRae, "Baby It's Cold Outside" for Decca Records on their Boy Meets Girl album.
DeleteAlso forgot to include on this list "The Christmas Song" which appeared on Sammy's California Suite and Nat King Cole Songbook albums on Reprise.
DeleteAll of which have been used repeatedly on comps, but not this one. Something is keeping it locked up... Still need to add it to Discogs unless someone else has done it recently.
DeleteWhat Buster said..... Another great collection with xmas songs!!! What a wonderful season it's gonna be!
ReplyDeleteGotta love the singles. They give you a wide variety of music when you put them on random play. It's like a party mix!
DeleteThanks for this one. Plenty of genuine gems here.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff!
DeleteMy thoughts exactly!!
ReplyDeleteBy far the best of the four Dora Hall Christmas cuts I have heard; she seems to stay on key throughout the song, plus it has some great drum fills, probably by the legendary Hal Blaine.
ReplyDeleteShame she never did a full Christmas album. That would have been something.
DeleteTotally agree with you; she cut Country, Disco, and even Children's albums during her 20-plus year vanity career; a Christmas album would have been a natural for her.
DeleteGood Christmas tune from Joe Dowel; it maintains a light twist musical vibe while still maintaining the same type of German beat that was a key musical element of his #1 hit, "Wooden Heart." Excellent reverential treatment of "Silent Night" from Keely; one of my longtime favorite singers.
ReplyDeleteWhen you find something that works, you stick to it, right? And I think the Keeley is just an album cut. Wish there were something extra on the single...
DeleteI am still looking for her Keely Christmas album to add to my collection. Lately, I have been finding copies of her Capitol album Politely! than any of her Dot LP's.
DeleteSurprised to find out that arranger Larry Muhobarac did some solo records! This treatment of "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" is pretty basic. It was a surprise to hear composer Lionel Bart sing in this lineup; his Christmas tune has got a unique English flavor with Anthony Newley-styled vocal flourishes.
ReplyDeleteLots of tracks from Muhobarac on his single, and all pretty basic. I'm thinking it may have been a promo thing or a giveaway. Not sure anyone would have knowingly payed money for it.
DeleteEarly-'50's era Three Suns with "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town", not quite as quirky as the Charles Albertine-arranged version on A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas but just as great, as is Dinah's take on "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."
ReplyDeleteIn my humble opinion, any Three Suns is good Three Suns, though some songs are better than others. And I almost did an album worth of Dinah last year but changed my mind. There are lots of stray tracks here and there that need to be put together into a whole.
DeleteSounds like a good post idea that you and Buster can work on together; I have the Capitol Seasons Greetings from Chevrolet 7" LP in my collection. the sleeve is in poor condition, but the record sounds great. Three of those four Capitol tracks landed on numerous compilations in the late-'60's and early-'70's.
DeleteTotally agree with you on your Three Suns comment.
DeleteThere are a few otherwise unreleased tracks on those comps as well, gotta look close. :)
DeleteHi Ernie,
ReplyDeleteWith my Warped sense of humor, this song is a selected repeater.
Dora Hall-Kissin By The Mistletoe. She does a really good job I think on this track. I bet she was a fun mother and grandmother to be around.
I am of course spoiled at having heard Aretha Franklin's version first, so that's my favorite. I recall finding it on a Christmas comp somewhere and loving it, thinking I was the only one in the world who knew about this rare Christmas song!
DeleteErnie, how stupid I am. I knew I heard this song before. I have it on a compilation I put together several years ago...go figure, how I forget.
ReplyDeleteTotally different arrangements. Aretha's is classy.
But today when I heard Dora's version I was setting up and organizing a Christmas party for a client office, with Sandy my elf assistant. She loved Dora's version too.
It's a good song, no matter how you slice it. Surprised it's not more popular, just hasn't reached critical mass yet, I guess.
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