17-Bethlehem Morning

What's the theme of the day? Oh, that's right, it's men singing, which is appropriate since we had girls serenading us yesterday. There's plenty of good stuff here, though I don't think I like male voices as much as female voices. Not being sexist here, just personal opinion. Many of the classic Christmas crooner voices are guys, but there are plenty of women in there, too. I'll quit arguing with myself and get out of the way so you can download some music. As yesterday, this collection is filled with common and uncommon things, so it's a good listen. Sometimes it's hard to get into a collection of totally new stuff, but there's plenty here that will be familiar enough to reel you in. Enjoy!

1. Edward Bear-Coming Home Christmas
2. Richard Hayes With Jerry Murad's Harmonicats And Orchestra Conducted By George Bassman, David LeWinter At The Piano-Jing-A-Ling, Jing-A-Ling (Based On A Theme From Walt Disney's "Beaver Valley")
3. Richard Fey & The Christmas Rangers-Never Take The Love Away (Which Makes It Christmas Day)
4. Jimmie Davis-Sacred Singing With Instrumental Accompaniment-No Room At The Inn
5. Keith Richards-Run Rudolph Run
6. Bobby Vinton-Silver Bells
7. Alexander O'Neal-The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
8. Andy Williams-Orchestra Conducted By Archie Bleyer-Christmas Is A Feeling In Your Heart
9. Barry Sadler-Arranged And Conducted By Sid Bass-I Won't Be Home This Christmas
10. Bing Crosby With Frank De Vol And His Orchestra-The Secret Of Christmas (Columbia Version)
11. Bobby Goldsboro-Look Around You (It's Christmas Time)
12. Bobby Helms-Jingle Bell Rock (Little Darlin' Version)
13. Charles Brown-Merry Christmas Baby
14. Danny Thomas-Christmas Year
15. Del Reeves-White Christmas
16. Dennis Day With The Mitchell Boychoir And Male Choir With Organ Accompaniment-O, Holy Night (Cantique De Noël)
17. Doctor Ron-The Gift
18. Don Ho-Christmas Is For Everyone
19. Eddie Fisher With Hugo Winterhalter's Orchestra-Chorus-Christmas Eve In My Home Town
20. Engelbert Humperdinck-Christmas Time Again
21. Frankie Avalon-Vocal Background By The Four Dates-Orchestra Conducted By Peter De Angelis-Ginger Bread
22. Jimmy Roselli-Arranged & Conducted By Ralph Burns-Buon Natale (Means Merry Christmas To You)
23. John McGrath-Christmas In The Trenches
24. Julius LaRosa With The Columbus Boy Choir-Conducted By Archie Bleyer-Ave Maria
25. Kenneth Copeland-Bethlehem Morning
26. Leon Russell-Slipping Into Christmas
27. Maynard Williams-Orchestrations By Andrew Lloyd Webber-Boys Choir Directed By Alan Doggett-Christmas Dream
28. Nat Stuckey-How Can Christmas Be Merry
29. Randy Brown-At Christmas Time
30. Ronnie Rinard-I'll Be Home For Christmas
31. Tony Martin With Henry René's Orchestra And Chorus-Christmas In America
32. Vaughn Monroe And His Orchestra-Vocal Refrain By Vaughn Monroe And The Moon Maids-A Marshmallow World
33. Vic Jordon-Little Drummer Boy
34. Webb Foley-Littletown Christmas
35. Larry Norman-Christmas Time
36. Ty Whitney-Winter Wonderland
37. Al Martino-Orchestra And Chorus Under The Direction of Peter DeAngelis-You're All I Want For Christmas
38. Arthur Godfrey-Conducted By Johnny Parker-Every Christmas Morning
39. Bobby Curtola-Jingle Bells
40. Frank Sinatra-Christmas Mem'ries
41. Gordon MacRae With Choir Under The Direction Of Paul Weston-Adeste Fidelis (O Come All Ye Faithful)
42. Jim Reeves-Blue Christmas
43. Jimmy Boyd-Orchestra, Chorus Under Direction Of J. Carroll-Frosty The Snowman
44. Vic Damone-Silent Night
45. Neil Sedaka-Christmas Greetings

MEGA

Season's Greetings At 78 RPM

So far this season I've shared about a million singles on 7" 45 RPM records as well as a handful of 7" records that spin at 33 RPM. But in the long and sordid history of the format wars, there's at least one more speed that I need to share and that's the little records that spin at 78 RPM. I wish I had seventy eight different sides to share with you as I've done with the other speeds, but all I had handy were these three records, two of them on beautiful red shellac. And they're nothing special, though the Capitol greetings from 1948 is kinda nice. I don't know how often you'll want to listen to Adlai H. Rust extol the virtues of State Farm Insurance, but maybe. I've seen a lot of these 7" 78 RPM records in red on eBay and such places for a large variety of different companies. I guess there was a record company out there that made a specialty of pressing them up for people on the cheap. They all seem to be from the late 40's to the mid-50's, right after the introduction of the microgroove records, so I'm guessing they were able to use some of the leftover infrastructure from the manufacturing of the 78s as it slowly became worthless. I know that the 78 format remained popular with kiddie records up into the 60s, possibly for the same reason, they were cheap to make on the old equipment! (For what it's worth, yes, I do have some 7" records that spin at 16-2/3 RPM. It's a set of maybe ten records that tells you all about the different cults so you knew what to look out for in the wide world of religions that might be different that yours. I think there are sides devoted to Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. It was the Sixties and mid-America wasn't big on diversity. They spin really slowly and that's all that matters for this post.)

1. Adlai H. Rust And The State Farm Chorus-1954 Merry Christmas
2. Adlai H. Rust And The State Farm Chorus-Happy New Year 1955
3. Adlai H. Rust And The State Farm Chorus-1955 Merry Christmas
4. Adlai H. Rust And The State Farm Chorus-Happy New Year 1956
5. The Starlighters-Season's Greetings From Capitol 1948-Part 1
6. The Starlighters-Season's Greetings From Capitol 1948-Part 2

MEGA (FLAC)

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