24-Suddenly Winter

If my astronomical calculations are correct, today is the day the Earth's North Pole is at it's greatest tilt away from the sun, which makes it the first day of winter. Is that the right definition? I thought it was the day we reached maximum distance from the Sun, or aphelion, but that's something else entirely and happens in July. My school days are long behind me and it gets harder and harder to remember all the fine details of such things. I'm lucky these days if I can remember which remote turns on the TC and which one controls the VCR. (Kidding, I don't have a VCR. I do still have a DVD player, but it predates HDMI so it's not hooked up to anything at the moment.) Anyhow, I'm taking a bit of a break from the Christmas music today and instead I'm concentrating on some Winter music. There are still a few holiday tracks here, and some of the winter tracks certainly reference the holidays that fall at this time of year, but the emphasis in on the season of Winter. I think it's a great collection of stuff with a few tracks that have really grown on me in the past year. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, but be sure to keep plenty of hot chocolate at hand in case you get too cold.

1. Dax Xenos-A Winter Song
2. Keyboard And String Ensemble-Alpine Winter
3. Arthur Godfrey And All The Little Godfreys-Orchestra Under A. Bleyer-White Christmas
4. Betty Everett-Just Another Winter
5. Bill Pursell-Our Winter Love
6. Blood, Sweat And Tears-Sometimes In Winter
7. Bobby Helms-Those Snowy, Glowy, Blowy Days Of Winter
8. Bobby Wayne Loftis-Winter's Coming On
9. Charlie McCoy-Blue Christmas
10. Clarence Reid-Winter Man
11. Connie Francis-Arranged & Conducted By Alan Lorber-Blue Winter
12. Crazy Otto And His Honky-Tonk Piano-Medley: Sleigh Ride, Winter Wonderland, White Christmas
13. David Buskin-Strings Arranged And Conducted By Glenn Spreen-The Winter Comes
14. Deniece Williams-Do You Hear What I Hear?
15. Dian Fontes-That Winter Day
16. Domenico Savino And The Rome Festival Orchestra-O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
17. Duane Dee-Cold January Morning-Stereo
18. Firehouse Five Plus Two-Jingle Bells
19. Geater Davis-Long Cold Winter
20. Hoyt Axton-Lion In The Winter-Stereo
21. Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra-Sleigh Ride
22. Jean-Claude Darnel Chante Avec Les Enfants-Flic Floc
23. Johnny Mathis-Long Winter Nights
24. Larry Muhoberac With The Recordets-Angels We Have Heard
25. Linda Laurie-All Winter Long
26. Mantovani And His Orchestra-Winter World Of Love
27. Max Bygraves, Music Director: Johnny Douglas-Summer Green And Winter White
28. Redwood City-Winter's Night (Stereo)
29. Spinners-Produced, Arranged And Conducted By Michael Zager-The Winter Of Our Love
30. The Choir-It's Cold Outside
31. The Impressions-Long, Long Winter
32. The Pixies Three-Cold Cold Winter
33. The Tremeloes-Suddenly Winter
34. Bob Gibson And The Snowmen-Super Skier [Expurgated]
35. Donna Lynn-Arranged And Conducted By Jack Wolf And "Bugs" Bower-That Winter Weekend
36. Duran Duran-Winter Marches On
37. Dust & Ashes-The Winter's Over
38. Felice Taylor-Winter Again
39. Freddy Fender-(You Came In) The Winter Of My Life
40. Neil Hefti-Winter Song
41. Spike Jones And The City Slickers-Winter
42. The Ames Brothers With Orchestra Directed By Ray Bloch-Winter's Here Again
43. The Carlton Show Band-Silent Night
44. The Jerry Fielding Orchestra Featuring Vocal By Tony Fontane And Ruth Olay-Button Up Your Overcoat
45. Jimmy Roselli-Season's Greetings

MEGA

23-Bus 22 To Bethlehem

Took me a few minutes of hard thinking to realize what the theme was here, but it finally came to me. This is a collection of some of my favorite Christmas 45s that didn't fit into some of the other categories I've used this season. Lots of weird and interesting stuff here that I'm sure will give you at least two hours of Christmas listening. In my humble opinion, the best thing here is Karla DeVito singing about Santa Claus coming over to her house. What a party that would be! I happened to watch a short documentary on Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell album recently, and DeVito was in it for a few talking heads segments. She wasn't on the album, but she was on the tour singing all the female vocals opposite Meatloaf every night. I guess Ellen Foley didn't want (or couldn't) go on tour, so all those tour-de-force duets fell into Karla's lap. The clips really make it look like something else. I don't know that I'd consider this song on the same level as a Jim Steinman power ballad, but it's still pretty good. There's also some rare things in here that I just discovered this season and at least one song-poem track that I thought was interesting. Give it a listen and let me know what your favorite track is!

1. The Hopeful-Newscast By Frank Costa-7 O'Clock News (Silent Night)
2. Creeper-Santa Claus Wants Some Loving-Stereo
3. J. Anthoney Scott (The Last Of The Great American Whistlers)-Whistling Christmas
4. Bey Ireland-All I Want For Christmas Is A Go-Go Girl
5. Bing Crosby With The Ralph Carmichael Chorus And Orchestra-Christmas Dinner Country Style
6. Bob Morrison-Santa Mouse
7. Bobby Cole-Bus 22 To Bethlehem
8. Camille-White Christmas
9. Commander Cody-Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas
10. Cupid-'Twas The Night Before Christmas
11. Dreams So Real-Red Lights (Merry Christmas)
12. Ed Sullivan Presents Music Of Christmas-Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer
13. Elvin Bishop-Silent Night (Vocal Version)-Stereo
14. Frank Petty Trio-Mike Di Napoli, Piano-Rudolph The Red Nosed-Reindeer--Mambo
15. Gene Marshall-Peppermint Canes
16. George Thorogood & The Destroyers-Rock And Roll Christmas
17. Karla DeVito-Santa Claus Is Coming To My House
18. Kenny Laguna-Home For Christmas
19. Li'l Wally-Christmas In Your Heart
20. Spike Jones And His City Slickers-Vocal Refrain By George Rock And The Mitchell Boychoir-Mommy, Won't You Buy A Baby Brother (Or Sister For Me)
21. Sweathog-Hallelujah-Stereo
22. The Dobro Man & His Country Brothers-Christmas Into The Eyes Of A Country Gentlemen (SIC)
23. The Mom & Dads-Jingle Bell Rock
24. The Mulcays And Their Electric Harmonicas-Silent Night, Holy Night
25. The Schiavone Sisters-Granny Claus
26. The Three Stooges And Orchestra-I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
27. The Three Suns-Noite Silenciosa
28. Tommy Wills (Man With A Horn)-Blue Christmas
29. Trini Lopez-El Niño Del Tambor (The Little Drummer Boy)
30. WFLA TV's Barney & Hector-The Night Before Christmas
31. The Singers-Johnny's Noel
32. Ebenezer Moog-Silent Night
33. Justin Wilson-Santa Claus Done Brought Himself To Town
34. Louis Prima-Santa, How Come Your Eyes Are Green When Last Year They Were Blue?
35. Marti Mae-Ringing Everyone A Merry Christmas
36. The Kent Harian Orchestra And Chorus-Christmas Kiddie Polka
37. The Roy Meriwether Trio-Jingle Bells (Part II)
38. The Royal Guardsmen-It Kinda Looks Like Christmas
39. Yogi Yorgesson With Johnny Duffy And The Scandahoovians-I Give Up!-What Is It?
40. Don Cornell With Chorus And Orchestra Directed By Norman Leyden-I've Got The Christmas Spirit
41. The Anita Kerr Singers-Christmas Is The Day
42. Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians-Vocals By The Lombardo Trio-Christmas Chopsticks ('Twas The Night Before Christmas)
43. Leonard Feather-Ralph Burns And Their Orchestra-Blitzen
44. Ray Conniff-Holiday Greetings 4
45. The Melachrino Orchestra-Conducted By George Melachrino-Mrs. Santa Claus

MEGA