Christmas In July 2026-Part 22
Howdy! Welcome to day twenty-two! Gotta be some good stuff in the pile today, I just know it. Let's dive in and see how deep the water is.
1. Leopold Stokowski And His Orchestra-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring (In Dulci Jubilo-A Baroque Concert, 1967)
We start with one of the great conductors and his take on a Bach classic.
2. Red Garter-Jingle Bells (Santa's Musical Grog)
More musical grog from the man too cool to wear a black garter.
3. The Art Van Damme Quintet-The Things We Did Last Summer (The Many Moods Of Art, 1972)
This is the second version of this song by Art we've shared with you this season, only this time it's in stereo. I was surprised to find both versions in the same day at the same store, and they are both pulled from double albums! I was worried they were the same but give them a listen and you'll see that they aren't the same performance.
4. Tony Mottola-My Favorite Things (From "The Sound Of Music") (My Favorite Things-The Best Of Tony Mottola, America's Favorite Guitarist, 1975)
A not-really-Christmas track from America's favorite guitarist, or at least Enoch Light's favorite. Looks like I did a horrible job of photographing this album cover. I need to get my eyes calibrated back to a straight line.
5. The Rainbow Sound Of Bianco, His Harp And Orchestra-Greensleeves (Your All-Time Favorite Songs (As Chosen By Members Of The RCA Victor Record Club), 1964)
Who doesn't love Bianco and his harp? Certainly the members of the RCA Victor record club do, he was a popular offering in their club that wasn't available in stores. And if you really enjoy his style, he's got a full Christmas record that you can download right here, also a record club exclusive!
6. Toy Band-Theme II (March And Dance With Toy Band-My First Golden Record Library Volume 10)
Another short version of Greensleeves (same as the track above, sorry) with a little bit of weird out-of-context narration. You need some randomness in your life.
7. Bowmar Orchestral Library-Waltz Of The Flowers (Stories In Ballet And Opera)
Library music, and today's only Nutcracker representation.
8. Stuttgart Festival Band-William Harrison, Conductor-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Have Band Will Travel-Music Minus One Trombone)
Break out your trombone, I've got some music here that you need to complete.
9. Unknown Artist-Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (Mockingbird Flight, 1975)
An actual Christmas song, but one with no credits. Still very enjoyable.
10. Valery Lloyd-Watts, Piano-Cradle Song (Recital Favorites, 1978)
From an LP dedicated to the Suzuki Method of piano education. It's a nice little version and the cover is pretty nice, too.
Is that it? I think it is. Plenty of goodies in the pile today, hope you found something to enjoy. If not, come back tomorrow, I've got more for you.
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Who do we think America's favorite guitarist was in 1975, if not Tony Mottola? Maybe Jimi Hendrix, although he was quite dead at that point. I'm not even sure Mottola was America's favorite living guitarist. Chet Atkins?
ReplyDeleteGood question. I suspect the favorite guitarist at the time might be someone from the rock genre, like Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton. Best is another story though, and I agree that you could make a strong case for Chet Atkins.
DeleteI was wondering when you were finally going to get around to posting the Gene Bianco selection! Those RCA Record Club albums get less respect from the Space Age Bachelor Pad set than his first two albums for RCA Camden: Stringing the Standards and Harp Skip and Jump, the latter of which I have in Stereo in my collection.
ReplyDeleteI stumble across his stuff a lot, I guess there was more desire for harp music back in the day.
DeleteI may have had that Tony Mottola set in my collection once upon a time. The cover art does look famiilar to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if it was really a best-of, or just a reissue of two earlier albums. I feel like Light's labels did a lot of that in their later years.
DeleteThat was a real treat to find two Art Van Damme albums in the same day! Very seldom does that happen in my record hunts. I think I purged the handful of solo albums I had from him in my collection and kept only the album he did with Jo Stafford, Once Over Lightly.
ReplyDeleteI think the bookstore where I found them had gotten in the dregs of a record store, there were alphabet labels on some of the boxes, and there would be long runs of records by the same artist, most of which were thrift store staples. I'm not surprised they hadn't sold elsewhere and were donated to this bookstore. But I seek out and collect weird things, so it was good for me. I also grabbed all the Christmas records I could find and made a Christmas box for them. I may have bought one or two, but it was mostly the same thrift store staples.
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