Christmas In July 2026-Part 24
1. Red Garter-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Santa's Musical Grog)
One more song from a long side of Christmas tunes on this record. Wish some more info on this band would turn up. It's one of those things where the details have just been lost to time and bad memories.
2. Stanley Black Conducting The London Festival Orchestra AKA The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra-March (Tchaikovsky-Nutcracker Suite/Serenade For Strings, 1967)
Our Nutcracker installment of the day.
3. John Gary-Thank The Lord (For This Thanksgiving Day) (John Gary)
A Thanksgiving track, so I should have shared it at the beginning of the season but I didn't have it at the time. Didn't know about it in fact, a visitor mentioned it and I happened to stumble across it last Saturday at the gay thrift store. It's pretty good, wish I'd had it at the beginning of the year. I think this will make the best-of for sure. This budget-label release gathers up tracks that Gary recorded at small labels (or maybe just one label, not sure) before he hit the big time. I'm sure it competed with much more deliberate album releases at the time it came out.
4. Leopold Stokowski And His Orchestra-Shepherd's Christmas Music (In Dulci Jubilo-A Baroque Concert, 1967)
Stoki plays for some shepherds at Christmas time. I hope they appreciate the effort.
5. Unknown Artists-That Man Over There (From The Score Of Meredith Willson's Here's Love 10" 33 RPM)
Another great track from that rare ten inch demo recording I dug up a couple months ago. Compare this version to what's on the official sound track and you can see how much it changed.
6. The Eric Rogers Chorale And Orchestra-Hallelujah (Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, 1964)
Nobody beats the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on this one, but they give it a good try.
7. Victor Borge-The Little Match Girl (Victor Borge Presents His Own Enchanting Version Of Hans Christian Anderson, 1966)
The headliner track today, something I shared out long ago and I'm bringing it back today. This LP of Hans Christian Anderson stories as 'remembered' by musical comedian Victor Borge way created for Eastern Air Lines, they love to fly and it shows!
8. The Hal Kanner Orchestra And Chorus Featuring Sylvia And Keith Textor, Dick Brown, Jerry Packer, Bernie Nee, The Four Ladies, The Four Gentlemen-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Love And Marriage, 1956)
I'd never heard of this group before turning up this LP. I was a little impressed at the list of participants, though to be honest the only person I really knew was Keith Textor. He got his own entry in the RCA Victor Stereo Action series back in the day. Not sure if this recording rises to the level of all that, but it's nice.
9. The Robert Shaw Chorale-RCA Victor Orchestra-Robert Shaw, Conductor-Ave Maria (Hallulajah!-The World's Favorite Choruses, 1977)
A nice version from a budget compilation. This might be the same as one I shared earlier, I didn't check it closely enough. maybe, maybe not.
10. Toy Band-Theme IV (March And Dance With Toy Band-My First Golden Record Library Volume 10)
And the obligatory daily version of Greensleeves from this kiddie record with the random dialog bits included. Enjoy!
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Some info about the Red Garter LP: On Dec. 4, 1964, The Red Garter nightclub at 670 Broadway in San Francisco began giving away the 12" album "Santa's Musical Grog" on a first-come first-served basis. The club said the Christmas giveaway was in limited supply and available if you bought a member of the band a 50 cent drink.
ReplyDeleteOh, I didn't know it was a nightclub and not a real band! That's good info, thanks!
DeleteThe John Gary LP is interesting. Discogs identifies it as a clone of the only known LP on La Brea (there is at least one other that I know of). It also notes that one song came from a single on Fraternity, which suggests that the rest of the material may have come from small labels.
ReplyDeleteThe original issue of this John Gary track appears to be on this Fraternity single:
Deletehttps://www.discogs.com/master/1458514-John-Gary-With-Mundell-Lowe-And-His-Friends-Thank-The-Lord-The-Rest-Of-My-Days
I suspect many of the tracks on that LP originated on singles, if not all of them. No idea if they're all from Fraternity though. There's some detective work to be done here for sure.
At least half of the material on the John Gary album was released on Fraternity according to the discography in one of my record price guides. I know for sure that "Little Things Mean A Lot" was issued on Fraternity as Bob Moke uploaded his promo 45 copy of the record on his "the45prof98" YouTube channel.
DeleteAccording to my big Goldmine Record price guide from 2003, "Let Them Talk" was reissued by Fraternity as a single around the time his solo career on RCA Victor was really starting to take off.
DeleteI got rid of all those big Goldmine books a couple years ago. :(
DeleteI kept mine because for me, they double as a discography list as well as a price guide. It especially comes in handy when I look up an artist's 45 entries.
DeleteExtend. You do enough work.
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning towards Extend, that's the easiest thing for me.
DeleteI am casting a vote for extension as well; you are doing such a great job at that, considering you extended the 2025 Christmas season well past Easter this year!!
DeleteAt this point, it's going to be a short extension. I've made a decision. :)
DeleteGreat! Looking forward to reading more commentary and rounding up my favorites later.
DeleteStay tuned!
DeleteI put my volt behind crammin' all the rest in by the 31st.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to get these last two recordings ripped that I just found this weekend. :(
DeleteWhich ever is easier for you, Ernie. It doesn't matter if it is crammed, or if you add more days :)
ReplyDeleteEasiest for me is to drag it out. It's more posting, but less hurry-hurry.
DeleteAgreed. Looking forward to more hard-to-find Christmas goodies.
ReplyDeleteYour wish is my command!
Delete