The Best of Christmas in July from 2025

Well, here we are at the end of another great season of Christmas in July. But before I go, I wanted to share this one last thing with a you, a collection of some of the best tracks that I shared with you last year during the 20th anniversary season. Yep, the first Christmas in July happened in 2006, a really long time ago now. We haven't done twenty different season though because I skipped a few years in the middle there for various reasons. If you weren't with us last year, this will be a good introduction to what the season held. If you like what you hear, I think all of the shares from last year are still alive, you can go in and download them all and get a bunch more music like what you find here, though these are the best of the bunch in my humble opinion. 2025 was the first year where I took the time to snap a picture of each LP as I was recording it, I thought that was a nice addition. Good to be able to see what the LP looked like that you're listening to. (I have a folder in the download that includes all the original album covers.) Back when I started, I don't think you could snap a quick picture with your phone, though if you could it was really low quality and low-resolution. The times have really changed. Anyhow, let me jump into the track list and see if I can come up with something to say about each track included here.

1. Mel Kaiser, Engineer-Street Noises At Xmas Time

Some SFX to start out the LP. 

2. Sarah Vaughan-Arranged & Conducted By Don Costa-Snowbound

I think this is an LP I found while in St. Augustine for our honeymoon. The wife was very understanding when we had to find the local record shops during our stay.

3. Lenore Engdahl, Pianist-Snow Flurries

Don't remember much about this one, but I like little piano bits like this.

4. The Hi-Lo's With Frank Comstock & His Orchestra-June In January

I don't think the Hi-Lo's ever released a Christmas album, but I feel like they had enough Christmas-adjacent stuff that you could probably put something together.

5. J.J. Johnson-Winter's Waif

This is the first of a handful of jazz noodlings in the collection this year. Maybe I should have put all of them together in the track list.

6. Bill Conti-Ice Skating

Some soundtrack music that to my ears sounds like incidental music from one of those early eighties primetime dramas like Dallas or Dynasty, maybe Hart To Hart. Hard to place, but every time it plays that's where my mind goes.

7. Jean-Pierre Rampal, Maurice André, Saint-Laurent Children's Choir (Alain Çazade & Bertrand Lemaire, Directors) & Instrumental Ensemble (François Rauber, Director)-Jingle Bells

The sort of thing that I love to find. An honest-to-goodness Christmas song right in the middle of an otherwise non-Christmas LP. How great is that?

8. The Budapest Gipsy Orchestra-Winter Song (Téli Dal)

I'm a sucker for anything with winter in the title. 

9. Steve Jennings-No Christmas

Hard to find song poem stuff around here, but that's what we have here. There were four or five different albums by this same guy (and some woman, I forget her name), all of which featured songs you've never heard of . This was the only thing in the pile that had any Christmas content so I grabbed it.

10. Statler Records-Tale Of The Toy Shop

Music for ballet dancing. Do people dance to non-Tchaikovsky music while doing ballet? Nah...

11. Ed Kilbourne-Chilly Winds

One of those Christmas-adjacent songs that I pick up when I see it.

12. Diahann Carroll With Bonnie, Jeffrey, Stephanie, Darla, Stephen, Wendy, Jackie, Allison And Francine-Arranged And Conducted By Milton DeLugg-Button Up Your Overcoat

Something she recorded for a kiddie record, Milton DeLugg is just the cherry on top.

13. Walter Brennan With Orchestra And Chorus Conducted By Joe Leahy-A Star In The East

I think most hardcore Christmas record collectors are familiar with Brennan's Christmas LP, but few know of a couple of Christmas tracks on this later LP of his.

14. Paul Desmond And Friends-Greensleeves

Some more of that jazz I was talking about earlier. I need to dig up a stereo copy of this one, but that's going to take some time.

15. Peoples Gas Club Chorus, Director-George Haase, Accompanists-Helen Nettinga & Ferris Healey-Winter Wonderland

This is why I have to check nearly every plain white record sleeve I come across, you never know what you might find inside. Sometimes it takes forever to look through the smallest pile of records, but it's all worth it when you find a treasure like this.

16. Elinor Gene Hoffman-Picture Books In Winter

I think this is the first (only?) spoken-word record of the day. Short and sweet.

17. The Yale Theater Orchestra-James Sinclair, Conductor-Holiday Quickstep

I find a lot of Christmas tracks from various groups at Yale. Possibly more so than any other college out there. Not sure why, I just think they like their holiday music.

18. Texas Lutheran College Choir-Paul Engelstad, Director-Carol Of The Drum

A very early version of this track, an alternate title for The Little Drummer Boy. I don't think this one preceded Harry Simeone's claiming of the authorship of the song though. Those are hard to find, but they exist.

19. Angel Serrano-Huerfano Sin Navidad

The only Spanish language track of the day. I apologize for the way it sounds, sort of like it's coming and going. The record was pressed off-center and this was the best I could get off of the vinyl. I remember having to build a stack of records on the platter so that this one sat high enough to be able to move it without the spindle holding it in place. I nudged it around until it spun a little truer, but clearly not as true as it should have been. Also, I used part of the LP cover for this record on my CiJ Best-Of in 2024.

20. Tom Paxton-Prayin' For Snow

Tom Paxton was the author of The Marvelous Toy, a Christmas-adjacent song that has been covered by a lot of folks out there. It was nice to find another song from him that I could use here.

21. Max Roach-In The Red (A Xmas Carol)

More of that jazz stuff I warned you about, this time with an actual Christmas title! And it's really, really long, like you'd expect from some of the jazz records of this period.

22. Cincinnati Children's Choir-Karen Wolff, Director-O Chanukah

The only Chanukah track from this collection, and one of the few I had this season. Sometimes you've got to take what you can get.

23. Leo Arnaud And His Orchestra-Holiday For Strings

I know it's not really a Christmas song, but I couldn't resist. The LP cover was just great and the song itself is such a great version, the very definition of Space Age Pop music.

24. Phineas Newborn, Jr. With Dennis Farnon And His Orchestra-Moonlight In Vermont

Some more piano music for you from a hard-to-find LP on the great RCA Victor. Some records you see about once a week in the thrift stores, some you see once. You have to grab those when they turn up.

25. The Laurie Johnson Orchestra-My Favorite Things

Another LP where the cover sold it before I saw something Christmas related that I could share.

26. Niles Township High School East-Girls Glee-Richard Rusch, Director-Take Me For A Sleigh Ride

I find lots of locally produced records like this and I like to grab what I can from them. It rarely rises to the level of best-of, but I thought this was a nice little song.

27. Patty Weaver-Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year

Never heard of her. But if you sing something even slightly related to Christmas, I will find it and record it!

28. Nashville Youth Symphony, Harry Lantz-Conductor-Children's Christmas March

More of that local Christmas music. I like it.

29. David Mallett-Northern Lights

Maybe it's related to Christmas, maybe it's not. But I often imagine the northern lights twinkling over Santa's workshop in the winter. They don't get any daylight during the winter, so this is about all the natural light they get.

30. Jackie Vernon-Slides Of A Ski Lodge

A comedy bit with exactly zero Christmas content, but skiing is a wintertime sport so I think it counts. And in case you don't recognize his voice, Jackie Vernon was the voice of Frosty the Snowman in the animated special. Happy Birthday!

31. Reginald Dixon At The Organ Of The Tower Ballroom, Blackpool-Wedding Of The Painted Doll

I can't resist a good organ record. And it's not really a Christmas song, but I like to throw it in the pile.

32. Carl Sandburg-In De Vinter Time

Yep, that Carl Sandburg, doing a little wintry tune.

33. Jamestown High School A Cappella Choir 1990-1991-James A. Bogey, Conductor-Fum, Fum, Fum

Another local Christmas track, but a song I've always enjoyed. I had a version of this on a bargain-basement Christmas LP when I was a kid, and it's stuck with me all these years.

34. Jim Borden-I Wonder As I Wander

A unique folky album that included a full side of Christmas tunes. Not sure if this was the absolute best track  on there, but it fit in with the space I had. The other tracks will likely find a space on a future second-best collection.

35. Chorus With RKO Studio Orchestra, Conducted By Hugo Winterhalter-New Year's Eve On Time's Square (Auld Lang Syne)

Bringing up the rear is this soundtrack cut that adds to the Christmas music of Hugo Winterhalter. He released a 10" Christmas record that was once expanded to a 12" with the addition of a couple of non-Christmas tracks. Someday I want to put all of his stuff in the same pile to show what a real label could do with his Christmas discography. 

Oh, a little bit about that cover. It's my homage to the June Christy album This Time Of Year from 1961, an all-original set of music for the holiday season. My wife and I spent the Christmas season of 2025 in Santa Fe, NM with her family, and one of the things we wanted to see was snow (you don't get much of that in southwest Florida). Problem was, they were having a very dry winter and there was nothing around other than the occasional very dirty patch of ice in the shadows. So one day we drove up into the Santa Fe National Forest to the East, it's up at a higher elevation and had gotten some snow earlier in the season. We eventually found a hollow where the snow had persisted and we got the chance to run around and play in it for a few minutes. I remember posing for this picture and trying to remember what June Christy looked like on her LP cover. I think I'm close enough, though not perfect. Everything else is just me playing around with GIMP and making it look like a real album cover. Just a few minutes before this picture was shot, we had pulled off at a different spot alongside the road and tried to walk down a trail to find some snow. The trail was covered in ice though and I soon wound up flat on my back and in a lot of pain. I was sore the rest of the trip and struggled to put on my jacket every day. I was worried that I had broken something but it healed quickly enough that I think it was just a sprain, but it sure did hurt. I wasn't going to let it get in the way of having a good trip though. We saw stuff all over the state of New Mexico, from Carlsbad to White Sands, with Roswell and the Very Large Array in between. (I think I even shared a track or two with you during Christmas in July this year from records I bought when I was out there.) I'd never spent a Christmas away from home before, so it was a very different experience for me. Anyhow, I was pretty proud of the cover this year, I hope you enjoy it. Have a go at the download and let me know what you think. I'll see you again when it's much closer to Christmas! This is Ernie (Not Bert)-The Best of 2025 Christmas In July!

MEGA

If you enjoy this best-of, don't forget that there are a bunch of similar collections in the archives. Here's a list of all the years that we did a similar best-of. All these should include working download links so you can download and listen to the best tracks from all these years.

2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. (Note: there was no Christmas in July for 2016, 2014 and 2013. I was busy doing other things during those years and couldn't get my act together to share any music.)

Also, a few years ago I went through all the Christmas in July tracks that didn't make the best-of collections and put together a few second-best-of collections. It's a tongue-in-cheek title because the songs making up these collections are in many cases just as good as the tracks on the actual best-of's. What happens is I have more than one version of a song and I try not to duplicate them. So I have to pick one and the other goes unused. Same thing with an artist, I only want to use one track from them so the others I may have go into the reject pile. So there are lots of great tracks here that you'll enjoy. I think I'm due to make a few more of these collections since it's been a few years since I put these together. Maybe I'll work on that in the off season. Ha, who am I kidding, there is no off season around here. If I'm not posting, I'm recording and prepping for the next round of posts. Being a Christmas blogger is a hard like.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten

And that's all I've got for you today. If there's nothing here for you to enjoy today, you must not like Christmas music! See you at Christmas time! 

All The Best From 2024

I've been trying to get to this all month, but here we are on the last day of the month and I still haven't done it. No time like the present, I guess. This is a collection of all the best tracks I shared during Christmas in July back in 2024. It wasn't my biggest or best year, but I think it's a good collection of stuff that you can enjoy listening to once the season rolls around. I threw together a little artwork based on an LP from which I shared a track during this year's Christmas in July, and it was a record from Puerto Rico, so that's the only excuse I have for trying to do it in Spanish. I found it hilarious at the time, but the joke may wear thin pretty fast. I was happy that it still looks a little homemade, like it could have come straight off an album I dug out of the bins at Goodwill. But the music is the most important thing here, so download it and give a listen. This is Lo Mejor de la Navidad en Julio de Ernesto (no Roberto) 2024! (I thought recently that Umberto might be funnier than Roberto, but it was too late to make a change.)

1. Jackie & Roy-Sleigh Ride In July
2. Skywalk-First Snow
3. Earle Warren And The Countsmen-White Christmas
4. Gene Krupa-Arranged And Conducted By George Williams-Arab Dance (From "The Nutcracker Suite")
5. Randy Sparks & The Back Porch Majority-First Snow Of Winter
6. The Wintersauce Chorale-George Guilbault, Director-Brian Marble, Associate Conductor & Accompanist-Sing We And Chant It
7. Clifton Davis-O Little Town Of Bethlehem
8. George Shearing-Away In The Manger
9. The Valley Troubadours, Solo-Erwin Overby, Directed By Gloria Peterson-Let There Be Peace On Earth
10. Tracy Moore-Silent Night
11. John Denver-Please, Daddy
12. Composed And Conducted By David Amram-Mountain Snow
13. Ralph Blane Accompanied By Ralph Burns' Orchestra-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
14. Al Cobine-Trilogy Of European Carols (Come All Ye Shepherds (Czech); Joseph Lieber, Joseph Mein (German); The March Of The Kings (Old French))
15. Jim Curnow-Christmas Concert March
16. Ray Heatherton And Orchestra-Created, Produced And Directed By Hal Gross-Winter Song
17. Joseph Gershenson-Christmas Holly (Inter: Love Theme From "Madame X" and My Heart Still Hears The Music)
18. Grupo Coral Exodo, Director: Jesús Porras Ruiz-Navidad
19. The Gregg Smith Singers-Gregg Smith, Conductor-The Shepherd's Carol
20. Sascha Burland And Don Elliot With The Nutty Squirrels-Arranged And Conducted By Billy Mure-Bingle Jells
21. Charles John Quarto-Christmas Song
22. The Osipov Balalaika Orchestra Conducted By Vitaly Gnutov & Viktor Dubrovsky With Ludmila Zykina-Oh, Snow, Light Snow
23. Ray Repp-In The Month Of December
24. Willa Dorsey And The Sanctuary Choir And Orchestra Of First Baptist Church, Dallas Texas, Directed By Gary Moore-Wasn't That A Mighty Day
25. Unknown Artist-Tambourine Noel
26. Jackie DeShannon-Keep Me Warm
27. Sanctuary Choir And Sanctuary Orchestra Of The Music Ministry Of First Baptist Church Atlanta-What Did You Say Was The Baby's Name?
28. The Popular Front-A Puppy For Christmas
29. Robin & Linda Williams-Chilly Scenes Of Winter
30. Randy Edelman-End Of December
31. God's Little Monkeys-New Year's Honours

MEGA (FLAC) 

The Best From July 2023

And here is a collection of what I thought were the best tracks from last year's celebration of Christmas in July. Looking over the tracklisting, I see that I had an awful lot of variations on The Twelve Days Of Christmas. They were too good to just pick one, so I spaced them out a bit and threw them all in there for you. They range all over the place, except I don't think anybody does it straight. Well, that's not true. I see the USAF Academy Symphonic Band in there, I'm sure they play it the way it's supposed to be, though you don't get any lyrics with that one. What else is in the stack? A great live track, some spoken word comedy, a few near-Christmas tracks that I thought were good enough to include, a right-wing Christmas fantasy, even a great 80's rocker. Oh, and give a listen to Cowboy's Christmas Ball, then go listen to The Killers song by the same name. Now tell me they never heard that first version when they were younger. Anyhow, there's lots of good music in here, far more than will fit on the old fashioned Cee Dee, but I'm trying to think outside of the box here. (Anybody still burn these things to disc?) The cover stained glass image is from the Duomo di Milano in Milan, Italy. Actually, it's in the museum next door. At some point, they replaced all the stained glass in the cathedral with modern reproductions because the ancient originals leaked badly whenever it rained. So this is an up-close photo of one of those original bits of glass. Sorry about the marks over the face of the baby Jesus, that's just the way it was. I'll stop talking now, please download and enjoy The Very Best Of Christmas In July From Ernie (Not Bert) 2023!

1. Bobby Lester & The Moonglows-Hey Santa Claus-Live
2. Charlie Barnet And His Orchestra-Piano Solo: Jack Wilson, Jr.-Muted Trumpet Solo: Conte Candoli-Snowfall
3. United States Air Force Academy Symphonic Band-Conducted By Major Herman Vincent-The Twelve Days Of Christmas
4. Shorty Rogers-Andre Previn Orchestra-40° Below
5. Pasadena Roof Orchestra-Savoy Christmas Medley
6. Elaine Stritch-Orchestra Under The Direction Of Deane Kincaide-Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
7. Rick Dees And The Cast Of Idiots-Merry Christmas (Wherever You Are)
8. Eddie Bond-Christmas In Heaven
9. Lord Buckley-Scrooge
10. All-City Choir-Susan Van Dyck, Chairman-Nancy Ferguson, Coordinator-Fat Jolly Man
11. Alice Day-Medley: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas; Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
12. The Newport Youth Band Under The Direction Of Marshall Brown-Lemon Drop
13. Diane Leslie-Christmas Song
14. Marni Nixon-Orchestral Accompaniments By Ed Jurey-Christmas Tree Angel
15. MacLean & MacLean-Nine Days Of Christmas
16. Buddy Tate, His Tenor Sax And Orchestra-Snowy White Christmas
17. The Rave-Ups-The Night Before Christmas (Hey Baby)
18. Barbara E. Leigh & The Everlov'ins-I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus (AKA I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause)
19. Allen Keller And Trombones-Kai Winding-Urbie Green-Nick Travis-Paul Falise-Christmas Road
20. Silver Burdett Company-Cowboys' Christmas Ball
21. Chris Rea-Joys Of Christmas
22. Original Salty Dogs Jazz Band-Santa Claus Blues
23. Wini Beatty With Rhett Fink And The Folkniks-Christmas Medley
24. The Munich Symphony Orchestra-Christmas Morning
25. George Jones-New Baby For Christmas
26. Steve Addiss & Bill Crofut-12 Days With Khrushchev
27. The University Of Texas Longhorn Band-Glenn A. Richter, Director-My Favorite Things
28. Marlene VerPlanck-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
29. Cecile Frenette-Soon It Will Be Christmas
30. Paul Belanger-Old Fashioned Christmas
31. Conducted By Joseph Brooks-Christmas Song (Montage)
32. Lulu Belle & Scotty-The Empty Christmas Stocking
33. The Kings-This Christmas

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Don't miss the 2022 Best-Of that I shared earlier this season, and then there was 2021, a 2020, a 2019, a 2018, a 2017, no 2016, a 2015, but no 2014, and no 2013. There's a 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and a 2006. If that's not enough goody for you, I did a series of ten (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten) second-best collections that I think are just as good as the stuff that made the main collections. And if that's not enough for you, just poke around, I'm sure you'll find something somewhere here at the blog that will placate you.

(I think Google just recently made a change to how you upload images for the blog. They haven't changed anything in ages, but the upload interface was different today. Interesting...)

The Best From July 2022

I have been somewhat remiss in sharing these best-of collections from my Christmas in July celebrations. The last best-of I gave you was from way back in 2021, so it's time to catch that up just a little bit with this look back at the best music from July of 2022. Looking down the tracklist for this one, I can tell this was the year I managed to get a lot of production music albums that were designed for radio station use. Those are usually short tracks that would get played behind seasonal ads or to help fill out the hour to prevent dead air. Because they're so short I was able to squeeze a lot of them into the list so it looks like a lot of music. If you like what you hear here, you can always dive into the archives and download all the shares from July of 2022, I believe they're all still there for the taking. I'm too lazy to link them all, but you should be able to find them with a minimum of searching. The artwork is a detail from a painting I saw a while back in the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts (the one in Florida, not Russia). Looks like I didn't take a picture of the whole painting, or of the label next to it, so I can't tell you who or what this is. I'll have to head up there soon and get the missing info. Looks like I took the picture a couple years ago, so I'm probably due for another visit.

1. Kay Lande-The Man With The Merry Ho-Ho-Ho-Edit
2. Frank Hunter And His Orchestra-Christmas In The Valley
3. Joanne Mackell-Christmas Day
4. Patti Page-Pretty Snowflakes
5. Dear Mr. President-Who Killed Santa Claus?
6. Bobby Troup-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
7. Mac Davis-Christmas Carol
8. Red Nichols And The Augmented Pennies-Cool Tango
9. The Calvin Handbell Ringers-Robert Ivey, Director-Fum, Fum, Fum
10. Trendsetter-Deck The Halls (Logo)
11. Pinkard & Bowden-Let's Put The 'X' Back In Christmas
12. Hagood Hardy-Wintertime
13. Donna McKechnie, Margo Sappington, Baayork Lee-Turkey Lurkey Time
14. Meiko Miyazawa, Piano-Christmas-Day Secrets
15. Dennis Farnon And His Orchestra-Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
16. Unknown Harpist-Greensleeves
17. The Sun Valley Trio-Sleigh Ride
18. Armando Trovajoli-Christmas Night
19. Ferron-Snowin' In Brooklyn
20. The Sandals-Ski Bum
21. The Buddy Weed Quartet-Snow Mountains
22. Classroom Materials Company-Jingle Bells
23. Mickey Katz-Grandma's Draidel
24. Dr. John-Xmas In New Orleans (Vocal)
25. Walt Brown With Bill Collins-The Marvelous Toy
26. Tyree Glenn-Conductor: Sy Oliver-Cold Winter Nights
27. Willie Rodriguez With Chuck Sagle And His Orchestra-Moonlight In Vermont
28. The Production Garden-Looking Great/Christmas
29. Hugh Downs Accompanied By Mundell Lowe And His Friends-I Wonder As I Wander
30. Harpers Bizarre-Snow
31. Warren Covington And His Marching Band-Winter Sports
32. Joe & Eddie-Go Tell It On The Mountain
33. The International Staff Band Of The Salvation Army-Conducted By Colonel Bernard Adams-The Message Of Christmas
34. Montreal Lithuanian Choir-Linksmų Kalėdų/Merry Christmas/Joyeux Noël
35. Wally Whyton-When Winter Comes
36. Airforce Broadcast Services-We're The Center Of Everything This Christmas-Vocal
37. Buddy Hackett-Dear Santa Claus
38. Trendsetter-Snowfall Magic
39. Billy Rowland And His Thumbtack Piano-Button Up Your Overcoat
40. The Arcadia Choir-Barth Dowling, Director-Introit: Fanfare For Christmas Day
41. The Meddiebempsters-Winter Wonderland
42. Trendsetter-Orchestrated Pattern (Christmas) (Joy To The World)
43. William B. Tanner Company-Auld Lang Syne

MEGA

Old Stuff

I've been meaning for a while here to highlight some old collections that can be found in the archives, if you know what you're looking for. You may or may not know that I share out Christmas songs from non-Christmas albums during the month of July around here for a celebration called Christmas in July. And each year I put together a collection of my favorite tracks pulled from the voluminous shares. It willows down the huge volume of stuff I share sometimes to a more palatable length and quality. So here are links to all the collections I've done in the past. (Looks like I still owe you collections from the past two years. Maybe I can take care of that sometime this year...)

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016 (No collection this year because I didn't do a Christmas in July)

2015

2014 (Again, no collection this year because I didn't do a Christmas in July)

2013 (Once again, no collection this year because I didn't do a Christmas in July. It's hard to find these tracks!)

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006 

And a couple years ago I searched through all the tracks that didn't make the best-of collections and put together ten collections of what I'll call second-best. I try not to repeat artists or songs on a single collection, so sometimes good things get left off because I've already used that song, or the same artist has two great songs and I have to use Solomon-like wisdom to choose which to use. Anyhow, all those second-best collections can be found at the below links. There's some really good stuff in there if you like the collections linked above.

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

The Ballad Of Loose William

OK this is going to be a long one, and there are multiple shares here, so stick with me, pay attention and you shall be rewarded. I'm starting out with this somewhat rare album on the Capitol label. I've got a couple of copies in the archive, but it's not something you see every day. Earlier this year I pulled it down off the shelf and decided to record it since it was something on a major label that I wasn't familiar with and it didn't seem to have been reissued. Turns out that it's pretty good stuff, I'm sure you'll enjoy it and will wonder why it's not any better known. This is The Hollywood Pops Orchestra, Conducted By William Loose-Great Instrumental Christmas Music (Capitol ST 2980, Stereo, 1968).

1. Deck The Hall; Silent Night; We Wish You A Merry Christmas
2. The Christmas Song
3. The Holly And The Ivy
4. Away In A Manger; Silent Night
5. Caroling, Caroling
6. Toyland; March Of The Toys
7. Jingle Bells; Up On The Housetop; Jolly Old St. Nicholas
8. Mary's Little Boy Child
9. Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
10. Ave Maria
11. We Three Kings; We Wish You A Merry Christmas

MEGA

As I was researching the first album up top, I was surprised that I couldn't find out anything about the group. It didn't seem to exist anywhere outside of this album. I figured it must be some sort of studio group put together for just this one release and decided to research the director, William Loose.  There were a few things mentioned under his name, including this next Christmas album, credited to a group with a very similar name to the first album. (Discogs also claims that this album has also been released as a production record for radio which makes me think that world may be where William Loose is based and again Discogs backs that up. Perhaps Capitol just hired him to make a Christmas album for the 1968 Christmas season, then didn't use him again and later lost the rights to the music. That would explain why it never got reissued.) Anyhow, I hunted around for a while in my collection to find this other Christmas record, but when I finally came across it, the wrong record was in the sleeve. So I started haunting the usual thrift stores and dollar bins at the record stores and finally came home with a copy a couple of months later. It may look like a budget release (and it is), but it sounds pretty good to me and I'm sure you'll enjoy this one just as much as the first. This is The Hollywood Symphonette-Arranged And Conducted By William Loose-The Musical Magic Of Christmas (Oreco Records OCP-2002, Stereo, 1978). This album has also been released under the title Christmas With The Lush Strings Of The Hollywood Symphonette, but it's all the same music. I've got scans of that sleeve in the download, too.

1. Deck The Hall; The Holly And The Ivy
2. Angels We Have Heard On High
3. What Child Is This?
4. Ave Maria
5. Adeste Fideles
6. Dance Of The Reed Flutes (The Nutcracker Suite)
7. The Joys Of Christmas
8. Sugar Plum Fantasy (The Nutcracker Suite)
9. Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
10. Silent Night; O Holy Night
11. We Three Kings
12. The Twelve Days Of Christmas
13. We Wish You A Merry Christmas

MEGA

While doing all this research on William Loose and The Hollywood Pops Orchestra, I started to notice both names on various Capitol compilations of the early Seventies. And the closer I looked, the weirder it got. I always assumed that most of those comps were comprised of tracks pulled from albums released earlier, but I saw some titles that didn't appear to be on the album from 1968. Also, some of the tracks credited to The Hollywood Pops Orchestra listed someone else as the conductor. Sometimes, the name William Loose was tied to different groups with names that clearly identified them as generic studio groups like The Voices Of Christmas or The New Sounds Of Christmas. So a plan started coming together in my head and I began to pull all these tracks together. I recorded almost 30 of these various artists Capitol comps from the time period, trying to find every single track that seemed to be related to The Hollywood Pops Orchestra and/or William Loose. Many of them turned out to be album cuts, but I came up with quite a few that were unique, and so I'm giving you this new album. Nineteen tracks of Christmas goodness that you're unlikely to hear unless you dig up those old Capitol compilations yourself. Unlike the first album, this one features plenty of vocals (that's why it's called an instrumental album with voices). I really had quite the time pulling this together, but I think you'll agree that it was worth all the work involved. Again, this is not a real album, it's just a collection of stuff I put together. This is Great Instrumental Christmas Music, Volume 2 (With Voices) (Ernie (Not Bert), Stereo, 2023).

1. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By William Loose-Christmas In Vermont
2. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By Sid Feller With The Mitchell Singing Boys-Christmas-America, Part One: Introduction; We Three Kings; Everywhere, Everywhere, Christmas Night; It Came Upon A Midnight Clear; O Little Town Of Bethlehem; America The Beautiful
3. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By Ralph Carmichael-The Wonderful World Of Christmas: Carol Of The Bells; Here We Come A-Caroling; Brahms Lullabye; March & Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy From "The Nutcracker"; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; Deck The Hall
4. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By Sid Feller-The Silver Trees
5. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By Sid Feller With The Mitchell Singing Boys-Christmas-America, Part Two: America The Beautiful; Go Tell It On The Mountain; America (My Country, 'Tis Of Thee); Angels We Have Heard On High; Here We Come A-Caroling; Finale
6. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By Ralph Carmichael-The Messiah: For Unto Us A Child Is Born; I Know That My Redeemer Liveth; Hallelujah
7. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra With The Mitchell Singing Boys-Arranged & Conducted By Sid Feller-Over The River (And Through The Woods)
8. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra & Choir-Arranged & Conducted By Sid Feller-Choir Director, John Wright-A Hymn To Christmas: O Come All Ye Faithful; We Gather Together; Ave Maria; Amazing Grace; Adoration And Praise (Ode To Joy)
9. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Adeste Fideles
10. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra & Choir-Arranged & Conducted By Sid Feller-Choir Director, John Wright-Christmas America-Suite No. 1: Introduction; Merry Christmas; Everywhere, Everywhere, Christmas Tonight; I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day; America The Beautiful; Silent Night; The First Noel; Our Land Oh Lord; Sing We Now Of Christmas
11. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By William Loose-Silent Night
12. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By Ralph Carmichael-The Inspirational World Of Christmas: Silent Night; Adeste Fideles; Panis Angelicus; O Holy Night; Ode To Joy
13. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-The Holly And The Ivy
14. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra & Choir-Arranged & Conducted By Sid Feller-Choir Director, John White-Christmas America-Suite No. 2: Deck The Hall; God Bless Our Native Land; My Country 'Tis Of Thee; Star Spangled Banner; Battle Hymn Of The Republic; Auld Lang Syne; Merry Christmas (Reprise); Finale
15. The Voices Of Christmas-The First Noel
16. The Voices Of Christmas-Winter Wonderland
17. The Voices Of Christmas-I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
18. The New Sounds Of Christmas-We Three Kings
19. Nat King Cole/The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Arranged & Conducted By William Loose-God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen/We Wish You A Merry Christmas

MEGA

A few notes if you've made it this far and are still interested. Many of these tracks first featured on a series of LPs called Christmas In America that I believe were sold at Firestone stores. There are three records with that title, but you can get all the relevant tracks from just two of them. That goes a long ways towards explaining the odd medleys of Christmas music and American patriotic music.  There's one original song here, Christmas In Vermont, that was so good I decided to lead off the collection with it. I also really like the rarely heard song, The Silver Tree, which I first heard as an instrumental conducted by Frank Sinatra. Many more tracks came from a collection that featured Glen Campbell on the cover, meant to make you think it was a full studio album by him. But it wasn't, fully half of the tracks were Hollywood Pops Orchestra tracks or unknown vocal groups conducted by William Loose. You might notice a little overlap with the first album, but they are different versions or appear in a long medley of tracks. I tried to compare everything multiple times to make sure I was giving you something all new. Hopefully I got it right. And lastly there's a weird creation at the end where they mashed up Nat King Cole with a short Hollywood Pops Orchestra track from that first album. I kept it because I thought it was funny and reminded me of those medleys they included much later on the Ultra-Lounge collections, coincidentally also on the Capitol label. Perhaps this was an inspiration for those?  Who knows... Anyhow, I've included full scans of the albums I pulled tracks from in the download, and the comments for each track tell you exactly where it came from. I hope you all enjoy this one!  Merry Christmas!

The Best From Christmas In July 2021

It's been a long month around here, but it's finally drawing to a close. Before it ends, I've got one more little surprise for you. This is the collection of all the best tracks from the Christmas in July celebration last year. It was a short season with not a lot of shares, but the shares I had were good ones, so it was pretty easy to put together a best-of collection. I think you'll find this an easy listen, and you can enjoy it again and again, now and at Christmas. Not my favorite cover of all time, but it'll do. Give it a listen and enjoy!

1. American Percussion Society-Cuban Christmas
2. Glenn Yarbrough-December In Your Heart
3. George Barnes & Carl Kress-Snowfall-Edit
4. The New York Percussion Trio-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
5. Joanna Gleason & James Naughton-Lovers On Christmas Eve
6. Mike Auldridge & 'Old Dog'-Sledd Ridin'
7. Jerry Clower-What Christmas Means To Me
8. The US Navy Band-Midnight Sleighride
9. Dick Curless-Winter's Comin' On Again
10. Artie Barsamian-Jingle Bells
11. Carole Danell-Winter Moon
12. Jack Conner-Angels We Have Heard On High
13. Luke Gordon-Christmas In Tennessee
14. London Variety Theatre Orchestra-Sleigh Ride
15. Martha Schlamme-Chanuke, O Chanuke!
16. The Dry Branch Fire Squad-Children, Go Where I Send Thee
17. Ralph Marterie-Danse Arabe
18. The Three Suns-Jingle Bell Rock-Edit
19. Sam Cooke-Out In The Cold Again
20. Perry Bechtel-The Bell's Of St. Mary's
21. The Irish Brigade-Marvelous Toy
22. Ronnie Gilbert-Borning Day
23. The Yokohama Knights-Hawaii Five-O/Greensleeves
24. Wayne & Marin Foster-We Need A Little Xmas-Excerpt
25. The Leon Symphoniette-Town Of Falling Snow (Yuki No Furu Machi O)
26. Ceil Cabot-A Seasonal Sonatina-Winter (Excerpt)
27. Billy Gray-Snow Deer
28. Marvin Fried-Christmas Cheer Through-Out The Year
29. Unknown Artist-Christmas Time
30. Joni James-Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
31. Flute Trio-Danse Of The Mirlitons
32. Donna Sanders & Steve Roland-Christmas Long Ago
33. Ted Heath-Baby, It's Cold Outside
34. Mary Macgregor, Steve Brainerd And The Children-The Birth
35. Donna Fargo-What Will The New Year Bring?

MEGA

The Second Best From Christmas In July Past-Part 10

This marks the end of our little series featuring the second-best tracks from past Christmas in July celebrations. I hope you've enjoyed the 330 some odd tracks that I've been able to highlight with the series. I've always felt that it's a shame to have to narrow down the hundreds of tracks I share during July to just 33 (or so) songs. There's so much more in there that is good, and I feel this was a great way to remind everyone of all the goodies that get shared around here. But before I say goodbye for the month, here's one last collection of great tracks. Give it a listen and see if you don't agree that these are all worth revisiting.

1. Fred Waring-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
2. The George Shearing Quintet-Cool Mambo
3. The Beach Boys-Child Of Winter (Christmas Song)
4. Astronaut Wally C. Shirra-Christmas Message From Gemini 6
5. Red Carter-Jingle Bells
6. Anita Bryant-D Is For A Little Donkey That Went To Bethlehem
7. Walter Ostanek-Snowflake Polka
8. German Kaliope-Silent Night
9. The Ray Charles Singers-Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
10. The Swiss Band Organ-Swiss Sleigh Ride
11. USAF Academy Band-Christmas Festival
12. David Carroll-Bells And Little Bells
13. Unknown Artist-Eight Nights Of Hanukah
14. Sonny Burke-Mambo Holiday
15. Peter Hnatiuk-12 Days Of Holiday
16. The Stereo Brass Choir-Baby, It's Cold Outside
17. Connie Francis-Button Up Your Overcoat
18. Skitch Henderson-March Of The Toys
19. Brendan O'Dowda-Bethlehem's Star
20. Aileen Fisher-December
21. Willie Dittrich-Silver Bells
22. The Anita Kerr Singers-Snow In Lover's Lane
23. The Turners Creek Girls-Star Of Bethlehem
24. Regina Music Box-Hark The Herald Angels Sing
25. Tom Glazer With Jeffrey Alden-Carol Of The Animals-Edit
26. Richard Hayman-Winter Wonderland
27. The Ringing Bells-Angels We Have Heard On High
28. Victor Young-Pixie Holiday
29. The New York Percussion Trio-Sleigh Ride
30. Claude Thornhill-Skater's Cha Cha
31. Shirley English-Diamonds In The Snow
32. Rosemary Rice-The Marvelous Toy
33. American Percussion Society-New Year's Eve

Thanks for joining us as we took this little stroll down memory lane. And enjoy the songs now and in December when it's not 100 degrees outside!

MEGA

Christmas In July 2020-Redux

 

Time for a rather unnecessary redo of a share from not that long ago. On this best-of from the 2020 season, I only updated one track to stereo, and I believe I corrected a typo in an artist's name. So if you're going to skip out on any of my re-do's this month, this would be the one to skip. But I hope you won't because it's a good collection and a nice cover with a shot from a visit to NYC a few years ago near Christmas.

1. Dick Marx, Piano, And Johnny Frigo, Bass…Sleigh Ride
2. John McGee…Christmastime In Florida
3. Dennis Farnon And His Orchestra…Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
4. Kraft & Alexander…March
5. Dave Harris And The Powerhouse Five…Siberian Sleigh Ride
6. Kokee Band…My Favorite Things
7. The Metro Strings (AKA MGM Studio Orchestra)…Christmas
8. Unknown Artist…Santa's Coming
9. Francis Lai…The Christmas Trees
10. Jimmy James…All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)
11. Marni Nixon…Funny Little Snowman
12. Unknown Artist…Snowtime
13. West York Area High School Percussion Ensemble…Holiday For Percussion
14. John Ylvisaker…Joseph
15. Charlie Fox And The Ring Of Sound…Greensleeves
16. Frankford High School A Cappella Choir…You Better Watch Out-Edit
17. Lenny Seidel-Pianist…Angels We Have Heard On High
18. The Östlund Family…The Christmas Story
19. The RCA Electronic Music Synthesizer…Oh, Holy Night
20. The Gabriel Sisters-Mary Lou, Connie Joe, Colleen…Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
21. Lloyd Reese And The Solid Rock Chorus…Sweet Little Lord Jesus
22. The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir…Jingle Bells
23. Reid Nibley…The Shepherds And The Star
24. Ekseption-Royal Philharmonic Orchestra…Ave Maria
25. Frank Chacksfield And His Orchestra…White Christmas
26. The Babes…Disco Toyland
27. Unknown Artist…The Nutcracker
28. Lutheran High School West Brass Ensemble…God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
29. King Curtis…Swingin' Shepherd Blues
30. David Webb…The Marvelous Toy
31. The Handbell Choir Of St. James Methodist Church…Westminster Carol
32. John McCutcheon…Christmas In The Trenches
33. Air University Band Maxwellaires…Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
34. Liv Ullmann & Rock Hudson…Baby It's Cold Outside
35. Anita Bryant…X Has No Word For These Bible Stories
36. Long Island Banjo Society…Bells Of St. Mary's
37. Bob Johnson And The Lonesome Travelers…Auld Lang Syne

MEGA

Christmas In July 2015-Redux

 

Skipping ahead a couple of years now, this is the best-of collection from 2015, which I've improved upon just a little bit for 2022 by dropping in some newer and better rips. I was really proud of that cover and the bulb picture, and I think it still stands up. Having a good picture to use is half way to making a good cover. It's not all you need, but it's a big chunk. On the other hand, you probably don't care as much about the cover as you do about the music, and there's plenty of that here to enjoy. I'm sure you'll find something to enjoy as you peruse the playlist.

1. The Arthur Lyman Group-Greensleeves
2. Jimmie Davis-Going Home For Christmas
3. Blossom Dearie With Bob Dorough-Baby It's Cold Outside-Live
4. Chet Baker And The Carmel Strings-Christmas Song
5. Johnny Kemp-Christmas Time In Nassau
6. Bob Vernon-Go Tell It On The Mountain
7. The Marshall Family-Children, Go Where I Send Thee
8. Judy Holliday & Gerry Mulligan-It Must Be Christmas
9. The Clark Sisters-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
10. Duane Eddy-Long Lonely Days Of Winter
11. Turk Murphy-Santa Claus Blues
12. The Anita Kerr Singers-Snowbound
13. 101 Strings-The Sound Of Christmas
14. The Bek Brothers-The Virgin Mary
15. The Airmen Of Note With Nancy Wilson-What Child Is This
16. Leslie Uggams-Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
17. Chuy Reyes And His Orchestra-Rumba De Fleur
18. Sue Brason-Chanukah (Is Here At Last)
19. The Louis Castellucci Military Band-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
20. Marlene Dietrich-Der Trommelmann
21. Doris Day-Christmas Story
22. The King Sisters And The Children-Chree-See-Mus
23. Connie Francis-Ave Maria
24. Red Carter-Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
25. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Choir-O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
26. James A. Miller-Little Baby Jesus
27. Les Brown And His Band Of Renown-Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
28. Jimmy Joyce-Department Store Santa Claus
29. Tom Glazer With Jeffrey Alden-Auld Lang Syne Parody

MEGA

The Second Best From Christmas In July Past-Part 9

Almost to the end of these second-best compilations, but not just yet. What is this, number nine? Number nine, number nine, number nine. Yes, you get the idea. But hopefully you won't skip ahead to the next song when you hear each of these tracks, rescued from the obscurity of being second-best at the blog during Christmas in July. It's a good solid set with plenty of highlights to keep you interested. Here's the track listing if you want to take a gander.

1. Eartha Kitt-Santa Baby
2. Machito-Holiday Mambo
3. The Five Man Electrical Band-(Now I'm) Out In The Cold Again
4. Frederick Fennell-Brazilian Sleigh Bells
5. The Original Limelighters-Cold December (In Your Heart)
6. Hap & Martha Palmer-Pack Up The Sleigh
7. Gordon Bok-Wind And Snow
8. Guy Lombardo-Winter Wonderland
9. Enoch Light-Baby It's Cold Outside Cha Cha
10. Bill Justis-Mr. Cool
11. Hugo Winterhalter-Snowfall
12. The Goodies-Make A Daft Noise For Xmas
13. Mr. Jack Daniel's Original Silver Cornet Band-Jingle Bells
14. Little Marcy-I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
15. J. Lawrence Cook-White Christmas
16. George Melachrino-March Of The Toys
17. Leslie Uggams-Put A Little Love In Your Heart
18. Marni Nixon-Snowflakes
19. Fred Waring-One Little Candle
20. The Gooding Band Organ-Here Comes Santa Claus
21. Johnny Green-Toy Concertino
22. The Mid South Boys-Home For Christmas
23. Glenn Miller-Sun Valley Jump
24. The Handbell Choir Of St. James Methodist Church-Silent Night
25. The Murk Family-Love Came Down At Christmas
26. Jiminy Cricket-Kris Kringle
27. Nelson Riddle-The Christmas Song
28. Ogden Nash-I Remember Yule
29. The Merrill Staton Children's Voices-Still, Still, Still
30. The Luther-Annes-Up In The Pulpit
31. Idlers-O Little Town Of Bethlehem
32. Aileen Fisher-Christmas Mouse
33. Golden Ring-The Holly Bears A Berry
34. Jerry Colonna-Auld Lang Syne

And here's the download link. Enjoy!

MEGA

Christmas In July 2012-Redux

 

Time for another installment of my revamped Best Of Christmas In July collections, and this one is a little special. Not only did I update some of the tracks with newer rips, I also recolored the artwork a bit. If you travel back in time to when I first shared this collection in 2016, you'll see that I wasn't able to make much of the new text color match the original label text. My skills in Gimp must have improved since then because I was able to go in the there and get it right recently, and I'm much happier with how this turned out. It's still not my favorite cover, probably because I didn't change enough stuff from the original label, but it's good for what it is. And looking at the tracklist, it was a good year for music. There's some great stuff in there. Just a Christmas story by Vincent Price is worth the price of admission alone. So be sure you download this one, and enjoy!

1. Dennis Hinman-Christmas In July
2. The McGuire Sisters-Be A Santa
3. Hap Miller-Sun Valley Twist
4. Nina-Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?
5. Hal Blaine-Love-In (December)
6. Gaylord & Holiday-Italian Christmas Song
7. Elton Britt-The Skater's Yodel
8. Rosemary Clooney-Me And My Teddy Bear
9. Jerry Murad's Harmonicats-Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite
10. Monte Kelly-Snow-Snow
11. Shirley Temple-That's What I Want For Christmas
12. The Camarata Contemporary Chamber Orchestra-Traineau (The Sleigh Ride)
13. The Gentlemen's Agreement-The Twelve Days Of Christmas
14. Ogden Nash-A Word About Winter
15. The Chad Mitchell Trio-Super Skier
16. The Alley Singers...Phil Stern And Al Brennan-Jingle Bells
17. Jim Mandell-The Reason Everybody Likes Christmas
18. The Guitars, Inc.-Snowfall
19. Jane Morgan-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
20. The Dukes Of Dixieland And Clara Ward-Children Go Where I Send Thee
21. Neal Hefti-White Christmas
22. John Davidson-Snowbound
23. Ichiro Masuda Quintet-Frost Flowers
24. Hugo Winterhalter-Blue December
25. Joe Bushkin-Everyday Is Christmas
26. Merle Haggard-Blue Christmas
27. Leo Addeo-June In January
28. The American Breed-Powder
29. The Harry Simeone Chorale-The Toy Drum
30. Vincent Price-A Visit From St. Nicholas

MEGA

Oh, I just remembered my biggest mistake on this disc. For the first time, I duplicated a song from a previous best-of collection. That Merle Haggard track featured on the 2009 collection. Too late to change that, but I still feel bad about it.

The Second Best From Christmas In July Past-Part 8

Just for the record, this collection of second-best songs was originally only seven batches long. And it sat that way for months. But I kept coming across things I left out and wishing I had space for them. I finally started putting those things into a new folder, and before I knew it I had over 100 songs pulled out. So those 100 (or so) songs became the last three volumes of the series. But then I had to come up with cover images, and there were only seven panels on the wall of the church that I photographed. So I decided to do these detail views of the slightly creepy painted faces. I know why they do stuff like that, and I'm sure it's part of the mosaic tradition, but it creeps me out to look at them. And so I figured I'd use them and hope it doesn't creep you out so much that you don't download the collection. If you skip it, you'll be missing all the great songs listed below, and you wouldn't want that, would you? Enjoy!

1. Connie Landers-I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter
2. The USAF Strings-It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
3. Sarah Vaughan-Moonlight In Vermont
4. The Studio Dance Ork-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
5. The Invitations-Out In The Cold Again
6. The Irish Rovers-Cold Winter Shadows
7. The Ringing Bells-Coventry Carol
8. Xavier Cugat-Danse Arabe
9. Aileen Fisher-Do Rabbits Have Christmas?
10. Symphony In Blue-Christmas Song
11. Cynthia Gooding And Don Drake-Christmas Is Coming
12. The Wesleyan Ringers-Carol Of The Bells
13. Burl Ives-Christmas Cradle Hymn
14. Hector Olivera-Bobsled
15. LeRoy Holmes-June In January
16. Household Regina Music Box-Jingle Bells
17. Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery-Baby, It's Cold Outside
18. Urbie Green-Ave Maria
19. The John Payne Band-Snow
20. Charlie Weaver-Xmas In Mt. Idy
21. Bob Hannon-Dance And Be Merry
22. Hal Mooney-March Of The Toys
23. Bobby Hackett & Ronnie David-We Need A Little Christmas
24. Larry Seidel-God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
25. Jack Shaindlin-Skiers
26. Winifred Smith-The Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy
27. Werner Muller-Sleigh Ride
28. USAF Academy Cadet Chorale-Sing We Now Of Christmas
29. John Gart-The Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
30. Sy Mann-Winter Wonderland
31. Hollywood Sound Stage Orchestra-The Christmas Trees
32. Joe Bushkin-White Christmas
33. 101 Strings-New Year's Day

MEGA

The Second Best From Christmas In July Past-Part 7

We're up to part seven of these collections of the second-best tracks from Christmas in July past. That's a lot of music, but I think it's good stuff. Not getting a whole lot of feedback on these collections, but not a lot of people listen to Christmas music in July, and it's not like they're new music. So I get it. But I figure maybe I can hype them up at Christmas proper and more people will get the chance to listen to my collections. I don't think I've mentioned the mosaic artwork on the covers yet.  It's a series of panels on the wall of a church building in downtown Sarasota that I photographed a few months back. I remember thinking in the back of my mind at the time that I would find a use for those pictures, and here they are! But they're not my best covers ever, and you're not going to spend a lot of time looking at the pictures, you're here for the music. Here's a list of what's in this collection. Enjoy!

1. Mr. Jack Daniel's Original Silver Cornet Band-We Wish You A Merry Christmas
2. Robert Gordon-Blue Christmas
3. Happy Louie-Candy Cane Polka
4. The Payola$-Christmas Is Coming
5. The George Shearing Trio-Heart Of Winter
6. Mike Douglas-I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing
7. Les And Larry Elgart-Greensleeves
8. Glenn Yarborough & Marilyn Child-Mary Had A Baby
9. The Ringing Bells-Silver Bells
10. Johnny Keating-Snowface
11. Frankie Lymon-Out In The Cold Again
12. Moe Koffman-Shepherd's Cha Cha
13. The Ames Brothers-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
14. The Kermit Leslie Orchestra-The Little Toy Shop
15. The New Group-My Favorite Things
16. Gerald Askelin-Christmas Lite
17. Oscar Brand-Coventry Carol
18. Sy Mann-Winter Weather
19. Red Carter-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
20. Peter Seeger-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
21. Idlers-God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
22. Count Basie-Peppermint Pipes
23. Meri Ellen-Baby It's Cold Outside
24. Andre Previn-It Happened In Sun Valley
25. The Wanderin' Five-Go Tell It On The Mountain
26. John Kirby-Bounce Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
27. Gayle Morgan-Snowflake
28. Romper Room-My Snowman
29. Peter Todd-When Winter Comes A'Calling
30. Kathy Lecinski-The Christmas Bell Story
31. The McGuire Sisters-Happy New Year

MEGA

Christmas In July 2011-Redux

Forgot about the improved Christmas in July Best-Of collections there for a bit, but I'm back with the updated version from 2011. As I keep saying, I went back and grabbed newer and better rips of many of the tracks here (since I have extensive archives!) in hopes of making the old collection sound a little bit better. This was the biggest collections I ever put together, spanning over two full CDs, though I don't think I ever burned it to disc as such. But that's still the way I think about my collections since I was brought up as CDs came to market. I remember making a few cassette compilations, but not too many. Give it a listen, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. And I still think that's my favorite cover. I still have the little tree decoration somewhere...

1. Lena Horne-Sleigh Ride In July
2. Count Basie-Summer Frost
3. The Sportsmen-Jingle Bells
4. Lew White-The Wedding Of The Painted Doll
5. Carolyn Hester-Virgin Mary
6. Red Nichols-Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers
7. Morgana King-'Twas The Night Before Christmas
8. The Carnegie Pops Orchestra-March Of The Little Lead Soldiers
9. Paul Anka-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
10. Ira Ironstrings-Hot Toddy
11. Carmen McRae-Winter In May
12. Gerry Robichaud-Snowflake Breakdown
13. Jane Morgan-Toyland
14. Bent Fabric-The Drunken Penguin
15. Jackie Kannon-Santa Claus Calling
16. Ian Whitcomb-Reindeer-A Ragtime Two-Step
17. Grand Fantastic Strings-Troika
18. The Cuff Links-Put A Little Love In Your Heart
19. Laurence Naismith, Janis Paige & Fred Gwynne-Pine Cones And Holly Berries
20. Floyd Cramer-Our Winter Love
21. Sylvia De Sayles-Warm Winter
22. Living Brass-A Hazy Shade Of Winter
23. Pope John Paul II-On A December Night
24. The Wesleyan Ringers-Joy To The World
25. James Walker-Chipmunk Song
26. Charles Dorian-Dancing Snowflakes

1. Perry Como-My Favorite Things
2. Jacky Noguez-A Marshmallow World
3. The All Churches Children's Choir-Luther's Cradle Hymn       
4. Leroy Anderson-Clarinet Candy
5. Idlers-Brothers Lift Your Voices
6. Johnny Pecon-Snowflake Polka
7. Danny Kaye-Jingle Bells
8. Living Strings-Sleigh Ride
9. Tommy Roe-It's Now Winter's Day
10. 101 Strings-Fuyu Geshiki (Japanese Snowflakes)   
11. Joanie Sommers-Winter In New England
12. Pee Wee Hunt-The Iceman Cometh (Skater's Waltz)   
13. George Hamilton IV-Natividad (The Nativity)
14. Lawrence Welk-Holiday Waltz
15. Hap Palmer-Hanukkah
16. Los Admiradores-Greensleeves
17. Arthur Godfrey-The First Snow Of Winter
18. Russ Case-The Doll Dance
19. Ted Schumate-Dann Reno Jazz Quartet-Christmas Time Is Here   
20. Drexel Park Presbyterian Church Senior Choir-Carol Of The Bells   
21. Cicero Pig-December
22. Judy Collins-Christ Child Lullaby
23. Roger King Mozian-The Bells Of St. Mary's
24. Tinker Reason-The Christmas Song
25. Art Gilmore-New Year's Eve At Times Square

MEGA

Whew, this is the first time I've been able to link all the song titles back to the original day they were posted. That takes a little while. I don't know if anybody ever clicks through to see the original share, but you never know. Not that the old share is still there, but you can still read a little bit about the track at the original post. Sometimes I have interesting things to say. :)