A Merry Christmas To You

I know it's late, but I wanted to get one more little thing up for you guys this year. See that little stereo at the top of this record jacket? That's the magic word. I've been in love with this record ever since I first heard a couple of tracks from it shared out over at Lee's Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else many years ago. I eventually found and shared a mono copy, but this year I finally stumbled across a nice stereo copy. I've been meaning to share this with you all season, but I just today got the chance to put the package together and share it. The scanning was a pain since pretty much every pass I made had blue and yellow streaks in it. The flip side is all shades of gray, yet it scanned blue. I guess this thing is on the fritz, and it's not gonna get fixed until after the holiday. Oh, and one of the tracks skipped very quietly, so I had to go back and re-record that just now. But without further ado, here it is, my last share of the season, We Wish You A Merry Christmas-15 Great Christmas Favorites Sung By Warner Bros. Stars (Warner Bros WS1337, Stereo, 1959). Have a Merry Christmas, y'all!

1. Efrem Zimbalist Jr.-Adeste Fideles
2. Warner Bros. Stars-Deck The Halls
3. Connie Stevens-Away In A Manger
4. Edward Byrnes-Yulesville
5. Peter Brown-Winter Wonderland
6. Ray Danton-God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
7. Poncie Ponce-Mele Kalikimaka
8. Eddie Cole-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
9. Bob Conrad-White Christmas
10. Dorothy Provine-Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
11. Clint Walker-Silver Bells
12. Roger Moore-Once In Royal David's City
13. Warner Bros. Male Chorus-Star Carol
14. Ty Hardin-It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
15. Warner Bros. Stars-We Wish You A Merry Christmas

A Benny For Your Thoughts

This is one of the things that I lost when my hard drive crashed earlier this year. I had a stereo copy of this ripped and ready to share when I found a stereo tape of it! I had recorded that, but hadn't cut it into sections when the hard drive decided to take an early retirement. So you're going to have to make due with my same old mono share dating all the way back to 2005. But it's still a great record. You get songs from Dennis Day, and the occasional bit featuring the famous Jack Benny. That alone is worth more than the price of admission. I know the scan above shows the stereo logo across the top, but I just put it up there for no good reason back in the day. In fact, stereo copies omit the banner across the bottom highlighting the presence of Jack Benny. But enough talk, please download Dennis Day Sings "Christmas Is For The Family" Featuring Lou Hollingsworth At The Wurlitzer Electronic Organ & The Vail Boys Choir With Full Orchestra (Design Records DLP-X-1, Mono). Just a little over 24 hours to Christmas. Are you ready yet?

1. Dennis Day & Jack Benny-I'm Ready Dennis
2. Jingle Bells
3. White Christmas
4. May Santa Fill Our Hearts
5. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
6. I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
7. Christmas Is For The Family
8. Dennis Day & Jack Benny-Dennis
9. Silent Night
10. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
11. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
12. Oh Holy Night
13. Away In A Manger
14. Oh, Come All Ye Faithful/The First Noel/God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
15. Dennis Day & Jack Benny-Oh Mr. Benny

Luboff Love

Here's the lost soundtrack to a lost television special from 1968. The Night Before Christmas isn't one of those specials they repeat every year, or at least they don't include it in their 25 Nights Of Christmas programming (which seems to include every special Christmas presentation known to man, plus a few unknowns...). I shared this out in 2007, and you can read more about it there. I'd write more here, but I'm still a little under the weather and bed is calling my name. Please download and enjoy The Norman Luboff Choir-The Night Before Christmas (Elba Productions, Stereo, 1968).

1. Savory Serenade
2. Wintertime
3. Lullaby Time
4. The Night Before Christmas
5. The Morning Of Christmas

Two Mike

Here is the second album of Christmas tunes I promised from Mike Douglas this morning. This one is later than the first, and to my ears it's the lesser of the two. You may enjoy it, though. I believe I first brought you this in 2007, and I'm bringing it back today. This is The Mike Douglas Christmas Album (Word WSB-8815, Stereo, 1979).

1. Oh Holy Night
2. One Small Child
3. Do You Hear What I Hear?
4. What Child Is This?
5. Christmas Song
6. It's O.K. To Be A Kid At Christmas
7. Christmas Is Love
8. Thanks To You At Christmas
9. Special Delivery
10. Happy Birthday, Christmas

One Mike

From the celebrity vocal folder, here's the first of two Christmas records from Mike Douglas. I first shared this in August of 2006, not long after Mike Douglas has passed away. It's actually much better than most albums of it's ilk, since Mike could actually sing. He was also quite the talker, which is where I know him from. I'm sure you're going to enjoy Mike Douglas-My Kind Of Christmas (Epic BN 26322, Stereo, 1967).

1. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
2. The First Noel
3. Do You Hear What I Hear?
4. O Holy Night
5. (The Story Of) The First Christmas Carol
6. White Christmas
7. Silent Night, Holy Night
8. Silver Bells
9. Ave Maria
10. Touch Hands On Christmas Morning

Braun (Not Gillette)

I hear from a lot of people who fondly remember Ruth Lyons and her TV show. It was way before my time, and in a different part of the country, but because the show spawned a couple of great Christmas albums, I'm familiar with it. What I wasn't familiar with, at least before last year, was that one of the other members of the show had put out a Christmas album. I'm in the habit of picking up pretty much every Christmas LP I see and taking a look to see if I can find something interesting about it. That was the case with this one, and I noticed a couple of songs on it that were written by Ruth Lyons. So I read the liner notes and realized what I had. And now, you can have it too. Please download Bob Braun, Orchestra Conducted By Leroy Holmes-Christmas In Your Heart (United Artists UAS 6664, Stereo, 1968).

1. Christmas In Your Heart
2. Everywhere The Bells Are Ringing
3. Do You Hear What I Hear
4. A Marshmellow (sic) World
5. A Child's First Christmas
6. Let's Light The Christmas Tree
7. Christmas Lullaby
8. Winter Wonderland
9. That's What Christmas Means To Me
10. I'll Be Home For Christmas
11. Christmas Medley

Success Story, Volume 9

I don't know how I keep forgetting to mention this one. I was very excited when I found and shared this record with you last year. It's one of those things that they made millions of back in the day, but few of them have survived in playable shape. And now I'm happy to tell you that you can purchase this on CD! And I even had a nice little chat with one of the guys who helped to put it out on CD. I got an email a few months ago asking me about it, and I was scared at first. I figured it was a record company about to put me on notice for sharing out their product. But the guy was very nice about. He just wondered if I could send him some big scans since they couldn't locate the original artwork in the Hanna Barbera archives, and he'd like to see if they could use them. I doubt if they used my scans, since the copy I had was pretty beat up, but at least I got some sense of being invloved. Anyhow, my share is no longer active, so go buy this CD! For the search engines, this is Hanna-Barbera Present Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm Singing Songs Of Christmas (Hanna Barbera Records HLP 2033, Mono, 1965).

Found It!

One of the things I searched for but didn't find during my first trip to DC was this portrait of TV blowhard Stephen Colbert. It had been hanging at the National Portrait Gallery for some weeks prior to my visit, but had been removed not long before I got there, perhaps because the joke had worn thin. However, the enterprising Mr. Colbert found a willing recipient in The Smithsonian and their National Museum of American History. They had this portrait hung in an area with other, more popular pop culture icons such as Archie Bunker's chair and Minnie Pearl's hat. Oh, and check out the bottom picture. It's still hung across from the bathroom. When I was there, the velvet ropes didn't have much of a crowd to guide. I'm sure that was just a temporary lull, though.

No Colbert

First question I asked when I visited the National Portrait Gallery was if they still had that picture of Stephen Colbert hanging near the bathroom. The guard just laughed and said no, not anymore. I didn't dare ask which bathroom it had been hanging in, so I just shot one at random to show you the spot where Stephen's portrait may have hung. I got funny looks from a girl when she saw me taking a picture of the restroom alcove. She must not be a fan.

Yet Another One From Warner Bros

I don't think you've quite had your share of shares from the great Warner Bros. label. Granted, this one is a rerun from some years ago, but it's still well worth revisiting. Where else are you going to find all your favorite TV stars from 1959 singing their favorite Christmas tunes. Please, please, please, if you haven't already, download We Wish You A Merry Christmas-15 Great Christmas Favorites Sung By Warner Bros. Stars (Warner Bros B 1337, Mono, 1959).

1. Efrem Zimbalist Jr.-Adeste Fideles
2. Warner Bros. Stars-Deck The Halls
3. Connie Stevens-Away In A Manger
4. Edward Byrnes-Yulesville
5. Peter Brown-Winter Wonderland
6. Ray Danton-God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
7. Poncie Ponce-Mele Kalikimaka
8. Eddie Cole-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
9. Bob Conrad-White Christmas
10. Dorothy Provine-Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
11. Clint Walker-Silver Bells
12. Roger Moore-Once In Royal David's City
13. Warner Bros. Male Chorus-Star Carol
14. Ty Hardin-It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
15. Warner Bros. Stars-We Wish You A Merry Christmas

If that's not quite enough for you, there's a single from this LP here, with a B-side from a Warner LP I don't have. And you can read a track-by-track review over at The Christmas Yuleblog.

Modern Stone-Age Melodies

I have a question for you. How did people celebrate Christmas before the birth of Christ? I know, I know, some of you will point to the pagan Yule celebrations and to the winter solstice, etc, etc, etc. But there are songs on this record from the stone age about Jesus, and it was clearly recorded before the year zero. This was an exciting find for me, as I'd never seen it in person before, but I had seen it on the internet. It was in pretty rough shape, but it played through without skipping and I was able to clean it up quite a bit so it's worth listening to. The cover was another story. I could have spent another hour on it, and it still would have looked pretty beat up. But you can at least see it now. Anyhow, if you want to get a quick Flintstone fix, why not download Hanna-Barbera Present Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm Singing Songs Of Christmas (Hanna Barbera Records HLP 2033, Mono, 1965)? You'll have a gay old time! (Note that the LP is called We Wish You A Merry Christmas on the record label shown below. Quality control and continuity were never strong points in the Hanna Barbera universe.)

1. Little Drummer Boy
2. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
3. 12 Days Of Christmas
4. We Three Kings
5. Deck The Halls
6. Silent Night
7. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
8. Frosty The Snow Man
9. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
10. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
11. Jingle Bells
12. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
13. Snow Flake

Note: The only original song on this LP is Snow Flake, and the only cover I've seen of it is on the new CD from The Barbary Coasters, Hark! I've heard it, it's great, go buy it.


Update: I think this record is coming out this year on CD or as a digital download, so I'm taking down the share. I don't know anything definitive yet, but I don't want to stand between the copyright owners and a few sales. When I find out anything more, I'll post the info and hopefully a link.

Update Again: The CD is out, or at least it's out on November 3rd! Here's the link to Amazon, but I think you can get this pretty much anywhere that CDs are still sold.

Be Like Mike More

As I said a few minutes ago while reposting the first Mike Douglas Christmas record, no bonus points for figuring out what this post is all about. I stumbled across this LP recently at a Goodwill store in St. Pete, still sealed in the plastic. That resulted in some very nice recordings that I get to share with you tonight. It's a short album, only ten songs, but the quality is high. And every once in a while you'll hear a little something in these songs that tells you it was recorded during the reign of disco. This is an odd release for the Word label, being a pretty famous name for them. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that, though. Didn't Word also release some albums, or at least an album, by Paul Harvey? I think so. But that's beside the point. Why don't you go download this great LP, The Mike Douglas Christmas Album (Word WSB-8815, 1979)? You'll like it, I'm sure. This is the second share this year from the Word label. I think it's also the last, but you can never tell around here...

The Lost Luboff

For my next trick, I'm going to share out the album you see above. My dad was always a big fan of The Norman Luboff Choir, but I don't remember having any of their Christmas music in our house when I was growing up. We certainly didn't have this album. I recently found a sealed copy, and knew I had to share it on the blog. Of course, once I got the sealed copy home, I realized that I already had a copy in the archives, but had never listened to it. Shame on me. This turns out to be the soundtrack to a Christmas TV special, one that I'm afraid I've never seen. I guess Rankin-Bass had the market pretty well sewn up for memorable holiday specials in the sixties and early seventies, but that doesn't mean that others weren't trying. I think there are some delightful tracks on here, and I'm sure you'll agree. So go now and download The Norman Luboff Choir-The Night Before Christmas (Elba Productions, 1968). Based on a sticker from the front of the sealed copy I found, this LP was probably originally given away to clients of the show's sponsors. Whether that was a bank or an insurance agency or whatnot, I have no idea. Note that the wording on the sticker is intended for the person giving the record away, not the person receiving the gift. Odd...