02-It's Christmas Time

Day two of the Christmas sharity features 45 more songs from 45s. There's not too much of a theme here, at least not one that you'll be able to spot just yet. But things are not as they seem, just keep paying attention and all will become clear. (I see a track in here by The Keith Richards Orchestra. I don't think there's any relation there to Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones, but I should have thrown his version of Run Rudolph Run in here just to confuse the issue.)

1. Sean Dunphy-Christmas Angel
2. Beverly Colomb-Red, White And Blue Christmas
3. Bubber Johnson-It's Christmas Time
4. Byron Lee & The Dragonaires-Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday
5. Cary Grant-Christmas Lullaby
6. Charo-Arranged And Conducted By John Davis-(Mamacita,) ¿Donde Esta Santa Claus?
7. Cody Bearpaw-Winter Love (Stereo)
8. Dave King With The Roland Shaw Orchestra-Christmas And You
9. Dee Mullins-Remember Bethlehem-Stereo
10. Del Vikings With Carl Stevens & His Orchestra-Snowbound
11. Dodie Stevens-Orchestra Conducted By Milt Rogers-Merry Christmas Baby
12. Don Jacoby And His Conn-Ensemble-The Christmas Party
13. Dora Hall-Blue Christmas
14. Ferlin Husky And The Hushpuppies-Christmas Dream
15. Frankie Lymon With Hugo Peretti & His Orchestra-It's Christmas Once Again
16. George Rock Sextet-Vocal By George Rock-I Should Have Left The Light On (For Santa Claus Last Night)
17. Hank Snow, The Singing Ranger And The Rainbow Ranch Boys-Christmas Roses
18. Jackie DeShannon-Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?
19. Johnny Rowland-Christmas Love Song
20. Jose Ferrer-Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus
21. Lawrence Welk & His Champagne Music With Vocal By The Sparklers-Let's Have An Old Fashioned Christmas
22. Leroy Holmes And His Orchestra And Chorus-The Little Bell (That Just Went Ding)
23. Lou Monte With Orchestra And Chorus-All Because It's Christmas
24. Patty Brandon With Pete De Angelis' Orchestra And Chorus-Christmas Prayer
25. Primo Scala And His Banjo And Accordion Band With The Keynotes-Snowy White Snow And Jingle Bells
26. Ruby Wright With Cliff Lash And His Orchestra And The Dick Noel Singers-Merry, Merry Christmas
27. Sammy Watkins And The Mail Chorus-It's One Day Closer To Christmas (Please Do Your Mailing Now)
28. The Ambassadors-Vocal By Dan Lentino-Jingle Bell Rock
29. The Ames Brothers With Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra-I Got A Cold For Christmas
30. The Johnny Mann Children's Choir-African Noel
31. The Wilson Sisters-Little Klinker
32. Bey Ireland-Christmas Without You
33. Carla Thomas-Winter Snow (Stax Version)
34. Charles Brown-Let's Make Every Day A Christmas Day
35. Charlie McCoy-Christmas Cheer
36. Corky Hale-Christmas Day
37. Elmo 'N Patsy-Christmas
38. Frank Gallagher-Dana Serenaders And Orchestra-You're All I Want For Christmas
39. Jeannie Owen-Pretty Paper
40. Johnny Koonse-Old Fashioned Christmas
41. The Keith Richards Orchestra-Vocal By K.C. Lore-There's A Hole In My Christmas Stocking (Vocal)
42. The Lennon Sisters With Orchestra And Chorus Directed By George Cates-Let's Light The Christmas Tree
43. Turk Murphy And His Jazz Band-Santa Claus Blues
44. The Mariners-Rise Up, Shepherd, And Follow
45. Stevie Wonder-Season's Greetings

MEGA

01-Thanksgiving Day Parade

OK, let's get this party started. Here's the first share of the season. I've named each share after a song in the download, often with some relation to the theme of the collection. Certainly not all the records are linked to the theme, but I tried to find as many as I could that linked together somehow. (Some days I was able to theme the whole thing, but those are the exception to the rule.) If you've visited the blog at any time over the past twenty years on Thanksgiving, you've likely seen and heard the Thanksgiving Day Parade song. It's from a TV remake of Miracle On 34th Street and it isn't really too well known. I try to push it whenever I can, and it's showing up here again with a few other Thanksgiving Day and November tracks. I feel like sharing notes on many of the songs each day, but that's going to just be too much. As you can see there are 45 tracks here (in honor of them all being from 45s) and it will just take too long to talk about them all. Maybe I can drop some info in the comments from time to time. We'll see how it all shakes out.

1. Slim Pickens-Vocal Accompaniment By The Jordanaires-Christmas In November
2. Annick Aïrosa Et Sa Guitare-Soir De Noël (O Little Town Of Bethlehem)
3. Bob Moule's Dixieland Express-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
4. Bobby G. Rice-Holidays Are Happy Days
5. Danny And The Juniors And Santa's 8 Reindeer With Frank Slay & His Orchestra-Candy Cane, Sugary Plum
6. Earl Grant-Silver Bells
7. Ed Sullivan Presents Music Of Christmas-Arranged & Conducted By John Gregory-Jingle Bells
8. Eddie De Marr With Glenn Osser And His Orchestra-(It's Rough) This Time Of Year
9. Elton Britt With The Pinetoppers-Christmas In November
10. Fred Bergin And His Music-Toyland
11. Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians-Grandma's Thanksgiving-Part 1
12. Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians-Vocal Chorus By Tony Craig-White Christmas
13. Jimmy Dean-Arranged & Conducted By Don Sebesky-Blue Christmas
14. Joe Sun-Silent Night (Stereo)
15. Johnny Mathis-Conducted By Jack Feirman-The Little Drummer Boy
16. Julius La Rosa With The Choraliers-Directed By George Nassar-We Need A Litttle Christmas
17. King Coleman-Blue Grey Christmas
18. Lawrence Welk And His Champagne Music-Merry Christmas Polka
19. Leonard Feather-Ralph Burns And Their Orchestra-Dasher
20. Liz Story-Greensleeves
21. Mark Thomsen-Noël
22. Nick Di Sipio With Orchestra-Christmas Is Here
23. Paul Mickelson, N B C Organ-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
24. Ray Anthony And His Orchestra-Vocal By Ronnie Deauville-Marshmallow World
25. Rejoice!-November Snow
26. Richard Maltby And His Orchestra Featuring The Honey Dreamers-Wild Bells
27. Stanley Fritts And The Korn Kobblers-Vocal By Stanley Fritts-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
28. The Anita Kerr Singers & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra-Shine, Shine
29. The Fontane Sisters And Freddy Martin And His Orchestra With Merv Griffin-Snowflakes
30. Seymour (The Heartbeat Trumpet) With Chimes And Organ-O, Come All Ye Faithful
31. Mireille Mathieu-Weisser Winterwald (Winter Wonderland)
32. Ron Brooks-What Christmas Means To Me
33. Alfred Apaka And The Hawaiian Village Serenaders-Joy To The World (Hauoli Ka Honua)
34. Bruno Pallesi-Caro Gesu' Bambino
35. Carla Thomas-All I Want For Christmas Is You (Gusto Version)
36. Eydie Gorme-Arranged And Produced By Don Costa-Let Me Be The First To Wish You Merry Christmas
37. Fred Waring And His Pennsylvanians-Grandma's Thanksgiving-(Concluded)
38. Homemade Theatre-Santa Jaws Part 2
39. Jimmie Davis-Sacred Singing With Instrumental Accompaniment-Gently Rock His Cradle
40. Leland W. Sprinkle Sr-Dutch Hymn Of Thanksgiving
41. Marie Chabot-My Christmas With You
42. Positive Force-'Twas A Night Long Ago
43. Spencer Ross-Thanksgiving Day Parade
44. Seeburg Musicians-O Holy Night (DS)
45. Henry Mancini-Christmas Greetings

MEGA

Christmas 2024

Good afternoon and welcome to the official kickoff post of the 2024 Christmas Sharity Season at Ernie (Not Bert)! I've been hard at work since a day or two after the end of the season last year in order to make this the best year yet around here. And believe me, it's taken almost all this time to put together what I have for you in this, the 20th anniversary of the blog. That's right, 2005 was our first year, and while we missed a few years in-between, it's been non-stop Christmas around here for all those years. What can I possibly do that I haven't already done around here? One word, plastics! No, wait, wrong movie. This season is a tribute to the 7" 45 RPM single, first developed by RCA Victor in 1949 and still being made today, though not quite in the same numbers. Surely you remember the small records with the big holes? (Well, I need to be careful how I describe it since not every record I'm sharing has the big hole, but most do.) Every single song I share this season (save for a few special bonus posts...) are things I've recorded from a record that's seven inches in diameter and spins at 45 RPM. It's taken forever, but I've recorded just about every interesting single in my collection over the past year. I'm adding in to that a bunch of singles that I've recorded in previous years, some of which I've shared and some of which I haven't. I've re-ripped some of my older shares so that they're are at a higher bitrate and maybe a little better fidelity. (For those of you hoping for more FLAC this year, sorry, I just couldn't swing it. Maybe next season.) My idea for this season is to imagine I've been invited to a record party at your house, and I've brought my green plastic Disk-Go-Case with all my favorite Christmas 45s in it and we're going to spin records for a couple of hours. You'll hear plenty of mono versions and single edits here because that's the way they were pressed on the little records. You're going to hear surface noise and scratches because that's the way some of these records sound. I've done the best I could, but I have a lot of records that have seen better days. If I don't share something you've never heard before, then you must have a really nice record collection! I don't want to over promise and under deliver, but this is really going to be a great year. It's taken more work than I usually like to put into the blog, but I really wanted to do something special. Now give me an hour or so and I'll start posting some goodies for you. Most days are only going to have a single post, but what a post it's going to be. Just you wait and see.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Chanukah In August '24-Day 1

As is tradition, I've got some Chanukah music for you after all of the Christmas music from July. Unfortunately, I've only got one track, and it's a new copy of something I've shared before, but at least it's something. For all of our Jewish friends, enjoy!

1. Unknown Artist-Eight Nights Of Hanukah (Now And Long Ago-Silver Burdett Songs From Music For Living-Album 09)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 31

Greetings, and welcome to the last day of Christmas in July for 2024! It's been a long slow trip to get to the end here, but I think it was worth the trouble. We've found some good Christmas music that I think you otherwise wouldn't be aware of and had a lot of fun doing it. As is the custom around here, the end of the month is when we celebrate New Year's Eve, so I've got a double handful of songs about the end of the year for you today. We start out with something a bit classical, veer off to some surprising late 80's music, a rerun for the kiddies, the inevitable Mrs. Mills, then we finish with a short song from one of that endless stream of JFK-related comedy records that didn't seem so funny after the assassination. You've got to love the variety of stuff around here. Enjoy!

1. Golden Age Singers-Dennis Nesbitt, Continuo-A New Year's Song (Locke-The Music Of Matthew Locke For Voices And Viols, 1973)
2. God's Little Monkeys-New Year's Honours (New Maps Of Hell, 1989)
3. Jerry Bock With Nancy, Debbie, Cathy, Ginnie, Robert, Gary, Seth, David And George-Happy Old Year (Songs About Animals, 1962)
4. Mrs. Mills With The Jubilee Singers Directed By Mike Sammes-Auld Lang Syne (Mrs Mills Jubilee Party, 1977)
5. Christopher Weeks-Auld Lang Syne Off (My Son, The President, 1962)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 30

Day the thirtieth! I was starting to think this month might go on forever. I know you thought I was going to bump it up to eight tracks today, but I couldn't get that one last track. The record was just so scratched up, I couldn't get it to play without multiple skips and the sections without skips still sounded pretty bad. So I'll keep an eye out for another copy of that record and hopefully share it with you some other year. It's pretty rare that I come across a record that I can't get something out of, I've surprised myself with some of the things I've been able to recover, but this one just resisted everything I tried to do. Forwards, backwards, different needles, different speeds, different weights on the needle, I tried all my tricks, but no joy. Not important, I guess, but I needed something to talk about today. What's in the pile on the next-to-the-last day of CiJ? Meh, I'm tired of trying to think up things to say about what's in the share, it is what it is. I'll tell you the best track here is Bingle Jells by The Nutty Squirrels, I was really excited to finally dig up a copy of that one. It's in mono though, so I'd still like to find a stereo copy, but at least I know it's worth finding now. Download and enjoy!

1. Joseph Gershenson-Christmas Holly (Inter: Love Theme From "Madame X" and My Heart Still Hears The Music) (Madame X, 1966)
2. Unknown Artist-Winter (Now And Long Ago-Silver Burdett Songs From Music For Living-Album 09)
3. Don Mitchell-The Winter Of My Storm (The Ballad Of Lucy Lum And Other Delights!, 1977)
4. Madeira Beach Junior High School Concert Band-Paul T. Nicholson, Conductor-Themes From The Nutcracker Suite (Madeira Beach Junior High School Concert Band, 1969)
5. Jim Curnow-Christmas Concert March (Studio P/R In Concert-New Concert Band Music for 1978-79, 1978)
6. Sascha Burland And Don Elliot With The Nutty Squirrels-Arranged And Conducted By Billy Mure-Bingle Jells (A Hard Day's Night And Other Smashes, 1964)
7. Ray Heatherton And Orchestra-Created, Produced And Directed By Hal Gross-Winter Song (All About Days, Months And Seasons Of The Year, 1968)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 29

Day 29, and I'm finally going to bump you up to seven shares in a day. I wish I'd been able to share that much with you every day this month, but it just wasn't in the cards. I think that no matter how much I had to share, I'd always wish I had just a little bit more. Probably a bit of a character fault there, but so be it. Anyhow, with so many tracks, you get a good variety of stuff here. First track is probably the funkiest thing here, in a very seventies, white-bread, trying too hard way. You'll dig it. Some soundtrack music, a sweetly swinging White Christmas, more Christmas for the kiddies, a Nutcracker tune, the second version of the same song from the Belles of Saint Mary's (not their real name unfortunately) and bringing up the rear is a short snippet of a sampler track. I noticed recently that the music software I've been using this year (MediaMonkey) has been dropping in the year as 2024 if I don't have a year entered. Not sure I like that, I'll have to dig into the settings to see if I can tell it to leave it blank if there's no data there. Sorry if that's been messing up your discographical information. This is the first time in many, many years I've not used my old copy of iTunes to do all the final exporting of shares. That's why I was able to give you FLAC files this year in addition to the MP3s. Dunno know if it's worth the trouble, but hopefully some of you appreciate it. Anyhow, I'll stop blathering now, enjoy the music!

1. Mary Macgregor, Steve Brainard And The Edith Norberg Children Singers-Arranged And Conducted By David Karr-The Birth (He Lived The Good Life, 1973)
2. Composed And Conducted By David Amram-Mountain Snow (The Arrangement, 1969)
3. Earle Warren And The Countsmen-White Christmas (Earle Warren And The Countsmen, 1985)
4. Unknown Artist-I Saw Three Ships (Now And Long Ago-Silver Burdett Songs From Music For Living-Album 10 From Book 3)
5. The Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel Conducting-Dance Of The Mirlitons (From The Nutcracker Suite) (Digital Delights, 1986)
6. Saint Mary's College Women's Choir-Rick Sibley, Director-Vicki Bloome, Accompanist-The Bells Of Saint Mary's (A Saint Mary's Song)
7. Unknown Artist-Night Of Wonder (Choral Sampler For The Music Educator, 1980)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 28

Day 28, almost to the end here. And surprise, surprise, I've got six tracks in the pile for you today. That's double what I've been sharing each day all month, so it's like two days in one. Another real mixed bag here, but some interesting stuff. Some more kiddie music, some seventies laid-back rock, some solo stuff from the guy behind The New Christy Minstrels, some near classical stuff, a really old Ave Maria and some Eighties music. Where else are you going to find a mix like that? Enjoy!

1. Unknown Artist-O Come, Little Children (Now And Long Ago-Silver Burdett Songs From Music For Living-Album 10 From Book 3)
2. Wilderness Road-Long Winter (Sold For Prevention Of Disease Only, 1973)
3. Randy Sparks & The Back Porch Majority-First Snow Of Winter (RS & The BPM-Initial Album, 1971)
4. The Gregg Smith Singers-Gregg Smith, Conductor-Boston (Christmas Anthem) (The Continental Harmony-Music Of William Billings, 1969)
5. Gracie Fields-Ave Maria (The World Of Gracie Fields Vol. 2, 1975)
6. Tracy Moore-Silent Night (Skypiece, 1983)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 27

Another day closer to the end, and another day where I can share more tracks with you. We've gone most of the month with three tracks per day, yesterday was four tracks and today is five! How great is that? Wish I could have done that many all month, but it's just getting harder and harder to find these Christmas songs on non-Christmas records to share with you. They still turn up, but not like they used to. I guess part of that is because I don't spend the time hunting records like I used to. First the pandemic made me stay home for the better part of a year and then my GF moved in with me and there wasn't time or space to accumulate so many records. But I've still got a few for you and that's better than nothing. Let's see what's in Santa's sack for you today. I think the first track is a rerun. I remember being very excited when I found a nearly complete set of 10" records in a box that included a few Christmas tracks, but I realized while recording them that I'd gotten all the tracks years ago, likely from finding the records one at a time. Next up is a private press from Texas followed by a record that I can't remember a single thing about. Next up is the other Nutcracker Suite track by Gene Krupa that I found recently. Dunno why I've been sitting on that one so long, but I don't want to top-load the first part of the month with all the best music. Gotta save something for the end. Last is a song about the resurrection of Christ that has become a common Christmas song for whatever reason. And that's it, five more songs that get you a little closer to the complete collection. Enjoy!

1. Unknown Artist-Carol Of The Birds (Now And Long Ago-Silver Burdett Songs From Music For Living-Album 10 From Book 3)
2. Bel Canto Singers Of Boles Home, Quinlan, Texas-Directed By Dan Parkerson-Larry Davis, Soloist-What Child Is This (Count Your Blessings-Songs Of The Bel Canto Singers, Album 4)
3. Ray Repp-In The Month Of December (The Time Has Not Come True, 1969)
4. Gene Krupa-Arranged And Coducted By George Williams-March (From "The Nutcracker Suite") (Classics In Percussion!, 1961)
5. Sanctuary Choir And Sanctuary Orchestra Of The Music Ministry Of First Baptist Church Atlanta-Hallelujah (The Atlanta Passion Play, 1982)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 26

I've finally gotten all the tracks from vinyl that I'm going to be able to share this season, and I've counted everything out from here to the end of the month. That means I can share four tracks with you today instead of the usual three! Isn't that exciting? Not that it's a big change since one of them is a sampler track that's incomplete and another is pretty short as such things go. Another track is by a girl's choir at a school named after St. Mary. Shouldn't they be called The Belles of St. Mary's? I dunno, it's a conundrum. The last track is another goodie by Cleo Laine, so enjoy!

1. Saint Mary's College Women's Choir-Rick Sibley, Director-Vicki Bloome, Accompanist-The Bells Of Saint Mary's (A Saint Mary's Song)
2. Unknown Artist-Tambourine Noel (Choral Sampler For The Music Educator, 1980)
3. Unknown Artist-Bells (Now And Long Ago-Silver Burdett Songs From Music For Living-Album 09)
4. Cleo Laine Featuring The Music Of John Dankworth-Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind (As You Like It) (This Is...Cleo Laine: Shakespeare-And All That Jazz, 1964)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 25

Day 25! I can see the end from here! What's the theme of the day? Well, I've already shared tracks from all these artists and albums, so if you liked their earlier shares, you'll also like these new tracks. At least I hope you do. I just noticed that the first two tracks have a similar credit for Sanctuary Choir And Orchestra, but they're for different churches. Still in the South, but pretty far apart. The last track is from up north in that mistake by the lake, though I don't think anyone calls Cleveland that anymore. Last time I checked, the Cuyahoga River was nice and clean and no longer flammable. Anyhow, that's what's in the download today for you. Enjoy!

1. Sanctuary Choir And Sanctuary Orchestra Of The Music Ministry Of First Baptist Church Atlanta-What Did You Say Was The Baby's Name? (The Atlanta Passion Play, 1982)
2. Willa Dorsey And The Sanctuary Choir And Orchestra Of First Baptist Church, Dallas Texas, Directed By Gary Moore-Go Tell It On The Mountain (Spirituals For All Seasons, 1977)
3. The Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel Conducting-Waltz Of The Flowers (From The Nutcracker Suite) (Digital Delights, 1986)

MEGA (MP3)

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...)

Christmas In July '24-Day 24

Getting a little hectic around here. First I post yesterday's share late in the day and then I almost forgot to create a post for today. I've got to get things whipped into shape before the end of the month gets here. In the pot today is another short sample track for you, a newish thing that doesn't sound Christmas at all even though it's right there in the title, and another track from Rose. Enjoy!

1. Unknown Artist-Swingin' Jingle Bells (Choral Sampler For The Music Educator, 1980)
2. The Popular Front-A Puppy For Christmas (A Heartbeat Of Laughing, 1986)
3. Rose Maddox-Willies Winter Love (Reckless Love & Bold Adventure, 1977)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 23

Day 23! And another small collection of all new songs for you! Track one is from the soundtrack for a passion play in Atlanta, track two is another gospel number from Willa Dorsey and track three is a half-Christmas medley from the best-named group ever! Enjoy!

1. Sanctuary Choir And Sanctuary Orchestra Of The Music Ministry Of First Baptist Church Atlanta-Overture/Festival Of Christmas Hymns (The Atlanta Passion Play, 1982)
2. Willa Dorsey And The Sanctuary Choir And Orchestra Of First Baptist Church, Dallas Texas, Directed By Gary Moore-Bethlehem, Tiny Town (Spirituals For All Seasons, 1977)
3. The Wintersauce Chorale-George Guilbault, Director-Brian Marble, Associate Conductor & Accompanist-Remember Radio: Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!; I'm Old Fashioned (Winters Are Warmer)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 22

If my calculations are correct, all three songs today are new to the blog and being shared here for the first time ever! I could be wrong, but I'm not going to dig too deep to prove myself wrong. So what's in the download? Track one is a sort-of Christmas-adjacent song from the great Jackie DeShannon. She wants you to keep her warm during the cold, cold winter. Track two is a bunch of kiddies singing about snowflakes. And bringing up the rear is some Russians with their balalaika's ringing. Enjoy!

1. Jackie DeShannon-Keep Me Warm (Songs, 1971)
2. 6th Level Students, Hayfield Secondary School, Fairfax, Virginia-Dr. Rhonda Fleming, Conductor-Fran Tompkins, Accompanist-Winter Snowflakes (The 1983 Fairfax County Elementary Choral Festival, 1983)
3. The Osipov Balalaika Orchestra Conducted By Vitaly Gnutov & Viktor Dubrovsky With Valentina Levko-Over The Fields, Open Fields (The World Of The Balalaika, 1971)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 21

Lucky number 21, this month is finally old enough to drink. I've got the usual three tracks for you today, two new ones and a repeat from just last year. Not sure I wound up with a new copy of something I just shared last year, but that's the way these things work. The George Shearing track is an instrumental from an LP that features vocals from Mel Torme. I was a bit disappointed to find he didn't sing on this track, but I was still excited to find a Christmas song. Not the best take, I'm afraid, but you get what you get. Track two is a classical bit of fluff, written by someone who's billed as America's first great composer. And lastly the repeat track is a soundtrack cut that's kind of interesting. Enjoy!

1. George Shearing-Away In The Manger (Top Drawer, 1983)
2. The Gregg Smith Singers-Gregg Smith, Conductor-The Shepherd's Carol (The Continental Harmony-Music Of William Billings, 1969)
3. Conducted By Joseph Brooks-Christmas Song (Montage) (If Ever I See You Again, 1978)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 20

It's day 20 and that means we are almost two-thirds of the way through the month. Seems like just yesterday we were on day 19 (brought to you by Amazon Prime, home of Alexa and Jeremy Clarkson!) and now here we are. Time flies when you're having fun. I hope all these Christmassy wintertime songs are helping you cool off in this hot, hot summer. I know many spots here in the US are seeing record-high temperatures that make your shoes melt as you walk from your car to your destination. I hope things are better down in the Southern hemisphere, though you might be having a record cold winter for all I know. What I do know is that I've got three songs for you today. Nothing too noteworthy, except that the zither track is the last one I have to share from that album so I hope you've enjoyed those. The others are a short sample piece of track, and a medley that's only sort of Christmas-adjacent. Enjoy!

1. Unknown Artist-It's Christmas (Choral Sampler For The Music Educator, 1980)
2. St. Joseph's Church-Folk Group-Directors: Doreen DiFiore and Sue Tozzi-Love Is The Answer and Let There Be Peace On Earth (Alleluia! Sing To The Lord)
3. Willie Dittrich-Stille Nacht (The Singing Zither-Christmas Music & Old Time Hymns, 1969)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 19

Day 19 is brought to you by Amazon Prime, where every day is a prime chance to separate you from your money. Not a whole lot of Christmas in today's share I'm afraid, but plenty of holiday-adjacent tracks. End of December is probably more of a New Year's song, but he mentions Christmas a couple of times so I left it in the Christmas pile. Feel free to retag it if you'd like. The we listen to our repeat track of the day featuring the always interesting Oscar Brand. Lastly we get the irrepressible Mrs. Mills doing a Christmas-via-commercial song for you. Anything that features Mike Sammes can't be bad, right? And I recently saw two mentions of Mrs. Mills' piano which I guess is more famous these days than she is. Paul McCartney pointed it out and played a bit in a documentary on Abbey Road Studios, and then it got a mention from Dr. Who in an episode where they traveled back in time to visit Abbey Road and meet The Beatles. Odd coincidence there, but that's the way it goes. Give 'em a listen and see what you think. Enjoy!

1. Randy Edelman-End Of December (The Laughter And The Tears, 1972)
2. Oscar Brand-The Frozen Logger (Paul Bunyan In Story And Song, 1969)
3. Mrs. Mills With The Jubilee Singers Directed By Mike Sammes-I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony) (Mrs Mills Jubilee Party, 1977)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 18

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'W'! (For those of you that haven't seen it, go watch the Jim Henson documentary "Idea Man" on Disney+, it's great.) I've got three tracks today from artists whose names begin with the letter 'W', and only one of them is a rerun from a past year. Let's see what's in the pile. Up first is our favorite new group name of the year, The Wintersauce Chorale. Then there's a long dronefest from The Wind Harp, an actual aeolian harp that plays music as the wind blows across the strings. You'll either like it or you won't. Bringing up the rear is a rerun from The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir. Interesting selection today, I'll give it that. Enjoy!

1. The Wintersauce Chorale-George Guilbault, Director-Brian Marble, Associate Conductor & Accompanist-Ave Maria (Winters Are Warmer)
2. The Wind Harp-Winterwhite (Song From The Hill, 1972)
3. The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir Directed By Soo Chul Chang With Ralph Carmichael And His Orchestra-Jingle Bells (The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir, 1962)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 17

Day 17, a rare prime number day. I'm sure Amazon will try to co-opt that somehow, but for now, we'll just try to enjoy it for what it is. And what it is is another collection of three Christmas songs from non-Christmas albums. The first is a surprisingly funky take on Shakespeare from Cleo Laine, the second is Silver Bells on a zither, and the third is another sample track from a music publisher. This one is a complete track, so that's nice compared to the others that are just one minute samples. All good stuff, I'm sure you'll enjoy.

1. Cleo Laine Featuring The Music Of John Dankworth-Winter (Love's Labour's Lost) (This Is...Cleo Laine: Shakespeare-And All That Jazz, 1964)
2. Willie Dittrich-Silver Bells (The Singing Zither-Christmas Music & Old Time Hymns, 1969)
3. Al Cobine-Trilogy Of European Carols (Come All Ye Shepherds (Czech); Joseph Lieber, Joseph Mein (German); The March Of The Kings (Old French)) (Studio P/R In Concert-New Concert Band Music for 1978-79, 1978)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)

Christmas In July '24-Day 16

Day 16! A little over halfway through the month. Hope everyone is having a great time! A couple spoken word tracks for you today, and one that's only partly spoken word. We start with a rerun of a winter tale as told by Ed Begley, Jr.'s father, then we move on to a Spanish-language track that begins with a long spoken word bit before the song proper begins. No idea what they're saying, but I know Navidad means Christmas. Lastly is a weird spoken word piece that claims to be a song, but it's not. Might not be everyone's cup of tea. Give it a listen and see what you think. Enjoy!

1. Ed Begley-The Winter Of The Blue Snow (Paul Bunyan In Story And Song, 1969)
2. Grupo Coral Exodo, Director: Jesús Porras Ruiz-Navidad (Grupo Coral Exodo, 1977)
3. Charles John Quarto-Christmas Song (Charles John Quarto, 1971)

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)