Ethel The First

There was much discussion about this record last year, or at least this artist. I finally posted this record to help end some of that discussion, but I still wasn't satisfied. I had found both the 45 RPM and 78 RPM versions of the record, but nothing at 33 RPM. Well, I finally found that version, and it's going to be the very next post after this repost. But for now, I've fixed the dead link and you can once again download Ethel Smith At The Organ-Christmas Music (Decca ED-558, 2x7" 45 RPM). I have to warn you that this record has terrible sound. The music is just fine, but the grooves must be worn out or something. If you just want random Christmas music to listen to, don't download this, go get something like this. If you want to hear Christmas organ by Ethel Smith, then give this a listen. I'm on the lookout for a better copy, but it's going to take some work.

Oodles Of Doodles CCCXII-Christmas 2007

This may well be the best Christmas doodle of the year, perhaps the best ever. Shame this is from one of those covers I have without a record inside. Pretty sure it's just repackaged stuff from some random subsidiary of Crown or Pickwick or Precision Radiation Instruments or something though. This actually comes from the front side of Robert Cole Chorus & Organ-Merry Christmas And Happy New Year (Riviera R-0040). I just love this picture. Those ornaments look like something that would be in the Dr. Seuss Collection at the Hallmark store!

Disco Day-Part Five

The conclusion to Christmas Disco Day is probably the best of the bunch, and certainly the one you're going to play the most. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the one, the only, Charo. What else can I say? It sounds exactly like you think it does. Why this hasn't been released on CD I will never know. Short of a couple of late-50's, early 60's classic Christmas albums, this is my most popular download title. Don't miss it. Go get Charo-(Mamacita) ¿Donde Esta Santa Claus? , (Salsoul SG 201, 1978). This is the third time I've shared the former Mrs. Cugat with you, so you can read up on my previous posts here and here. But just download the music, it speaks for itself.

Disco Day-Part Four

The next-to-last installment of Christmas Disco Day is this, umm, interestingly covered record by Disco Belles. No idea who the Disco Belles were or are, but they seem to love candy canes. I have to apologize about the quality of the above image. I try to take great pains to give you nice cover scans, but I didn't have much to work with on this one. It was still in the plastic outer sleeve when I got it (slit open though), and some water had gotten in there at some point. So there was lots of discoloration and warpage going on. The record was fine, but the sleeve was about shot. I did the best I could without just faking the whole thing. But you're just interested in the music, right? No problem, go download Disco Belles-Tis The Night To Disco (51 West (CBS) Q 16080, 1979). I should also mention that this was a continuous mix, but I split it into ten individual songs. So if any of the tracks sound like they start or stop abruptly, that's why.

Disco Day-Part Three

Still got your boogie shoes on? Here's another rerun from last year that's sure to get the elves out on the dance floor. After all, you can't build toys all the time. I think this album was released under several different names over the years, but I'm not sure. I'm too lazy to compare it to the other albums I've been told it resembles. If you want to do so, please be my guest. But if you want to do that, you have to first download Holiday People-Holiday Disco (Universal Spectaculars USL 101, 1979).

Disco Day-Part Two

The second installment of Disco Christmas Day here at Ernie (Not Bert) is a rerun from last year by some guy named Max Fagen. No idea who that is, but this was a big hit last year, and seemed to be every one's favorite disco album. I'm sure you'll like it as well. Have the biggest and loudest Christmas party on the block by downloading Christmas Disco Party (Classic Christmas CCR 1941, 1979).

Disco Day-Part One

Today's the day that some of you have been looking forward to, and others have been dreading. It's time to share out some disco Christmas! Kicking things off is the Montana Orchestra, who appear to still be around (maybe not...). You can buy Christmas music from them over at CD Universe, but I think it's different recordings from what I have here. This one features a huge Christmas medley on side one, and then two different New Year's Eve medleys on side two. You'll be discoing from Christmas to New Years with this one. Go download Montana Orchestra-Merry Christmas (MJS 3302) and get down with your bad self.

It's Never Fall In Florida

I didn't get a chance to tell you that I spent the Sunday after the Australian Pink Floyd concert hiking through some woods north of Atlanta, Georgia. An old college roommate of mine took me up to Amacalola State Park, and we walked up the side of a mountain to see a waterfall. The leaves were changing quite late this year, so I got plenty of fall color. You don't get color like this in Florida, believe me. This part is the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Well, actually I guess it counts up as you go North, so this is the start of the trail. There's a marker, and I took a picture of it, but it wouldn't be very interesting to you next to these bright oranges, reds and yellows.


The falls plummet quite a way, but it's tough to get a clear picture of the whole fall. You can see the top of the falls at the top of the picture above, and I'm standing at the base of the falls, which is an artificial pond, shown below. We walked up the hill to the right along well-marked trails and an old logging road. We came down on the other side, where they've installed hundreds and hundreds of steps. I think one set was four hundred and something, then it's trail again, then another set of 100 and something steps. I don't know what the total altitude was (725 ft, duh!), but I think we wound up walking about two and a half miles.

You can't tell it from these pictures, but Georgia is in the midst of their worst drought in decades. We weren't sure there was going to be any water coming over the falls, but as you can see, we needn't have worried.

Used Music-Track Six

(Almost posted this track with the wrong album cover up there. I need to get some sleep...) Real quick, tonight's track is Debbie Reynolds-There's No Place Like Home from The Christmas Song And Other Favorites (Columbia Special Products P 12446, 1974). I had lots of great tracks on this compilation to choose from, but I grabbed this one because I don't think there are any Debbie Reynolds Christmas CDs out there anywhere. The track has a strong seventies feel to it, so perhaps it was new when this compilation came out.

Previous Tracks:
The Sanborn Singers-Jingle Bells
Les Baxter Orchestra And Chorus-Hang Your Wishes On The Tree
Sandler & Young-Mister Santa
Peggy Lee-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Danny Kaye-Deck The Halls (With Boughs Of Holly)

More Singing Nuns

I complained a day or two ago about boring choral music, yet here I am sharing out some choral music again. I don't dislike this one, though. Maybe I'm just so enamored of the cover art that I turn a deaf ear to the music. It's just a bunch of nuns singing, after all. Once you're done drinking in the eye candy of that great cover, go get yourself a copy of The Glen Riddle Franciscans-Choral Group-Sisters Of St. Francis-We Sing Of Christmas (Private Pressing LPM-2). Do you think it's just a coincidence that this has an RCA Victor-style catalog number? Hmmm... Well, I guess those started at LPM-1000, so maybe it's nothing.

More, And Better, Rudolph

If you liked the previous Rudolph cover I shared with you, then you'll love this one. I believe this is the original 78 RPM RCA Victor release of the Paul Wing story. There's a copyright notice on here from 1939 for Montgomery Ward, and an assignment to Robert L. May from 1947. I'm not entirely sure of the exact year on this one, but '47 or '48 is certainly not out of the question. It was in terrible shape, and I didn't do a lot to fix it up. It's still got some great artwork, and there's a few great bits of Rudolph's story printed inside. It's hard for me to imagine a time when Christmas didn't automatically involve Rudolph, but here is an artifact from that period. For the search engines, this is Paul Wing With Russ Case And His Orchestra-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (RCA Victor Youth Series Y-353), story by Robert L. May, Music by George Kleinsinger.

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...

That Wacky Rudolph

For the first time this season, and certainly not the last, someone has beaten me to the punch on an album. I had the above LP all ready to share with you, but you can already download it over at Hi-Fi Holiday. He's got some other great shares there, so it's well worth your visit. I've got a different cover than he does, so you might want to download this one if you're a Christmas completist. For the record, this is Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (RCA Camden CAS 1068(e), 1965). The little (e) means it's electronic stereo. The artists here include Paul Wing (doing two stories about Rudolph), Gisele MacKenzie (a song from this LP), Vaughn Monroe, Dale Evans and The Voices of Walter Schumann (doing a track from this LP).

Merriest Christmas Ever

Keeping on with some great shares to make up for yesterday, here's one of the most exciting things I shared out last year. This great LP featured Esquivel, Ray Martin, The Skip-Jacks and Mimi Hines. You wouldn't know that from looking at the cover, though. I suppose that's why this recording is so rare today. I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not sharing out the whole LP. The Esquivel stuff is available elsewhere on a CD that you really should already own. (We'll, it was available. I think it's currently out of print, but I'm sure it'll be back soon.) Enough blather, just download this and enjoy The Merriest of Christmas Pops (RCA Victor LSP-2032, 1959). It's awesome! You can read the story about how I found this LP, and see the great doodle from the back on my post from last year.

Christmas With The WB

Is there actually a WB anymore? I think it's part of the CW now. Anyhow, this recording is from way, way before all that. I shared out such mediorce stuff with you yesterday that I'm sharing out this great record today, featuring such stars as Ed "Kookie" Byrnes, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Connie Stevens, Peter Brown, Ray Danton, Poncie Ponce, Eddie Cole, Bob Conrad, Dorothy Provine, Clint Walker, Roger Moore and Ty Hardin. With a lineup like that, how can you not download We Wish You A Merry Christmas-15 Great Christmas Favorites Sung By Warner Bros. Stars (Warner Bros B 1337, 1959)? This is a rerun from last year, so you can click on over to the post from then to see more information about this record.

The Ghost In The Cube

OK, just a couple more and I'm done for the night. See that ghostly image looking at the cube? That's me. The exposures were so long, I ran over to the face of the cube, held still for 10 or 20 seconds, then ran back to the camera. I think it's a cool effect. Next time, I'm going to carry a little LED light or something and leave trails.

And Coming

OK, I admit it, I took some more of those shots of the cube in motion. So sue me, I like them. If I take enough of these, I'll get really good at it. The name of the sculpture is Pulse, and to me, these pictures replicate that pulse.

The Cube Keeps Coming

I went and took some more pictures of the cube tonight. I tried to shy away from the action shots I took before, since I wanted you to actually be able to see what the thing looked like. I actually took my tripod this time, so I was able to get some really long time exposures, which maximizes the reflections from the mirrored panels on the inside.

I think some of these are pretty good. I had really been hoping for a stunning sunset, but at the last minute, some thick clouds rolled in at the rizon and blocked the last orange rays.

While I was there, I noticed a TV news van at a nearby sculpture. Walking by on the way back to the car, I noticed that it had fallen over and split into two pieces. I don't know if it was an accident (like structural failure) or if it was vandalism. Either way, it's a shame.

Used Music-Track Five

Some more second-hand Christmas cheer for you tonight, from the fine folks at Goodyear. In addition to something like a million volumes of The Great Songs Of Christmas, Goodyear put out some other compilations. This is one of the later ones, not coming out until 1971. All of the usual suspects are here, though. I chose Danny Kaye to share with you, because I don't think he ever actually released a Christmas album of his own. I have to assume there are some singles of his out there, but I don't know about any. One of the great advantages of these compilations is the otherwise unavailable music you get for next-to-nothing. But enough blathering. Please be my guest and download Danny Kaye-Deck The Halls (With Boughs Of Holly) from The Joyous Songs Of Christmas (Columbia Special Products For Goodyear C10400, 1971). It's good stuff.

Previous Tracks:
The Sanborn Singers-Jingle Bells
Les Baxter Orchestra And Chorus-Hang Your Wishes On The Tree
Sandler & Young-Mister Santa
Peggy Lee-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town

The Chimes Of Cincinnati

I'm not sure why I like to post these Christmas chime records. Maybe it's because they are so prevalent that it's easy to find odd ones. Perhaps it's just the masochist in me. Either way, here's another one! Never seen any other copies of this one, and the internet isn't helping me much here. This must have been a give-away from the Union Central Life Insurance Company, and dates from two years after they installed the chimes in their shiny skyscraper. A good researcher would be able to put all those facts together and come up with a pretty good date for this record. I'm too lazy for all that. If you want to take a stab at it, please be my guest. While we're waiting for someone to jump on that, go download The Union Central Chimes-Christmas Carols (Union Central Life UCL-12-3, -4). There's no catalog number on this one, I got those number from the dead wax at the center. Matrix numbers, I guess you'd call them.