The Wright George, Parts 1 & 2

How's about a little hot pink cover action for you tonight? Gotta love these covers. How could something be less Christmassy? I still enjoy them, though, both of them. What's the difference between these two? The one above is in stereo and the one below is in mono. I don't know why they changed the color scheme a little bit between the two, other than maybe to save a little money. I've seen plenty of copies of both, and the color differences seem to be consistent. As I pointed out last year, the stereo version would appear to be a later re-recording, but I can't prove that. Anyhow, I know you're tired of hearing me talk, so go do some downloading. You can get either of these two albums, the stereo one, George Wright At The Wurlitzer Pipe Organ-Merry Christmas (HiFi SR706, later than 1956), or the mono one, George Wright At The Wurlitzer Pipe Organ-Merry Christmas (HiFi R706, 1956). I can't tell you which one is better 'cause I like them both. Now go get busy with the downloads.

Update (13 Oct 08): This one is now available as a legal download! So go get it! Here's a link to Amazon, but it's also available elsewhere.

Used Music-Track Seven

Yes, it's been a few days, but here is the triumphant return of Used Music-Ernie's Thrift Store Christmas Compilation Compilation! And I've got a great one for you tonight. As far as I know, this was the only Christmas compilation ever put out on A&M, at least from the period of time I like to pull my tracks from. I can talk about it or I can let you listen for yourself, and I think I'm going to let you listen. This is Snow by Claudine Longet from ¡Something Festive! (A&M For B.F. Goodrich SP 19003, 1968). I know it's been out on CD before, but this is too good a compilation track to pass up.

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)
Debbie Reynolds-There's No Place Like Home

Christmas Roundup Week 2

I hope you're all enjoying the shares. It's been a long week around here. I started a new compilation, temporarily ran out of selections for another comp, shared out a whole stack of old albums, a couple of EPs and still managed to put up a few calendar pages. What will future weeks hold? Who knows? I may not be able to keep up with all the traffic around here and quit the whole thing. Well, not likely, but anything is possible since the discovery of quantum physics! Speaking of traffic, the first day of December was my busiest day ever here at the blog, with a little over 4000 hits! I peaked last year at a similar number on Christmas Day, so I've got plenty to look forward to this year. Thanks to all of you for stopping by, and I really appreciate all the kind comments you've left. Keep 'em comin' and I'll keep the shares comin'.

Now, what got shared out in week two?

Christmas In Hi-Fi With Ramona Gerhard
The Ramsey Lewis Trio-More Sounds Of Christmas
Paul Mauriat-The Christmas Album (rerun)
Christmas With Big Tiny Little (rerun)
Pete Fountain-Candy Clarinet (rerun, but now in stereo)
Dorothy Collins-Season's Greetings In Song
Blue Barron-Christmas EP
Seeburg Music Library-Matching Christmas Library
Muzak Christmas (rerun)
A To Z (Not Q Or Z) 2007
The Mike Douglas Christmas Album
Mike Douglas-My Kind Of Christmas (rerun)
Christmas With The Don Les Harmonicats (rerun)
The Medallion Orchestra And Chorus-The Sound Of Christmas-Deck The Halls
Ruth Welcome-Christmas In Zitherland (rerun)
Ethel Smith-Christmas Music (12")
Ethel Smith-Christmas Music (7" EP) (rerun)
Charo-(Mamacita) Donde Esta Santa Claus? (rerun)
Disco Belles-Tis The Night To Disco
Holiday People-Holiday Disco (rerun)
Max Fagen-Christmas Disco Party (rerun)
Montana Orchestra-Merry Christmas
The Glen Riddle Franciscans-Choral Group-Sisters Of St. Francis-We Sing Of Christmas
Norman Luboff Choir-The Night Before Christmas
The Merriest Of Christmas Pops (rerun)
We Wish You A Merry Christmas (rerun)
Union Central Chimes-Christmas Carols
The Bison Glee Club-The Joy Of Christmas
Leo Addeo-Organ And Chimes Play Christmas Carols (rerun)
Gary Mann-Blues For Baby Jesus (rerun)

Week One:
Christmas Party
Christmas Classics 1963 (rerun)
The Pete King Chorale-Christmas Time
The Jimmy Joyce Singers With Billy May-A Christmas To Remember (rerun)
Frank Chacksfield-Music For A Merry Christmas (rerun, but now in Stereo!)
Arthur Godfrey-All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
Christmas With Arthur Godfrey And All The Little Godfreys
Christmas Greetings From The Town Pipers (rerun)
Christmas Favorites Sung By The Magnificent Magnavox Chorus
Swing Along With Santa's Snowmen
The Ray Charles Singers-Christmas At Home (rerun)
The Ray Charles Singers-Here We Come A-Caroling (rerun)
The Ray Charles Singers-Winter Wonderland (rerun)
The Mundell Lowe Ensemble-The Sounds Of Christmas
Greetings From The McGuire Sisters (rerun)
Christmas 1968 With The Going Thing
Gisele MacKenzie-Christmas With Gisele (rerun)
The Joy Strings-Well Seasoned

That is some other kind of list!

High Fidelity!

I admit it. I'm a sucker for any record that claims to be in Hi-Fi. I've gotten a couple of Christmas records this year that are in Hi-Fi, and this is the first. (I'm also big on anything that claims it's "For Moderns" on it, but I haven't found anything like that for Christmas yet.) This is the first hi-fi share of the year, and it's some nice organ music from a fairly obscure organ player, Ramona Gerhard. You can read all about her on the back of the record. She comes with quite a resume, but time doesn't seem to have been kind to her. The internet isn't exactly littered with information on her, or this album for that matter. But I'm going to rectify that a little bit, and bring a small part of Ramona back to life. Please do your part and download Christmas In Hi-Fi With Ramona Gerhard On The World's Largest Theater Organ (Soma MG1202). Looks like Lee shared out a track from Ramona earlier this year, too. He must be spying on me or something...

26 Days Of Christmas-Day 3

A little bit of music in the Morgan manner for you this evening, as the third installment of my collection 26 Days Of Christmas. This one has been on my hard drive since last Christmas, and I finally figured I should share it with all of you. The flipside of this single is Blue Christmas, for those of you who might be keeping track. Please download Russ Morgan And His Orchestra, Vocal Chorus By The Heartbeats-The Mistletoe Kiss (Decca 7" 45 RPM 9-24766). Good stuff.

Previous Tunes:
Mickey Gilley-Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Christmas Time
Scott Fagen-Sandy The Blue Nosed Reindeer

Need A Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute?

If you're looking for more great music of Christmas, and you like the tunes you find here, then be sure to visit FaLaLaLaLa.com. That's the website that inspired me to start sharing out all these great records over here. Somehow, The King Of Jingaling always manages to find albums that are a little bit cooler, a little bit cleaner and a whole lot better than the ones I share. One of the recent shares over there is the LP you see above, Living Strings & Living Voices-White Christmas (RCA Camden CAS-2258, 1968). The post over there is a reissue of this on a different label, so I wanted to throw a scan of my cover up to complement that share. You can download the front and back of this version here. Again, go over to FaLaLaLaLa.com right now, you'll be glad you did. And don't forget to stop by the forums. Lots of great elves in there sharing out great albums, too. Tell 'em Ernie (Not Bert) sent you!

From The Request Lines

It's not often I get to take requests, but this post is a response to an actual bona fide request. I had this in the 'maybe' pile anyway, and that request pushed it into the 'go ahead and rip it' pile. I did, and now you get to hear it. This is another one of those releases where it would be so easy for them to put it on CD. The first Christmas album by The Ramsey Lewis Trio entitled Sound Of Christmas, shown below, is on CD. Why not put them both on the same CD? Too easy, I suppose. Anyhow, their loss is your gain. Go ahead and download The Ramsey Lewis Trio-More Sounds Of Christmas (Cadet LP-745, 1964). It's jazzy, but far enough from most jazz that I like it.

Speaking Of France

Was I speaking of France? Oh, yeah, I showed you a picture of the Statue Of Liberty (the one in Las Vegas, actually), and that was a gift from France. How's that for a segue? Anyhow, why not download Paul Mauriat And His Orchestra-The Christmas Album (Philips PHS 600-255, 1967). This is some really great Christmas music that will make your holiday no matter what country you live in. I shared this out last year and the year before that, but last year was a newly mastered version. Sometime during the past year, someone pointed out another Paul Mauriat Christmas LP, but I don't have it. Anyone out there know about that one?

A Full Week In December

There's all sorts of calendar pages flying around here this week, aren't there? And since today is the first day of the new week, you're going to get another one! This page is from the weekly calendar and features the Statue Of Liberty. No, not the one in New York, but the one in New York, New York. Wait, that didn't clear things up. It's from New York, New York, the casino resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's not as big as the real thing, but it's still impressive.

The Return Of The Big Man

I shared out the stereo version of Pete Fountain's Candy Clarinet last night, and this album is a really nice compliment to that one. This is the third year in a row for this one, and it never fails to draw some compliments. If you want to learn more about this album, I suggests you head over to The Christmas Yuleblog and read what the Captain had to say about it in his review last year. Good stuff in there. I certainly can't say anything more or better about the record, so how about I just point you to the download? Here's Christmas With Big Tiny Little (Coral CRL 757391, 1961). Enjoy!

December, Part Two

The other little monthly calendar I want to share with you is the one we gave away to customers last year. I'm supposed to do another set for this year, but I haven't started yet. Once I get started, it shouldn't take too long, though. These small calendars usually consist of pictures from earlier year's large calendars. So what have we got here? The shot above is a lighthouse on Lake Erie, near Mentor Headlands, Ohio. It's always a stop on my trips to Ohio, if we have time to get out there. It's a beautiful spot. And below? Another lighthouse, a lot further south, this time in Ponce Inlet, Florida, a few miles south of Daytona Beach. This is a spot I visit every time I'm at our Daytona Beach shop. This is the only shot I've got that's actually tied to the Christmas holiday. I just happened to be there one year when they had all the Christmas decorations up on the lighthouse, and the big tree in the yard. Pretty cool, isn't it?

December, Part One

First day of the month means you get calendar pages, and here they are! Well, the first set anyways. These are the big ones that hang on the wall at work, printed out at 11 x 14". The Florida picture above is actually quite old, but it showed up at the right time and made it's way onto the calendar. That's kalanchoe blooming, and if I remember right, I shot it at Rainbow Springs State Park near Dunnellon, Florida. You'd think a picture of the beautiful springs or river would have made it onto the calendar, but no, you get flowers. The shot below is downtown Cleveland, Ohio, shot from down in the Flats. I was pretty happy with this photo. It's nice and sharp even though I shot it handheld in the dark. You get lucky sometimes.

26 Days Of Christmas-Day 2

Here's a great little ditty that helps explain why I never have seen Rudolph flying over on Christmas Eve. Turns out there's another reindeer that Santa turns to when he has to fly to the warmer climes. I won't tell you any more of the story, you'll just have to download and listen to Scott Fagen-Sandy The Blue Nosed Reindeer (Bournefield 7" 33 RPM SF 800, 1979). This is the second installment in my 26 Days Of Christmas CD, so be sure to check back and get all the songs. Hmmm, Sandy seems to be making a comeback, as is Scott Fagen. Check it out!

Previous Tunes:
Mickey Gilley-Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Christmas Time

Is A Licorice Stick The Same As A Candy Clarinet?

For the past couple of years, I've brought you this record in it's mono format. Last year, The Captain had a stereo version that he shared out, which I encouraged you to go get instead of my mono one. But this year I finally have a stereo copy of my own to share out. This is Pete Fountain-Candy Clarinet (Coral CRL 757487, 1966).

Dot And Ray

Here's another EP that I picked up at Banana's last week, same as my previous post. I probably wouldn't have given this one a second glance except for the small words "Produced Under The Supervision Of Raymond Scott". That caught me off-guard. I was pretty sure that Raymond Scott had never released any Christmas music. Well, there's one Christmas-titled track, but it's not very Christmassy. (Wait, I may be wrong...) I went ahead and bought this single, and I'm glad I did. Turns out that Dorothy Collins was married to Raymond Scott. I can't find too much information about this record on the net, but it's a great one. The orchestra has a lot of bounce to it that I'm sure comes from Mr. Scott. It's really jumping on the two fast numbers, and the two slower numbers aren't bad either. Turns out that I had shared a Dorothy Collins tune with you last year, yet I had forgotten all about it. These four tracks make a great addition to that one, so please go download Dorothy Collins-Season's Greetings In Song (A Top Rank Artist 117058/117059). As I keep finding myself saying, if you know anything more about this, please post it in the comments!

Snoopy Versus The Blue Barron

I didn't mean to trick you, but this post really has nothing to do with Snoopy. But it's got everything to do with Blue Barron, a previously unknown to me big band leader. Someone mentioned the name over at FaLaLaLaLa.com the other day, and I wondered who it was then forgot all about it. Fast-forward to a couple of days later during my annual trip to Banana's in search of great Christmas singles. What flashes past my eyes but the EP you see above and below? I'd never seen it before, but I figured karma was telling me something. I snatched it up, recorded it and wow is it great! Swingin' big band versions of Christmas tunes both classic and never-heard. This will more than make up for the lackluster Seeburg post of a few hours ago. Hurry right now and get Blue Barron-Christmas EP (MGM X1055). I'm pretty sure that these recordings predate the 45 era, and were originally from 78s. But the sound is still good!

Seeburg (Not Seabird)

I talked to you about Muzak a bit earlier, spurred on by Lee's posting of a Muzak Christmas LP that I needed. Lee also posted a Seeburg Christmas record, something else I needed, even though I didn't know it existed prior to his posting it. What I did know existed was this series of Seeburg Background Music records, which I've had for years but never listened to. Why not, you ask? Well, in addition to my having more records than I could listen to in a lifetime, these records have a hole in the middle that is too big for a standard record player, and they spin at half the speed of a standard LP. That big hole you see in the scan above is 2" versus the 1.5" hole in the standard 45. And if that weren't enough, the music is supposed to be played back at 16-2/3 RPM, half the normal LP speed of 33-1/3. This frustrated me for years until I finally decided to do something about it this year. I had my machinist father make an adaptor for the spindle on my record player so it would fit, and I figured out how to slow the recording down once I got it into my PC. All that work, and it turns out I wasn't missing much. I only recorded one out of the 24 records in the series, and at that point I had had enough. Turns out that only one out of every five tracks is Christmas, and the versions are sub-par even for background music. Well, maybe it's just the poor fidelity of the record that's ruining it for me. I don't know. If you want to give it a listen, here're six tracks from The Seeburg Music Library-Matching Christmas Library (CH 10 A/B). I suppose it's amazing that these things have survived. They were supposed to be returned to Seeburg after the season, but somehow these never got sent back. I guess Seeburg didn't want these things saved for posterity.

One Day In December

There's only one day of December in this week, so you're going to have to hurry up and enjoy this picture before tomorrow. You'll get a new one tomorrow morning, so I guess you can't be too upset over not getting to look at this one for long. These skimmers were all huddled together and facing into the wind on South Lido Beach in Sarasota, Florida. Those condos in the background are on the mainland, so you're looking back across Sarasota Bay. These guys normally face into the wind as they rest on the ground, but that one guy on the left is out of formation for some reason. Maybe there's a cute girl skimmer out of the frame on that side and he's making his move...

The Return Of Muzak

I mentioned this share a minute ago in a post about another Muzak LP, so I figured I'd better repost the original. I first shared this album out two years ago, to little fanfare, then again last year to a few comments. Now it's back for a third showing, so we'll see how it does. This is Muzak Christmas (Muzak AA 36, 1980). As I asked when I originally posted this, why does Santa only have six reindeer on this cover? Was Muzak that out of the times? It boggles the mind...

Missing Music, Part Two

Here is another record sleeve I found during the year that gave me a nasty surprise when I opened it up. I didn't find a copy of Muzak-Stimulus Progression Number Three-Christmas inside. Instead, I think there was another record in the Stimulus Progression series, one of the non-Christmas ones. I was pretty bummed. I thought this would make a great complement to my other Muzak Christmas record, but it was not to be. But I got an early Christmas present this morning from Lee over at Music You (Possibly) Won't Find Anyplace Else (or something like that...). He's posted this exact same LP, and his copy had the right record in it! He's also got a Seeburg record, which I can also post about later! It's a two-for-one deal! So go over there and get this great music. You'll be stimulated to progress in no time.