2022 at 78 RPM-Week 2

Time for the second installment of what I hope is a series that will last all year long! It's a collection of Christmas 78's, all sourced from The Internet Archive and lightly processed by me for slightly better sound. My goal is to highlight the stuff that's available over there in their Great 78 collection, and to provide you with some listenable music that you've probably not heard before. Their collection is great, both deep and wide, and every month they add to it, so there's always something new to be found. I'm concentrating on the Christmas side of it, but there is all sorts of music there to be discovered. There's no rhyme or reason to what I'm putting out here in this collection, it's just a random selection of the 78s that I've collected and tagged most recently. You'll have to look at the beautiful selection of labels to see what's in the pile, I'm not going to type it all out for you. So without further ado, here's the link, and I'll see you next week!

MEGA

Edit-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist for searching.

1. Bill Cook-A Letter To Santa
2. Amalia Mendoza Con Mariachi-Amarga Navidad
3. Jim McCahey-I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas
4. Ross Bagdasarian With Orchestra Conducted By Nelson Riddle-Let's Have A Merry, Merry Christmas
5. Skip Farrell And Jack Fulton-The Two Mr. F's-Mrs. Santa Claus
6. Jeff Stoughton And His Lake Placid Club Orchestra-Vocal By Larry Murphy-North Pole Town
7. Jimmy Durante-Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
8. Al Dexter-Vocal By Al Dexter With String Band-Santa Is On His Way
9. Anne Shelton With Orchestral Accompaniment Directed By Camarata-Spring In December
10. The Mariners-Deck The Hall With Boughs Of Holly

More Than A Feeling

This is the last post of the 2021 Christmas sharity season, I promise. There's nothing else in the pile that I'm really wanting to put out there. Keep in mind, however, that I'm going to try to post part two of the 2022 series of Christmas 78s tomorrow and every Saturday thereafter for the rest of the year. That's the plan at least. So you're not going to have to go completely cold turkey on the Christmas music for the foreseeable future. And today is another very special post that's well outside my usual milieu as it's 100% rock music, about as far removed as you could get from the usual 50s & 60s pop and EZ listening that this blog usually explores. (At least before rap music came along. Rap and hip-hop seem to have changed everything, much as Elvis changed music in the 50s and The Beatles changed it again in the 60s. But I digress...) I found a copy of this record at a store in NYC a couple years ago when I happened to find myself there close to Christmas. I must have hit fifteen different stores over about three days before I got sick and spent the last couple days in bed. I still managed to spend a small fortune during my stay and had a healthy sized carry on that really confused the TSA at the airport. I have yet to share a lot of stuff from that collection, but maybe someday. This is a local Boston-area comp that only contains five songs, but what great songs they are. This is the sort of music that you buy local comps for, but so rarely find. If you've never heard this record, you need to download it and listen to it right now. If you've heard of it, then you've probably already tracked down a copy because you knew how badly you needed it. This is A Boston Rock Christmas (Boston Rock 12" 45 RPM BR-001, Stereo, 1983).

1. Sonny Columbus & His Del Fuegos-That Punchbowl Full Of Joy
2. Native Tongue-Do You Hear What I Hear?
3. SSD-Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
4. Jeff & Jane-Jingle Bells
5. Christmas-O Holy Night

MEGA

Susie's Back

Something made me think of this old share today, and I realized that it hadn't seen the light of day in over nine years now. I checked, and I still had the original WAV files on my computer, so I re-encoded it in a better bitrate than I did when I first shared this in 2012. If you want to hear the Christmas musings of a couple of puppets, and featuring the voice of Tammy Faye Baker, then this share is for you! Please be brave and download Susie & Allie-Christmas With Susie & Allie (PTL Club PTL-LP-1848, Stereo, 1984).
 

1. Frosty The Snowman
2. White Christmas
3. Winter Wonderland
4. O Christmas Tree
5. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
6. Jingle Bells
7. Away In The Manger
8. The Christmas Story
9. Joy To The World

MEGA

Not Normal

A little something outside my comfort zone here today for Epiphany. I thought I was going to end up the shares yesterday at the end of the twelve days, but I had this and one more record left in the pile. I had recorded this for my own enjoyment, but I decided I'd go ahead and share it since it's kinda rare, and a little out there. It's much later than most of my other shares, much more rock-leaning, and even a little bit lascivious. (I even had to censor the cover just a bit to post here, but the original is in the download. Can't have naked breasts showing up around here, it's a family friendly kinda place. Just pretend those sheep aren't wearing lingerie though...) Anyhow, this is supposed to be a comedy album, but I didn't find it all that humorous. Your mileage may vary. This is The Scrooge Bros.-Commercial Christmasland (Enigma E1043, Stereo, 1983).

1. I Wish You Would Take Your Hat Off
2. Glory To The Store Displays
3. What Smell Is This
4. Jingleside
5. Deck Yourself
6. The First Greenback
7. Cylent Night (The end of this track is a locked groove. It would have played on forever if I'd let it, but I faded it out after a while.)

MEGA

Slow Down, It's Christmas

A nice little gospel tinged single here from an unknown-to-me singer I got as part of an eBay lot last year. I love finding Christmas records from people I've never heard of before, and I think this is a good one. You'll like it if you give it a try. It's very slow and soulful, just the sort of thing for a quiet Christmas Eve by the tree. I know you'll have to wait almost twelve months for that to be the setting at this point, but put it in a special folder and don't forget to listen next season. This is Cassietta George-The Greatest Gift b/w Silent Night (Audio Arts! 7" 45 RPM 60,004, Mono, 1966). Enjoy!

MEGA

Bucky (Not Barnes)

I know it's getting later and later, but I've still got a few records in the pile that I want to share out. This is a single from The Bucky Pizzarelli Orchestra featuring a couple of different vocalists. The name Bucky Pizzarelli doesn't mean a whole lot to me, but I'm pretty sure I've heard of him somewhere. A few seconds of internet searching tells me that he's a noted jazz guitarist who passed away last year, no, two year ago now, at the ripe old age of 94. So he lived a good long life, hopefully making lots of music like this single that we can enjoy now that he's gone. If you're still celebrating Christmas (and I don't believe the twelve days are over just yet), or even if you just want it for next year, this is The Bucky Pizzarelli Orchestra featuring Bob Carroll and Lynn Roberts-Dreaming Of Christmas b/w I Want My Santa Claus (Ocean State 7" 45 RPM DMS-3, Stereo, 1982).

MEGA

Randomness

A grab bag of random singles for you today, eleven sides in all, each from a different small slab of vinyl. I didn't want to share these out one at a time, there's certainly no fun in that, so maybe you'll enjoy this random sampling of music. The flip side of each record is non-Christmas, so you aren't really missing anything, and I didn't record the other sides anyway. I'm sure there's something here for everyone. I'm also not going to type all these out, you'll just have to look at the labels to see what you're going to get. Enjoy!

MEGA

Post Christmas Joy

This is probably the very last record I recorded for the season, and it really wasn't meant to be. My buddy Der Bingle had shared out a mono version at his blog earlier in the season, and then I happened to stumble across a stereo copy in my archives. He'd had some trouble getting a good rip, so I figured I'd go ahead and do mine so he could hear the music at it's best. It's a gospel record, and it's probably not my favorite record of the year, but it's certainly not the worst. I know I'm not building it up very well, but it's late in the season and I figure if you're still around now, you'll listen to just about anything. This is Bob Parks And The Evangelaires Accompanied By Harold De Cou-Joy At Christmas (Diadem/Singcord (Zondervan) DLP 251, Stereo). Great cover though! I think that's what initially drew me to this record.

1. Joy At Christmas
2. Shepherd Song
3. Sleep Holy Child
4. Greatest Treasure
5. Silent Night
6. Go Tell It On The Mountain
7. O Holy Night
8. Mary's Boy Child
9. Would You Feel Lost In Bethlehem
10. Born To Die

MEGA

Hello 2022!

Hello! And let me be among the first to welcome you to 2022! Here in the future, we don't have to worry about all the things that troubled us in 2021, or 2020 before that. Well, who am I kidding? By the time you read this, it'll be the present, or even the past, and I'm sure nothing much will have changed. But as a sign of my faith in 2022, I'm going to start a new series. I'm going to try to post a new set of Christmas music from 78s sourced from the Internet Archive every Saturday in 2022! We'll see how long I can keep that up, but it seems like a reasonable goal. I had a bunch downloaded for the 2021 Christmas season, but I didn't have them all tagged and ready to go at the start of the season, and it takes a long time to do all that, so I wound up sharing exactly two songs from 78 during the season. I've got plenty of them in the pile now to last a while, and I'm working on more every day. No reason I can't keep this series up for a while with minimal trouble. I may need a bit of encouragement once in a while, so be sure to leave me a comment now and then, please. No rhyme or reason to what's coming, just a big pile of records. As I did in 2020, I'm just going to load up the scans so you can see what's in the pile. I'm too lazy to type it all in (which I will regret later when I can't find things, but so be it). Ten sides per post, unless there's some reason for a different number. Watch and see how I do!  Here's the first set, enjoy! And happy 2022!

MEGA

Edit-4 Jan 2023-Added tracklist for searching.

1. The Lancers, Vocal Quartet With Orchestra & Chorus Directed By Van Alexander-I Wanna Do More Than Whistle (Under The Mistletoe)
2. Bob Houston With Sanford Gold Orchestra Featuring Johnny Smith & Bobby Hackett-It's Christmas Every Day (When You're In Love)
3. Sid Phillips And His Orchestra-Vocalist: Jill Allen-Little Jack Frost Get Lost
4. Johnny Maddox And The Rhythmasters-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
5. Hank Williams And His Guitar-The First Fall Of Snow
6. Selah Jubilee Singers-When Was Jesus Born
7. Song Spinners And Larry Fotine And His Orchestra-Christmas In Killarney
8. Kenny Roberts With Instrumental Accompaniment-Elfie The Elf
9. Johnny Lane With Lane Quartet-Hello Mr. Snowman
10. Edmundo Ros And His Rhumba Band, Vocalist: Edmundo Ros-Jingle Bells Calypso

Goodbye 2021

As we finally wind down another year, I'm afraid I don't have a New Year's post for you. You'll have to make do with this oddity of a soundtrack. I couldn't find any hint of a Christmas special called Miss Santa's Hollywood Snowflake, or even a person named T.C. Stubblefield, yet here we have a record by that person that claims to be the soundtrack to said film. There's even a movie poster for it in my LP! (I included a rough photo of it in the download, it's too big to scan properly.) Some internet sleuthing tells me that the T.C. part of T.C. Stubblefield most likely stands for Troy Cory (Stubblefield is his given last name, I think), and from there some things fall into place. Troy was an international entertainer who never seems to have broken through to the USA, and his exploits elsewhere aren't too well documented. This music appears to have been released under his stage name elsewhere with no mention of a film, so I'm wondering if perhaps the movie never got made. But then the poster and album cover both claim to be a still from the movie. And what a horrible still it is. They couldn't come up with a better photo out of the entire movie? I guess not. The picture is actually printed sideways on the LP jacket so that it wraps around the sleeve from front to back. I've rotated it for you above so that it at least appears like he's not laying sideways. I tell you, this is a weird package all around. I'm not sure how I feel about the music. It's not horrible, but it's not good. It's just sort of there. Maybe you know more about this record or this guy or this movie, or even what year this was released. If you do, please, please, please fill us in! This is T.C. Stubblefield (AKA Troy Cory)-Snowflake's First Christmas (VRA Radioplay Music VRA-00025, Stereo). Like several other shares this season, this record turned up in a Central Florida record store last month during a visit that almost didn't happen. It just goes to show that you never know what you might find, or when or where you're going to find it!

1. An Ol' Christmas Card
2. Christmas Around The World
3. Jingle Bells
4. Silver Bells
5. White Christmas
6. I'll Have A Blue Christmas
7. Motion Picture Soundtracks From "Miss Santa's Hollywood Snowflake" (credited to Troy, his daughter Priscilla, and someone named Manuella)
8. C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S
9. Ol' Little Town Of Bethlehem
10. Silent Night

MEGA

Spurred On

I don't think I shared enough Christmas stories with you this year. It's hard to find good spoken word stuff sometimes, and I didn't hunt down very much this year. But I do have this one single that features a story on one side with a related song on the other side. It's the story of Silver Spurs, the unlikely name of a very special elf who can help Santa in ways that others can't.  The Christmas canon is full of characters no one has ever heard of, and this is yet another addition to that group.  Hopefully you'll remember Silver Spur next year when the season rolls around. This is Dr. Dwayne Jorgenson-Narrator, Bill Barber, Jr.-Piano/Celeste & Keith Lester-Vocalist, Steve Barnett-Conductor-Silver Spurs; A Christmas Story b/w Silver Spurs; A Christmas Song (Knollwood 7" 33 RPM 26937, Stereo, 1975). I'm of the opinion that there is a book of some sort associated with this record, but I have no evidence of that. Perhaps one of you little elves can dig that up for me. Thanks!

MEGA

Quito Revisited

Next up in my short stack of remasters is this record full of singing missionaries in Ecuador. I found a new copy of the record this year, but I've been sharing this with you for a long time now. I stumbled across that new copy about three months ago, and they actually had two copies in the little thrift store for some reason. Well, they had two sleeves, but only one record. I probably should have grabbed the other sleeve since this one has the address label on it, but I thought maybe that added some character, especially since the address is in Bolivia. Of minor interest to collectors, this is a reissue of the original record I shared with you before. That version was on Singspiration, and this one is on Singcord, which I believe is another subsidiary of Zondervan. So that tells me that the record was popular enough to warrant a reissue at some point. And I, too, am reissuing it to you tonight. This is Christmas At Quito (Zondervan/Singcord ZLP-546, Mono, 1960). That date of 1960 comes from the RCA pressing info off the old copy. Not sure of the date for this reissue, but 1960 is close enough for our purposes. Enjoy!

1. HCJB Radio Staff Choral Ensemble-Fanfare
2. Vern Van Hovel And Joe Springer-Come To Bethlehem (Adorad Al Nino)
3. Gene Jordan-O Come, All Ye Faithful
4. HCJB Radio Staff Men's Chorus-Come, O Ye Shepherds (Venid Pastores)
5. Dolores Van Der Puy-Come To His Manger Bed
6. Jeanne Odell-Silent Night
7. HCJB Radio Staff Ensemble-Glorious Is Thy Name
8. Joe Springer-Christmas Candle
9. Dixie Dean-Joy To The World
10. Ruth Jordan-Though Christ A Thousand Times
11. Jack And Ruth Shalanko-Unto Us
12. Vern Van Hovel-Mary's Boy Child

MEGA

Downhill

I have a soft spot for songs about skiing. I don't know why, but in my head they get lumped together with the records about Winter, and those records get lumped in with Christmas. You probably don't share this strange association, so I decided to wait until after Christmas to share out this skiing record from the great Vaughn Monroe. Monroe recorded a few Christmas singles in his career, and had a hit with Let It Snow, but he never made a whole Christmas album, and there aren't quite enough of those singles to make one. But if you throw in these ski songs, you can get a whole lot closer. I don't know the impetus behind this record, but I wonder if it might have been a favor by Monroe for Charles Grean, the conductor of both sides and writer of one side. Monroe cut a few novelties in his career, and this is certainly in that category. It's interesting stuff though. Download and give a listen to Vaughn Monroe-Orchestra Conducted By Charles Grean-The Song Of The Skier (In This White World) b/w Learn To Ski By Mail (In Ten Easy Lessons) (MGM 7" 45 RPM K12968, Mono, 1960).

MEGA