Saturday, July 03, 2010

Christmas In July-The Third Day

Gotta get tonight's shares up pretty quick here.  The skies have cleared and I think we might actually get to see some fireworks tonight.  I missed them last night due to the poor weather, and it's predicted to rain again tomorrow.  Tonight may be my only chance to get some pictures.  So let's see what's in the share tonight.  We begin with organist Al Bollington performing Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy from Presenting Al Bollington At The Conn Organ (Decca DL 4223, Mono, 1962).  From there we move to another old classic chestnut, Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers by Irving Fields And His Trio.  This one comes from Irving Fields Favorites (King 703, Mono, 1961).  Next up is The Swiss Bell Ringers doing a song called Carol Of The Bells, but which doesn't sound anything like Carol Of The Bells.  Odd.  I grabbed this one from Folk Songs Of The Alps (Tradition (Everest) TR 2081, Stereo, 1968).  You'll hear a couple more tracks from this one later on, but by a different artist.  Fourth up is a bit of a ringer.  It's Teresa Brewer doing Jingle Bell Rock from The Best Of Teresa Brewer On Coral Records (Coral 2xLP CXB 7, Mono, 1965).  I say it's a ringer because I'm pretty sure they pulled this from Teresa's Christmas LP, which, unfortunately, I don't own.  Lastly tonight, I give you Ding, Dong Merrily On High by The Bellwethers from The Bells Of Crystal Cathedral (The I.T. Verdin Company/UA Recording UAS-989-9297, Stereo).  This little gem appears to be a compilation of tracks from various handbell and carillon recordings all linked to Robert Schuller and his Crystal Cathedral.  I.T. Verdin is a manufacturer of handbells, and this seems to have involved them in some capacity.  But you don't care about all that, you just want some Christmas music in July.  Here's the download link, if I can get Rapidshare to co-operate.  I've uploaded this thing twice and it's still not showing it.  I'll try it again here in a sec.  See you tomorrow!

Friday, July 02, 2010

Christmas In July-The Second Day

Day two, and I've got a special little local treat for you.  One day last year I drove over to the East coast of Florida to see a shuttle launch.  Unfortunately, the launch got scrubbed, but I decided to hang out and hit some thrift stores on the space coast.  That's when I turned up this record, Voices Of Space By The Kennedy Space Center Chorus, Directed By Arthur C. Benington (Century Records 32909, Stereo).  There's mention in the liner notes of the groups formation in 1966, but no mention is made of the moon landing, so I'm pegging this somewhere between '67 and '69.  Track one, side one is a long medley narrated by Bill Larson, and it begins with a clip from Gemini 6 astronaut Walter Shirra.  I've cut it into eight individual tracks, but it's one long track on the record.  I think you'll really enjoy this one.  There's one song in the medley that isn't really Christmas, No Man Is An Island, but that's made up for by a good track that I'd never heard before, We Can't Go Wrong.  The label and sleeve are both devoid of further info on that song, so I'm a little clueless about it.  Give it a listen, maybe you can tell me more about it.  Here's the download link, have a ball.  See you tomorrow!

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Christmas In July-The First Day

Yes, I know.  I've been neglecting the blog lately.  I just haven't been in the mood.  I don't know why, it just hasn't been something I felt like messing with.  But suddenly, here it is July, and I've got a tradition to uphold.  For the past three years, I've shared out Christmas music during the month of July.  Not just any Christmas music, but songs that have a holiday bent from albums that don't have anything to do with the holidays.  It's an odd hobby, but it keeps me off the streets.  I don't know that I've got enough music or drive to last me the whole month, but I'm going to give it a go.  I came home from work tonight and ripped five songs for you, and I think I had about ten that I ripped sometime right after Christmas that I'll eventually get to.  That means it's not going to be too many each day.  I'm starting out today with the five I just recorded, and we'll go from there.  So, let's see what's in Santa's bag tonight.  I'm starting off with Julius La Rosa singing one of the hit songs from the Broadway musical Mame, which I'm sure you've already guessed is We Need A Little Christmas.  I grabbed this from his LP You're Gonna Hear From Me (MGM E-4398, Mono, 1966).  From there we move to the great (and long-time blog favorite) Paul Mauriat doing the old Harry Simeone rip-off The Little Drummer Boy.  No idea why this didn't show up on his Christmas record(s), I recorded it off of Listen Too! The Fabulous Paul Mauriat Orchestra (Philips PHS 600-197, Stereo, 1965). Next up is Warren Covington And His Orchestra telling us that Baby It's Cold Outside from his LP Dancing Trombones (Decca DL 74352, Stereo, 1963).  Fourthly we have The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra Conducted By Alfred Newman performing Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers from Marche! (Capitol SP8479, Stereo, 1959).  Lastly, and probably leastly, we have the old chestnut Greensleeves (which has the same tune as What Child Is This) by Jo Basile, His Accordion And Orchestra from the record Around The World With Jo Basile, His Accordion And Orchestra (Audio Fidelity AFSD 6153, Stereo, 1966).  And that's it for the first night.  Nice eclectic mix there.  And here's the download link.  Have at it!  Merry Christmas in July to all of you!