Thursday, July 07, 2011

Christmas In July 2011-Day 7

Day 7 and I'm cheating just a bit.  I'm writing this on day 6 and setting it to pop up tomorrow sometime.  I hope to be getting ready for a trip to the final shuttle launch on Friday, and I won't have time to do anything tomorrow with the blog.  So instead of being a day behind, I'm going to try to get a day ahead.  Hope you guys don't mind the canned post, but if I didn't tell you, how would you know???  On with the show.

We begin with another track from The Wesleyan Ringers, Lloyd R. Pilkington-Director, and their album The Glory Of Bells (Silver Crest Custom STJ-111882, St. John's United Methodist Church, Hazlet, NJ, Stereo).  This time it's, appropriately enough, Carol Of The Bells.

Next up is another version of Greensleeves, this time from When Love Is Young (Dot DLP 3806, Mono, 1967), performed by Jimmie Haskell's French Horns.  When I first picked this record up, I thought it was by The Beaver's neighbor, but I guess that was Eddie Haskell.  Too bad, that would have been a more interesting record, I bet.

Third is a non-Christmas song that I found on a Christmas record once, so I associate it with Christmas now, for better or for worse.  It's called In A Clock Store, and it's by Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra-James Walker, Conductor.  I pulled it from the big Reader's Digest set, Wonderful World Of Music For Children (Reader's Digest 6xLP RDS38-M, Stereo).  No, I'm still not done with the tracks from that set.  Oh, the place I first heard this song is here.

My rerun of the evening is Ethel Smith performing Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring.  This comes from her LP Seated One Day At The Organ (Decca DL 78902, Stereo, 1959).  Her Christmas music from non-Christmas albums is much better than the Christmas music on her Christmas album.  Sorry, someone had to say it.  (And in answer to my own question from 2006, yes, this does exist in stereo.  Here I am, sharing it in stereo.)

Fifth is the ubiquitous My Favorite Things, this time as performed in a somewhat jazzy style by The Norman Paris Quartet from the LP The Sound Of Music (Harmony HL 7235, Mono, 1959).  Not a bad little version, but if you want to hear a jazzier version, keep checking back...  (Hmmm, looks like this is a rerun, too...  I've shared out so many things over the years that I have a real hard time remembering it all.)

Even more ubiquitous when it comes to Christmas music is Waltz Of The Flowers, and this version comes to you courtesy of Leopold Stokowski And His Symphony Orchestra-Lucile Lawrence, Harp Solo from the LP The Heart Of The Ballet (RCA Victor Red Seal LM-1083, Mono, 1950).  Not bad, but nothing special.

Is that it?  No, one more track, The Skaters' Waltz performed on The Belgian Band Organ, the second and final Christmassy track from The Wonderful Belgian Band Organ At Paul Eakins Gay Nineties Village, Vol. 2 (Audio Fidelity AFSD 6118, Stereo, 1963).

No time for chit-chat, gotta run.  Here's the download link.  Wish me luck!

2 comments:

  1. Hmmm. This feels like a canned post.

    Good luck on Friday!

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  2. Nothing like Christmas in July to introduce chill winter thoughts that save on air-conditioning bills. There's a ton of Yule-suitable stuff to be found these days at some of the vintage-music blogs. I've already captured two incredible 1920s versions of "Turkey in the Straw" and a very clever cha-cha-cha version of "Winter Wonderland." If you want, I'll notify you of some winter warmup mixes I'm assembling that you might want to borrow from. It is amazing how many songs can be contextualized for Christmas. Take, for most recent example, the Robins record of "Whadya Want?" Thanks for thinking of Christmas--and us.

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