Victorian Christmas (Village Square Records)

You never know what you're going to find in a second hand shop. During this past year, I've found a large amount of lost Christmas albums at my local Salvation Army, Amvets, and others.

(Disturbing note - all three of my local Goodwill stores have STOPPED carrying LPs. I don't know why but I hope this isn't a nationwide trend!)

Very seldomly do I find an actual Christmas CD. Several years ago, I came across a Neil Diamond Christmas disc in pretty good shape at a local shop. An old sticker from a garage sale stated $2. but the HUGE sign above the bin read "CDs - $1.00".

Guess which price the cashier insisted on ringing up the disc at? Mmhmm...

This CD was found at the Salvation Army, encased in a glass showcase along with the seven other CDs in the entire store and the assortment of "high-end" items they don't want to walk out the door via the five finger discount: the answering machine that's several years out of date, the boombox that probably was stolen from somewhere but still looks good, the strands of gold and bling-bling that you can get on the cheap.

You're looking at probably the cheapest CD I've purchased this year - exactly 25 cents.

Released in 2004 by Village Square Records, this all instrumental, all Victorian sounding album features 14 traditional carols played on dulcimer, flute, mandolin, and the like. Not bad sounding stuff. However, by track three it begins to sound the same and you get bored easily. This is the CD an antique store would be playing around Christmas time.

Click on the link above, select "Shop Catalog", and then select '"Christmas" from their categories. Village Square is still selling this ($14.95 - boy did I luck out!) and you can immediately hear samples from this album.

Be sure to check out the other Christmas titles at their site as well: Andy Williams, David Arkenstone, and several Christmas compilations that look quite interesting, especially their "Christmas Belles" CD.

On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...


Capt

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