A Christmas Yuleblog

December 25th has finally arrived! Thanks for taking time out of your holiday to visit us at the yuleblog - especially to all of our first time visitors who are looking in today! Earlier this morning, I woke up, got dressed quickly, and ran quietly downstairs past the bedrooms of my kids. I wasn't heading to see if Santa came and left presents under the tree. I ran past the tree, past the fireplace where the stockings were hung and bulging with flair, and past the fridge (a major accomplishment for me in the AM). I headed outdoors like a kid running to see what was under the Christmas tree. I braved the Christmas cold to retrieve my copy of the Journal-Gazette , the morning newspaper of my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Emma Downs has been writing for the newspaper for several years. Last week, she called me about my annual Christmas CDs and my Christmas music obsession after receiving a copy of my annual Christmas CD. A phone interview was arranged, I supplied seve

Over the past week and a half, I have been helping my 2nd grade son Alex prepare for his stage debut. He won a choice role in a school production that featured him as one of the Three Kings who refuses to get on a "lumpy old camel". When I first sat down with him last week, I was surprised to discover that most of his dialogue was burned into his memory. We worked on a few lines, worked a couple of gestures, and voila! A star was born. My first grade daughter Maggie was also in the play - as a member of the chorus. She sang songs to the both of us and it was a genuine kick to hear both of them sing Christmas songs around the house. It all came down to last night when they took the stage for the first time: The play began at 6:30 PM but my family and I arrived at 5:45 to secure good seats. When we arrived, we had found squatters already taking up much of the first several rows of the gym. By 6:15, it looked like the deck of the Titanic with people scrambling aro

On Christmas Day last year, I posted my very first yuleblog sampler - a "best of" compilation from all of my shares of the previous year. Nothing new was added, a fancy cover & booklet was thrown in, and that was that. Thanks to my overextended schedule of the last several months, I wasn't able to complete what I wanted to do for this season. Many albums I've obtained over the past year are sitting inside a box waiting to be touched. Several of these albums have been already shared out across the sharity network: Arthur Godfrey - Christmas With Gary Mann - Christmas With Seeburg - The Sound & Color Of Christmas Ethel Smith - Christmas Music Santa's Helpers - All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth Swing Along With Santa's Snowmen Susie & Allie - Christmas With I've decided to sample the albums that you and I didn't get to hear. These are selections from full albums that I hope to share at some point down the road

I tried to stay away from the Christmas organ & chimes albums this year. I have several boxed up and I passed on quite a few while searching the vinyl dustbins around my home. However when this one came around on eBay this past year, I jumped at the chance to... ahem... hear the bells! This album was released on Word Records back in 1959. At the time, several Christmas albums were released utilizing that under appreciated instrument - the carillon bells. For more on the carillon, here's a search for several albums I've reviewed, and links to another , and another , and one more . However, this album is quite different than most. The instrument played here is the symphonic carillon aka the "electronic" carillon. Invented by Paul Rowe of Maas-Rowe Carillons , this was the first carillon organ to employ struck metal "miniature bells" to produce an authentic live bell sound. Add Del Roper to the mix. Born into a religious musical family, he wa

This is the last of three Christmas singles that I had time to transfer, digitally restore, scan, zip, and upload (sounds cruel when it's put that way, huh?). Two weeks ago, Kevin Killion contributed to Otis Fodder's amazing 365 Days project a selection of assorted singles from his college radio days. Among these was the A side of long forgotten Christmas novelty single from 1969. I found the radio station copy you are looking at on eBay earlier this year and immediately began searching for any clues on Rocki Lane, Jerry Gross, and The Gross Group via the almighty Google. There was one website for a Jerry Gross who claims to have been born "with the gift of leaving the body at will." Considering the times and the subject matter of this Christmas single, this very well could be him! Side one begins with Santa Claus stating "I am the oldest and original hippy and I want to know..." Cue Rocki Lane & The Gross Group who sing the rest of the que

Ummmm... maybe...... well.......... Okay, they don't have anything in common. Unless you count that I fixed their broken links and they're available again: Liberace - 1954 Christmas Greetings Flexi (w brother George) Orion Samuelson - Christmas 45 CLM Industries - Christmas 1961 - SINGLE Happy listening... Capt

This is the second of three Christmas singles that I had time to transfer, digitally restore, scan, zip, and upload (sounds cruel when it's put that way, huh?). I found this on eBay the very first week of January this year. There was a ton of Christmas music just lying there online with no takers - timing is everything! What caught my eye was the description: "Also included is a letter to prospective radio stations by the artist himself." When the package arrived, I quickly found the letter (dated October, 1987) and read a request to play the record for their radio audiences. The letter also included his home address and phone number. I broke down and called the phone number included - to get the full story of the artist and the song. I only got a befuddled woman who didn't know what I was talking about. I examined the record - side one is the vocal version of the song (copyrighted both in 1984 and 1986) while side two is oddly labeled "Instrumental versio

When this album reared its head on eBay earlier this year, I thought there was no chance in hades that I would win it. But after a full week and no bids, luck smiled on me (a rarity this year) and I found myself the proud owner of an actual, physical, stereo copy! So who are Al Caiola & Riz Ortolani? Al Caiola was a guitar virtuoso who served with Bob Crosby (Der Bingle's brother) during World War II. After studying at the New Jersey College of Music on the G.I. Bill, he found work as a staff musician at CBS Radio. Since then, he has played on thousands of records as a guitarist extraordinaire for hundreds of artists. Riz Ortolani was born in Pesaro, Italy and founded a wildly popular jazz band in the 1950s. Around 1962, he switched gears and began composing film scores. His first was for the infamous Italian movie " Mondo Cane " which gave us the international hit " More ". They were talented musicians who happened to hook up just once in th

This is the first of three Christmas singles that I had time to transfer, digitally restore, scan, zip, and upload (sounds cruel when it's put that way, huh?). I found this on eBay and thought "gee, what a find!" A rare single, a picture sleeve, luscious red vinyl, and in MINT condition! I reached for my Goldmine Christmas Record Price Guide after I had won the auction. What I found was only mildly disheartening. This was originally released by the Manhattans in 1966 (on the Carnival label - Carnival 524). The copy I had won (and what you see before you) is a reissued version on the Star Fire label from 1979. Some quick research tells us that The Manhattans were formed in 1962 in Jersey City, New Jersey. After graduating from high school and serving in the military, the five members won a recording contract with Carnival Records two years later. Between 1965 and 1968, they recorded for Carnival and had five Top 25 singles on the R&B charts. During the m

Earlier this year, I took a extended weekend trip to my former hometown of Chicago for the sole purpose of raiding all the Salvation Armies, Goodwills, Amvets, thrift stores, and record shops of their Christmas albums. Much has changed since I left Chicago in 1996 - well, the Cubs are STILL looking to get to the World Series but... - but one thing remains - their vinyl is usually cheap. Many of my old haunts were gone, some moved to bigger places, and new ones have sprung up to take their place. I was travelling to a thrift store that I remembered when I spotted a resale shop in the former warehouse of a lumber company. Its massive salesfloor consisted mainly of clothing, furniture, and knickknacks. I asked a salesgirl about records and she pointed her finger at the corner of a rickety balcony that overlooked part of the salesfloor. The entire corner was FULL of albums and 45s. Needless to say, I spent nearly two hours there searching each and everyone. Towards the middle o

Capitol Records was founded in 1942 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, Hollywood music store owner Glenn Wallichs, and movie producer Buddy DeSylva. Capitol provided a competitive alternative to the three major record companies of the day - Victor, Columbia and Decca - all established in New York. It quickly flourished with artists like Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, three guys named Les (Baxter, Brown, and Paul), and Margaret Whiting. An overlooked facet of the Capitol Records story is their extraordinary output of production music over the years. This music was recorded for TV and radio stations, advertising agencies, and movie studios to use mainly in the background of their own projects. One perfect example is the legendary " Capitol Hi-Q " series of music. Recorded back in the late 1950s-early 1960s, this music has found its way into movies such as the original " Night Of The Living Dead " and Michael Moore's first film " Roger & Me ". Not s

DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THIS COVER! Stunned? Shocked? Nauseated? This cover has that effect on people. Take a moment. Compose yourself, then we'll move on. I first found a copy of this album (SRS Records - see below) via eBay. Then to my delight (and sheer astonishment), I found the underwear version of Mickey's Christmas album (Timic Records) at Beverly Records in Chicago earlier this year. The story of these albums and how it fits into the life story of Mickey Rooney is quite compelling. Quick history lesson: Rooney was born into a family of vaudeville actors and made his stage debut at the tender age of fifteen months! While on the vaudeville circuit, Mickey's mom answered an ad looking for boy actors in a fledgling operation known as "moving pictures". He won the part and between 1927 and 1936, he was known as "Mickey McGuire". As Mickey approached adolescence, he moved over to MGM and became Andy Hardy, met Judy Garland, and bec

When I began serious collecting Christmas music online via Napster (the pre-legal days), I was able to grab an MP3 of Justin Wilson's "Randolph The Rouge Nosed Reindeer". The Cajun Chef singing Christmas songs? Then I noticed several of his 45 singles on eBay, then the occasional Christmas album (which always went for a pretty penny). Earlier this year, I found a SEALED copy of this album in a record shop in Chicago. Admittedly this isn't the original 1966 Paula album - it was repackaged and released at the height of Justin's PBS popularity in 1987. Backed by Bert Peck & The Kings of Dixieland, Justin slices his way through twelve Christmas favorites the way he would clean and gut a catfish. Some of the songs are quite silly and fun (the aforementioned "Randolph", "Santa Done Brought Himself To Town", and "The Chipmunk Song" (??)) while others are quite touching and reverent ("White Christmas", "Silent Nigh

Our last yuleblog entry showed off an various artists album with many of the artists on the Decca label during the year of 1957. We stay in that year with an entire album by one of those artists - Owen Bradley . Bradley was a successful country music producer and one of the pioneers of the " Countrypolitan " sound that emerged from Nashville in the late 1950s and early 1960s - lush strings, background vocals, and smooth crooning (i.e. Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, Chet Atkins, and some select Patsy Cline). With Owen taking the lead on the organ and his quintet backing him up, these songs are simple, straightforward, but with some distinct style and pizzazz all their own. This is a cut above your average run-of-the-mill Christmas organ music albums! Note: This album was recorded last year (not the best clean up job - some scratches and fuzz remain) and was scheduled to be shared out - it had a chance of being a "featured album" at FaLaLaLaLa.com . However, ou

I've never been a big fan of the "various artists" Christmas compilation. In many instances (i.e. Goodyear, Firestone, True Value, or anything by Columbia or Capitol Special Products), it's usually the same rehashed stuff with the same rehashed songs. So when I first noticed this compilation, I thought "another various artists" comp. But when I noticed the familiar Decca logo atop the album, I began to look a little closer. Glad I did. A quick check of the LP looked like this had just been opened (you could eat off the album). And this nifty compilation contains artists that you normally don't get on comps (Dick Haymes, The Four Aces, Axel Stordahl, Vincent Lopez, Owen Bradley, even the Shulmerich Carillon Bells!). I found this album at a garage sale sitting on a table bathed partially in the Indiana sun. This made the sale tag on the front cover fuse with the cover, resulting in a scab on the front cover (Note to all garage sellers: vinyl &am

If you've been earching the musty, dusty vinyl bins of your local thrift stores, Salvation Armies, and Goodwills, you've probably come across dozens, maybe hundreds of what I call "local choir" albums. "Local choir" albums are plentiful and usually the same. A local choir from a high school, community college, or small university dress in their formal robes, assemble on stage surrounded by microphones from a local or national recording service, they sing the same 12 or 13 songs, and it's captured on tape. Then it's pressed onto vinyl and four to six weeks later, you have albums that were either sold for school fundraisers or given to the choir as gifts. Add a group shot of the choir director and the choir themselves to the back and it's official. I found this album at a garage sale last year. What caught my attention about this album was the massive call letters on the front of the album: KFUO . It turns out KFUO is a Christian St. Lou