A Christmas Yuleblog

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...

In March of this year , I added my first Christmas carillon album. Two months later , I purchased my second Christmas carillon CD. We now fast forward to today and here is the third Christmas carillon album for my collection! Recorded in 1955, this one features a gent by the name of Paul Mickelson. Not much is known (or at least available online) about Mickelson's early life. We do know that he was a talented musician and a devout Christian by the time he was asked by Billy Graham to join his evangelical ministries as an organist in 1950. In 1953, Billy Graham Ministries released a 78 RPM entitled "Wonderful Peace" that features Mickelson playing Christmas carols on side two. If any can locate a copy of that one, please let us know! Two years later, Mickelson got a recording contract from RCA Victor. He released two albums in 1955; the first was Inspired by the lush sounds of Jackie Gleason, Mantovani, and the like, Mickelson gathered his orchestra and recorded ...

In a previous post , I mentioned that Christmas carillon music was beginning to become a subgenre in my Christmas collection. I also mentioned in the same post about the origins of this album: "Last December, I've began searching my local Goodwill, Salvation Army, antique stores, vinyl resale shops, and garage sales for unique Christmas music that I can digitally transfer over. "I found a RCA Victor "Living Stereo" album cover entitled 'A Christmas Sound Spectacular' by John Klein at a local Goodwill (no record enclosed unfortunately) that piqued my interest. Thankfully, I found a site that sells this very CD and ordered up a copy." The site mentioned above is Schulmerich Bells of Sellersville, PA. Not only was this album recorded at their factory back in 1959, they used the 1,453-bell Carillon Americana, the largest carillon in the world at the time, for the recording with two manual keyboards on the carillon and a pedal clavier controlling ...

Here's a new subgenre of Christmas music that I've added to my collection - Christmas carillon music. Last December, I've began searching my local Goodwill, Salvation Army, antique stores, vinyl resale shops, and garage sales for unique Christmas music that I can digitally transfer over. I found a RCA Victor "Living Stereo" album cover entitled "A Christmas Sound Spectacular" by John Klein at a local Goodwill (no record enclosed unfortunately) that piqued my interest. Thankfully, I found a site that sells this very CD and ordered up a copy. I then found this album over at Vinyl Orphanage last December when they shared a bunch of wonderful Christmas albums. Down in Lake Wales, Florida is the Bok Tower Gardens (now Bok Sanctuary) - a sprawling area of bliss established by noted American author Edward Bok and designed by the famous landscape artist Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr.. After the last garden was planted and watered, Bok sensed something was...