A Christmas Yuleblog

Grab a coffee and sit a spell... have I got a story to tell you! I bought this album (mono) at a thrift store in early 2006 and attempted to transfer it over throughout that year. As the 2006 Christmas downloading season was set to begin, I had completed side one with no problems, but side two was a mess. I figured it would be ready to go for 2007 but the LP had other plans. The needle would not stay on the last two tracks of side two. As much as I tried to get it recorded, I couldn't get clean copies of the song to edit together! I continued to work on this, off and on, for the better part of 1 1/2 years. I had finally gotten the first of the two final tracks recorded and I kept plugging away on track ten - I would apply pressure onto the tone arm just enough for the needle to go through the scratch to get the precious one second segment I needed to piece the track together. By the middle of this year, I was down to the last 30 seconds of the final song and despite all...

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 ...

Alphabetically, "A Country Christmas" has been at the very top of my list of shared albums. Ironically, it's one of the last albums I'll be posting! To kick off the Christmas holiday weekend, I give you this absolute gem of an album from 1963. I found this LP in an antique store earlier this year. The cover hooked me and the lineup of songs reeled me in! I finally found a copy of "Captain Santa Claus" by Bobby Helms and "Tag Along" by the Wilburn Brothers! This isn't your average run-of-the-mill country compilation either. There are some excellent examples of the Nashville sound and pure vintage old school twangy country sung by some of the best artists Decca Records had in their corral of stars! You're going to find something on this album you're going to love. Be it the bluegrass sounds of Bill Monroe, the deep, rich sound of Red Foley's voice, or listening to pure storytelling on songs by Ernest Tubb or the three gu...

On the surface, this may seem to be an ordinary German Christmas album. If you look and listen a little deeper, you just might find some surprises.  There are abundant copies of this album anywhere you look. eBay probably has a few copies listed for auction as you read this. But... some album covers have some suspicious red writing directly under the words "Christmas on the Rhine". These words read: "Mixed Chorus and Orchestra under direction of Werner Müller " That explains why this album is a cut above the rest. When you heard the words "German Christmas record", visions of oompah bands and overbearing Teutonic singers straight out of a Wagner opera might have filled your head. Not this album. This is a well-orchestrated, well-arranged, and well sung album. Many of the standards are covered ("O Tannenbaum", "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht") but there are a few gems that standout from the rest. "Leise Rieselt Der Schnee (...