A Christmas Yuleblog

In 1981, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra had a huge #1 hit across the world with their " Hooked On Classics " single. While compiling 1980s music (both Christmas and non-Christmas) for my 20th anniversary CD , I discovered this single on eBay. When it arrived, I placed it on the turntable and gave it a listen - I deemed it not Christmas enough for my CD and it got bumped off the playlist. In two days, I'll be serving up my 2008 Yuleblog Sampler and one of the selections on it was this obscure single I picked up five years ago. That is until I read this from a new member at FaLaLaLaLa.com : Quote from: roje on December 09, 2008, 08:23:17 AM: First-off, I have to admit that having stumbled across this website where there's clearly a true celebration of Christmas music, is most enriching, particularly with our world in its current state. Christmas music is, quite simply put, the exact equivalent of happiness, period. Now, there is a 7-inch vinyl which I hav...

Back on October 1st, I wrote two reviews of Christmas disco albums that our friend Ernie shared out. In those reviews, I reiterated my guilty pleasure for Christmas disco and hinted: "And if you think Holiday Disco is bad, just wait until Christmas. For I have obtained what could be the WORST Christmas disco album of all time and I intend to unleash it to the world." Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... here it is. The folks at Peter Pan Records decided to combine their special brand of kiddie Christmas with Christmas disco to disastrous results. Leeching off the success of Rick Dees' novelty hit "Disco Duck", they decided to create the lovable duck on the cover named Irwin! Irwin is your host and narrator and after about 30 seconds into the first track (a remake of "Disco Duck" renamed "Disco Duck II" to avoid paying royalties), you're gonna be looking for a 12-gauge shotgun for some duck hunting. After two competent di...

It seems on November 26, 2006 at 1:11 AM and again on November 26, 2006 at 1:13 AM , our good friend Ernie was in a Christmas disco kind of mood. Which is fine by me because on several occasions here, I've openly admitted that I have a guilty pleasure for all forms of Christmas disco. Shortly after I began this blog in January, 2006, I reviewed my first Christmas disco album - The Salsoul Orchestra's "Christmas Jollies II". Several months later, I did another review for The Mistletoe Disco Band's "Christmas Disco" with a bonus - this was the very FIRST album I ever shared here at the yuleblog (does that tell you how I feel about this genre?). With the addition of these two beauties (thank you Ernie), I now own nine Christmas disco albums. Not counting the disco album I intend to share at Christmas (more on that later). Turning on the disco ball... This is what Ernie wrote about the first album: "Today you get some disco Christmas! ...

Here's an album I won on eBay many, many, many moons ago but only recently transferred it from vinyl to digital. I have a guilty pleasure about Christmas disco in general (I own about 5 different Christmas disco CDs) so when I saw that the title of the album was "Christmas Disco", I knew I had to bid and win. Disco got its start in new clubs called discotheques in the larger cities of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles in the early 1970s. By 1973, many disco hits could be heard on AM radio stations across the country. I distinctly remember taking a family vacation as a five year old to St. Louis in 1974 and the number one hit in America, according to Casey Kasem and the "countdown", was "Rock The Boat" by the Hues Corporation. I believe this may have been the very first #1 disco hit in America (if I'm wrong, correct me please). By 1975, disco was taking over everything. Van McCoy's "The Hustle" was a number one smash, a girl nam...

During the days before Napster began legal downloads, I searched for Christmas MP3s day and night. It was during one of these searches that I came across several tracks from the Salsoul Orchestra. I had never heard of this orchestra so I downloaded the tracks, expecting to hear one guy on his Casio playing synthesized Christmas music. When I heard it, I was quite surprised. This was REAL, honest to goodness, glittery 1970s Christmas disco! I quickly did some research on the Salsoul Orchestra and found out it formed in 1974 at the dawn of the disco era. After recording their "Christmas Jollies" album in 1976, they helped Charo create not one but two albums (including a Christmas cover single of "Donde Este Santa Claus" that my friend Ernie had at his blog last December), and disbanded shortly after recording "Christmas Jollies II" in 1981. After getting a copy of the first "Christmas Jollies" several years ago, I searched to find "Chr...