A Christmas Yuleblog

I still have a large stack of Christmas CDs next to my computer monitor that I downloaded from my friend Ernie over at his blog . The album you see before you was buried deep inside this stack but I moved it up because of two reasons. One reason I will reveal later. The other reason is our house stoop and back patio have become new homes for a family of chipmunks. They have dug themselves in quite nicely and we're either going to start charging rent or call a pest control guy to give us a quote. Do they make chipmunk traps? Background on this album: In 1958, Ross Bagdasarian was a struggling actor / songwriter /family man who was down to his last $200 - his entire life savings. He spent $190 on a state of the art tape recorder that played and recorded at half speed. Bagdasarian sat down and wrote a song that utilized a gibberish sound that he recorded: OO EE, OO AH AH, TING-TANG, WAL-LA WAL-LA BING BANG. "Witch Doctor" was released by Liberty Records and quickly w...

This album comes from the great download catch of 2005 from the blog of Ernie (Not Bert) . To quote from Ernie: Tonight's LP is from the well-known duo of Buddy And Bunny Burden. You say you've never heard of them? How can that be? Perhaps you didn't hang out in Gatlinburg in the sixties. "OK, so these two might not be a household name, but after you listen to their record, you might decide to spread their name a little further afield. I have yet to figure out exactly what Bunny brings to the table. "Sure, she looks nice there on the cover, but there's not a peep from her on this record. She's not even mentioned on the back cover. And did I mention I think Buddy is wearing the same tuxedo that my dad was married in? "Of course he didn't have the snazzy haircut. And if you know anything more about these two, please drop me a line. Thanks! I'm sorry to report that after much searching and Googling, I couldn't find anything about ...

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...

Folks, it's been a busy time for me lately... My birthday was last Sunday and I'm mulling my options on what Christmas CDs to purchase (any ideas?). I'm also doing some side work for the theater group I'm involved with here in Fort Wayne. And I still have a stack of Christmas CDs I need to review here at the yuleblog and catalog into my collection. On top of all of this, I have been preparing for FaLaLaLaLa.com 's annual Christmas in July celebration by transferring deserving Christmas vinyl to digital files so I may share with you good brethren of the Christmas music faith... some real winners & losers in my LP stack... can't wait to share! More will be posted here soon... promise! Capt

The album you see before you is the second sampler that Ernie offered at his blog Ernie (Not Bert) during the 2005 Christmas download season. Coral Records was a subsidary of the mighty Decca Records. Back in their heyday, Coral released many jazz and swing band singles, then R&B singles, and made the transition to rock-n-roll by signing a young kid out of Lubbock, TX by the name of Buddy Holly. According to the liner notes of this extended play 45: "Here is a genuine novelty - a novelty which will be a standard for many years to come. Here are eight new Christmas songs sung by new (or comparatively new) artists who, like the songs, are definitely here to stay. All of the songs have a unifying theme - the perennial spirit of Yuletide - and all of them are new this year. They are true "firsts" in every sense: new titles, new words, new music, and interpretations which, while new, will never grow old." Using this info, I've estimated that this sampler...

Many years ago, I worked for the Musicland Group. Under this umbrella were music stores such as Musicland and Sam Goody. Media Play was a combo music/video/book store, and Suncoast Motion Picture Company, where I worked as a store manager, was videos, DVDs, and other movie related items. One of the only perks as a store manager were the wonderful items the record and video companies used to distribute at annual meetings as their way of appreciation for all the work we did selling their product. I picked up several Christmas samplers from various record companies (Rhino, Columbia, Capitol) during my time there and have sought out other promo compilations from other companies via eBay and other sources. Samplers usually contain some of the finest material anywhere or contain repackaged drudge that you really could have done without. Whenever I see the word "Sampler" on anything, I'm very wary. So when I saw this sampler album (one of two samplers) being offered by ...

When Ernie offered this very album at his blog many months ago, my heart nearly skipped a beat... in 3/4 time! To quote from Ernie's original post: "Once upon a time, everyone had a piano in their home. Later, people had organs in their homes. Nowadays, we have CD players and TVs and iPods and Sega. "But back to the organs for a sec. This LP was designed to help sell those organs. I don't know if this was given away to customers, or sold in the organ stores, or what, but the ultimate goal was to get you to buy an organ from Kimball so that you could play like the artists on this record." One of my uncles went out and did exactly that one year. He was lured into a local mall outlet where the salesmen, resplendent in their polyester slacks, sat behind desks and occasionally behind a keyboard to show you the ease of playing the organ. After selling you an organ, they ask "can you play?" If not, they would sell you "how to play the organ"...

Before I begin this review... and the next... and the one after that... in fact, the next 30+ albums (count 'em folks, 30+!) that I will review here on my blog came from my friend Ernie's blog entitled Ernie (Not Bert) . By day, Ernie takes and posts some of the best photos you'll see anywhere on the web. You owe it to yourself to go to his blog and give your mouse clicker a workout - there are some stunners over there folks! By night, Ernie is a Christmas vinyl junkie addict, transferring old scratchy forgotten Christmas LPs that he finds in Goodwill stores, garage sales, and the like to preserve memories of Christmas vinyl past (apologies to the King Of Jingaling for pinching his motto!). Last year in the eyes of Santa Claus and every Christmas music enthusiast, Ernie was a good, GOOD boy. I went back and counted at his blog - this man alone posted FIFTY-EIGHT items for download between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. . . Let that sink in folks... . . Almost...

Before 1987 and the release of " A Very Special Christmas ", Christmas music was pretty much in four categories: 1.) Traditional - Bing, Frank, Conniff, Mitch Miller, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. 2.) Rock n Roll - Elvis, Bobby Helms, Brenda Lee, Phil Spector's Christmas Album and the Beach Boys. 3.) Novelty - Alvin & The Chipmunks, Elmo & Patsy, Cheech & Chong, and the Singing Dogs doing "Jingle Bells". 4.) Country - Chet Atkins, Jim Reeves, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, and Dolly Parton. Throughout the 1980s, small independent labels released incredibly fantastic compilations that foreshadowed the explosion of Christmas music after the release for the aforementioned "Very Special Christmas" album. Two record labels that started out as mail-order record shops out of New York City led the way in this movement: Ze Records released "A Christmas Album" in 1981 that featured songs from up and comers like Was (Not Was), No...

Here's another forgotten vinyl Christmas album, rescued from the Goodwill bin of obscurity by Pastor McPurvis and the good folks at Vinyl Orphanage . To quote Pastor McPurvis: "Up today are the happy holiday sounds of Roy Meyer and his group of Singing Swingers. Hailing from the great state of New Jersey, Mr. Meyer founded this community group as a non-profit agency dedicated to providing music scholarshops to high school students, as well as promoting vocal group singing throughout the New York Metro area. "Mr. Meyer penned some ambitious arrangements for the group, and though the singers may falter a bit on the more complicated harmonies, they more than make up for it with their enthusiasm and sincere delivery." Pastor McPurvis hits the nail on the head... At first glance, this album looks like a church group recording but the arrangements more than make up for it. It seems Roy Meyer is alive and well and still swinging in New Jersey. And if you got voca...

Last December, I was so busy downloading stuff left and right that I never got a chance to listen to it all. During the last two weeks, I finally burned the last 40+ albums I downloaded to CD and have finally just begun to listen to the music. Smack in the middle of full albums by Hugo Winterhalter and Menudo (watch for those reviews soon) was this little Internet gem of a find from a band whose existence is largely due to the Internet itself. Arcade Fire hails from Montreal and formed in early 2004. Utilizing a massive amount of instruments (including harp, viola, cello, xylophone, even accordian!), they recorded an EP that they sold at their first live gigs (known to fans of Arcade Fire as the "Us Kids Know" EP). They went on to record their first album Funeral around this time and got a small label to distribute the album. Music critics praised the band, word of mouth amongst their fans was aided by the Internet, and David Bowie was so impressed he asked to recor...

If you are a Christmas music collector like me, you probably know that most Christmas CD comps are hit or miss - each containing one or two songs that standout in your memory. Every once in a while, you'll find a Christmas compilation that just breaks new ground - every track a hidden treasure. You are looking at such a CD. While doing a simple search for another Christmas CD at my local library, I came across this CD from the good folks at Dust-to-Digital in Atlanta, GA. Lance Ledbetter took over a Georgia State university roots music radio show in the late 1990s and began absorbing all types of roots music. He began corresponding with other 78 collectors, music authorities, and playing all this on his radio show. By the time Ledbetter left Georgia State, he was a bonafide roots music authority. He proved it in October 2003 when Dust-to-Digital released the mother of all box sets: Goodbye, Babylon . A six CD box set full of 135 Southern country gospel music songs from the...

Rhino Records - how do I love thee? Let me count the ways... Richard Foos started his own record shop in 1973 called Rhino Records. His enterprising store manager, Harold Bronson, convinced Foos to start their own music label and in 1978, Rhino began releasing music. Since most of the big record companies passed on distribution deals with Rhino, most of their first ten years in business was done out of their shop and by mail-order catalog. However, their eclectic mix of music and strange video (soon to become a specialty for Rhino) kept building a loyal fan base. In 1986, they finally got a six-year distribution deal with Capitol Records and Rhino was on the map for good. Two years later, I discovered Rhino Records after purchasing some Dr. Demento cassette tapes. I sent my $2.00 to Rhino for a catalog and they sent me their 10 year anniversary catalog - an artifact I treasured until the Toledo apartment fire of 1996 claimed its life. They had great compilations of surf music, a...

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 ...

If you think I was exaggerating, here's actual proof! All these CDs will be reviewed and posted here at the ol' yuleblog... look for the first review later today! And yes, if you look closely at the stack, there is a lot of alternating black & white slim jewel cases... all of those are from the Ernie (Not Bert) collection of Christmas LPs that Ernie offered late last year... I finally burned them off the hard drive and onto CD! I'll be busy for sure! Capt

Dear Christmas music lovers everywhere... About three months ago, I decided that it would be good for me to break the wintertime blues and audition for a play for a local theater group in Fort Wayne. The play is called "Lend Me A Tenor" and I got cast as the world famous Italian tenor Tito Merelli, known to his fans as "Il Stupendo". As March turned into April, I had to buckle down and learn a bunch of lines and master deliberate and delicate movements on the stage in order to get the role properly. I also was the only member of the cast who had free time to help build sets, paint floors & walls, etc., etc.. Needless to say, this took up much of my free time (thereby robbing me of the time I used to devote to this blog). When April turned into May (quite the operation she had), everything came together. Each cast member trusted their lines and movements, the light and sound cues were on the money. I added one final touch to my physical transformation ...

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...

Okay... technically, this is NOT a Christmas CD... but I did receive it for Christmas and wanted to share some of the treasures that lie inside. In the 1970s, the Second City Comedy troupe based in Chicago and Toronto was a breeding ground for the next wave of great comedians: John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Murray. While these four went off to immortality at "Saturday Night Live", the other members of Second City banded together and created their own TV show in Canada. "Second City TV" was seen throughout Canada (and in syndication in the USA) between 1976 and 1980. Joining this cast were John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, and Dave Thomas. In 1981, NBC needed a summer replacement for its music program "The Midnight Special". They brought SCTV in, gave them a 90 minutes to fill, and "SCTV Network 90" was born. This ran from 1981 to 1983 - winning two...

During the week of February 19th and February 24th , I reviewed six different Christmas compilations that I acquired from various friends and other Christmas music aficionados. I had no other homemade compilations to review... or so I thought. Mike Ung, a resident of Kansas City and yet another person who I met through FaLaLaLaLa.com happened to read my reviews. He e-mailed me to ask if I would be willing to trade copies of our annual comps. "I've always liked weird/obscure music" Mike admits. He also admitted to reworking the Beatles' White Album down to 6 tracks... That was enough for me! I agreed to send him one and off they went through the mail. His compilation arrived exactly one week ago. I didn't know what to expect - this was Mike's 5th Christmas comp. The artwork was pretty good - I did a quick scan of the playlist... when I discovered the title of a long lost Christmas song I've been searching for, I knew I was in for a treat. TRACK RE...

Since last December, there has been a stack of Christmas CDs directly next to my computer monitor. At one point, the stack numbered around 60+ albums and stood around two foot high. I have several things that I do whenever I get a new Christmas CD. I have an Excel spreadsheet that contains all the albums, songs, and artists in my collection. I also scan the front & back covers of each of my albums for two reasons - 1.) possible trades with fellow collectors 2.) insurance purposes. Lastly, if the album is available through Amazon.com, I generally post a scan over there - sort of a backup copy of things. Click on the link and you'll see about 85% of all the CDs I own. I can happily report that after much documentation (the steps above and the reviews here at the blog), the stack stands now at merely two CDs. This is the first review of those two discs. While shopping at my local Borders store, I was perusing their bargain sections and found this CD wedged in the ot...