A Christmas Yuleblog

Imagine it's Christmas, 1971. You are a US veteran convalescing in a VA hospital at Christmas time and seeing the after effects of the prolonged Vietnam War. Your daily routine consists of awaking in your hospital bed, nurses wheeling in your meals, therapy for most of the day. You can then watch television, read in the library, or listen to the soothing sounds the overheard speakers pipe in. This album is one of several that I was very fortunate to purchase from Marc Bird of Spindle Records . Bird has been compiling rare and obscure music of the doo-wop era, the novelty era, and the psychedelic era and offering them at his site. Did I mention he's got some Christmas CDs over there? Tennessee Ernie Ford is your host on this 16 minute program. He get the Big Guy out of the way quickly - President Richard M. Nixon takes time out of his busy covering up schedule to thank the injured vets for "buying time" for lasting peace. We are then treated to many celeb...

Christmas Day, 1974. I ran from my bed to my parents bed to announce that Santa had come. The only problem was the time read 4:30 AM. After a few protests, I went begrudgingly back to bed. Several hours later, I woke up again and grabbed the closest present under the tree. It was a genuine Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle - just like I asked Santa down at Sears. Like Ralphie in "A Christmas Story", this was the greatest Christmas present I had received or ever will receive. The many hours I spent hurtling Evel on his Harley over toy trucks, buses, and the occasional anthill doubling for the Snake River Canyon became some of the most vivid and exciting memories of my childhood. Many kids of my generation got those Stunt Cycles - to the tune of $300 million dollars (in 1970s money). Many Christmases were just like mine. Evel Knievel died yesterday after a long, action-packed, controversial, and even violent life on this Earth. At a time when America needed heroes badly...

There's nothing like having family around at Christmas time. The reconnects, the laughter, the warmth, the love, the sibling rivalry, the photos, the big family meals, the one too many servings of egg nog, the inappropriate comments, the misunderstandings, the snits, the feuds, the clock watching, the diviing up of the leftovers, the opening of presents, the swap of gift receipts, the rounding up of the noisy kids, and the drive home. Ahhh, there's no place like home for the holidays... This album is from The Mom & Dads , a Spokane, Washington music group that specialized in Western styled dance music - polkas and waltzes mainly. I first came across this album in an impulse book I purchased last year at Barnes & Noble called " Horrifically Bad Album Covers ". The author of the book is Nick DiFonzo who runs the aptly named Bizarre Records website - some real gems over there! As soon as I saw the cover, I immediately began searching online and found ...

I just fixed some broken links and added other older ones I had forgotten! In any case, this is what's available for your dancing and listening pleasure for 2007 (so far): 1983 Air Force Public Service Spots - Disc V The Alcoa Singers - An Olde-Fashioned Christmas Pat Boone - White Christmas Bowen & Csehy - Christmas Steepletime A Country Christmas Jimmy Dean - Jimmy Dean's Christmas Card Pete Fountain - Candy Clarinet: Merry Christmas From (STEREO) DeWayne Fulton - Christmas Greetings From Will Glahe & His Orchestra - Christmas On The Rhine Earl Grant - Winter Wonderland Ken Griffin - Christmas Organ Funky Christmas (Cotillion Records) Alex Houston & Elmer - Here Comes Peter CottonClaus Jim & Tammy - Christmas With Love Sy Mann & The Malvin Carolers - Let's All Sing Christmas Carols Bob Mantzke Choralaires - Christmas Songs Pat O'Brien - A Quiet Christmas O Tannenbaum - Christmas On The Rhine Pac-Man - The Pac...

It's been some time since I've sat down in front of my trusty ol' computer and bang on the keyboard for the yuleblog. My schedule has been written on an Etch-A-Sketch recently and my time was very limited for anything online. However, the Christmas gods have opened a 18 day window where nothing is scheduled (quite the gift). Taking advantage of this, I wanted to catchup on the numerous comments that were left here - click on the album title link to see my response: Anonymous has left a new comment on your post " Robert Way - New England Sleigh Ride: Music For Th... ": Hi Captain! I love your comments about my old LP "New England Sleigh Ride." Recorded in 1967 in Munich, Germany. I'm now back in the music saddle after retiring as a clinical psychologist. Visit my web site: themusicway.com . I have two new Christmas CDs and a third in production. Let me hear from you. Anonymous has left a new comment on your post " Bowen & Csehy -...

This YouTube clip is from "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show" from 1958. Dinah begins with a beautiful song about Thanksgiving (around the 3:20 mark) and joins her special guest stars around a lovely Thanksgiving setting. What makes this clip special is the fact her guest stars were all real-life spouses appearing on the same show: George Montgomery (then Mr. Dinah Shore), Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Edie Adams, and Ernie Kovacs - two husband and wife teams and some of my personal heroes. After some appropriate solemnity, Dinah, George, Louis, Keely, Edie, and Ernie all join in for a spirited singing of "Dry Bones" over a turkey carcass. Some time this Thanksgiving weekend, I will be answering the 50+ comments left here since I last visited this place, fixing some broken links (if any), and quite possibly posting an actual yuleblog entry (WOW). Have fun eating, visiting with your loved ones, and travelling safely wherever you are. Capt

Dear readers of the yuleblog, For the past few months, my somewhat usual schedule has been turned up, down, and every which way but Saturday. This can be attributed to a great number of reasons (stay-at-home dad duties, school activities with the kids, involved with several theater productions, travelling between Chicago and Cincinnati to watch the Cubs play great baseball) that has pulled my focus away from the computer. In late March, I reached my peak and was posting two reviews a day. Since the beginning of April, my daily output here has trickled to an anemic one post a week. How bad has it gotten? We've now reached mid-September - the month I usually have reserved to create and produce my annual Christmas CD for family and friends for the past nine years - and I'm two weeks behind in that regard as well. I still have about 100+ albums that I downloaded last year that I haven't reviewed (or even burned and added to my permanent collection). I have approxima...

At first glance of this album cover, the gentlemen seated on the couch looks more like a high school principal or shop teacher than a world renowned orchestra leader. Nevertheless, these two fantastic offerings were presented last year at Ernie (not Bert)'s blog within a two day span of time. I juggled my schedule of downloads around a tad bit to feature both on the same day. Today is Mr. Swing And Sway Day! The first album, " Christmas Day With Sammy Kaye ", was offered on November 25, 2006. It was originally released at Christmas, 1960 by Decca Records. The second "album" (pictured to the right) is actually a collection of 45 singles from 1951 and boxed up in a festive cover entitled " Christmas Serenade " by Columbia Records. Not bad for a guy who received a degree in civil engineering while playing in small time bands throughout college. After Sammy left college with his degree, he found his true calling in music. He quickly began h...

From an infamous Kermit Schaefer blooper: "While our game is being temporarily delayed, let us listen to our organist in the center field stands as he entertains you while diddling on his organ." Back on November 26, 2006, our friend Ernie posted this one at his blog under the title "Better Layton Than Ever". After downloading this and having the album sit on my hard drive for nearly a year, I'm finally listening to it and writing about it! And after doing some quick research on Eddie Layton, I'm ready to play ball! Layton was born in Philadelphia in 1925, studied music as a child, and was studying meteorology in college when World War II broke out. Enlisting in the U.S. Navy, Eddie was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Lindhurst, New Jersey. A chance encounter with a Hammond organ would soon change his life forever. After World War II, he fell in love with the Hammond organ and soon began studying under the tutelage of the one and only Jes...

In our last post, I explained how FaLaLaLaLa has brought thousands of Christmas music enthusiasts together to read, listen, learn, and even contribute anything Christmas to the site. I had this album in my collection (mono - badly scratched) and wasn't planning on sharing it out. However, FLLLL community member Voldar had a STEREO version and shared it on November 26, 2006 at 9:25 AM - great post V! This wasn't the first time I obtained a copy of a Billy Vaughn Christmas album. Several years ago, I traded for a Canadian CD copy called " Christmas With " that featured an exact budget number ten songs. Are they both and the same? To let the suspense build, here's some information on the artist in question. Born and raised in Kentucky, Billy Vaughn was only three years old when he taught himself the mandolin after contracting measles. As he matured into adulthood, he joined the United States National Guard in 1941 for a one-year hitch. That changed wh...

Our next album comes to us from the wonderful online kingdom known as FaLaLaLaLa . The King of Jingaling, FLLLL's gracious, generous, and benevolent ruler featured this album. (I was awake at 1:30 AM on November 24th, 2006 when I found this online. Many times throughout the downloading season, I'll find myself staying up later, even waking in the middle of the night for 30 - 45 minutes searching for new stuff. I really need to learn how to do RSS feeds!) The King has shared many fantastic albums over the years at FLLLL. While I offer gems like Alex Houston & Elmer , he offers gold. Not fool's gold. Real gold. His albums are always a cut above the rest because of the immensely intriguing stories behind the albums themselves. Last month, The King offered the famous "NORAD Tracks Santa" LP, released at the height of the Cold War. Several years ago, it was The Rhodes Kids whose album was produced by a bonafide porn peddler. At first glance, you...

Finally, after nearly two years! Way back on December 15, 2005 , Ernie (of Ernie Not Bert) first posted this album at his blog. How I missed it the first time, I'm not sure but I spent a few days smacking myself in the head over my failure to download. Ernie reposted the album (you da man, Ern!) and I got my copy last year on November 23rd, 2006. For those who only Buck from his days on " Hee Haw ", here's the quick story: Born Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. in 1929, he grew up on a Texas farm whose family mule was named Buck. At the age of three, he announced to the family that his name was Buck too. No one thankfully objected. While working as a truck driver in the late-1940s, Owens found himself driving through the picturesque San Joaquin Valley in California on his way to Bakersfield. The beauty of the land convinced Buck that this was the place where he wanted to settle down and did so in 1950. Meanwhile, up in the state of Oregon, a girl named Susan Raye...

On first glance, this album has potential (any album with the RCA " Living Stereo " banner is a plus). As you look down, you'll notice the song titles, the cute Christmas graphics, but not one artist listed on the cover - a sure sign of trouble. If you're too lazy to check the back cover, you probably wouldn't have purchased the album. Thankfully, Ernie (from Ernie Not Bert ) studied this album carefully and with his keen collector's eye saw the gold within and posted it on November 23, 2006 . As Ernie explained in his original post: "The only problem is that parts of this record have been released on CD. Several years ago, they took the Esquivel solo tracks, as well as the tracks on which he backs the Skip-Jacks, mixed in some LP tracks that had a holiday theme, added a rather merry non-holiday B-side, a couple of tracks by a famous swing-revival DJ featuring a voice-over from the bed-ridden Esquivel, and called it an Esquivel Christmas album . ...

It's not often you see a Christmas album adorned by imitation passport stamps (see the top right corner) or a piñata for that matter but... This intriguing album was downloaded on November 21, 2006 at 12:43 PM from our friend Bongo over at BongoBells (great find, Bongo!). Google picks up a myriad of stuff concerning Hermanos Zavala. The laughable AOL Music site claims you can find Zavala photos, songs, live performances, even music videos. Umm, yeah. Other sites found include " The One Hundred Voices of the Hermanos Zavala " and " Mariachi Los Hermanos Zavala ". The rest is just recycled hash which is a pity. This album is the Spanish equivalent of a Mitch Miller album! A soft rendition of "The Christmas Song", followed by a raucous version of "Sleigh Ride", then a very reverent "Adeste Fideles" sung beautifully in Spanish. It gets better. "Rodolfo el Reno de la Nariz Roja" takes on elements of The Thre...

This one almost had me in its tentacles. eBay had several copies tempting me to spend $20 or more to get my own LP. Thankfully, I checked out the cool wax. Brainwerk runs the fun sharity blog entitled " Check The Cool Wax " whose great Christmas comp I reviewed here earlier this year. Last November, he posted this album and I was able to scratch this one off my list. By the looks of the cover, it promises to be a fun, fun album. Fast Freddy Flintstone on the stalagmite organ, Snagglepuss pickin' the bass, Huckleberry Hounddog on the chimes, and don't forget Magilla Gorilla on the triangle! But we're putting the cartoon horse before the cartoon cart. We have to go back to 1939 for the beginning of this story. On the backlot of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stood the animation studio where William Hanna and Joseph Barbera first met. They had an instant rapport and set to complete their first collaboration - a 1940 cartoon called "Puss Gets The Boot"...

Today starts a look back at the 125+ Christmas albums (yes, 125 plus!) that I downloaded during the 2006 holiday downloading season. Some will get serious looks. Others will get thumbnail sketches. Will I get to them all? Only time will tell. This was the first full album I clicked. Even wrote down the date, the place, the time, and from who - November 18, 2006 at 9:03 AM from FaLaLaLaLa community member Inkydog . If you look closely at the bottom right hand corner of the album, you'll notice that this is from Design Records , a budget budget division of the budget label Pickwick International. Design Records are the same folks who brought you wonderful Christmas albums like " Dennis Day Sings For The Family ", " Christmas With The Happy Crickets ", and probably the greatest budget Christmas release ever: " Tijuana Christmas " by The Border Brass. Not much info is out there on the Cricketones. But the music is festive, fun, and very ligh...

Several weeks ago, I posted a yuleblog entry about electronic music, the theremin, and the Moog. To quote from that entry: " Any other Christmas Moog albums out there that I missed? I know of one which I found sealed in a Chicago record store that I'm planning on sharing next month... " Well, here it is. My final offering for my Christmas in July celebration. Guess I saved the best for last. There's not much out there on Douglas Leedy. According to a rather meandering Wikipedia entry, he was born in 1938, studied many varied styles of music all over the world, and has been composing and conducting music for most of his life. He eventually ended up in Brentwood, California at UCLA. It was here that he founded UCLA's electronic music studio and specialized in the Moog and Buchla synthesizers and an electronic gizmo named the Ognob Generator: (Click on image to enlarge) Being so close to Hollywood, the good folks at Capitol Records soon came ca...