A Christmas Yuleblog

Since the beginning of the year, I've been spotlighting new CDs that were given to me as genuine Christmas gifts. Although this one isn't "new" as in "newly released" last Christmas, this rare compilation definitely qualifies as a true present! It was found by my brother Rafael in a second hand store in the deep South (Cleveland, Tennessee). As is standard practice by members of my immediate family, he called me first to ask if I had this CD. I asked for the playlist (my standard practice) and heard many familiar names - Benny Goodman, Louis Prima, Lionel Hampton, and lots of Louis Armstrong. But on a "blues" Christmas album? Upon opening it on Christmas morning, I was astounded to discover his CD was pressed in Canada from Jass Records in 1988. It's getting more scarce finding CDs pressed before 1998 these days, even more so for Christmas albums. So to find a 20 year old Christmas Canadian import is simply mindboggling and exciting!...

This was a Christmas gift from my about to turn four year old daughter Josie (purchased with her mom's help). I don't think she's ever heard any reggae before in her life but she's a HUGE fan of The Backyardigans and they've sampled every musical genre under the sun so... By the way, this isn't THAT Joe Gibbs (Hall of Fame football coach, NASCAR car owner). This Joe Gibbs was working in a music store in Jamaica back in the late 1960s who decided to become a record producer. Working with groups in the back of his music store, he soon began signing artists to his successful label and became an authentic music mogul. Throughout the 1970s, his empire expanded. He set up a new studio, started three new record labels (Jogib, Shock, and Pressure Beat), and was everywhere on the reggae scene and helped record many of the top artists of the day. This album was originally recorded in 1979 under the title "The Joe Gibbs Family Wishes You A Merry Rockers ...

One night last month, my wife and son huddled around the computer, shopping for my Christmas gifts. When they came across this one , my son laughed out loud at the artwork and selected this one for me. Yep Roc Records was founded in Chapel Hill, North Carolina back in 1996 and has grown to be a quite reputable independent record label. Some of the artists who have released albums for them include Robyn Hitchcock, Los Straitjackets, The Minus 5, Paul Weller, Nick Lowe, The Fleshtones, Marah, and The Reverend Horton Heat. To quote from their website : "Every family has one, that Grinch who hates Christmas music, the humbugger that snarls at the mere mention of Rudolph or silent nights. During the holidays we here at Yep Roc have more than a few of these curmudgeons roaming the halls, so we decided to do something about it. "Oh Santa! New & Used Holiday Classics from Yep Roc features our favorite Christmas tracks from twelve of Yep Roc's best and brightest in...

Last January, I reviewed " Christmas With Peggy Lee " which was a gift from my oldest daughter Maggie who fell in love with the "snow princess" on the cover. So can you guess who gave me this CD as a Christmas gift? I had a copy of this CD in my collection - the 1995 Razor & Tie version from a fellow collector. It also had a lousy scan of the cover and pre-2000 CD-R that was falling apart. I always kept my eye out for a used copy whenever I went Christmas CD hunting but no one was willing to part with them (can't say that I blame anyone for that). Thankfully, some bright record executive at DRG Records decided a reissue was in order. After a twelve year hiatus, Lena Horne was officially back in the Christmas bins last year. When I discovered this had been reissued, it immediately shot to the top of my wish list. If you don't know who Lena Horne is, you owe it to yourself to take about 10 minutes out of your time and learn. Start with her Wi...

During the first days of this new year, I've been trying to get my reorganization skills reorganized in an effort to catch up with the 200+ Christmas albums I need to catalog and/or burn & catalog. This CD was on top of the stack labeled "Christmas Gifts" and was given to me by my charming wife on Christmas morning. It's been getting plenty of airplay on my computer since then. Why? It's Darlene Love, of course! Love was born in Los Angeles and sang in her church and school choirs. While in high school, she joined a budding girl group called The Blossoms. The group caught the eye of record producer Phil Spector who was reinventing the music scene with his "wall of sound". He immediately noticed Love's talents and began working with the group in 1963. During that fateful year, Spector brought together his stable of stars (The Crystals, The Ronettes, Bob E. Soxx & The Blue Jeans) and began recording a different Christmas album. ...

Pop quiz: What scenes in "The Godfather" contain Christmas elements (see answers below)? Technically, this is NOT a Christmas CD... but I did receive it for Christmas... and this isn't the first time I've reviewed something that wasn't a Christmas album. It has been part of an amazing change here with my "family"... Back in August, 2006, my wife went into our Toys R' Us for a last minute birthday present. When she arrived, an employee was taping a handwritten sign that simply read "We have Wiis ". She bit the bullet and purchased one for our kids for Christmas. The only problem was my wife's anticipation began playing games with her. She wanted to play the games, see how the system worked, and couldn't wait to sample the updates in technology. The last video game system we both owned was the venerable Atari 2600 from the early 1980s (we both received them as Christmas gifts separately in the same year of 1979). We ne...

For our first post of 2008, we need to clear up some old business: 1.) All of the album & MP3 shares were taken down today. Several album links were shut down at RapidShare early - this was totally out of my control and since I wasn't near a computer for over a week, I apologize to all who missed out. For more info, click here . 2.) We received several comments concerning one of our shares with a defective track. For more info, click here . 3.) New additional info on several posts is now available - click here and here . 4.) If you left a comment here between December 11, 2007 and January 2, 2008, I've tried to answer them all. See your respective comment for my response. 5.) Nothing further to report on my schedule status - I'll post when I can. Thanks for reading this far and I hope you have a great 2008! Capt

December 25th has finally arrived! Thanks for taking time out of your holiday to visit us at the yuleblog - especially to all of our first time visitors who are looking in today! Earlier this morning, I woke up, got dressed quickly, and ran quietly downstairs past the bedrooms of my kids. I wasn't heading to see if Santa came and left presents under the tree. I ran past the tree, past the fireplace where the stockings were hung and bulging with flair, and past the fridge (a major accomplishment for me in the AM). I headed outdoors like a kid running to see what was under the Christmas tree. I braved the Christmas cold to retrieve my copy of the Journal-Gazette , the morning newspaper of my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Emma Downs has been writing for the newspaper for several years. Last week, she called me about my annual Christmas CDs and my Christmas music obsession after receiving a copy of my annual Christmas CD. A phone interview was arranged, I supplied seve...

Over the past week and a half, I have been helping my 2nd grade son Alex prepare for his stage debut. He won a choice role in a school production that featured him as one of the Three Kings who refuses to get on a "lumpy old camel". When I first sat down with him last week, I was surprised to discover that most of his dialogue was burned into his memory. We worked on a few lines, worked a couple of gestures, and voila! A star was born. My first grade daughter Maggie was also in the play - as a member of the chorus. She sang songs to the both of us and it was a genuine kick to hear both of them sing Christmas songs around the house. It all came down to last night when they took the stage for the first time: The play began at 6:30 PM but my family and I arrived at 5:45 to secure good seats. When we arrived, we had found squatters already taking up much of the first several rows of the gym. By 6:15, it looked like the deck of the Titanic with people scrambling aro...

On Christmas Day last year, I posted my very first yuleblog sampler - a "best of" compilation from all of my shares of the previous year. Nothing new was added, a fancy cover & booklet was thrown in, and that was that. Thanks to my overextended schedule of the last several months, I wasn't able to complete what I wanted to do for this season. Many albums I've obtained over the past year are sitting inside a box waiting to be touched. Several of these albums have been already shared out across the sharity network: Arthur Godfrey - Christmas With Gary Mann - Christmas With Seeburg - The Sound & Color Of Christmas Ethel Smith - Christmas Music Santa's Helpers - All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth Swing Along With Santa's Snowmen Susie & Allie - Christmas With I've decided to sample the albums that you and I didn't get to hear. These are selections from full albums that I hope to share at some point down the road ...

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...

This is the last of three Christmas singles that I had time to transfer, digitally restore, scan, zip, and upload (sounds cruel when it's put that way, huh?). Two weeks ago, Kevin Killion contributed to Otis Fodder's amazing 365 Days project a selection of assorted singles from his college radio days. Among these was the A side of long forgotten Christmas novelty single from 1969. I found the radio station copy you are looking at on eBay earlier this year and immediately began searching for any clues on Rocki Lane, Jerry Gross, and The Gross Group via the almighty Google. There was one website for a Jerry Gross who claims to have been born "with the gift of leaving the body at will." Considering the times and the subject matter of this Christmas single, this very well could be him! Side one begins with Santa Claus stating "I am the oldest and original hippy and I want to know..." Cue Rocki Lane & The Gross Group who sing the rest of the que...

Ummmm... maybe...... well.......... Okay, they don't have anything in common. Unless you count that I fixed their broken links and they're available again: Liberace - 1954 Christmas Greetings Flexi (w brother George) Orion Samuelson - Christmas 45 CLM Industries - Christmas 1961 - SINGLE Happy listening... Capt

This is the second of three Christmas singles that I had time to transfer, digitally restore, scan, zip, and upload (sounds cruel when it's put that way, huh?). I found this on eBay the very first week of January this year. There was a ton of Christmas music just lying there online with no takers - timing is everything! What caught my eye was the description: "Also included is a letter to prospective radio stations by the artist himself." When the package arrived, I quickly found the letter (dated October, 1987) and read a request to play the record for their radio audiences. The letter also included his home address and phone number. I broke down and called the phone number included - to get the full story of the artist and the song. I only got a befuddled woman who didn't know what I was talking about. I examined the record - side one is the vocal version of the song (copyrighted both in 1984 and 1986) while side two is oddly labeled "Instrumental versio...

When this album reared its head on eBay earlier this year, I thought there was no chance in hades that I would win it. But after a full week and no bids, luck smiled on me (a rarity this year) and I found myself the proud owner of an actual, physical, stereo copy! So who are Al Caiola & Riz Ortolani? Al Caiola was a guitar virtuoso who served with Bob Crosby (Der Bingle's brother) during World War II. After studying at the New Jersey College of Music on the G.I. Bill, he found work as a staff musician at CBS Radio. Since then, he has played on thousands of records as a guitarist extraordinaire for hundreds of artists. Riz Ortolani was born in Pesaro, Italy and founded a wildly popular jazz band in the 1950s. Around 1962, he switched gears and began composing film scores. His first was for the infamous Italian movie " Mondo Cane " which gave us the international hit " More ". They were talented musicians who happened to hook up just once in th...

This is the first of three Christmas singles that I had time to transfer, digitally restore, scan, zip, and upload (sounds cruel when it's put that way, huh?). I found this on eBay and thought "gee, what a find!" A rare single, a picture sleeve, luscious red vinyl, and in MINT condition! I reached for my Goldmine Christmas Record Price Guide after I had won the auction. What I found was only mildly disheartening. This was originally released by the Manhattans in 1966 (on the Carnival label - Carnival 524). The copy I had won (and what you see before you) is a reissued version on the Star Fire label from 1979. Some quick research tells us that The Manhattans were formed in 1962 in Jersey City, New Jersey. After graduating from high school and serving in the military, the five members won a recording contract with Carnival Records two years later. Between 1965 and 1968, they recorded for Carnival and had five Top 25 singles on the R&B charts. During the m...