Christmas Songs (In Japanese)

 

UPDATE (1-14-21): Running the label images through Microsoft's Translator app, I discovered that this is not a Chinese LP, as I'd originally thought, but a Japanese issue.  I've posted the translated label scans below.

I previously featured this in 2017--in a Zippyfile upload that long ago expired.  This is a much more careful rip, and I think it's a fun listen, even if the selections are the usual holiday standards.  The ultra-standards, you might say.  If nothing else, it's fascinating to hear Chinese Japanese singers performing these numbers in such a Western style--some of the singers sound Western, in fact, though I'm sure they're not.  You have to wonder precisely what market this was aimed at.  

A couple of the titles are off in a strange and amusing way--Glory for A Child Is Born (Joy to the World), and Christmas Card (It Came Upon the Midnight Clear).  I wonder how that became Christmas Card?  Something to ponder late at night.  The best of the bunch is Jingle Bells, but that's just about my favorite Christmas song of all, so naturally I'd pick that one.  There's interesting instrumentation at times (with a Baroque edge), and Glory For a Child Is Born has a cool piped-in recording of church bells to open and close the number.  And the cover really appeals to me.  Simple but effective.  Love the giant candle, the array of stars, and the tiny shepherds and... their sheep?  Kind of abstract, the longer one looks at it.  An A for effort.

DOWNLOAD: Christmas Songs (In Japanese) (Tower TWK-6)

Jingle Bells
Holy Night
Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing!
Glory for a Child Is Born
The First Noel
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Christmas Card
Christmas Tree

Star Star Chorus

University of Tokyo, NiFuhoku

Christmas Songs (Tower TWK-6; 10" LP)

Lee