An all-stereo V.A. holiday list, though I think that a fake/pseudo-/rechanneled stereo track snuck through, but that'll happen. We start off gloriously with that 1945 classic, All Around the Christmas Tree, albeit in a 1964 performance by John Klein on the Carillon Americana Bells, "the fascinating 610 bells of the world's largest and finest modern carillon, housed for the (1964-65 New York World's) Fair in the The Coca-Cola Company Pavilion Tower."--from the liner notes for the LP pictured topside. The combination of the 610-bell carillon and Henri Rene's orchestra makes for an amazingly cool, Christmas-y sound, though I wish RCA hadn't limited the audio to its Dyna-groove version. But who's complaining?
I'd planned on making my next sleighlist an all- (or mostly-) organ package, but the percentage of organ tracks this time around is almost 1/3rd, pretty much making this an organ V.A. list, or a semi-organ V.A. list, and there's a lesson there for all of us. Which will come to mind after my first cup of coffee, I'm sure. Five tracks by the excellent Buddy Cole on pipe organ, plus Dennis Awe at the Lowrey Holiday D-350 organ with Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Seth Rye at the same model with Here Comes Santa Claus. Nothing says "Christmas" more evocatively than the sound of an organ-demo room. ("And here's the one-finger-with-chords button...")
More Christmas polkas, including the Polish carol, Pasterze Mile (Beloved Shepherds?), I Dream of You and Me Polka, and I Can Tell It's Christmas, and Have a Merry Christmas Polka. And some dreadful--er, dreadfully charming--Peter Pan (SPC) tracks in true stereo and from the 1970s, I believe, including the title track (The Mostest, etc.), Rudolph's Christmas Party, and the impressively green number, A Favor for the Little Christmas Tree, which recommends the replanting of a (real) Christmas tree instead of burning it or laying it out by the curb for waste removal. All the ingredients of a holiday standard, but somehow (far as I know) it never achieved that status. And I guess I can't quite imagine rowhouses with replanted Christmas trees. Things would get pretty cluttered. Even more so, if specifically planted around and about the recycle bin.
And for those who've always wanted You're the Cream in My Coffee as part of their holiday background mix, look no further--Bobby Roberts and His Orch., 1958, has you covered. From the LP Holiday Music for Happy People (see above), which is packed with weird medleys, but I guess when a gathering becomes happy (tipsy) enough, even Rawhide can be slipped into the sleighlist without interrupting the glow--"Oh, this is a good one! 'Keep them reindeers rollin'!! Yule-riiiiiiiiide! Yee-haw!!'"
DOWNLOAD: Mostest, Bestest, Merriest Christmas Time.zip
All Around the Christmas Tree--John Klein, Carillonneur, Orch. Arr. and Cond. Henri Rene, 1964
Jingle Bells--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1958
The Little Drummer Boy--The Caroleers (SPC/Premier version in true stereo)
The Mostest, Bestest, Merriest Christmas Time--The Mistletoe Singers
Sleigh Ride--John Klein, Carillonneur, Orch. Arr. and Cond. Henri Rene, 1964
Medley: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer--You're the Cream in My Coffee--Jingle Bells--Bobby Roberts and His Orch., 1958
I Dream of You and Me Polka--Lenny Gomulka and the Chicago Push, 1991
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer-Dennis Awe, Lowrey Holiday D-350, 1982
Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1957
A Favor for the Little Christmas Tree--The Misteletoe Singers (Tinkerbell label)
Here Comes Santa Claus--Seth Rye, Lowrey Holiday D-350, 1982
Gather Around the Christmas Tree--The Mistletoe Singers (Tinkerbell label, not quite stereo)
Have a Merry Christmas Polka--Lenny Gomulka and the Chicago Push, 1991
Good King Wesceslas--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1957
We Three Kings of Orient Are--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1957
Rudolph's Christmas Party--Peppermint Kandy Kids, 1971 (Peter Pan EP)
Pasterze Mile (Beloved Shepherds?)--Carol--Ray Jay, 1991
Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful)--Buddy Cole at the Pipe Organ, 1957
Joy to the World, Adeste Fideles, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing--John Klein, Carillonneur, Orch. and Chorus Arr. and Cond. Henri Rene, 1964
I Can Tell It's Christmas--Unknown, 1988
Lee
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