Greetings!

Election anxiety has made it hard me to do much in the way of music ripping this week, though I do actually have some ready-to-go posts (which are missing only an essay).  But I'm just not able to detach from the insanity of the moment and get to them.  Of course, my anxiety puts me in the same boat as many millions of fellow citizens, so it makes me feel connected.  It's funny when stress makes you feel connected.  But I wanted to note that my 2019 Christmas posts are up and working, so if you missed them last time and you want to celebrate early, please avail yourself of any or all of last year's holiday posts.

A weird mishap caused the post comments to vanish, but that's a long story.  People did comment, though.  Anyway, I put up a ton of things last year, including a number of singles compilations, if that's the way to put it.  I'll be putting up stuff this year, too, but not as much, probably.  Or I might get caught up in the spirt, and the thrifts may yield some fine finds.  Only Time will tell.  And, if not Time, then Newsweek (to use one of my favorite and lamest lines).

The Christmas singles in my 2019 comps run the gamut from standard holiday stuff to things that can hardly be described.  I like to keep a balance, you know.  I always love it when someone familiar with an offbeat record knows some history, or knows who put it out (and, possibly, why).  That's always cool.  In the earlier days of my blog (I started in 2005), I often heard from artists.  For instance, when I posted the Baby Dolls' 1964 version of Burt Bacharach's The Bell That Couldn't Jingle, I heard from a member of the group.  I believe she mentioned the Beatles performing in another studio at the same time.  I deleted most of my earliest posts, and because I was getting constant re-up requests that I couldn't fulfill, as I didn't have the files remotely handy.  I'm better organized now, so naturally I rarely get re-up requests.  Anyway, I was being overwhelmed by requests.  I had to make a choice between re-upping or blogging, and I chose the latter.  It apparently made some people mad, but what could I do.  How things have changed--it was hard keeping up with the email.

One of the coolest comments was from the daughter of Jack Halloran.  Jack had recorded Katherine K. Davis' 1941 Carol of the Drum a year before Harry Simeone stole the song and retitled it The Little Drummer Boy.  At least, I'm presuming that Halloran used the original title.  At any rate, Simeone's arrangement is way close to Halloran's, so it was a case of double theft, I suppose.  I had done a lot of research over a few years to get the details right for that particular post, and it was wonderful to have her tell me that I had mostly nailed it.  Since that time, I've found four or so other pre-Simeone recordings of Drum, in addition to the famous Trapp Family Singers version of 1951 or 1952.  It's clear that Carol of the Drum was rapidly picking up in popularity by the time Simeone got a hold of it.  Davis, for some reason, had designated it as a Czech carol (or based on same), which, from what I've read, it was not.  The folk song designation maybe gave Simeone the notion that it was a P.D. item ready for the taking.  But it shouldn't have been all that hard for him to check and find out it was a copyrighted work. 

I believe I combined all of my Line Material sides into one post, too.  (Yup.  They're here.) To anyone new to Line Material's Christmas records, I envy you, because they're the cream of the Christmas crop.  Most are incredibly elaborate productions headed by choral great John McCarthy, who must have needed work.  The LM sides--the great 1957-62 ones, anyway--stopped when McCarthy formed the Ambrosian Singers in 1961.  McCarthy had started his gig as choral director of the London Symphony Orch. and was, we can assume, no longer available.  The 1962 release was likely recorded the previous year, as I can't picture John flying back to do a Christmas 45 for a company that manufactured fuses, switches, and line hardware.

So, have an early Christmas on me!

Lee