Firestone Presents Your Christmas Favorites Volume 7 - 1968

Any record collector or Chrismtas music nut knows of the Firestone Christmas record series from back in the 60's. This volume, volume 7, was the last record in that series. Some records are better than others. The selections are also a little hit and miss in my opinion. Some stand out and have something new to offer, while others are rather standard and interchangeable. A lot of the choir stuff just sounds like every other choir, but that may be my bias speaking. I'm not a big choir fan for Christmas music in general and don't pick up on all the subtle differences. Give me a choir for the Messiah and that is about where I end with choirs.

Anyways, as far as the hit and miss ratio goes, this record hits quite a few times. John Gary's version of "Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow" is really quite good. "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" by Nicolai Gedda is pretty good as well. Vikki Carr turns in a couple good performances on her tracks. I like both "I Still Believe In Christmas" and the medley she sings In fact the medley is definitely one of the standouts on the record for sure.

Before listening, I apologize that the rips aren't as clean and I would have hoped. I've looked around for better rips of these records and I've yet to find any really good ones. So even though these could be better, I still think this is better than some of the other stuff I've come across. Some day I'll find good copies of these records. It is just hard to do since most of the time these records have been beaten on and played to death and then have sat in a garage or thrift store bin for years being unloved. That of course is a shame. If anyone has or comes across cleaner rips of this record or any of the previous 6 volumes, I'd love to hear them.

Enjoy!


Firestone Presents Your Christmas Favorites Volume 7.zip

01 Medley - Joy To The World, The First Noel, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.m4a
02 Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow.m4a
03 O Holy Night.m4a
04 Good Christian Men, Rejoice.m4a
05 While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks.m4a
06 I Still Believe In Christmas.m4a
07 Medley - Jingle Bells, Ding Dong! Merrily On High, The Bells Of Christmas.m4a
08 Ave Maria.m4a
09 He Shall Feed His Flock.m4a
10 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.m4a
11 Medley - Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Up On The Housetop.m4a
12 Silent Night.m4a

Christmas With Eddy Arnold and Henry Mancini

I think Eddy Arnold has a voice made for Christmas songs. Warm, smooth like a winter blanket. This record is an odd duck. It is a combination with Henry Mancini. It's not that they do songs together, the album just alternates between the two artists. I'm pretty sure all of the Eddy Arnold songs can be found on "Christmas With Eddy Arnold" which is a great Christmas record.

Eddy's version of "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" is by far my favorite version of the song. It has heaping helpings of nostalgia and just sounds like a quintessential old time Christmas song.

The Mancini numbers are okay, standard really. They are listenable and all, but there are no revelations. They are just functional. The real reasons to listen to the record are for the Arnold numbers.

Enjoy!

Christmas With Eddy Arnold & Henry Mancini.zip

01 Jolly Old St. Nicholas.m4a
02 Medley God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Deck The Halls, Hark The Herald Angels Sing.m4a
03 Silent Night.m4a
04 The Little Dummer Boy.m4a
05 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.m4a
06 I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.m4a
07 Medley We Three Kings Of Orient, O Come All Ye Faithful, Joy To The World.m4a
08 Up On The Housetop.m4a
09 The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).m4a
10 O Little Town Of Bethlehem.m4a

A Jazzy Wonderland - 1990

This one is a relatively recent release, but even with that said it is nearly 20 years old. There are a lot of great jazzy Christmas numbers. The Harry Connick songs are great. These are from pretty early on in his career. At least for me this in when I first became aware of him. I bought my first Harry Connick, Jr. CD in 1990.

Better get this one fast, because it won't be up long.

Enjoy!

A Jazzy Wonderland.zip

01 This Christmas - Harry Connick, Jr. & Branford Marsalis.m4a
02 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Joey DeFrancesco & Dwight Sills.m4a
03 Silent Night - Nancy Wilson & Kimiko Itoh.m4a
04 Blue Christmas - Grover Washington, Jr.m4a
05 The Little Drummer Boy - Karl Lundberg & Full Circle.m4a
06 Some Children See Him - Branford Marsalis & Harry Connick, Jr.m4a
07 White Christmas (Feat. Dexter Gordon on Sax) - Tony Bennett.m4a
08 Winter Wonderland - Wynton Marsalis.m4a
09 Go Tell It On The Mountain - Kirk Whalum.m4a
10 This Christmas - Ellis Marsalis.m4a
11 Jingle Bells - Richard Lee.m4a
12 Christmas Trees - Fred Simon & Traut / Rodby.m4a
13 The Little Drummer Boy - Marlon Jordan & Delfeayo Marsalis.m4a
14 O Come All Ye Faithful - Monte Croft & Terence Blanchard.m4a

Andy Williams Christmas Album - 1963

Starting off with White Christmas is quite appropriate because you can't get much more white bread than Andy Williams, "Mr. Moon River". Maybe Pat Boone could give him a run for his money. But look at that picture on the cover. You see that and you know what you are in for. The vocals are smooth and warm like wearing a snuggie, perfect for a cold Christmas night. Andy does a lot of standards here and nothing really stands out, except "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year". The performance there shines above the others. When you hear it you'll probably recognize it because it shows up on Christmas CD's all the time and you'll hear it in the mall and grocery store for sure.

For more on Andy Williams and his career check out the wikipedia entry. One thing I'd like to note from wikipedia is that it say that one of his early breaks was performing on WLS radio in Chicago. I grey up in the Chicago area and listened to WLS as a kid. It was one of the stations that introduced me to pop and rock music in 5th grade. So that station has a bit of nostalgia attached to it for me.

I believe this is also his first Christmas record. Recorded in 1963 it is one of 8 Christmas records Andy has recorded over the years. I guess that would help support that his voice is meant for Christmas tunes.

Enjoy!

Andy Williams.zip

01 White Christmas.m4a
02 The Holiday Season.m4a
03 The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).m4a
04 It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.m4a
05 A Song And A Christmas Tree (The Twelve Days Of Chistmas).m4a
06 Kay Thompson's Jingle Bells.m4a
07 The First Noel.m4a
08 O Holy Night.m4a
09 Away In A Manger.m4a
10 Sweet Little Jesus Boy.m4a
11 The Little Drummer Boy.m4a
12 Silent Night, Holy Night.m4a

We Wish You A Merry Christmas From...

This is a decent Christmas compilation. Most of the songs are pretty enjoyable. The stand out track is the first track "Silver Bells" by Brenda Lee. I love Brenda Lee and I will forever connect her to Christmas songs growing up. I'm pretty sure this version of Silver Bells was on a record my parents played. For me it si kind of the definitive version that I hold up as the standard for other versions.

Enjoy!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas From.._ - 320K.zip

01 Silver Bells - Brenda Lee.m4a
02 Sleigh Ride - The Voices Of Christmas.m4a
03 I Wonder As I Wander - The Voices Of Christmas.m4a
04 Christmas Wishes - Lawrence Welk And His Champagne Music.m4a
05 Jingle Bells - Lenny Dee.m4a
06 The Little Drummer Boy - Pete Fountain.m4a
07 Deck The Hall - Fred Waring And The Pensylvanians.m4a
08 White Christmas - Wayne King And His Orchestra.m4a
09 Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Earl Grant.m4a
10 We Wish You A Mery Christmas - The Columbus Boychoir.m4a

The New Christy Minstrels - Merry Christmas - 1963

I'm going to throw a little more effort into today's post. I realize that recent posts have been a little slack on the words side of things.

I have a few things to say about The New Christy Minstrels, dumb stories and references from my life that you may or may not care about. The first thing I think about when I hear the name The New Christy Minstrels is of an old comedy record I heard on Dr. Demento as a kid. It was called "Rock and Roll Doctor" and was performed by Travesty, Ltd. The basic concept was that the Rock and Roll Doctor was a radio host and people called in for advice and the doctor would advise them on what kinds of drugs to take. One caller calls in and says he is going to the The New Christy Minstrels show and he asks what should he bring to the show. The good Rock and Roll Doctor says, "a good book". Ba dum bump. Yes, it is dumb, but it has stuck with me all these years.

As luck would have it some kind person has posted the routine on youtube. Give it a listen.






The second thing the group makes me think of is the movie "A Mighty Wind", Christopher Guests brilliant satire of folk music. In that movie there is a group called The New Mainstreet Singers which is a direct parody of The New Christy Minstrels. I even think they show some of their album covers, which are parodies of New Christy Minstrel jackets. Anyways, the movie is hilarious. The songs are great. Jane Lynch from Glee is hysterical.


The last thing to mention before signing off is that I found some interesting tidbits about this folk group on wikipedia, which I hope to be true. Of course you have to take everything there with a grain of salt, but I'm wanting to believe this. It lists alumni of the group and there were a few names that popped out on me. Apparently Kenny Rogers, Karen Black and Kim Karnes were in the group at one point. Now I have to see if I can ever find a record that has any of them as part of the group. I'll have to do more research, but if anyone has any more info on this I would love it. If you can identify any of them on the album cover, I'd love that as well.

Now to the music. Enough babbling about the group and my pop references going on in my head. As a Christmas record, the album is great. It is upbeat and full of energy. I also take a weird perverse pleasure in hearing extremely white folks sing gospel songs or at the very leave in a gospel style. It should be and probably is a genre in and of itself. It is a strange sort of creature that is birthed when that happens and it happens several times on this record. I hope you like it.

Enjoy!

The New Christy Minstrels - Merry Christmas - 320K.zip

01 Beautiful City.m4a
02 Tell It On The Mountain.m4a
03 One Star.m4a
04 Christmas Wishes.m4a
05 The Shepherd Boy.m4a
06 Song Hosanna, Hallelujah.m4a
07 Sing Along With Santa.m4a
08 It'll Be A Merry Christmas.m4a
09 Tell Me.m4a
10 A Christmas Song.m4a
11 Parson Brown (Our Christmas Dinner).m4a
12 Christmas Trees.m4a

The Jean-Paul Kreder Choir and Les Petits Chanteurs A La Croix De Bois - Christmas Music of France

Great 70's picture on the front and lots of French songs done with a traditional choir. In the right setting and the right occasion, this can be a pretty good record to have on hand.

Enjoy!

The Jean-Paul Kreder Choir and Les Petits Chanteurs A La Croix De Bois - Christmas Music of France.zip

The Caroleer Singers - Frosty The Snowman

This record has a handful of really good tracks.
"Sing A Kris Kringle Jingle", "Wait For The Wagon On Christmas Day", "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and "Frosty The Snowman" are all pretty stellar. "Wait For The Wagon" is amazingly great as far as I'm concerned. The parts and layers of the voices are great. I can't hear this track enough at the holidays. As a little side note, I swear this track is actually the exact same track on the Christmas album by Slim Boyd and the Rangehands. I posted that record last year, praising the song "Wagon On Christmas". You can read that post here and download that track to compare. If anyone has any info on the history of Slim Boyd or The Caroleer singers to help explain which came first or why the same recording was credited two different ways, I'd love to hear it. My suspicion is the Slim Boyd may have been a record label creation with session musicians and singers and that later that recording was just re-purposed for this Frosty The Snowman record. That is just a guess though.

The other thing I really like about this record is the artwork. I love this snowman.

Enjoy!

The Caroleer Singers - Frosty The Snowman - 320K.zip

01 Sing A Kris Kringle Jingle.m4a
02 Up On The House Top.m4a
03 We Three Kings.m4a
04 Wait For The Wagon On Christmas Day.m4a
05 Joy To The World.m4a
06 Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.m4a
07 Nuttin' For Christmas.m4a
08 The Night Before Christmas.m4a
09 Frosty The Snowman.m4a
10 Oh Christmas Tree.m4a
11 Oh Holy Night.m4a
12 The First Noel.m4a

Password:sapmusic2013

VA - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Repost

Just got a request to repost this record. Here is last year's post.

01 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra
02 O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Jo Stafford
03 A Vision of Sugar Plums - Billy May
04 What Child Is This - The McGuire Sisters
05 The First Noel - Keely Smith
06 Deck The Halls - The Hi-Lo's
07 Jingle Bells - Sammy Davis Jr
08 Medley Go Tell It On The Mountain/How Should I Send Thee/Carol Of The Bells/Joy To The World - Les Baxter's Balladeers
09 Away In A Manger, Hark The Heral Angels Sing - Mavis Rivers
10 Adeste Fideles - Lou Monte
11 Cantique De Noel - Nelson Riddle
12 It Came Upon A Midnight - Rosemary Clooney
13 Peace On Earth and Silent Night - Dean Martin

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.zip

RCA Victor Presents Music For The Twelve Days Of Chistmas

As a whole this compilation isn't too bad. It's got Eddy Arnold's "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" which for my money is the best version there is. Also the last track "Merry Christmas Neighbor" is from the cast of Bonanza. You don't see that on too many compilations.

There are some decent choirs and orchestras on here. Everything from Robert Shaw Corale to Boston Pops. It's a good listen.

Enjoy!



RCA Victor Presents Music For The Twelve Days Of Chistmas - 320K.zip

01 The Twelve Days Of Christmas.m4a
02 O Come, All Ye Faithful.m4a
03 O Sanctissima.m4a
04 A Christmas Festival (Medley).m4a
05 The Christmas Song.m4a
06 Sleigh Ride.m4a
07 The Little Drummer Boy.m4a
08 Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.m4a
09 Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town.m4a
10 Merry Christmas Neighbor.m4a

P.K. And The Sound Explosion - Christmas Disco - 1977 - Repost

I just got a comment from a troubled reader who was frustrated with the fact that most of the links on this blog have been deactivated. That is something I am truly sorry about and wish I could keep things active longer, but I've found that this attracts problems. Anyways, this person was looking for this record that I posted last year with this post. So for DmRofAtoZ , I am reposting.

P.K. And The Sound Explosion.zip

I'm also going to post a link to another site that has digitized this record along with a bunch of other fun Christmas records. www.jeffco.ca.

Enjoy!

Mitch Miller & The Gang - Christmas Sing-A-Long with Mitch

Nothing super special about this one. It's a lot of the standards done in a rather standard manner. I imagine, though, that there are some out there that had this record growing up and that this might bring back some memories. I didn't have it and so no nostalgia is evoked, but Mitch was extremely popular and so there have to be a few families that had this record.

Enjoy!

Mitch Miller & The Gang - Christmas Sing-A-Long with Mitch LP - 320K.zip

01 Joy To The World.m4a
02 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.m4a
03 What Child Is This_.m4a
04 We Three Kings Of Orient Are.m4a
05 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.m4a
06 Silent Night, Holy Night.m4a
07 Deck The Hall With Boughs Of Holly.m4a
08 Go Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.m4a
09 O Come, All Ye Faithful.m4a
10 The First Noel.m4a
11 The Coventry Carol.m4a
12 Away In A Manger.m4a
13 O Little Town Of Bethlehem.m4a

Christmas Mix 2000

Since last year I found a really old Christmas mix. I think it was the first one I did way back in 2000. You'll notice a lot of repeat artists, because the Christmas music collection was much smaller. Also there are also a lot of classics on here and less obscure tracks. And lastly you'll notice that I was really ambitious and that I made a 2 CD compilation. The basic idea I was going for is disc one being traditional and leaning toward the spiritual side of Christmas and disc two being a more secular disc.

The artwork for this original CD was a lot of family photos. I gave this CD out just to family members as a gift from our family. So the photos were of me and the kids. The mix was also called "Filichia Family Christmas Album". For the purposes of this blog I've changed the name to SAP Music Christmas Mix 2000 and I've replaced the artwork with a out take photo I took last year for the Christmas mix.

So join me in the way-back machine to nearly a decade ago and listen to what I was listening to for Christmas in 2000.

SAP Music Christmas Mix 2000 Disc 1.zip
SAP Music Christmas Mix 2000 Disc 2.zip

1-01 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - Gypsy Soul.m4a
1-02 O Holy Night - Harry Connick, Jr.m4a
1-03 Away In A Manger - Ray Brown Trio.m4a
1-04 The Holly And The Ivy - George Winston.m4a
1-05 The First Noel_Canon In D - Janice Giampa And Carol Commune.m4a
1-06 For Unto Us A Child Is Born - The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.m4a
1-07 Glory To God - The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.m4a
1-08 Carol Of The Bells - George Winston.m4a
1-09 Jesus, Jesu Rest Your Head - George Winston.m4a
1-10 O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Gypsy Soul.m4a
1-11 O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Nat "King" Cole.m4a
1-12 Ave Maria - Harry Connick, Jr.m4a
1-13 Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring - Carol Commune.m4a
1-14 Procession From Ceremony Of Carols - Carol Commune.m4a
1-15 Silent Nihgt - Wayne Newton.m4a
1-16 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Gypsy Soul.m4a
1-17 Pray On Christmas - Harry Connick, Jr.m4a
1-18 Joy - George Winston.m4a
1-19 Hallelujah - The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.m4a
1-20 I Know My Redeemer Livith - The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.m4a
2-01 Hello Mr. Kringle - Kay Kyser And His Orchestra.m4a
2-02 Whatever Happened To Christmas - Frank Sinatra.m4a
2-03 I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm - Dean Martin.m4a
2-04 Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley.m4a
2-05 White Christmas - The Drifters.m4a
2-06 The Little Drummer Boy - The Harry Simeone Chorale.m4a
2-07 Gabriel's Message - Sting.m4a
2-08 Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee.m4a
2-09 The Christmas Song - Nat "King" Cole.m4a
2-10 All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) - Spike Jones & His City Slickers.m4a
2-11 Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane) - Gene Autry.m4a
2-12 I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Jimmy Boyd.m4a
2-13 Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt.m4a
2-14 Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Ella Fitzgerald.m4a
2-15 Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms.m4a
2-16 Jingle All The Way - Lena Horne.m4a
2-17 Baby It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin.m4a
2-18 Winter Wonderland - Peggy Lee.m4a
2-19 Christmas Is - Lou Rawls.m4a
2-20 (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag - Kay Starr.m4a
2-21 Please Come Home For Christmas - Charles Brown.m4a
2-22 Merry Christmas Baby - Lou Rawls.m4a
2-23 Jingle Bells - Wayne Newton.m4a
2-24 I Wish You A Merry Christmas - Bing Crosby.m4a
2-25 Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Aurty.m4a
2-26 Frosty The Snowman - Jimmy Durante.m4a
2-27 Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives.m4a
2-28 Silver And Gold - Burl Ives.m4a
2-29 Welcome Christmas - The Who's Of Whoville.m4a
2-30 Happy Christmas (The War Is Over) - John Lennon.m4a

Enjoy!

Christmas Eve At King's College, Cambridge - 1983

Here is another school record, but this one if a college record. It is very traditional and when I say traditional I mean in the classical music sense of the word. There are a lot of really old hymns on this one. They sound sublime and if you close your eyes you'll think your in a church. Maybe that is good and maybe that is bad. For me it is good.

Enjoy!

Kings College Choir, Cambridge - Philip Ledger, Conductor - Side 1 - 320K.zip
Kings College Choir, Cambridge - Philip Ledger, Conductor - Side 2 - 320K.zip

01 Up! Good Christian Folk, And Listen.m4a
02 I Saw Three Ships.m4a
03 A Spotless Rose (Gareth Morrell, Baritone Solo).m4a
04 O Little Town Of Bethlehem.m4a
05 Alleluya, A New Work Is Come On Hand.m4a
06 Away In A Manger.m4a
07 Quittez Pasteurs (Robert Chilcott, Tenor Solo).m4a
08 Lully, Lulla, Thou Little Tiny Child (Timothy Byram-Wigfield, Treble Solo).m4a
09 The First Noel.m4a
10 In Dulci Jubilo.m4a
11 I Sing Of A Maiden.m4a
12 Remember, O Thou Man.m4a
13 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.m4a
14 Sans Day Carol.m4a
15 A Hymn To The Virgin.m4a
16 Quelle Est Vette Odeur Agreable_ (Gareth Morrell, Baritone Solo).m4a
17 O Come, All Ye Faithful.m4a

The Voices Of Walter Schuman - The Voices Of Christmas - Repost

I just got a request for this record this afternoon and so I thought I'd repost it. Here is the link to last year's entry. The link has been de-activated so I'll repost an active link here for the next few weeks. So this is for you Gabrielle.

Walter Schumann - Voices Of Christmas 1.zip
Walter Schumann - Voices Of Christmas 2.zip

01 Sleigh Ride.m4a
02 God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.m4a
03 The Christmas Song.m4a
04 Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.m4a
05 What Child Is This_.m4a
06 Rise Up Shepherd And Foller.m4a
07 The First Snowfall.m4a
08 Fum, Fum, Fum.m4a
09 Christmas Tree.m4a
10 Christmas In Killarney.m4a
11 The First Noel.m4a
12 Frosty The Snow Man.m4a
13 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.m4a
14 Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers.m4a
15 Lully, Lully, Lu.m4a
16 Christmas Gift.m4a
17 C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S.m4a
18 Go Tell It On The Mountain.m4a

Jose Melis - Christmas With Melis - 1958

This record, like yesterday is a lot of fun. Actually this record is funner. Lots of instrumentals featuring piano and organ. Also as fun as yesterday's record cover was with the two girls in the Santa outfits, this picture of Jose Melis is priceless. I love the glasses. Reminds me of Gary Busy playing Buddy Holly.

This one also falls into the category of wishing the record was a little cleaner. It is also a record I think you can find elsewhere and perhaps there are cleaner rips out there. You may not get all the cool artwork and the ID tags filled in so thoroughly, though. I do try to go the extra mile in providing all that stuff all of you.

A couple tracks to point out as highlights are "Toy Piano" which feature Melis playing a toy piano. Also "Merry Christmas Music" is nice because Jose sort of talk sings on it.


Enjoy!

Jose Melis And His Orchestra - Christmas With Melis - 320K.zip

01 Sleigh Bells.m4a
02 Winter Wonderland.m4a
03 The Story Of Christmas.m4a
04 Jingle Bells.m4a
05 Toy Piano.m4a
06 Merry Christmas Music.m4a
07 Silent Night.m4a
08 Adeste Fidelis.m4a
09 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.m4a
10 It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.m4a
11 Hark! The Herals Angels Sing.m4a
12 Oh! Little Town Of Bethlehem, Noel, Noel, Silent Night.m4a

A Christmas Adventure In Disneyland - Repost

Another very popular post from last year is the "Christmas Adventure In Disneyland" record. Just in the last couple days I've had several requests for the "Jingle Bones" song that is on this record. While that track is a standout as being amazingly great, the whole record is fun for sure. Read last years post here.

If you are too lazy to even click on that link I'll recap the track listings here for you.

01 All Aboard For Disneyland
02 Disneyland At Last
03 The Storybook Tree
04 Fantasyland
05 Once Upon A Dream
06 Jingle Bones
07 Escaping The Witch
08 Frontierland
09 Adventureland
10 The Jungle Tree
11 Tomorrowland
12 The Futuristic Christmas Tree
13 Home At Last On Christmas Morning

And for the easy full album download here is a newly activated link. Will only be up a limited time again. A Christmas Adventure In Disneyland.zip

Enjoy!

Ferrante & Teicher - We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Did some one say they wished for some dueling pianos this holiday season? Well then this record may just make you wishes come true. I only wish the record was a little cleaner, but what are you gonna do. I'm pretty sure I've seen this record on other blogs and perhaps there are cleaner rips out there, but if you've stumbled across this one and don't want to search any further I think this rip isn't too offensive.

Enjoy!

Ferrante & Teicher - We Wish You A Merry Christmas - Side 1 - 320K.zip
Ferrante & Teicher - We Wish You A Merry Christmas - Side 2 - 320K.zip

Christmas with Gisele - Repost

Another of my favorite records for sure. The links on this original post I've never taken down. Gisele's voice is great and the French tracks are wonderful. So check out the old post or just hit up these links.

Gisele MacKenzie.zip

Enjoy!

Walt Disney Presents Christmas Carols From All Of Us To All Of You

I have a feeling that this is a record a lot of people had as children. So if you are looking for a touch of nostalgia, you'd better act quickly because I may only leave this one active for a short time. I fear the Disney legal teams causing problems if it stays up too long.

Like yesterday, you recognize the opening track from this years mix. Good old Jiminy Cricket sings a great Christmas wish from the folks at Disney to all of you.
Enjoy!


Disneyland Records - Walt Disney Presents Christmas Carols From All Of Us To All Of You.zip

The Border Brass - Tijuana Christmas Repost

I've had a lot of private e-mail requests for this record in the last week, so I thought it made a great candidate for a reposting. Here is the link to last year's blog posting.

sapmusic.blogspot.com/2008/12/border-brass-tijuana-christmas.html

You can read whatever I wrote a year ago. If you are just interesting in listening to this classic, then try this link. It should be good for the next few weeks.

Border Brass.zip

I can't say enough how much fun this record is, and judging by the number of e-mails I've gotten about this many other agree. It seems that there are a lot of people who grew up on this record and have fond memories of it. So give it a listen and start your own memories.

Enjoy!

Chanters Sing Noel - Campbell Hall School & Argyll Episcopal Academy LP

This is a school record from one of the private schools here in Southern California. Actually I think it is two schools, Campbell Hall School & Argyll Episcopal Academy, one a boys' school and one a girls' school. I could be wrong though. You have a kids orchestra and several kids' choirs. There are some really good numbers on this record and I think everyone can enjoy it and appreciate it without having to know someone who appeared on the record, which is often the case with this school recordings. These schools had some great choir directors and did some wonderful things with these kids. If you downloaded the SAP Music Christmas mix this year, you'll recognize a couple tracks from this record, that made it onto the mix. So that should give you a little indication of how much I like some of these songs. I found them mix worthy.

I don't have a date for this record, but the photo is obviously 60's or 70's to these kids are all adult and maybe even grandparents now in some cases. My hope in posting a record like this is that perhaps someone who sang on the record stumbles across this blog and is able to share this recording with their family.

Enjoy!

01 Joy To The World.m4a
02 Procession.m4a
03 Magnificat.m4a
04 African Noel.m4a
05 Ding Dong! Merrily On High.m4a
06 Ave Maria.m4a
07 What Child Is This_ (Feat. Gina Kuraner).m4a
08 Little Drummer Boy.m4a
09 O Come, All Ye Children.m4a
10 Jingle Bell Rock.m4a
11 Adeste Fidelis.m4a
12 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.m4a
13 Baby, What You Goin' To Be_.m4a
14 Go Tell It On The Mountain (Feat. Susan Wesel).m4a
15 Angels We Have Heard On High.m4a
16 I Wonder As I Wander (Feat. Kim Gessel).m4a
17 Medley Christmas.m4a
18 The Christmas Song.m4a
19 All I Want For Christmas.m4a
20 White Christmas.m4a
21 Silent Night.m4a

Chanters Sing Noel - Side 1 - 320K.zip
Chanters Sing Noel - Side 2 - 320K.zip

SAP Music Christmas Mix 2008 - Repost

While I have plenty of new stuff to post this year, I thought I'd also repost some of the Christmas fun from last year for those who may not know to dig back into the archives. So today I'll start with last year's Christmas mix. You can read the original post here. http://sapmusic.blogspot.com/2008/11/sap-music-christmas-mix-2008.html

Here's the link for the mix itself.

SAP Music Christmas Mix 2008 Part 1.zip
SAP Music Christmas Mix 2008 Part 2.zip

Or here it is as a podcast, which is how it was posted last year.

SAP Music Christmas Mix 2008.m4a

Christmas Eve With Colonel Sanders - 1967

How great would it be if this record actually had Colonel Sanders singing? Unfortunately we can all only fantasize about such a record. The Colonel does not bless us with his voice anywhere on this record. Instead he offers up a pretty good selection of Christmas classics from artists of the time, 1967. I'm pretty happy with the rip on this record. It sounds pretty clean and holds up really well as an album. Not really any bad tunes here and can be played from start to finish without any cringing moments. It's definitely a record you can put on when company is over to get them into a Christmassy mood.




Enjoy!

01 White Christmas - Jim Reeves.m4a
02 O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Anita Kerr Singers.m4a
03 Medley - Up On The Houseteop; Jingle Bells - Floyd Cramer.m4a
04 Medley - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing; Good King Wenceslaus; God Rest Ye Merry - Hugo and Luigi's Children's Chorus
05 O Come, All Ye Faithful - Chet Atkins.m4a
06 Medley - Winter Wonderland; Silver Bells - Henry Mancini Orchestra and Chorus.m4a
07 Joy To The World - Vic Damone.m4a
08 I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day - Chet Atkins.m4a
09 The Little Drummer Boy - The Norman Luboff Choir.m4a
10 A Christmas Festival (Medley) - Boston Pops.m4a

Christmas Eve With Colonel Sanders - 320K.zip

A Christmas Carol Narrated By Richard Hale and Lionel Barrymore As Ebenezer Scrooge - The Canterbury Choir Sings The Hymns

Here is a nice way to kick off the month of December. Set aside some time and give a listen to A Christmas Carol. Lionel Barrymore is a great Scrooge. Every time I listen to it all I can think is that it sounds like Simon Bar Sinister being a humbug about Christmas.

Enjoy!

A Christmas Carol.zip

A Christmas Carol Narrated By Richard Hale and Lionel Barrymore As Ebenezer Scrooge - The Canterbury Choir Sings The Hymns Side 1
A Christmas Carol Narrated By RIchard Hale and Lionel Barrymore As Ebenezer Scrooge - The Canterbury Choir Sings The Hymns Side 2