Another collection of holiday music that you may not hear anywhere else…. Still haven’t figured out how to balance the audio levels…

http://www.dropbox.com/s/3yzp0ux8u1lj0fd/Christmas%20Mix%202015.zip?dl=0

By the way, if you can’t get enough of that good holiday music, I recommend these blogs:

Christmas A Go Go
FaLaLaLaLa
Merry and Bright
Mistletunes
Music You (Possibly) Won’t Hear Anyplace Else
Stubby’s House Of Christmas

They’ve provided me with much of my collection over the years. Check them out!

List of songs in this year’s collection and notes below the jump:

1. “Awake, and Join the Cheerful Choir” – Anonymous 4
A traditional carol sung by a noted quartet of women who specialize in medieval music. Normally they perform a capella; here they are joined by Andrew Lawrence-King on the harp.

2. “I’ll Be Home With Bells On” – Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
The Country music genre has so many good holiday tunes.

3. “O Little Town of Bethlehem” – The Mexicali Brass
Bet you were expecting something different!

4. “Cool Yule” – Tony Rodelle Larson and The Saints
A “beatnik” version of “The Night Before Christmas”.

5. “I Want An OC192 For Christmas/The 12 Days Of Christmas” – Northern Telecom
I suspect this was a promotional spot advertising Internet services.

6. “Christmas Night In Harlem” – Raymond Scott Quintette
A holiday piece from one of the 20th century’s more interesting avant-garde composers.

7. “Merry Christmas From Tonga” – Unknown (words by Sione Lavemai Finau)
A holiday “song poem”. In the back pages of comics or other cheap magazines, you might have seen ads saying “Song Poems wanted”. You’d send a music publisher your lyrics (for some reason they couldn’t call them that), and if they liked them (they always did), for a little more money they’d turn your poem into a real honest-to-goodness vinyl record. Needless to say, almost all of them were garbage. But a rare few were just odd enough to be interesting…

8. “Christmas Spirit??” – The Wailers
NOT the reggae band, and they’ve had enough of the holiday nonsense, thank you.

9. “Jingle Bells” Georgia & August Greenberg
I think it’s just Georgia on the recording; I understand that August was only two years old at the time. Georgia was four….

10. “Frosty The Snowman” – Rev. Tom Frost
I don’t know if he’s really a member of the clergy, but Rev. Frost can really rock!

11. “let it snow” – bit shifter
A fun little bit of electronica / computer music.

12. “Silver Bells” – Eddie Layton
Layton was an excellent organist who, when he wasn’t playing for the Yankees (and Knicks, and Rangers, and Islanders), recorded some 27 albums…

13. “Gloucester Wassail” – The Solstice Assembly
Also known as the “Gloucestershire Wassail” – there are several different versions of the lyrics.

14. “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”; “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”; “Jingle Bells” – The Banjo Barons (Arranged And Conducted By Marty Manning)
Why NOT a medley on banjos?

15. “Hooray For Santa Claus” – Milton Delugg & The Little Eskimos
The theme song to the bad misunderstood movie, “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”.

16: “The Twelve Days of Christmas” – Phineas and Ferb
From the holiday episode of the children’s cartoon. Ask a kid to explain the references….though you’ll still love Professor Doofenshmirtz’s lines anyway.

17. “Sun Valley Ski Run” – Esquivel
A neat little seasonal tune from a master of “Space Age Pop”.

18. “Unwrap Me” – Saint Etienne
Something for the gentlemen….

19. “Christmas Tree on Fire” – Holly Golightly
A cautionary tale!

20. “White Christmas” – The Drifters
That’s Bill Pinkney handling the bass, and Clyde McPhatter hits the high notes.

21. “The Christmas Song” – Cast of “Sanford And Son”
Redd Foxx with jazz great Herb Ellis on guitar…

22. “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” – Mel Torme
Smooth and mellow, like a fine bourbon.

23. “Sawt el Eid” – Fairuz
You know the tune, but I’m not entirely certain what language Lebanon’s greatest singer is using. Perhaps Farsi….