CHRISTMAS 2020: Santa's Pandemic.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by cgoodwin22, Nov 4, 2020.

  1. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Oh man, I had no idea Bobby Troup was a songwriter and wrote Route 66, but I am sure my parents knew it. I remember watching the show Emergency with both of them as a kid, and I knew from my parents that Julie London was a singer and they were married, but I did not know his songwriting history. I love that song too by the way.

    I would definitely include Julie London on the list of great singers that never got around to making a full fledged Christmas album that should have made one. I would add Roy Orbison, Matt Monro, Patsy Cline, Tom Jones and Charlie Rich to that short list as well.
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2020
  2. Charlie Z.

    Charlie Z. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central NJ
    A big favorite in our house (my wife went to high school with him) is the EP "Seasons Greetings" by Bob Gilmartin that came out in 2011.

    It's a beautiful acoustic collection of 6 well-known Christmas favorites and is available on Apple Music and Amazon.

     
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  3. Pierino

    Pierino Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canonsburg
    Yeah, the next best thing we can do is a Julie London Holiday Trifecta:

    1. I'll Keep You Warm In December
    2. I'd Like You For Christmas
    3. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

    [​IMG]
     
  4. rfkavanagh

    rfkavanagh Unashamedly Pop!

    Location:
    New York
    And all three of them absolutely perfect!
     
  5. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    The sound on this one is not bad. It's a bit louder than I'd prefer, and it sounds like they've goosed the bass a little bit, so it's not an audiophile mastering by any means. But it's still pretty good. And it's nice to have almost everything in one spot... it seems to be as close to a "complete Christmas recordings" as we're likely to get. I just wish they'd gone the extra mile and included the two missing songs from Christmas Carousel (even though they are not that good) as well as the Benny Goodman track "Winter Weather," just for the sake of completeness.
     
  6. rfkavanagh

    rfkavanagh Unashamedly Pop!

    Location:
    New York
    Good to know - thanks! I have the expanded Christmas Carousel CD as well as an earlier budget holiday collection that if I recall correctly included a couple of different tracks, but that hasn't stopped me from just clicking "purchase" on this one, too. :) It's included in the Amazon 3-for-2 offer right now along with the Ultimate Peggy Lee release from earlier this year, so 12 CDs added to my cart later, here I am...
     
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  7. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Ultimate Christmas definitely is an upgrade sonically over the old Christmas Carousel CD, which was NoNoised and sounds dull and muffled. The best-sounding Peggy Lee Christmas CD I've come across is this budget collection which unfortunately only has 11 tracks. The new Ultimate release is not as good as that, but as I said it's not bad and it's almost complete.
     
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  8. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    How would you compare the sound on the new Ultimate Christmas collection to the original Christmas Carousel CD from 1990? You know how much I trust your ears on these matters!

    I see you just answered my question!
     
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  9. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Ultimate Christmas is not bad. Like I said, it's a hair compressed, but it's certainly not brickwalled. And it's got a bit more bass, but it's not overdone or anything. It's a decent sounding disc, just a bit more modernly mastered than would be ideal. But still miles ahead of Bob Norberg's stifling work.
     
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  10. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    I already have both the original Christmas Carousel CD as well as the new Ultimate Christmas collection, but I have not played the latter one yet. Based on the fact that I found your ears to be so good on these sonic issues in the past, I have just ordered that budget CD that you mentioned in your previous post. It looks like a fairly attractive collection for a budget release. Thanks for your expertise once again my friend.
     
  11. rfkavanagh

    rfkavanagh Unashamedly Pop!

    Location:
    New York
    Ha - that's the other CD I have! Very happy here... :)
     
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  12. YardByrd

    YardByrd rock n roll citizen in a hip hop world

    Location:
    Europe
    Just opened the latest reish of the Johnny Mathis Christmas LP and spun it for the first time... I've not only never had this album, but I've never heard it... and I'm loving both the reish and the performances/production...
     
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  13. paulmock

    paulmock Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
    Someone mentioned June Christy's "Sorry to See You Go" earlier. You can be 1,000% certain that no one will be playing that song...or at least have that sentiment this New Year's Eve. Too bad the great Sammy Cahn is no longer with us. I'd bet he would write a fabulous lyric parody to that great orchestration!
     
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  14. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Percy Faith recording with Johnny back in the 1950's, was what jumpstarted his career; the arrangements and performances literally cradled that man in stardust in those early recordings. Some of my first memories are Mom listening to his Christmas albums with me, she was such a fan. I'm delighted to see anybody discovering him even now for the very first Christmas (even though it doesn't seem like it with all my crabiness for those who haven't progressed any further, but it's a totally separate issue). Hearing songs you are already familiar with in a brand new light, is always a blessed thing. I'll never forget the first time I was exposed to those vibrophone chills as he went into, "Over the ground, lies a mantle of white...". I was, what, 4 then...?
     
  15. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Incidentally, earlier in this thread the question was brought up about artist who released more than two stellar holiday albums. And we forgot about the sublime chanteuse, harpist and legitimate musical scholar and historian, Loreen McKennitt.
    I hereby correct that oversight:

    Any recognized resemblance to Helen Mirren is...totally cool with me.
     
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  16. rfkavanagh

    rfkavanagh Unashamedly Pop!

    Location:
    New York
    I've never particularly liked the song God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, but her version from A Winter Garden is a thing of beauty:

     
  17. Armjim

    Armjim Music is indeed a gift from Heaven

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    This album has become a favorite of mine.

    [​IMG]
     
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  18. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Such a fine post that I just had to highlight it for emphasis. I was born in 1960, so my memories of this album also begin early in my childhood. My daughter won't let us open any Christmas presents until Johnny Mathis's Merry Christmas is on the player. There is a timeless beauty to this album that is really hard to explain. The angelic beauty of Johnny's silky tenor range; The dreamy and ethereal nature of Percy Faith's awesome strings (no brass to interfere with the delicate violins or Johnny's tender vocals), all just seem to come together to make holiday magic. It remains my favorite Christmas album of all time, a distinction it has never not had in my entire lifetime.
     
  19. paulmock

    paulmock Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
    I remember Johnny being interviewed on a talk show ages ago and the album came up in discussion. He said that he still could not look at the cover of the album because it brought back bad memories of a horrible photo shoot. The studio was incredibly warm and the photographer kept chastising Johnny for sweating. Allegedly he had to change his "costume" more than once as someone wanted "perfection" for the LP cover.
     
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  20. ModernBingFan0377

    ModernBingFan0377 Crosby ‘Connoisseur’

    His album is definitely one of the 'essential' Christmas albums to someone who has never heard Christmas music. Along with Bing's Merry Christmas these 2 albums create something magical on each performance, of course there are more 'essential' Christmas albums but Bing's came to mind for obvious reasons. Mathis' Merry Christmas album encapsulates some magic that is associated with Christmas, and one of the most impressive things about the album is Mathis creating a version of The Christmas Song on-par with Nat King Cole's version.
     
  21. paulmock

    paulmock Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA
    I am lucky enough to own original pressings of the 1st Mathis LP in both stereo and monaural. IMHO the mono mix is so clear and clean that I prefer it over the stereo LP. That is not to say that the stereo is any slouch at all. But some of the earlier 'high fidelity" monaural records by Capitol, RCA, Columbia, etc. are truly wonderful in simple, yet complete sound.
     
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  22. ModernBingFan0377

    ModernBingFan0377 Crosby ‘Connoisseur’

    Those early 'hifi' mono mixes are a thing of beauty. Frank's Capitol mono albums come to mind along with Bing's albums in those times. That makes me wonder now if there was a separate mono mix for Bing and Rosemary's Fancy Meeting You Here. To get somewhat back on topic, a good example of how good engineers got with mono mixes is by looking at say Bing singing White Christmas in '42 then his version of I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day from '56, or looking at Frank's Columbia Christmas recordings and then looking at his Capitol ones. To my ears recordings now have gotten to a point where the setups sound similar to the original mono mix set ups, but with the mixture of multi track and higher fidelity it doesn't capture the same magic. In fact I'd say 3-8 track is about enough to me for an album, because if it's in stereo I like to hear more of a full band sound, whereas if I know I'm going to be listening to mono recording I'm fine with some parts highlighted to get a full scope of the arrangements.
     
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  23. clhboa

    clhboa Forum Resident

    One of my favorites from recent years. New but traditional...

     
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  24. evillouie

    evillouie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toledo
    I absolutely LOVE this album! Like you, I am also hoping this will be reissued by Real Gone someday. And it’s not just the Collectors Choice reissue that goes for big bucks, the original vinyl does too.
    One of my observations about this album: It could easily fit in as the background music in any of those early Rankin Bass Christmas specials. I swear it could. The arrangements, the recording techniques (especially that reverb!) and the fact it was released during the golden age of Rankin Bass makes it easy to imagine. At least it sounds that way to these ears!
     
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  25. RSteven

    RSteven Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookings, Oregon
    Mandy Barnett's Winter Wonderland CD is just terrific and so is her brand new A Nashville Songbook album, with cover songs of Roy Orbison, Elvis and Skeeter Davis. She recorded the album with a large orchestra and it is a true delight.
     
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