High time for a shout out and huge thank you to our great host @Steve Hoffman on one of his great CD remasters from when he was working on the MCA catalog in 1986. All of Bing's great Decca recordings cleaned up to achieve impeccable mono sound. It don't get no finer for the Holidays than this one. Plus, it even has a wild 1940 Christmas celebration sending Holiday greetings to all Decca employees. Fun all around! Easily available on eBay.
Just noticed the photo did not reproduce on my android tablet, although it shows up just fine on my office compyooter. So...I'm referring to Singers Unlimiteds' Christmas album, a blessing of a cappella performances, multitracked from amazing arrangements by vocal jazz great Gene Peurling and his three elves. "Silent Night" and "Midnight Clear" in relevatory and fresh dressings that change your very concept of what the originals were hiding. And, it has a full compliment of Alfred Burt's carols from the mid-20th Century, all dressed in swaddling clothes and laid at your feed for a real discovery treat. That people always go to their childhood nostalgic choices without even considering what a modern masterpiece this was for the 1970's, makes me shake my head. I can't even listen to a Ray Conniff or a grandpa's-aged crooner anymore, without knowing there are better choices out there which get ignored, for simple comfort food.
Dillydipper, I love ya man, but I don't know why you so often frame it such a condescending fashion. It is not a finite choice here by any stretch of the imagination. We can still love grandpa's-aged crooner, who by the way, could sing without autotune or any other gimmicky studio tricks, and at the same time appreciate something novel and fresh sounding by JD McPherson or Singer's Unlimited, who I just discovered, thanks to you. You always come up with some very interesting and often out of the mainstream holiday music picks, and I appreciate that greatly. I just don't see it as some kind of competition. I know a lot of music I treasure barely registered on the music charts, while other music I like has sold like hot cakes. I am thrilled for the latter category of music, but it does not make me appreciate the lesser known music that I love any less. I wish you felt the same way about your very fine recommendations. Don't let the comfort food choices get you down.
Yes, that includes the best remasters of Bing's Christmas stuff from Decca, although The Voice Of Christmas release by Decca in the late-90s has some fine remasters of the tracks not on this album. Thankfully it is still available digitally, and this is definitely one of those remasters that just sound better than other versions available that shows through even when it's compressed for streaming.
Insulting others regarding their taste in Christmas music as being inferior to one's own taste in Christmas music? Priceless.
Perhaps it's the disappointment of seeing so many music lovers of our age with no expression of affinity for anything past their Wonder Years. It hangs over this board like - dare I say it - a pandemic. I've worked for decades in an industry that kowtows to repetition and familiarity, and I can't change the banality of that. But aside from my day job, I spent my off-hours learning to fall in love all over again, in addition to my growing collection of memories. And that stretches to my Christmas/holiday collection. I never stop looking, and seeing those who can't exercise those muscles, makes me sad. For me, Christmas music is always something of the now, and I never got any thrill for the nostalgia. It just all flows in the same context with the music that defines different years. I don't have my teddy bear either...and don't miss it. Christmas for me will always be about finding artists who have something new to say about it. And you were part of that last year with your John Klein release. But sad to say...your bringing it up every fourth post, is beginning to become a little of a drinking game. And I wish you could see this sentiment as more earnest than condescending, but I've never had much luck trying to reverse these trends here. All I've done is help overly-sensitive cranks familiarize themselves with the Ignore List function. And I don't know if that just makes me The Grinch in other people's eyes, or Wendy Carlos. But, that's their eyes.
Oh well, thanks for the backhanded compliment on the John Klein reissue as well as the exaggeration (every other post; Seriously?). Nevertheless, your pick of the Singers Unlimited Christmas album is just stupendous to my ears. I will be ordering it immediately based on the samples I've heard so far. To me personally, they might offer the most gorgeous harmony singing I've ever heard. The female lead singer has a voice not unlike Karen Carpenter, just gorgeous. Again, I thank you for posting this fine recommendation.
So, I was at a used record store a few weeks back, and found an original 45 rpm of Band Aid - "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (1984) for three dollars. This is my favorite Christmas song of all time, since I was 12 years old when it was released, and I was fully on board with synth pop feel of it. I'm waiting until December to spin it, though. Hopefully, it'll play well.
I did change that to "every fourth". But, I still can't drive for a few hours after reading this thread, nevertheless. I don't know a lot of voices like Karens', except for my first impressions of Rumer, or the British singer Harriet...and that Japanese singer from a few years back who learned her performances by rote, without knowing English. I have all the Carpenters' albums, plus the box, and four compilations of the Christmas recordings (yet have no need in my life to sit through "...Darling" ever again - it's in the "NAS" in my brain. Both vocal takes.).
I so appreciate your sense of humor as well. I try not to overdue my marketing instincts, but I am so passionate about music, especially Christmas music, that I want to shout it on a cliff to the world. I have probably posted more about the Percy Faith holiday reissue, something I had nothing to do with, more than any other reissue project over the years. I was a huge fan of the Real Gone Music label long before I began to consult with them on a few projects.
Of course, that's really contrary to Steve's overarching intention, to not let members limit themselves to the same old artists, because he wants us exposed to variety. So...back to "Santa's Pandemic"
Incidentally, somebody's gonna enjoy this - it's a few years old, but not on any major compilation, and I know there's people (me included) who love Rumer here. It's from a chick-flick soundtrack, and it's an overused song, but it's note-perfect, nothing out of place: Oddly, I also found this piece of Bacharachian fluff on a Warners' Christmas playlist most certainly not a holiday song, although it walks, talks and cuddles like one. As if it's just waiting for Hallmark to crank out another of those holiday movies up in Vancouver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04xsT87n2ZI
I've became addicted to Rumer's pitch perfect voice in the last year or so. Her Nashville Tears album is one of my top five albums of 2020. She indeed up recording a whole album of Hugh Prestwood songs, who is one of the greatest country music songwriters in history, while also one of the least known. I relish the day when she records her first full fledged Christmas album. Lots of people compare her favorably to Karen Carpenter, which I think is a nice compliment, but for me she personally, she has her own wonderful style and sound.
Kelly Clarkson made a really great Christmas album in 2013, Wrapped In Red. Seven time Grammy award winning Producer Greg Kurstin used some of his own vintage instruments to help create a timeless sounding holiday album. He was also a fan of Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound production style. Another bonus is the fact that he tapped some great jazz legends, like drummer Steve Gadd, to add to the mix. I really love this album and just thinking about it makes me want to pull out her CD and put it on the player. Check out Kelly's jazzy version of My Favorite Things below, but she also wrote several originals for the album that are quite good.
Can you appreciate the irony in citing, in 2020, an album released in 1972 as an anti-nostalgia alternative. The album is worth recommending. I have it - both the LP and CD versions, and would recommend it. For those unfamiliar with the group, it's in the same vein as The Manhattan Transfer singing group, and (I don't mean this is a pejorative way) has a similar sound of smooth harmony vocals to those radio call letters IDs of yester-year.
Thanks for starting this thread! I just got my copy of this very album in the mail. It was always played at my aunt and uncle's house during the holidays. I love Christmas music and try to add an album or two every year. I usually wait to start my Christmas music on Thanksgiving but felt like we needed a little joy earlier this year. I also got this one and played it yesterday: A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra
Not at all; this album was fresh because the arrangements didn't adhere to ones' expectations; nor did the rarified selection of Burt carols. There was no other adult-leaning album out there like this (admittedly I didn't see it until 1979, but had been beguiled by the fresher sound of this group since encountering them on a jazz station in Columbus OH that year). The tight and clashing harmonies, the choir/not-choir grouping, the overall refusal to give you a familiar song without an astonishing twist, was everything one does not get from Christmas music in that era. Ever. green. This quartet is formed for radio ID's and advertising jingles, and so exists in a different space. Gene Peurling actually did a couple of arrangements for Manhattan Transfer in the '80s (also reunited for a guest gig on Gloria Estefan's Christmas album once they'd stopped recording for themselves. And these pro's were able to make their sound on the fly, with very little rehearsal, and multitracked their voices at the whim of their leader, Peurling, perfect-pitch, with no guide tracks to help. This is an astonishing level of musicianship, that "star-power" performers don't try to attempt. Like I said, the album may have been 1972, but even then was far removed for me, from the so-called "golden era" of Christmas recordings. I found my first break with the traditional holiday fare in 5th Grade with Vince Guaraldi. But the day after Coke and Dolly Madison sold us Peanuts for Christmas, that album was already ubiquitous. Singers Unlimited's Christmas flew under the radar, thus a definite "anti-nostalgia alternative".
@RSteven I sat back with some Manhattans last night pre-dinner and played the Slaktin CD. As advertised, I was completely blown away by the incredible sound quality. I was so good, I let it repeat! Kudos to all involved as far as production goes. The CD booklet is very well done (including showing the original LP cover)...but a magnifying glass was required to read the original LP liner notes. I'd forgotten the "joys" of print downsizing for CD's. We geriatrics do indeed have a wonderful "new" find for our Pandemic Christmas!!!!!
Interestingly enough, some of us fans of the Golden Age of Christmas actually consider the period runs up until the very early 70's. It is not a written rule or anything, but Chip Arcuri over at his great YuleLog.com lists some albums from the early 70's among his Golden era picks. He knows more about this era than anybody else I know on the planet. I really love that quartet harmony by the way. I have their CD on order.
Now that is the proper way to take in a new Christmas reissue! I myself like to break in a new holiday album with an eggnog spiked with White Christmas (Brandy & Rum) and a touch of nutmeg and whipped cream at the top. The sound on the remastering of Seasons Greetings actually surprised me too, Paul, as it was even better than I had anticipated. I think we have to give proper credit to the original engineer in Germany as well as Mike Milchner over at SonicVision, who handled the remastering duties.
