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Christmas album reissues (1 Viewer)

Rodney

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As someone born in the mid-sixties, i have a certain idea in my head what Christmas music should sound like. Certain albums were played by my parents during my childhood; it is a pleasure to be able to go back in time through playing some of those tracks and re-live that childhood wonder and anticipation of the holiday. I still have strong memories that flood back over me whenever I play "Christmas Moods" by 101 Strings or "Christmas in California."


For the longest time the only way to get this music was either to scour the thrift and secondhand stores for the vinyl albums, provided you still had a record player, or find personal blog sites that have created mp3's of the albums and posted them for download. With the shutdown of many file sharing sites, this has been more and more difficult.


Luckily some enterprising souls have seen the value of reissuing older records. For the past couple of years Real Gone Music has been a great resource for doing just that. Not only do they release them with the original artwork, as much as possible they go back to the original tapes and remaster them.


This year they are releasing 12 'new' CDs for the season:


October 9th:

John Gary: The John Gary Christmas Album
The Three Suns: A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas
George Melachrino: Christmas Joy
The Soulful Strings: The Magic Of Christmas

November 6th:
The Living Voices: The Living Voices Sing Christmas Music/The Little Drummer Boy
Bobby Vinton: A Very Merry Christmas
Jimmy Dean: Jimmy Dean's Christmas Card
Lynn Anderson: The Christmas Album
Johnny Mathis: The Complete Christmas Collection 1958-2000
Glen Campbell: The Complete Capitol Christmas Recordings
Jim Nabors: The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings
The 4 Seasons: The 4 Seasons Greetings


I had pre-ordered all of these, and have already received the first four. I'm patiently waiting to start playing these the day after Thanksgiving (again, a tradition from my childhood), especially George Melachrino's "Christmas Joy".


The other release I am extremely excited about is The Living Voices double album.


I didn't mean this to sound like an advert for Real Gone Music. What I really wanted to do was to inform anyone that didn't know about them, and to discover if there were other Christmas albums of the 60's and 70's being reissued that I wasn't aware of. I follow Real Gone Music, obviously, as well as Collector's Choice. Are there other companies that are doing this?


Also, what are your thoughts on 60's/70's Christmas music in general? I don't mean for this to be a knock on Kenny G or Mariah Carey, but listening to Julie Andrews during the holidays means a lot more to me personally.

Does anyone else love this type of music?


Lastly, what about how we got this music. Isn't it a kick to think that these were originally given away at service stations and banks?


"Honey, I'm headed down to my local Richfield service station for a fill up and to get this year's annual Christmas album. Need me to stop at the store to pick anything up?"
 

davidmatychuk

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Check out Jasmine Records, an English company. I have their 2 CD "The Sounds Of Christmas", and it is fantastic. The Three Suns' other Christmas album is on it in its entirety, and almost nothing on the entire set is duplicated on any of my 600 or so Christmas CD's. I see their catalog has some upcoming new Christmas compilations that look great; I know what I'm asking Santa for this year.
http://www.jasmine-records.co.uk/acatalog/genreindex31.html
 

Mike Frezon

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Great topic. My Christmas music collection probably overshadoes all other topics/genre in my music/film/TV media room.


And, yes...I've got all the early Firestone Christmas LPs! :thumbsup:


I grew up in the '60s & '70s...so I am also partial to that era...but I have been buying Christmas music non-stop up to today. In fact, I just purchased two more discs on Amazon before coming over to the Music Forum and finding this thread. Rather serendipitous!
 

KPmusmag

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I am excited to read that the John Gary Christmas album is being released. And I am curious what will be on the Jim Nabors album that has not already been released. His arrangement of "Go Tell It On The Mountain" is the grooviest ever! I will be purchasing many of these titles! Thank you for the heads up!


Thank you also for mentioning Julie Andrews. If I were banished to a desert island and could take only one CD, it would be her Christmas album with Andre Previn. I get all of her Christmas albums out on Sept 1 (the rest I keep until after Halloween).


R-1757729-1241423587.jpeg
 

Steve...O

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Thank you to the OP die this thread! If the Lynn Anderson reissue is the one with her classic "Ding a Ling the Christmas Bell" I'll be all over that as well as some of the others. I've been an admirer of Gordon Anderson since his days at Collectors Choice and it's great to find out he's continuing strong at Real Gone.
 

KPmusmag

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Mike Frezon said:
This is one of my absolute favorite Christmas albums, too.


Here's what mine looks like:


gallery_286742_34_51061.jpg

FYI: The RCA release contains a song not on the Firestone version, "The Lamb of God". But I am sure you have the CD that contains that song plus the longer version of "The Bells of Christmas" and three bonus tracks from "Julie Andrews Sings".


View attachment christmas-1.jpg


1. Joy To The World 2. Irish Carol 3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem 4. Deck The Halls 5. Angels From The Realms Of Glory 6. The Lamb Of God 7. Away In A Manger 8. Sunny Bank 9. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear 10. Greensleeves 11. The Bells Of Christmas 12. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen 13. Wexford Carol 14. Jingle Bells 15. It Might As Well Be Spring 16. Falling In Love With Love 17. Cheek To Cheek
 

Rodney

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Steve...O said:
Thank you to the OP die this thread! If the Lynn Anderson reissue is the one with her classic "Ding a Ling the Christmas Bell" I'll be all over that as well as some of the others. I've been an admirer of Gordon Anderson since his days at Collectors Choice and it's great to find out he's continuing strong at Real Gone.

Steve, I think you are going to be very happy. Here's the song list:

1. Ding-A-Ling The Christmas Bell
2. Jingle Bell Rock
3. The Spirit of Christmas
4. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
5. Soon It Will Be Christmas Day
6. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
7. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
8. Mr. Mistletoe
9. A Whistle and a Whisker Away
10. Frosty the Snowman
11. Don’t Wish Me Merry Christmas
Bonus Tracks
12. Ding-A-Ling the Christmas Bell (1971 Promo Mono Christmas Seals Version)
13. Don’t Wish Me Merry Christmas (1971 Promo Mono Christmas Seals Version)
14. Frosty the Snowman (1972 Promo Mono Christmas Seals Version)
15. Don’t Wish Me Merry Christmas (1972 Promo Mono Christmas Seals Version)
 

Bob_S.

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Great topic Rodney! Real Gone Music is a great site, thanks. Saw that they have Jackie Gleason's "For Lovers Only" on cd. I remember having the LP.


My favorite Christmas music starts from the 40's through the 70's. I found a great internet station that plays only the old classic Christmas songs, up through The Carpenters. It's called Classic Holiday Radio. Check it out.
 

Steve...O

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I just received my first order from Real Gone (4 Christmas titles) and decided to start the season early. Been listening to the complete Andy Williams Christmas CD and it sounds great. The Lynn Anderson reissue was a treat- not a bad track on that one.

Thanks again to Rodney for starting this thread and alerting me to this company.
 

Mike Frezon

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Mike Frezon said:
I posted this over in the High-Rez music thread a while ago...but anyone into high-resolution music might like to know that an SACD re-issue of the Nat King Cole Christmas album is due out soon (this Friday, in fact)...for a reasonable price ($17.99!) on Amazon.


Another vintage classic without a bad track.


81rPfBwW4hL._SL1500_.jpg

Well...something has gone wrong here. Not exactly sure yet what has happened.


But Amazon sent me an e-mail saying I can expect to receive this on December 18th(!). The website is saying "Temporarily Out of Stock" and is not listing a release date. AND...the price is up to $28.47.
 

Mike Frezon

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This is annoying. Here's what someone in the thread over at Steve Hoffman's has posted:

I received the same e-mail from Amazon that others have mentioned - postponing to a delivery date of 12/18. I chose NOT to cancel my Amazon order at this time.

However, I called Audio Fidelity and spoke to a very nice lady there whose name escapes me at the moment. They have stock and have been shipping it, so I ordered a copy from them. Yes, it costs more, and I'm paying for shipping - but I would rather do this than miss the release.

They are aware of the Amazon situation and are trying to find out what is going on & why. While not specifically stated, I got the impression it's possible this could be rectified sooner than 12/18, but I did not want to take that chance. By that time, things tend to get a bit hectic, and I would prefer to have the time to really enjoy this release.
 

Dick

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My all-time favorite Christmas album (and, mind you, I am almost 66 years old) is Percy Faith's Music Of Christmas from 1958. Granted this was also my father's choice of music for the holiday, and he played it often during the season I considered to be the most exhilarating, suspenseful, family-friendly of all as I was growing up. Those of my age group who attended the Christmas show at the Hadyn Planetarium in NYC in the 60's might recall, as I do, that O HOLY NIGHT and several other tracks from this album were heard as the awesome Zeiss projector stood against the blue and purple lights of the dome just before the show began. To my mind, there has been no more beautiful version of that tune ever, by anyone, period.


51Z%2BJihs3nL._SY450_.jpg
 

davidmatychuk

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That's a beautiful Christmas album. For a youngster, hearing that magnificent "O Holy Night" on what was probably a state-of-the-art planetarium sound system would have been an overwhelming experience, and I'm not surprised that you've kept that as a cherished Christmas memory. That entire album is wonderfully arranged and impeccably performed and recorded. Mr. Faith's "Christmas Is...", from the 60's, is poppier, but quite enjoyable too.
 

Mike Frezon

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From the OP:

Rodney said:
As someone born in the mid-sixties, i have a certain idea in my head what Christmas music should sound like. Certain albums were played by my parents during my childhood; it is a pleasure to be able to go back in time through playing some of those tracks and re-live that childhood wonder and anticipation of the holiday. I still have strong memories that flood back over me whenever I play "Christmas Moods" by 101 Strings or "Christmas in California."


For the longest time the only way to get this music was either to scour the thrift and secondhand stores for the vinyl albums, provided you still had a record player, or find personal blog sites that have created mp3's of the albums and posted them for download. With the shutdown of many file sharing sites, this has been more and more difficult.


Luckily some enterprising souls have seen the value of reissuing older records. For the past couple of years Real Gone Music has been a great resource for doing just that. Not only do they release them with the original artwork, as much as possible they go back to the original tapes and remaster them.


This year they are releasing 12 'new' CDs for the season:


October 9th:

John Gary: The John Gary Christmas Album
The Three Suns: A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas
George Melachrino: Christmas Joy
The Soulful Strings: The Magic Of Christmas

November 6th:
The Living Voices: The Living Voices Sing Christmas Music/The Little Drummer Boy
Bobby Vinton: A Very Merry Christmas
Jimmy Dean: Jimmy Dean's Christmas Card
Lynn Anderson: The Christmas Album
Johnny Mathis: The Complete Christmas Collection 1958-2000
Glen Campbell: The Complete Capitol Christmas Recordings
Jim Nabors: The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings
The 4 Seasons: The 4 Seasons Greetings

I feel remiss that I haven't posted my impressions of The Three Suns CD. It was the lone item off these offerings that I have ordered (I would have ordered the Glen Campbell release, but I have studiously collected all his Christmas offerings over the years--wanna see my 7" reel-to-reel tape of That Christmas Feeling?)


Anyway, the Three Suns disc sounds remarkably vibrant and sonically terrific. The stereo recording is superb. I don't know if this has been remastered in any way...but it sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday...yet it retains that '60s "vibe." Very cool experience.


I may spring for the Mathis collection next. Any thoughts on that title, Rodney?
 

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