Christmas In July 2023-Part 8

Hooray, the first week is done and we are moving on! Hard to get into this game sometimes as fun as it is. I hope you're enjoying the daily shares. Here's another batch for your further entertainment:

1. Coryell/Catherine-Snowshadows
2. Dorothy Maynor, Soprano, With Unaccompanied Male Choir-Go Tell It On De Mountain (Hymn Of Christmas)
3. All-City Choir-Susan Van Dyck, Chairman-Nancy Ferguson, Coordinator-Rock The Little Baby Jesus
4. Hap Palmer-What A World We'd Have If Christmas Lasted All Year Long-Instrumental
5. Mr. Greenjeans-Winter On The Farm
6. University Of Massachusetts Studio Concert Band, Conducted By Jeff Holmes-Greensleeves

MEGA

Christmas In July 2023-Part 7

I feel like I'm shortchanging you with only six tracks a day, but it's been a fairly slow year for finding shares. Ever since the pandemic, I've gotten out of the habit of spending all weekend digging through the stacks of records at thrift stores. And I put most of my existing record collection into storage so that I'd have enough room in the condo for my girlfriend to move in with me. I've now got a little bit of my paycheck left every week, too, so that's certainly a bonus. But even with all the positives, I miss not being able to share ten or twenty titles with you a day for the whole month or two. Times change, and it's certainly more manageable this way. Enough whining, here are your six tracks for the day:

1. Bobby Lester & The Moonglows-Just A Lonely Christmas-Live
2. Marais And Miranda With The Pardo Ancient Instrument Ensemble-Mother Mary Is Rocking Her Child (German)
3. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-Richard Lindroth, Accompanist-String Bass: David Lantz-Snow, Snow, Beautiful Snow
4. The Ringing Belles-Rachael Kuivinen, Director-Patapan
5. The New York Rock & Roll Ensemble-The Seasons-Winter
6. Iroquois Junior Public School Primary & Senior Choirs, Choir Director-Shirley Munroe-Rocking Carol

I should probably be talking more about the music as well, but I don't have the energy for that. The info is all there in the track tags, feel free to discuss in the comments. Enjoy!

MEGA

Christmas In July 2023-Part 6

Part six, in which we venture from pop songs to slightly more pretentious fare. I try to bring you all different types of music here in July, and today is certainly no exception. Some more orchestral stuff today, nothing very poppy. Sometimes I wonder how I find this stuff, other times I think that it must find me.

1. United States Air Force Academy Symphonic Band-Conducted By Major Herman Vincent-The Twelve Days Of Christmas
2. State Radio Orchestra Of The U.S.S.R.-Conducted By Samuel Samosud-Children's Chorus Under Direction Of V. Sokolov-Winter Holiday (Children's Suite): Winter Night
3. Czech Film Symphony Orchestra Conducted By Vaclav Neumann-April (The Snowdrop)
4. The First Percussion Sextet-C. Warren Hard, Director-My Favorite Things (From The Broadway Production "The Sound Of Music")
5. The Eastman Philharmonia-Howard Hanson, Conductor-The Winter's Past
6. The Munich Symphony Orchestra-Christmas Morning

MEGA

Did I mention my new car? It's electric! A Chevy Bolt EUV, first new car since a 2008 Toyota that I bought a couple years old. No more gas for me. :)

Christmas In July 2023-Part 5

Back to work today for all of us Americans after a short break to celebrate our independence from our British overlords. I'll be traveling to Britain for the first time at the end of next month and I'm a little excited about it. We'll only be there a couple of days before heading off to Italy and Switzerland, but I hope to pack a good visit into those days. Staying with an old friend I met just out of college, and believe me when I say that was a long time ago. But first I have to get through Christmas in July, and I've got another six tracks to help move that along today. I think the common thread holding together today's titles is that they call come from albums that had plenty of Christmas music to share. Whether it was a handful of tracks or a full side, each of these records helped bump up the number of tracks I have to share this month by a number greater than one.

1. The Vanguard Singers-Hey, Hey, Anybody Listening
2. All-City Choir-Susan Van Dyck, Chairman-Nancy Ferguson, Coordinator-Children Go Where I Send You
3. University Of Massachusetts Studio Concert Band, Conducted By Jeff Holmes-A Charlie Brown Christmas
4. The Ringing Belles-Rachael Kuivinen, Director-Angels We Have Heard On High
5. Iroquois Junior Public School Primary & Senior Choirs, Choir Director-Shirley Munroe-Gentle Donkey (From "Carol Cantata")
6. Jenson Publications-Symphonic Prelude On Adeste Fidelis

MEGA

Christmas In July 2023-Part 4

Finally, the holiday du jour is here, though you can't stay out too late and watch the fireworks because you have to get up and go to work tomorrow. Oh well. But you can celebrate with some special new Christmas music. I grabbed four real firecrackers for you today, so it's short but sweet!

1. Red Garter-Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
2. Barbara E. Leigh & The Everlov'ins-I Saw Mama Kissing Santa Claus (AKA I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause)
3. Buddy Tate, His Tenor Sax And Orchestra-Snowy White Christmas
4. George Jones-New Baby For Christmas

If that doesn't get your Christmas spirit hopping, I don't know what will. Give a listen before you start your BBQ and enjoy the cold, snowy feeling.

MEGA

Christmas In July 2023-Part 3

As it turns out, I have to work today. I thought I was going to get a four day weekend, but it just didn't work out that way. That's how it goes sometimes. But I've still got six good Christmas songs for you, working or not. Enjoy!

1. Sy Mann At The Lowrey-Winter Weather
2. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-Richard Lindroth, Accompanist, Violinist: Numa Snyder-Who Is This In Manger Sleeping?
3. David Rose And His Orchestra-June In January
4. Les Troubadours Du Roi Baudouin-Joachim Ngoi-Kimya
5. Women's Chorus-Berkeley Chamber Singers-Alden Gilchrist, Organ And Conductor-A Christmas Carol
6. Iroquois Junior Public School Primary & Senior Choirs, Choir Director-Shirley Munroe-Mary's Boy Child

See? Some good stuff in there, and not too many repeats. See you again tomorrow!

MEGA

Christmas In July 2023-Part 2

Look at that, we're up to day 2 already. Time flies when you're listening to Christmas music. I've got another six tracks for you today, at least half of which I think are new music that I haven't shared with you before. As I do this longer and longer, I find that I can't remember what I've shared before and what I haven't. I find a record with a Christmas song on it, bring it home, record it, then when I'm adding it to the library it pops up as a duplicate. Maybe they sound better the second time around or maybe like me, you don't remember it. But it gets harder and harder each year to find new and unique stuff. Discogs has been a huge help because I can search for the needles in the stacks but it's a little more expensive than Goodwill and Salvation Army stores (not that they're all that cheap anymore...). Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the new and old music today, and every day for the rest of the month. It's good stuff, see for yourself.

1. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-Richard Lindroth, Accompanist-Soloist: Jean Ann Wolbert, Soprano-Christmas Was Meant For Children
2. The Vanguard Singers-Mary, Mary
3. University Of Massachusetts Studio Concert Band, Conducted By Jeff Holmes-Winter Festival Pak: December Fireside
4. Iroquois Junior Public School Primary & Senior Choirs, Choir Director-Shirley Munroe-What Child Is This
5. The Ringing Belles-Rachael Kuivinen, Director-Come, All Ye Shepherds
6. Hap Palmer-We Wish You A Merry Christmas-Instrumental

Be my guest...

MEGA

Christmas In July 2023-Part 1

And now it's time to get this party started! After yesterday's quick prelude, I'm happy to start Christmas In July for 2023. It's a daily dose of Christmas music that's taken from non-Christmas albums. Hard to find this stuff, and that's why I began to collect such things. It's frequently things that you aren't going to find anywhere else (though some ringers do occasionally slip in). As you know, I love Christmas music, and the more obscure the better. These tracks are usually things that you aren't going to hear on the radio and you'll probably have a hard time finding them to stream anywhere. It's just a few tracks a day, but it will add up to quite the collection by the end of the month. If something strikes your fancy, please leave me a little comment so I know what you enjoyed. Here's the list of what's in the share for this first installment.

1. Kathy Lecinski-I Love The Winter
2. Red Garter-Winter Wonderland
3. State Radio Orchestra Of The U.S.S.R.-Conducted By Samuel Samosud-Children's Chorus Under Direction Of V. Sokolov-Winter Holiday (Children's Suite): Evening Around The Stove
4. Marni Nixon-Orchestral Accompaniments By Ed Jurey-Funny Little Snowman
5. The Ray Bryant Trio-Greensleeves
6. Czech Film Symphony Orchestra Conducted By Vaclav Neumann-November (Troika)

And as usual, here's a link for the download. Follow the link, download the file, and give it a listen. I'll be back with more tomorrow! Hope you're having a good July so far.

MEGA

Thanksgiving in June 2023-Part 1

Good day, and welcome to the occasional series of Thanksgiving music at the very end of June! I've got six tracks for you from four different records. If you don't know what's going on here, then you'd be well advised to come back tomorrow and I'll explain much, much more. But in the meantime, have a go at these tracks.

1. Hap Palmer With The Children's Chorus-Things I'm Thankful For-Vocal
2. All-City Choir-Susan Van Dyck, Chairman-Nancy Ferguson, Coordinator-Come Praise The Lord/For Thy Gracious Blessing
3. Instructed By Ed Durlacher-Music By The Top Hands-Turkey In The Oven-Instructions
4. Music By The Top Hands-Turkey In The Oven-Music Only
5. Hap Palmer-Things I'm Thankful For-Instrumental
6. Kathy Lecinski-Old Tom Turkey

Oh, and go buy a larger hard drive...

MEGA

Merry Christmas And A Half!

Well, it's been almost six months since I last checked in around here. Hope you are all doing well. As you may remember, it's my birthday, which just happens to be halfway between last Christmas and next Christmas. I don't always get the chance to celebrate, but this year is a little different. After the season ended in January, I still had lots of Christmas spirit in my head, so I started ripping music. After about four months, I found that I had a metric ton of Christmas music in the can, so I decided to make a sampler for you. It's tracks from albums that I've ripped for possible sharing come Christmas 2023. Some of these albums may turn out to be on CD or on streaming services, so don't count on seeing everything this winter, but I hope to share a lot of it. There's something in here for everyone, I promise. Apologies for the ugly cover, I was in a hurry and inspiration never struck like I was hoping. For the curious, here's a list of the 117 (!) tracks I've included, one from each LP I had ripped when I went hunting a couple months ago.

1. Carolyn Watts (The Country Organist)-Carolyn's Intro
2. Happy Organ-The Chipmunk Song
3. Haskell Cooley-Pictures Of Christmas
4. The Belmonts-The Annual Animal Christmas Ball
5. Freddy Cole-Jingles (The Christmas Cat)
6. Mala Powers-The Animals' Christmas (Star Window #9)
7. Los Diplomaticos-Cha Cha Cha De La Navidad
8. The Janz Team-Away In A Manger
9. High Spirits, Past And Present-A Christmas Round
10. Nancy Ramos-Donde Esta San Nicolas
11. Marie Frances-Christmas In Killarney
12. The Jay Welch Chorale And The Utah Symphony Orchestra-Burgundian Carol
13. Freddy Fender-Santa! Don't Pass Me By
14. Bob Piper-The Warm Sounds Of Christmas
15. Billy Walker-Kettles And Bells
16. Royal Choral Society-Shakespeare's Carol
17. Paul Meisser-O Du Fröhliche
18. Los Voces Blancas-Santa Claus No Tarda
19. Levis Bouliane Et Ses Blue Stars-Vocal: Claudette Garand-Père Noël, Veux-Tu Danser?
20. Philip J. Cartwright-There's A Song In The Air
21. New Hope Singers International-Joy To The World
22. The Four Suns-Home For Holidays
23. Zimmers & Whitaker-Tonight We Trim The Tree
24. Bob Gibson-Talking Skier
25. Oscar Brand With The Ski Bums-Ballad Of The Snow Bunny
26. The Organ Orchestra-You're All I Want For Christmas
27. John Valby-Christmas Castle
28. The Epic Choir-Good King Wenceslas
29. Byron Lee And The Dragonaires-Christmas Bells
30. Marty Merchant-Santa Won't You Be My Baby
31. The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir-Birthday Of The King
32. Gerard Lenorman-Il Est Né Le Divin Enfant
33. Anthony Mawer-Snowmobile
34. The Celebrity Bowling All-Pin Chorale-Jingle Bells
35. Paul & Nancy Steffen-The Holly And The Ivy
36. Winifred Smith-'Twas In The Moon Of Wintertime
37. Jim Smith Of Detroit-The First Noel
38. Lucien Hetu-Dans L'Temps Des Fêtes
39. Roberto Perera & Juan Areco-Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer
40. Fernand Gignac-Royaume Du Bonhomme Hiver
41. Don Patterson-Merry Christmas Baby
42. McGuffey Lane-It's Hot This Christmas
43. Kofi-God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
44. Walt Harper-Twinkle, Twinkle Little Me
45. Carlos Salzedo-Catalan Carol (Fum, Fum, Fum)
46. The United States Navy Band-Snow Scene
47. Leslie Crowther-The Christmas Story-Part 8
48. The Southern California Mormon Choir-The Coventry Carol
49. The Unkalung Choir-Come On, Ring Those Bells
50. Graciela Rivera-Dormi, Dormi O Bel Bambino
51. John Gart-Sleighride
52. Golden Strings-Selections From The Nutcracker Suite
53. The Hollywood Pops Orchestra-Conducted By William Loose-Toyland - March Of The Toys
54. Milt Hinton-Ralph Sutton-Gus Johnson-Jim Galloway-Santa Claus Came In The Spring
55. Anna-Lena Lofgren & Artur Erikson-Jag Drömmer Om En Jul Hemma (White Christmas)
56. Rene Simard Et Les Disciples De Massenet-Voila Que Revient Le Pere Noel
57. Charles Aznavour-Christmas Eve In A Gambling Town
58. Sacha Distel-Noël A Bethleem
59. The Rhodes Kids-Santa Loves Rock 'N' Roll Music
60. The Mark III-Deck The Halls (Mayfair Greeting)
61. Bobby Grove-Christmas
62. Frank Luther-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
63. Bill Pearce-Carolling, Carolling
64. Greg Buchanan-O Come All Ye Faithful
65. David Axelrod-Hallelujah
66. Hilding Halvarson-I Wonder As I Wander
67. Milford Myhre-Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella
68. Sylvia Woods-Twelve Days Of Christmas-Deck The Halls
69. Guy Lemaire-Le Bonhomme Hiver (Frosty The Snowman)
70. Leonard Feather And Ralph Burns And Their Orchestras-Donner
71. Ralph And Red-Nuttin' For Christmas
72. La Famille Demers-Le Reel Du Père Noël
73. Walt Jacobs-Going Sledding At North Pole
74. Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones-All I Want For Christmas Is You
75. Vera Lynn-The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot
76. Hard Call Xmas-My Christmas Bells (Vocals)
77. Peter Ecklund And The Howard Fishman Quartet-It's Christmas Time Again
78. The Magic Organ-Blue Christmas
79. Ulla Bach-Det Kimer Nu Til Julefest
80. John Littleton-Noël Louisianais
81. Danniebelle-Go Tell It On The Mountain
82. Hagood Hardy-Winter Time
83. Meg Bussert-I Love Christmas In New York
84. Edmund Francis-Carol Of The Bells-We Three Kings
85. Carlene Davis-Give Love On Christmas Day
86. Unknown Artists-O Little Town Of Bethlehem
87. Gordon Slater-Santa Claus Is Coming
88. Los Violines De Pego-Felicidades
89. Joe Longstreth-John Escosa-Carol Of Love
90. The Golden Orchestra & Singers-The Jolly Gent Who Jingles (Is Good Old Santa Claus)
91. The Organ Masters-Welcome Christmas-What's New About Christmas This Year-Happy Holiday
92. Terry Baxter-His Orchestra And Chorus-Here We Come A-Caroling
93. Cincinnati Symphony Members-Jingle Bells
94. Christine Wyrtzen-Reason For The Season
95. Mary Strang-Wee Robin's Yule Song
96. Perry Roberts-There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays
97. Alba Rosa Castro-Feliz Navidad
98. The Salvation Army New York Staff Band-The Joy Of Christmas
99. Coral Willys-Boas Festas
100. Stanley Adams And The Chicken Flickers-The Eight Days Of Chanukah
101. The Honolulu Boy Choir-Makahiki, The Christmas Menehune
102. The Plunketts-The Hawaiian Christmas Song
103. Raine Hrovat-The Christmas Waltz
104. The Choral Poincianas-Christmas Prayer
105. Claudio Ferrer-Santo Nombre De Jesús
106. Reggie LaFaye-O Holy Night
107. The Mini Pops-Have Yourselves A Merry Little Christmas
108. The New York Giants-All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth
109. The Phil Woods Quintet-Gifts For The Children
110. Marc Haney-Christmas Song
111. Ozark Bible College-Ukranian Bell Carol
112. Evie-A Tiny Little Baby
113. Lenore Paxton-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
114. John T. Benson III-Monologue 1
115. The Mom And Dads-May You Have A Happy New Year
116. The Rolling Snows-Auld Lang Syne
117. The Trustees Of Mary Baker Eddy-The End

And if getting 117 tracks isn't enough for you, I'm also doing a little test. You can download in MP3 format or FLAC. Surprise! Just a test, so don't get your hopes up for Christmas sharing. It's a real pain to do, but I'm trying it. And all the track tags are just preliminary, so there's not as much detail as I usually put into my shares. Enjoy!

MEGA (MP3)

MEGA (FLAC)