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Colin Sheehan

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Christmas Album Covers (The Quest Completed!)
« on: December 25, 2013, 08:41:09 AM »
Merry Christmas everyone. For 20 years I have been collecting records and in the past six years I have built up the Christmas portion as my family started to spend Christmas at home—and as our daughters' enthusiasm for the holiday season has escalated.  I thought they would make a fun photo essay. I hope you enjoy them. There's actually plenty of aspects that are analogous with golf course architecture. I'll list a few later today.

They are listed chronologically by when the album was released, not when the music was recorded. The earliest Christmas hit was Bing Crosby's White Christmas from the l1940s on the Decca label. The song remains the number one single of all time. Since then, I would guess there have been maybe 5,000-10,000 Christmas albums. From this rather large pool comes a very fascinating number of efforts from what I think is a very under-rated genre. Christmas music also extends 1200 years from ninth century Gregorian Chant to the present, from the sacred to the secular and from countries all around the world.

https://picasaweb.google.com/110429368341669114147/ChristmasVinyl#

Cheers,
Colin
« Last Edit: December 09, 2014, 10:45:10 PM by Colin Sheehan »

Tommy Williamsen

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2013, 10:27:23 AM »
Very cool.  Love the one from Norway.  I grew up singing Norwegian Christmas Carols.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Carl Johnson

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2013, 02:45:12 PM »
Colin, apparently you don't have my favorite Christmas vinyl, Christmas Disco, by P.K. and the Sound Explosion, Pickwick SPC-1022 (1977) - we played it Christmas eve, in fact.  A little off the subject, but I've got about 500 vinyls, most in excellent condition - the numbers per year would chart as something like a Bell curve, with the top being in the 1970s.  What the heck do I do with these things?

Jud_T

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2013, 03:23:44 PM »
Not sure if it's technically a Christmas disc, but I need to get my hands on one of these bad boys:

Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Michael Whitaker

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #4 on: December 25, 2013, 07:46:52 PM »
You got to get this one...

"Solving the paradox of proportionality is the heart of golf architecture."  - Tom Doak (11/20/05)

John Kirk

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #5 on: December 25, 2013, 08:07:30 PM »
Very snazzy list, Colin.  Like Michael and Jud, here's another suggested addition:


« Last Edit: December 25, 2013, 08:10:10 PM by John Kirk »

Colin Sheehan

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2013, 08:42:40 AM »
Perhaps the link didn't work for you guys, but Christmas Disco, Phil Spector Christmas and James Brown are all represented. The Disco one is 175. The Phil Spector album is an original pressing on the Phillies Label I purchased earlier this year in the East Village (NYC). The two James Brown albums were released in 1966 and 1968 respectively and they are each really impressive. They also illustrate the serious transformation in his sound during that relatively short stretch. The James Brown Funky Christmas is a cd reissue of those two albums, plus a few other singles.

Mark Bourgeois

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2013, 09:02:31 AM »
Kurtis Blow!

Colin, what's on the flip side of the Sugarhill disc? That's not a full album, is it?
Charlotte. Daniel. Olivia. Josephine. Ana. Dylan. Madeleine. Catherine. Chase. Jesse. James. Grace. Emilie. Jack. Noah. Caroline. Jessica. Benjamin. Avielle. Allison.

Carl Johnson

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #8 on: December 26, 2013, 09:20:44 AM »
Perhaps the link didn't work for you guys, but Christmas Disco, Phil Spector Christmas and James Brown are all represented. The Disco one is 175. The Phil Spector album is an original pressing on the Phillies Label I purchased earlier this year in the East Village (NYC). The two James Brown albums were released in 1966 and 1968 respectively and they are each really impressive. They also illustrate the serious transformation in his sound during that relatively short stretch. The James Brown Funky Christmas is a cd reissue of those two albums, plus a few other singles.

Colin, your 175 appears to be Yuletide Disco, by Mirror Image, Pickwick SPC-1027 (1979).  I'm talking about the pioneering Christmas Disco  8), by P.K. and the Sound Explosion, Pickwick SPC-1022 (1977) -- different album.

Carl
« Last Edit: December 26, 2013, 10:10:37 AM by Carl Johnson »

Jud_T

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #9 on: December 26, 2013, 09:30:45 AM »
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Colin Sheehan

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #10 on: December 26, 2013, 11:14:34 AM »
Carl,
Good clarification. I just checked it out on Ebay. Looks worthy for sure. Thank you for the suggestion.

Mark,
It's very cool that two Bronx pioneers of hip hop (Kurtis Blow and The Treacherous 3) put out 12" holiday singles. In each case, the same song appears on both sides. Kurtis Blow had Christmas Rappin' on side one and the "do it yourself" version on the back. In the case of the Treacherous 3 album, their song, X-Mas Rap, which was performed in the movie Beat Street (1983), appears on one side as censured and the other side uncensored.

Jud T,
Thank you for the link. That Rotary Connection albums looks like a must-have. Here's what it says on allmusic.com:

Review by Rodney Batdorf
The Rotary Connection's Peace is a terrific, soulful Christmas album. With its production and soulful vocal arrangements, it has all the hallmarks of a late-'60s pop-soul record. While that may date it slightly, it's nevertheless a blast to listen to the album, thanks to the great performances, particularly on the part of Minnie Riperton.

Norbert P

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #11 on: December 26, 2013, 04:38:15 PM »


  Leon Redbone's Christmas Island.  The original vinyl had just the image of the held postcard.  Timeless.

  Also,  . . .



  But I don't think it's available in vinyl.

  
« Last Edit: December 26, 2013, 04:44:47 PM by Slag Bandoon »
"Golf is only meant to be a small part of one’s life, centering around health, relaxation and having fun with friends/family." R"C"M

JMEvensky

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #12 on: December 26, 2013, 05:04:14 PM »

  Also,  . . .



  But I don't think it's available in vinyl.

  

A Jethro Tull fan--are there many of us left?

David Harshbarger

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #13 on: December 28, 2013, 09:31:46 PM »
How's the Ventures Chirstmas album?

Overall a fabulous collection and photo essay.  Thanks for sharing.
The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

Carl Johnson

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #14 on: December 29, 2013, 04:35:42 PM »
How's the Ventures Chirstmas album?

Overall a fabulous collection and photo essay.  Thanks for sharing.

Dave, take a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey3We6Yt_yk

Jud_T

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #15 on: December 29, 2013, 04:51:46 PM »
Colin,

I saw Minnie Ripperton at a small club back in the day.  She had an amazing instrument.
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

David Harshbarger

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Re: Christmas Album Covers
« Reply #16 on: December 29, 2013, 05:01:34 PM »
Carl, that's a secular Christmas mix, no doubt about it.  A couple of catchy intros, then faithful renditions of the melodies, with lots of sleigh bells in case you didn't know the season.  

If I owned I'd probably make everyone listen to it every year anyway.

Thanks for sharing.
The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

Colin Sheehan

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Re: Christmas Album Covers (The Quest Completed!)
« Reply #17 on: December 09, 2014, 10:43:29 PM »
Dear People,
I want to just send this along again, only because I have finally capped the collection. My pursuit of xmas albums is done...other than the Boris Karloff 1966-edition of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

https://picasaweb.google.com/110429368341669114147/ChristmasVinyl#

The tally is nearly 280 albums and I recon they constitute 5% of the Christmas albums I flipped past. When you "crate dig" at every Goodwill you pass, you see a million Robert Goulet Xmas albums--or its equivalent. Anyway, I hope this slideshow, which I think is hilarious, helps make the case for the genre's legitimacy. You get every slice of pop music during the golden age of album productions. I want to give a particular shout-out to the Capitol of the World Series from Capitol Records. In 1957, they published eight beautiful albums from various countries of origin, including Sweden, England, Holland, Spain, Italy, France, Mexico and Germany and then the following year, in 1958, they published editions from Cuba, Australia, Brazil, Portugal, Poland and Austria. The cover art is very often beautiful and every single album is a heavenly choir with folk instruments. Others followed in the coming years from Norway, Ireland, China, The Philippines, Greece and additional albums from France, Mexico, England, Sweden, Austria and Germany.

I want to thank those for the suggestions last time. If anyone has any more, please let me know...like a bus in Africa, there's always room for one more.

Anyway, best wishes everyone. I'll try to add a few more comments later.
Regards,
Colin
« Last Edit: December 10, 2014, 01:02:41 AM by Colin Sheehan »

V. Kmetz

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Re: Christmas Album Covers (The Quest Completed!)
« Reply #18 on: December 10, 2014, 12:08:13 AM »
A superb compilation CS...too many great and fun covers to list, but Christmas in Mexico is one that stands out for me.

I don't think I saw these on your display, so.... If you have the zest for it, there are two more that I think you ought to have in such a grand assemblage:

1955 A CHRISTMAS SING WITH BING

The first of four identically titled special radio broadcasts that Crosby recorded until 1962, after his variety show had ended in 1954. This one is the best with a true sense of an vintage radio program hopping around the world from Quebec City to Vatican City to Jerusalem to the MTC in Salt Lake with reporters like Howard K. Smith. Not only are the selections of great quality and diverse, but the global "sense" of it really influenced my imagination to think of the brotherhood of human beings in the Christmas context - a beautiful work.


1967: Snoopy and His Friends The Royal Guardsmen

What is ironic about this selection is that it too is a kind of engineered radio broadcast, a faux broadcast, purporting to cover the WW I peace talks as hostilities in the skies of Allied and German dogfights rages on...Christmas serves as the backdrop for not only the story but to issue the Guardsmen's iconic "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" oeuvre, and weave it throughout a Christmas story of peace overcoming war for one solemn moment. The Guardsmens' undercard works stand alone on the second side of the album, though those songs too touch on themes of war, airplanes, and idealism as well. A very entertaining and unique Christmas work to possess, unique mostly because a collector wouldn't even know to look there, as the Christmas is not overtly advertised or packaged on the outside, though that very fact may make it an undesired element in your compilation.



cheers

vk
"The tee shot must first be hit straight and long between a vast bunker on the left which whispers 'slice' in the player's ear, and a wilderness on the right which induces a hurried hook." -

Tommy Williamsen

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Re: Christmas Album Covers (The Quest Completed!)
« Reply #19 on: December 10, 2014, 09:18:43 AM »
Not sure if you would consider this a "Christmas" album.  But at Christmas my musical tastes turn forward Handel's Messiah.  This is one of my favorite recordings.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

Mike Hendren

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Re: Christmas Album Covers (The Quest Completed!)
« Reply #20 on: December 10, 2014, 09:29:57 AM »
Saw the Blind Boys of Alabama Friday night in a 200 seat theater - sans Taj Mahal.  Bogey had the pentecostal praise hand working.



Mike
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

David_Tepper

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« Last Edit: December 10, 2014, 10:39:30 AM by David_Tepper »

Tony_Muldoon

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Re: Christmas Album Covers (The Quest Completed!)
« Reply #22 on: December 10, 2014, 10:05:07 AM »

It has become a Christmas tradition that the BBC london jock Robert Elms will play the track Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet.   

To quote the notes to the link below “it is a piece of music composed by Gavin Bryars in 1971. It is based around a recorded loop of an un-named tramp improvising a hymn; eventually rich harmonies are played by a live ensemble of strings and brass, always increasing in density. The recording was originally made for a 1960s documentary by Alan Power which chronicled street life in London. Later when listening to the recordings, Bryars noticed that the clip was very in tune, and that it looped well into 13 bars. The tramp died before being able to hear the completed piece.

A new recording of this work was made in the 1990s with Tom Waits singing along with the original recording of the tramp during the final section.”

Although not strictly a Christmas item, I do find it genuinely moving and thought provoking for all the right reasons.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbczBcz78vo





I will confess to owning some of the above selections above and can recommend the Spector Album and the Leon Redbone one but mostly I find them all a bit ….   And as usual there’s the overkill to cope with.  When something in Popular Culture is really Popular, I soon find myself hating it.

I still don’t believe this happened…really?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus&feature=youtu.be

(I will confess to loving this one track but to musicians of Bob’s time the original producer of this, Mitch Millar, was Satan.  Strange world.)
Let's make GCA grate again!

Michael Wharton-Palmer

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Re: Christmas Album Covers (The Quest Completed!)
« Reply #23 on: December 10, 2014, 12:33:55 PM »
The new Earth Wind and Fire would be a good addition along with the adapted.....December

Jim Sherma

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Re: Christmas Album Covers (The Quest Completed!)
« Reply #24 on: December 10, 2014, 02:21:10 PM »
El Vez' album Merry MeX-mas is wonderful fun as is all of his stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Merry-MeX-Mas-El-Vez/dp/B000003KYQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54eFO3j_pko

« Last Edit: December 10, 2014, 02:48:28 PM by Jim Sherma »