The Orioles - What Are You Doing New Years Eve?

This somber classic sets the perfect mood for a New Years Eve that's steeped in both celebration and melancholy.  "What Are You Doing New Years Eve?" was written by Frank Loesser in 1947 and is performed here by Baltimore, Maryland's own, The Orioles in 1949.  It reached # 9 on Billboard's R&B charts that year.   Lead by tenor Sonny Til, The Orioles are considered one of the first R&B vocal groups which helped paved the way for the doo-wop groups of the 50's & 60's!

1 Days of Xmas: Bing Crosby - "Merry Christmas" (1955)

Bing Crosby - "Merry Christmas" (1955) - Decca Records

Merry Christmas Friends,

Tonight we've got the mother-of-all Christmas albums on the turntable as our 12 Days of Christmas listening party draws to a festive close!

Good ol' Bing probably never won any father of the year awards, but when it came a smooth-as-silk singing voice, this crooner is tops in our book!

Little Johnny awoke when he
heard the pitter-patter of tiny
hooves on the roof of his house!
(Vera Ellen)

Side One plays it a bit more mellow and sanctimonious with traditional hymns like "Silent Night" and "Faith Of Our Fathers"; the WWII-soldier-longing-to-home-at-Christmas-tearjerker,  "I'll Be Home For Christmas (If Only in My Dreams)" and the best-selling single of all time-- another wartime ballad-- the classic, "White Christmas".

Side Two is quite a bit more upbeat with swinging versions of "Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", "Mele Kalikimaka" (all accompanied by the Andrew Sisters), "Silver Bells", "Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" & the Irish Christmas song, "Christmas in Killarney".

It may sound cliche but Christmas just wouldn't seem like Christmas without a little Bing in our lives!

Merry Christmas everybody!

RATING: 5 Just Like The Ones I Used To Know out of 5

2 Days of Xmas: The Beach Boys - "The Beach Boys Christmas Album" (1964)

The Beach Boys - "The Beach Boys' Christmas Album" (1964) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

Surf's up tonight at the Christmas party tiki bar and we got another classic on the ol' Holiday turntable!

"Oh... I hope its the 'Get A Life' DVD box set!'
(Gil Elvgren)

Clocking in at just 27 minutes, The Beach Boys Christmas Album is must for every holiday record listening party!  Along with Elvis's & Phil Spector's, its one of the few bona fide rock & roll Christmas LPs.

Side One contains five (!) original tunes which have now pretty much become holiday standards: "Little Saint Nick", "The Man With All The Toys", "Santa's Beard", "Merry Christmas, Baby" & "Christmas Day."  The rest of the album is rounded out with more traditional standards with the familiar Beach Boys harmonies and Brian Wilson arrangements!



FUN FACT: Hey Kids, the song "Christmas Day" is the first Beach Boys song to feature founding member, Al Jardine on lead vocals!

RATING:  5 Auld Lang Synes out of 5

3 Days of Xmas: Ray Conniff - "Christmas With Conniff" (1959)

The Ray Conniff Singers - "Christmas with Conniff" (1959) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

We're keeping things light tonight on Vinyl in the Valley.  Tiki T. is busy wrapping presents and trying to perfect her Wassail recipe.  I'm getting a little sloshed, spinning some records and trying to pretend I don't smell the apples burning!

This is the first (and best) of Ray Conniff's four Christmas albums.  Jolly Old Ray leads small army of vocalists in a fun, secular and largely nostalgic album of familiar holiday hits.

"Pinup & Reindeer"
(Alberto Vargas)

Follow the bouncing ball, kids!

Its Space Age Pop for the swingin' supermarket crowd.  I can picture my grandparents listening to this record while decorating their newly purchased artificial tree and getting drunk off high balls!

By the way friends, does anybody decorate their tree on Christmas Eve anymore?

Anyways there's songs here like "Frosty", "Rudolph", "Here Comes Santa Claus", "Greensleeves"  & "Silver Bells".   But the undisputed winner on this record is the little known, melancholy gem, "The Christmas Bride".





RATING: 4.5 Red Schnozollas out of 5

4 Days of Xmas: The Kingston Trio - "The Last Month of the Year" (1960)

"Hey... get your finger outta my ear!"

The Kingston Trio - "The Last Month of the Year" (1960) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

Things are gettin' folksy tonight!

Formed in 1957, The Kingston Trio became a top-selling act and helped pave the way for the folk revival movement of the late 1950's/early 1960's.  In their records of this era you can usually hear the influence they would have over artists like Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Joan Baez, the Byrds, The Muppets, et cetera.

"I got your milk and cookies right here!"

There's some great harmonies and some fine instrumentation here but when we listen to this record we feel like we're at some college frat party back in 1960 and some beatniky-looking dude in a turtleneck just brought us some reefer.

Still, its certainly not a bad album.  The song selections range from  Old English Carols to African-American Spirituals.   A must for the NPR crowd! Its also probably the best Christmas album to feature the bouzouki as a prominent instrument! 

The title (and closing) song, "The Last Month of the Year" is good, but the version by the Staple Singers is vastly better!

RATING: 3.5 Sommerset Gloucestershire Wassail's out of 5   

5 Days of Xmas: Ferrante & Teicher - "Snowbound" (1962)

Ferrante & Teicher - "Snowbound" (1962) - United Artists

Hello Friends,

We're ready for a blizzard tonight on Vinyl in the Valley.  Outside the snow is piling up and we're inside getting toasty and listening to the perfect soundtrack record for a cold winter's eve! 

"She makes my bell ding-a-ling!"
(E. Simms Campbell)

This mostly instrumental album is loungey & hypnotic and would be great to put on when your Jewish friends come over because its more of a "Winter" record, rather than a Christmas record.  Lots of songs about sleighrides and snowmen and moonlight and not a mention of Jesus, elves, wise men or Ol' Saint Nick.  Shalom!  

The dueling pianists are in fine form backed by an orchestra and chorus conducted by Nick Perito.  Not as experimental, or as space-age, as some of their 1950's recordings, but a great addition to any vinyl collection.

Would probably sound right at home on one of those one-piece console stereos that looked like a piece of furniture that families gathered around in the early 1960's!





RATING: 4 snow drifts out of 5

6 Days of Xmas: "Christmas Music of France" (1967)

Jean Paul-Kreder Choir & Les Petits Chanteurs A La Croix de Bois - "Christmas Music of France" - 1967 - Capitol Records

Bonjour Friends,

"This one has your name on it!"
(Bunny Yeager)

A little disappointed here.  We were hoping for a record full of bustling Parisian street music with lots of accordions,  jazzy, nightclub ballads and general yuletide debauchery.  I went to whip up some French 75's while Tiki T. went to slip on something more "comfortable"!  

Cue the Can-Can girls!

We put on the record and instead of some swinging, sleazy album of Christmas tunes sung in French, we got a very tame, unsexy album of French choral music.  In an instant, our romantic corner of the tiki transformed into a Medieval French Cathedral!

Cancel the Can-Can girls!

Don't worry friends, we made the best of it!  We lit some candles, drank some strong red wine and enjoyed a quiet, reverential night.  Plus, for some reason, Tiki T. knew all the words (in French) to "Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant" which kind of turned me on!

Oui! Oui!

RATING: 3.5 Petit Papa Noels out of 5

     

7 Days of Xmas: "Something Festive" (1968)

Various Artists - "Something Festive" (1968) - A & M Records

Hello Friends,

Thinking about inviting the cute neighbor girl over for a little pre-Holiday cocktail?  Sounds good to us!  Its the Holidays, after all!  

"Lucky snowman"
(Bettie Page)

Get those lights on the tree working, open up that bottle of Red you've been saving and to "seal the deal" drop the needle on this 1968 compilation album put out by Herb Alpert & A&M Records.

Ten tracks from A&M artists, including some sublime easy listening Latin Jazz with Herb Alpert and TJB ("Winter Wonderland", "Jingle Bell Rock"), Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 ("The Christmas Song") and the Baja Marimba band ("Partridge in a Pear Tree", "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen").  

There's also Burt Bacharach ("The Bell That Couldn't Jingle"), We Five ("My Favorite Things"), Pete Jolly ("Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"), a manic-sounding Liza Minnelli ("Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy") and the hot French gun-enthusiast/husband killer, Claudine Longet ("Snow").



Something Festive, indeed!

RATING: 4 Bells That Couldn't Jingle out of 5

8 Days of Xmas: The Three Suns - "A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas" (1959)

The Three Suns - "A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas" (1959) - RCA Victor

Hello Friends,

Fill that collins glass to the tippy top and grab some tinsel because we're Ding Dong Dandy'ing 'til the wee hours with The Three Suns.  From the awesome cover art to the music contained in the grooves, this is an outstanding Christmas LP.  Perfect for a festive and space age tiki party on the moon!

In addition to the usual organ, accordion & guitar interplay, the Suns also employ some swinging drums, some bells, chimes, an oboe and two (count 'em) tubas!

First Lady Mamie Eisenhower: The Early Years
(Gil Elvren)

Every track is awesome and it sounds like no other Christmas LP we've ever heard!  Plus, check out that cover!  Looks like some holiday cheer is about to spread!  

FUN FACTS: Hey kids, did you know that The Three Suns were the favorite band of First Lady Mamie Eisenhower!  

RATING: 5 Ding Dong Dandys out of 5