Merry Christmas with The Four Aces — The Four Aces

Christmas is a many-splendored thing... When you're spending the holiday with The Four Aces! Welcome to Hi-Fi Holiday, 2012 edition!

The first post of the season is Merry Christmas with The Four Aces (Decca / 1955 / mono) — an album, despite the notoriety of the artists, which has never appeared on CD (allegedly released on cassette, however.) Note that this album is available to download via iTunes and Amazon.com, though both appear to be taking advantage of it's lapsed international copyright status.

This is a solid, if simple Christmas collection split into two distinct sides — side A is for the kids (the vinyl's rough condition as testament) and side B, for mild-mannered grannies and the traditionalists. Highlights include "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night", though "Silver Bells" sounds great on the Aces' vocal harmonies.

Welcome, Christmas 2012!

Hi, folks — Hi-Fi Holidays will resume it's annual album posting schedule shortly. I am cleaning up some recordings made (but never finished) last year, and starting up new ones for this season.

There have been a handful of comments about old album links not working, and I hope to fix those as well.

Stay tuned!

Christmas Surprises From The Ralph Hunter Choir

Hoo boy, just days from Christmas 2011! My apologies for the lack of prolific album shares, but I seem to end up recording more than I can share here. Why not finish 2011 with a doozy — albeit a title that has been shared previously elsewhere (via Ernie Not Bert). My philosophy: I ripped it, so I might as well share it! Here then is Christmas Surprises From The Ralph Hunter Choir.

This one has it's moments of zaniness ("Parade of the Wooden Soldiers", "Wassail Song"), and swank Living Stereo bongos and percussion ("Indian Christmas Carol / Latin Lullaby") but always featuring superb arrangements for the choir. An absolute classic Christmas album that should be in every Christmas eve mix! Download it - now!

Factoid: this album was later re-issued and credited to The Living Voices (with different artwork).

Christmas with Waldo de los Rios

Waldo de los Rios, according to Wikipedia, was an Argentine composer, conductor and arranger. He passed away in 1977, just a few years after he recorded and released this album, Christmas with Waldo de los Rios (aka "Navidad Con Waldo de Los Rios") for Hispa-Vox (Capitol in North America). Rios was known for adapting classical music into a contemporary (for the time) easy-listening style and his interpretations here of yuletide classics are no different — soft drums, bass guitar, and whispering flutes (mostly carrying the melody) accompany a soft orchestral sound, all drenched in copious reverb.

New music comin' soon!

Hi folks — just an update... I had a couple of albums ready to go to post, however one was recently shared elsewhere (Christmas Surprises with the Ralph Hunter Choir — though I might still share it!) and another was recently released on CD (We All Need a Little Christmas by The Golddiggers.) So instead I'll post another album this week. New post here!

Christmas Is For Children — Various

Getting the (snow) ball rolling on 2010, here's a various artists album, Christmas Is For Children, from Lion Records (L70079) dated 1958, featuring a trio of kiddie tunes from Barry Gordon ("I Like Christmas"), Little Rita Faye ("I Fell Out of the Christmas Tree" — for you rural Christmas nuts) and Leslie Uggams ("The Fat, Fat Man"). You'll find the sound quality varies between each track (this was a severely loved LP, as evidenced by the condition of the jacket), as the recordings likely are from a range of dates — the Korn Kobblers tracks have that distinctive '30s-40s style that reminds me of the horrific big band music from the end of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and the Jimmy Durante selections sound like recordings he would eventually re-perform and release in later years (in fact "Frosty, The Snow Man" here features the original lyric "I'll be back again someday"). Well, that's enough blathering from me. Let's get on with the download...

Do you hear what I hear?

Howdy, folks! I've been working on my annual Christmas compilation, aptly titled Hi-Fi Holidays,  and it struck me — I've got to get to sharing some Christmas music on this here blog again. Please stay tuned, more musical yuletide memories are in store. See you soon!

Meilleurs Voeux (Season's Greetings) - Lucien Hetu

It's December the 22nd... And you are longing to be up... North...? The date may be wrong, but the sentiment is the same -- everyone wants a Christmas Made in Canada! To round out my album shares this season, I present to you Meilleurs Voeux (Season's Greetings) (1963) featuring the rollicking organ sounds of Mr. Lucien Hetu, of Montreal, Quebec. Recorded on a Gulbransen Rialto K, Hetu guides us through an upbeat selection of familiar favourites (White Christmas, Skaters Waltz, Let It Snow, Sleigh Ride) with more regional fare like "Nel des pauvres" (translated as "Poor Christmas") and the jolly "Dans l'temps du jour de l'an (That Time of the Year)" - where electric guide and percussion join Hetu's organ.

I've never been big on Christmas organ albums, but this one has a lo-fi charm to it, and is loaded with Quebecois flavour -- just check out that front cover for a visual to go along with the tunes.

Christmas in Canada - Wilf Carter

Christmas Made in Canada! rolls on... Before there was Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Anne Murray... There was Wilf Carter! An East-Coaster (he hailed from Nova Scotia), Carter -- according to Wikipedia -- is the father of country music in Canada, and judging by the photo on the cover, was one happy dude. And it shows in this RCA Camden recording of 10 Christmas tunes, Christmas in Canada, a few of which you're unlikely to have heard outside the country of Canada -- "Punkinhead" (the sad-red-headed bear, an Eaton's department store marketing creation), the titular "Christmas Time in Canada", complete with spoken intro by Carter, and "Ting-a-Ling a Jingle" (I believe the Ames Bros. are one of a few artists that have also recorded this song).  Also included is Carter's "Jolly Old St. Nicholas", which he has often been credited as actually writing.

Juliette's Christmas World - Juliette

Continuing with the Christmas Made in Canada! theme, here's the second and probably coolest album I'll share with you this Christmas season (in my humble opinion), Juliette's Christmas World by ("Our Pet") Juliette, the 1960s Canadian TV icon.

There were three staples of a Canadian Christmas in the early-to-mid '60s: snow, Hockey Night in Canada on CBC and Juliette. No wonder then that Juliette would record a Christmas album, in this case for RCA Camden, showcasing her enchanting vocal talents with arrangements by Jimmy Dale and backed up by a quartet of voices known as The Swingers.

The album is at turns delightful, swinging cheese ("That Holiday Feeling" - destined for your next Christmas party music compilation), earnest good fun ("Sing Hosanna, Hallelujah") and heartfelt meditation ("Scarlet Ribbons" - surely one of this LP's most-played tracks if the groove distortion is any indication!) The dominating mood, however, is smooth - thanks to Juliette's caramel phrasing and Jimmy Dale's mellow arrangements ("Christmas is a Day of Miracles".)