Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Christmas with The William Booth Singers and Salvation Army Band

The actual title of this one is Christmas With The William Booth Singers and The International Staff Band of The Salvation Army. But that's too long to fit in a blog post title!

CWTWBSATISBOTSA, for short, is a neat little album. It's a mix of vocal tracks with band, and instrumental only tracks, warbled out with gusto by the brass-heavy Salvation Army band. It's the only Christmas music I've heard that alternately sounds like Christmas Eve in a Catholic Church and a bustling downtown Santa Claus parade.

After a couple of years of rummaging through piles of neglected old LPs at local Salvation Army stores, it's nice to rescue a title like this. The Salvation Army has done so much for Christmas music in general, and this album proves it!

I wasn't able to track down any release info for Christmas With..., but my Google educated guess dates sometime within the early 1960s. Allegedly, Alma Records released several titles on it's Christian Faith Records imprint within that period. If you've heard this one before or have any further info, please post a comment.
New Link! 11/11/13 — Please enjoy: Christmas with...


7 comments:

  1. What a fun album! You are right one with your description of this music as being a cross between Christmas Eve in a Catholic Church and a bustling downtown Santa Claus parade! They just don't make recordings like this anymore--thank you so much for resurrecting these long-lost holiday gems!

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  2. Sad...Another link that did not work for me. Is there another link for this album?

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  3. Hi, still checking in after all these years! Missed this one, any chance of a re-post! So sorry I missed this one!

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  4. Yes. I'd also like to hear this one. Hopefully it'll make the upload acount soon as many of these older shares seem to have. Thanks.

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  5. Hi Kwork — I've updated the link. Thanks for everyone for requesting this album. Enjoy!

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  6. Oh, thank you. I'm getting it now. Thanks for updating the link. Truly appreciated.

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