Christmas Come....And Christmas Gone!

Another great christmas has come and gone. Lot's of new great christmas music. My favorite new ones this year were (and probably in this order):

1) John Klein - A Christmas Sound Spectacular (1959)
2) Roger Williams - Christmas Time (1959)
3) Voices Of Walter Schumann - Voices Of Christmas (1955)
4) Ames Brothers - There'll Always Be A Christmas (1957)
5) Guy Lombardo And The Royal Canadians - Sings The Songs Of Christmas (1960)
6) Bing Crosby - Christmas Album (1972)

If you can find any of these (some are easy) and like that easy-listening, 1950's - 1960's style of orchestra/chorus/crooner christmas music, then these would all be for you.

New Top 25 list

This will be much shorter than my previous top 10 list from a month or two back as I will not be havin any ties. This isn't a definite list as I'm still debating on some of them whether they should be one or two up and vice-verca..... except for #1. It is definitely #1. So, the list can always change from time-to-time as the more I put on each individual one, the more I either like it or dislike it and thus, the order can change and some that aren't even on the list at the moment may be added at some point while some on the list could actually be deleted (though that would be tough since they're all so good). And bear in mind, this is out of over 200 christmas cd's, records, and cassettes I own.

1) Living Strings - The Spirit Of Christmas (1963)
2) Fred Waring And The Pennsylvanians - The Meaning Of Christmas (1961)
3) John Klein - A Christmas Sound Spectacular (1959)
4) Roger Williams - Christmas Time (1959)
5) Jackie Gleason - Merry Christmas (1956)
6) Mitch Miller - Holiday Sing Along With Mitch (1961)
7) Living Strings And Living Vocies - White Christmas (1968)
8) The Voices Of Walter Schumann - The Voices Of Christmas (1955)
9) Geoff love - The Geoff Love Christmas Album (1972)
10) Perry Como - Seasons Greetings (1959)
11) Kate Smith - The Kate Smith Christmas Album (1966)
12) Connie Francis - Christmas In My Heart (1959)
13) Johnny Mathis - Merry Christmas (1958)
14) Steve Lawrence And Eydie Gorme - That Holiday Feeling (1964)
15) Lawrence Welk - 22 Merry Christmas Favorites (compilation from the 1960's?)
16) Living Voices - The Little Drummer Boy (1965)
17) Percy Faith - Christmas Is (1966)
18) Living Voices - Sing Christmas Music (1962)
19) Living Strings - The Sounds Of Christmas (1970)
20) Henry Mancini - A Merry Mancini Christmas (1966)
21) Ames Brothers - There'll Always Be A Christmas (1957)
22) Fred Waring And The Pennsylvanians - The Sounds Of Christmas (1959)
23) Perry Como - Sings Merry Christmas Music (1950's?)
24) Norman Luboff Choir - Christmas With The Norman Luboff Choir (1964)
25) Guy Lombardo - Sings The Songs Of Christmas (1960)

New Tony Bennett Christmas CD Great

The new Tony Bennett is great. I actually don't have it yet but checked some of it out and it's really great. Very smooth and jazzy. There seems to be some strings (violins, etc.....) in a bit of it too. It sounds very much like the jazzy christmas songs he did on his video back in the mid-nineties with the exception of having brass on this new cd. Very recommended and great to know that he's still got his voice.

Avalon Music Site - Great Exclusive Christmas Music Cd's

www.avalonmusic.com

This site has great, exclusive christmas releases under their own label, I believe. Several big band, jazz, and orchestra christmas music cd's, many with great vocals.

Check out the great female vocalist (with a voice like the wonderful female singers of the 1950's and 1960's), Janice Hagen and her christmas cd, NAUGHTY OR NICE.

And check out the great male singer, TONY PAGLIA, who also has his own orchestra (TONY PAGLIA & HIS ORCHESTRA) with a couple of big band christmas cd's he's released on this label (one cd - possibly a 2 cd set, he shares the singing duties with JANICE HAGEN).

Also check out THE STEVE WINGFIELD BAND and the couple of big band cd's he has out on this label.

A final and very important release to check out is the ROBERTO OCCHIPINTI & HIS ORCHESTRA christmas cd, CHRISTMAS MEMORIES. It's a very lush christmas cd with a pretty large orchestra by the sounds of it. There are lots of strings (violins, etc...) and has a resemblance to the orchestras of yesteryear, the Living Strings, 101 Strings, Nelson Riddle, George Melachrino, Henry Mancini, Percy Faith, Hollyridge Strings, etc......

YouTube - sneeuwstorm (snow storm Dec. 16 2007)

When watching this video, click on the icon to enlarge the screen to get the maximum out of this video.



YouTube - sneeuwstorm (snow storm Dec. 16 2007): "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM6HP-QgbZY"

The Perfect White Christmas

EDIT: CHECK THE VIDEO ABOVE FOR THIS SNOWSTORM VIDEO IN THIS POST. AND CLICK ON THE ICON AT THE BOTTOM CORNER TO ENLARGE THE SCREEN TO GET THE FULL IMPACT OF JUST HOW BAD THIS STORM WAS.

This video is of quite possibly the worst, most ferocious snow Ottawa has ever had. 15 inches (approximately 37-38 centimetres) to 24 inches (approximately 60 centimetres) fell in Ottawa in this snowstorm, most of it in a crazy 6 hours, between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. It occured on sunday, december 16, 2007, just 9 days before christmas. You can be sure we had a white christmas in Ottawa. A very wonderful instrumental version of White Christmas plays with this video. Also note the howling winds that can be heard throughout the video. The blowing snow gave blizzard conditions for much of that 6 hour period.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as me as it shows what a perfect white christmas is supposed to look like.

November 1st, Christmas Season Officially Begins

Now that it's november 1st, the christmas season now begins (especially here in Canada since our next big holiday after halloween is christmas - Canada thanksgiving is back in october, remember).

So, let the christmas music begin in earnest.