Earlier this year, I reviewed an excellent 1995 compilation of the collected Christmas works of Ruth Lyons. As I typed that review, I listened to the CD comp that used actual physical copies of the albums for the master sources (amazing but true).
I quicked pulled my LP copies of "Ten Tunes Of Christmas" and found no new surprises. However, when I listened to "It's Christmas Time Again", I was delighted to discover three of the 1963 versions to be totally different and inexplicably left off the CD comp.
To quote from my original review:
1.) "Let's Light the Christmas Tree" has a spoken intro (presumably by either Bob Braun or Peter Grant) and is a much simpler version of the song. Quite nice.
2.) "Hey Nonny Nonny" has different inflections in Ruth's singing voice - amazing but true! - and the arrangement is totally different from the original song presented on the CD.
3.) "Have a Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas" has Ruth and the gang singing the song as opposed to kiddie singers!
Have a merry, merry, merry, merry listen:
Ruth Lyons - Selections From "It's Christmastime Again"
According to a recent Cincinnati Enquirer article, a brand new TV documentary about Ruth Lyons has been pushed back to the spring and will coincide with a BRAND NEW 2-CD set of all the Christmas music by Lyons to benefit her beloved Children's Fund.
Michael A. Banks, the author of the upcoming book on Ruth Lyons entitled "Before Oprah: Ruth Lyons, the Woman Who Created Talk TV" posted a comment at my original review informing us that the book was pushed back as well to May, 2009.
It's shaping up to be a Ruth Lyons spring!
Happy listening...
Capt
