Here's another forgotten vinyl Christmas album, rescued from the Goodwill bin of obscurity by Pastor McPurvis and the good folks at Vinyl Orphanage.
To quote Pastor McPurvis:
"Up today are the happy holiday sounds of Roy Meyer and his group of Singing Swingers. Hailing from the great state of New Jersey, Mr. Meyer founded this community group as a non-profit agency dedicated to providing music scholarshops to high school students, as well as promoting vocal group singing throughout the New York Metro area.
"Mr. Meyer penned some ambitious arrangements for the group, and though the singers may falter a bit on the more complicated harmonies, they more than make up for it with their enthusiasm and sincere delivery."
Pastor McPurvis hits the nail on the head... At first glance, this album looks like a church group recording but the arrangements more than make up for it.
It seems Roy Meyer is alive and well and still swinging in New Jersey. And if you got vocal talent, here's a way to join up and become an official "Roy Meyer Swinger":
Roy Meyer Swingers - Oakland NJ
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
Here's a new subgenre of Christmas music that I've added to my collection - Christmas carillon music.
Last December, I've began searching my local Goodwill, Salvation Army, antique stores, vinyl resale shops, and garage sales for unique Christmas music that I can digitally transfer over.
I found a RCA Victor "Living Stereo" album cover entitled "A Christmas Sound Spectacular" by John Klein at a local Goodwill (no record enclosed unfortunately) that piqued my interest. Thankfully, I found a site that sells this very CD and ordered up a copy.
I then found this album over at Vinyl Orphanage last December when they shared a bunch of wonderful Christmas albums.
Down in Lake Wales, Florida is the Bok Tower Gardens (now Bok Sanctuary) - a sprawling area of bliss established by noted American author Edward Bok and designed by the famous landscape artist Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr.. After the last garden was planted and watered, Bok sensed something was missing. Looking at the sky, he envisioned a great tower with carillons that would ring gentle music through the whole area.
Since its completion in 1929, the Bok Tower has had only three carillonneurs - Anton Brees from 1929 to 1967, Milford Myhre from 1968 to 2004, and William De Turk from 2004 to the present.
Recorded in 1985, Milford Myhre plays a standard set of traditional Christmas music that features old standards like "Good King Wenceslas", "Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella", and "Silent Night". My favorite track on the album is "Carol Of The Bells" for obvious reasons. There is a song on the album entitled "Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance?" that is dull and boring but gets a mention for "Best Song Title On The Album".
Overall, it's a nice change of pace that lasts for about 15 minutes. Any further prolonged listening will make you go insane, causing you to either reside in a bell tower or climbing one with a rifle looking to pick people off.
When I get the other Christmas carillon album that I ordered - "A Christmas Sound Spectacular" - expect a full review (lock the guns now).
THIS JUST IN: Pastor McPurvis informs me that since this album is still for sale at the Bok Tower Gardens gift shop, he removed the album from Vinyl Orphanage. Try e-mailing the gift shop to get the album.
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
Every Christmas, there's one hot toy or game that is all the rage: XBox 360, Tickle Me Elmo, Nintendo, Teddy Ruxpin.
People camp out for days ahead, trample over people to get their hands on their item, and pay top dollar to give someone a Merry Christmas.
This entire phenomenon can be traced directly back to the Cabbage Patch Dolls. First created in 1976 by an art student named Xavier Roberts, the handmade dolls started off slowly and sold quite well. Roberts came up with the cutesy-wutesy idea of "adoption papers" and "official birth certificates" and people went "Awwww" to the tune of $60 million in the first year.
By 1980, the demand had begin to build and dolls were reselling for 100 times over the original price. Toy companies were clamoring for the chance to mass reproduce the toys and Roberts eventually went with Coleco in 1982. The world was about to be flooded with Cabbage Patch dolls.
Everyone remembers what happened next: the lines of people waiting, the huge amount of accessories for the dolls, the lotteries to get a chance at a doll, the fistfights, the scuffles, the news coverage, the mass hysteria. By 1985, sales of the Cabbage Patch Dolls stood at a staggering $600 million.
This Christmas album was released in 1984. It's a mix of kiddie, bluegrass, and country music that features Colonel Casey as a narrator and introduces us to "Christmas in the Cabbage Patch". Cue the banjo, the kiddie chorus, and the cutesy-wutesy songs and stories. By track three, I went into epilectic sugar shock. There is good kiddie Christmas music, bad Christmas music, and jaw-droppingly disgusting kiddie Christmas music. This falls below that by a great margin.
The Cabbage Patch whirlwind began to die down and by 1986, only $250 million of the dolls were sold. Coleco tried in vain to revive the doll but the fad had passed and in 1989, Coleco went bankrupt. Hasbro picked up the dolls from 1989 to 1994, couldn't do anything with them, and sold the rights to Mattel. Mattel continues to produce the dolls to this day. It's been estimated that nearly 80 million dolls were sold since the inception of the Cabbage Patch Dolls.
This album was posted by Pastor McPurvis at Vinyl Orphanage and is still available to download!
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
Here's another forgotten vinyl Christmas album, rescued from the Goodwill bin of obscurity by Pastor McPurvis and the good folks at Vinyl Orphanage.
