The Australian Womens Weekly Christmas Special (2013)

The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait (1978)

The Homecoming: A Waltons Christmas Story (1971)

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Kenny and Dolly: A Christmas To Remember (1984)

Merry Christmas - Bing Crosby (Decca/MCA/Geffen, 1942/1955)

This is probably the world's best known Christmas album. Nearly every household with a collection of Christmas music has a copy. And it still sells briskly 70 years after it's original release.

It was originally released in 1942 as a 4 record set of 78 RPM discs, later a 10" LP and 4 disc 45 RPM set in 1949. In 1955, the album was expanded to include 4 more songs on the 12" LP.

Original 1942 78 RPM copy

"The Sound of Christmas" The Living Strings (Pickwick/Camden, 1970)

You probably had a mom or a grandma with a BIG veneer console stereo and some record like this would plop down from the automatic record changer inside it.

Here it is, complete with the snap crackle and pops of vinyl you remember..... 

"Christmas In Japan" Paul Anka (1960)

Merry Christmas from The Brady Bunch (Paramount, 1970)

A Partridge Family Christmas Card (Bell Records, 1971)

"Stop The Cavalry" The Cory Band w/ The Gwalia Singers (1981)

Most of you have probably never heard this UK single before and technically, it's not even a Christmas song, but an anti-war song.

Yet if you live in the Seattle area, you definitely know it. It gets regular airplay on Seattle's Warm 106.9 radio during their annual holiday music format. For decades, it was a holiday season radio hit in the Puget Sound. An earworm that never seems to leave your brain once you hear it. It reached #3 on the British pop charts in December 1981. But there was never an American release of the song at that time. Either it wasn't considered or no American record label was interested in licensing the track for the U.S., thinking it wouldn't sell to American record buyers.

So how did this song get to be such a huge hit in Seattle and pretty much nowhere else outside of the UK?

Well first, we're weird here in Seattle. That said, there's a fascinating back story (here) to how this record was nearly lost forever and how it was finally saved.

The original label the record was on, Stiff Records, was a British independent specializing in "pub rock", new wave and punk (Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Madness, Lene Lovich, Tracey Ullmann and Ian Dury & The Blockheads were among Stiff's best known artists.) It became one of the most influential independent labels in the world in the early 1980s, ushering in the punk and new wave genres to the UK and the world.


This song however was clearly none of the above genres.

It was originally recorded by Jona Lewie (another Stiff artist), but it was The Cory Band's cover of the song that became the Seattle hit.

The Cory Band is a Welsh brass band and one of the longest continuous running bands in the world. They were founded in 1884 (The Rolling Stones have nothing on these guys) and are recognized as one of the world's most innovative and popular brass ensembles. 

However somewhere along the way from the song's initial release, Stiff had erased and reused the original studio master tape of The Cory Band's version of this song (being a low-budget independent record label, that is not uncommon.) So when a Seattle record producer heard the track and contacted Stiff in 1997 to license an American re-release of this extremely rare single because of overwhelming demand from Seattle area radio listeners, Stiff looked in their vaults. Then told the producer the awful news.

A makeshift workaround had to be arranged with a vinyl copy of the song. Luckily, there were a few mint copies remaining from the original pressing. The producer made a decent transfer suitable for the re-release and sold 13,000 copies of the reissue locally.

It still remains one of the perennial holiday favourites in Seattle. Enjoy.  

"Christmas Rappin'" Kurtis Blow (1979)

PLAY IT LOUD!!!

'"The Be-Bop Santa Claus" Babs Gonzales (1955)

 

Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)

'Twas The Night Before Christmas (1974 Christmas Special)

Classic TV Special! With Joel Grey as....Everybody.

Every character in this animated special looks like Joel Grey.....

The Worst Christmas Song EVER

 

"An Old Fashioned Christmas (Daddy's Home)" Linda Bennett (1975)

It starts out like your typical sleepy MOR Christmas ballad. But then comes the "Breaking News" radio reports. And from here, this record really goes to hell.

What were they thinking?

"Jingle Bell Hustle" Wayne Newton (1979)

Christmas In The Northwest

"Christmas In The Northwest" Brenda Kutz-White (1985)

Now if you're not from the Pacific Northwest area, you probably will not understand this song. Or why Seattle folks still get a lump in their throats whenever they hear it.

Some people say Northwest folks are a proud, almost to the point of smug, bunch. And to be fair, they have a point. We don't have to go far for world class gourmet Asian food. We love our Seahawks, our high octane espresso....


...as well as our insatiable tattoo cravings.

We also got legal bud now too.

But most of all, of the fact we live in an area surrounded by such pristine natural beauty.

Around the holidays, you learn to get a taste for local products like egg nog lattes, Frangos and Almond Rocha. Or if you dare, Aplets & Cotlets. I'm not particularly a fan, but some people have a thing for them.

And Christmas In The Northwest. Which not only became a regional Christmas anthem, it is also the name of a best selling regional yearly album collection in the 1980s through today.

The concept for the album came when Alex Lawson (daughter of Steve and Debbie Lawson) was admitted to Children’s Hospital at the age of 2, suffering from E.coli. The Lawsons were so impressed with the treatment their daughter received, along with the care they received during their family crisis that they wanted to do something in return for the hospital.

The Lawsons then owned Lawson Productions; a Seattle based recording company which later became Bad Animals/Seattle. They enlisted help from an “A” list of the Seattle music world to provide contemporary Christmas music for the first and subsequent CDs.

Artists have included Dave Matthews, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart...


....Kenny G, Steve Miller, David Lanz and Paul Speer, Tickle Tune Typhoon, Tim Noah, and Walt Wagner. The first album launched the hit song “Christmas in the Northwest”, written and sung by Brenda Kutz. That song has become a Northwest classic.

-  ChristmasInTheNorthwest.com






And if you like what you hear, you can get copies on the ChristmasInTheNorthwest.com web site.

Enjoy!

The Last Bing Crosby Christmas Special w/ David Bowie (1977)

The Judy Garland Christmas Special (1963)