Christmas Greetings Vol. 3 (Columbia Special Products for A&P, 1972)

This would be yet another by now fairly typical Columbia Special Products '70s Christmas compilation album were it not for two tracks on it whose artist names literally jumped off the back cover when I found my copy in a Goodwill a few years ago.

 "The Christmas Song" Carol Burnett...


...and "Here's To You" Cary Grant, which was also released as a B-side 45 RPM single in 1967.

 This 45 is extremely hard to find in merely acceptable condition. The single's equally classy A-side "Christmas Lullaby" can also be found on the 1971 A Very Merry Christmas Volume 3 CSP compilation for the now defunct East Coast department store chain, Grant's.

That Christmas Feeling (Columbia Special Products for JCPenney, 1973)

I swear between Columbia and RCA, these two former rivals (ironically, they're now both subsidiaries of Sony Music) were in a race to tie in as many custom Christmas compilation albums for retail businesses as possible in the '70s.

Columbia released albums for Goodyear, JCPenney, A&P, Safeway, Firestone and several others. RCA had Firestone, True Value Hardware, Radio Shack, Piggly Wiggly and others.

Most of these compilations contained music heard on older compilations, but with different track listings.

"Christmas Countdown" Frank Kelly (1983)

Hysterical twist on "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

A KJR Rock N' Roll Christmas (1975)

"(A KJR) Rock N' Roll Christmas" Ric Hansen & Julie Miller (1975)

Listen Here

In the '70s, the most listened to Top 40 radio station in Seattle was "Channel 95" KJR (950 AM.)

The station could easily claim to as many as 1/4 to even 1/3rd of all the radios in Puget Sound were tuned in to KJR at any given time and they would be pretty much spot on. You heard KJR everywhere in the '70s.

And back then, this sticker on the window or bumper of any car in the Seattle area meant the driver was pretty cool.

While FM rock was available (KJR's FM sister station in the '70s was KISW.), it was still a niche and would remain so until the 1979 disco implosion that drove everyone to harder rock or Adult Contemporary pop in Seattle. (KJR-AM today is All Sports.) 

But KJR was a Seattle institution in the thick of the '70s. So much so, it was revived on 95.7 FM during the '70s nostalgia wave of the '90s. (Somehow, I never got used to the FM-upgraded tagline in their '90s jingles "KJR Seattle.....Channel 95.7!")

And when you're THIS big, you can put out your own Christmas song and have it easily become a local hit. And that's what KJR did in 1975.

Julie Miller (who?) does an eerily accurate Karen Carpenter imitation while powerhouse jock Ric Hansen runs down the kind of stuff you heard on KJR in 1975 and before joining the chorus (yes, he sings on this one.)

If you're from Seattle and you remember KJR back in the day, it's an awesome holiday flashback. If not, it's probably pretty much 3 minutes of WTF.

Enjoy!

Christmas Tinner

 If you just can't put down the game controller of the PS4 or X-Box One Santa (may) bring you for Christmas, I have GREAT news.

Layer one – Scrambled egg and bacon
Layer two – Two mince pies
Layer three – Turkey and potatoes
Layer four – Gravy
Layer five – Bread sauce
Layer six – Cranberry sauce
Layer seven – Brussel sprouts with stuffing – or broccoli with stuffing
Layer eight – Roast carrots and parsnips
Layer nine – Christmas pudding

No need to break out the "good" dishes, just eat it right out of the can! (But then again, when your idea of interior decorating include fake bookshelf wallpaper, who needs formality?)

 Sadly for the rest of us, it's only available in the UK.... And completely SOLD OUT this year.....

http://www.game.co.uk/en/game-christmas-tinner-181968?pageSize=20&categoryIdentifier=10210