Car Boot Christmas Countdown 2016 - Day 4

It's already Day 4 of this year's Car Boot Christmas Countdown, and after yesterday's trio of country gents it's time for something completely different.

Budget labels abound at car boot sales and charity shops, and Non-Stop Christmas Disco by The Roller Disco Orchestra is on Pickwick Records, a subsidiary of Pickwick International Inc. (GB) Ltd.

The Roller Disco Orchestra - Non-Stop Christmas Disco (1979)

I know that for some folks the words budget + disco + Christmas = nightmare, but in my world the sheen and glitter of disco go well with the joy and triumph of Christmas music, and are a match made in Greenland.  This two-disc set is all I'd hoped it would be, i.e. funky orchestral disco with the whiff of fromage and a liberal sprinkling of sleigh bells.  I'll let the slightly deranged sleeve notes explain more:

"A chance to whiz round the disco in your own living room!... Could you ever believe you'd be bopping to GOOD KING WENCELAS (sic) or WE THREE KINGS? 

THE ROLLER DISCO ORCHESTRA present 10 tracks to roll into your hearts and leave you steaming on the carpet. Hang on to your mistletoe lovers - this one's guaranteed to keep you floored!

      HAPPY CHRISCO TO YOU ALL!" 

Reissue cover image

The non-stop segued set is a mostly frantic affair aside from Deck The Halls with its reggae beat and fart-along Moog, plus a few chilled grooves like Little Drummer Boy with whispered "rum-pum-pum-pum", and a sort of bump 'n' grind We Three Kings.  It's largely instrumental apart from some occasional breathy vocals as decoration, and has become a firm favourite in the Car Boot Vinyl household, being one of the first records I reach for when December arrives.

It's now available on CD as well as to download or stream. The updated cover art is rather generic, but thankfully the music is untouched and just as batshit.



I picked up The Bells of Christmas by Eddie Dunstedter back in April of this year for a pound.

Eddie Dunstedter - The Bells of Christmas (1959)

American composer and organist Dunstedter was active through the 1930s to the 1960s, and The Bells of Christmas was recorded after he'd already established a career scoring and playing music for TV and film.  This version of the album was reissued in the UK in 1965 by Music For Pleasure.  Eddie presents 18 carols played on a "4-manual, 24-rank organ containing approximately two thousand separate pipes", accompanied by xylophone, glockenspiel, celeste, marimba and vibraharp.

Original US cover art

The sleeve notes claim "Any voice, even the thin wavering tones of a child, can give meaning to Christmas carols; but the majestic voices of a great pipe organ* give them the most fitting expression of all."

It's a curious recording, quite muffled and very slow-paced, except for a brief step up in tempo on second track March of the Three Kings, after which it returns to a ponderous plod for the remainder.  It might be quite good for lowering the blood pressure, but I find it far too samey to maintain my attention, and I'd say it's probably best enjoyed in small doses (and perhaps accompanied by large doses of cherry brandy).

Do swing by the blog tomorrow (Monday the 19th of December) for Day 5 of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown where we'll be going Totally Tijuana!  Until then you can hear me playing tunes from Eddie, The Roller Disco Orchestra and loads more on the 2016 cloudcast; use the player below or click the link to go to Mixcloud.

 https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-christmas-2016/

*

Car Boot Christmas Countdown 2016 - Day 3

It's Day 3 of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown, and today's albums are from three male country artists.  Let's start with this, bought in June of this year for £1.

Charley Pride - Christmas In My Home Town (1970)

Charley Pride was born in in Mississippi and enjoyed a successful career as a baseball player before moving on to one in singing, becoming huge in the 1970s, mainly with the nana crowd.  A pioneer in the world of African-American country, he remains one of only three black artists (all men) to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.

1998 CD cover

1970's Christmas In My Home Town opens with the tinkling of bells and the cheerful title track, which is among the handful of pop-country Christmas songs here, the others being Happy Christmas Day, and of course Santa And The Kids which featured on Car Boot Christmas 2014. More traditional country style tracks such as The First Christmas Morn and Christmas And Love benefit from the dreamy backing vocals of The Jordinaires, but the carols work less well, his renditions of Deck The Halls and Silent Night falling a bit flat.

The album was reissued on CD in the US in 1998 with a different cover and the title "Happy Christmas Day".  It was remastered in 2013 with three bonus tracks and the original cover image restored.  Charley is still going strong today at the grand old age of 82.


Sadly no longer with us is the legend that was Johnny Cash, and I picked up his 1963 LP The Christmas Spirit at a boot sale in May of 2015 in a 3-for-a-fiver deal.

Johnny Cash - The Christmas Spirit (1963)
Mother in law Maybelle Carter plays autoharp

This was Cash's first Christmas album and four of the twelve songs are written by the man himself, including the spoken-word title track where over piano and choir Johnny dreams of travelling the world.  His journey begins in London where he's greeted by a chestnut seller in Piccadilly, and here Johnny's cockney "Hello mate!" is priceless.

Poverty and Jesus always seem to have gone hand in hand in country music, and there's plenty of both here, the storytelling both sung and narrated in Cash' echoing boom.  The Ballad of the Harp Weaver, a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay, is probably the most depressing track amongst a rather downbeat collection.  While this isn't exactly a party album, it's still full of Christmas spirit, just not the kind that comes decked in tinsel or slathered in sleigh bells.


I found a slightly battered copy of Gene Autry's Christmas Cracker at a car boot in August of last year, for the princely sum of 25p.

Gene Autry's Christmas Cracker (1966)
What a great cover!

Gene "The Singing Cowboy" Autry hailed from Texas and found fame singing on the radio after being refused a recording contract with RCA Victor in 1928.  He eventually signed with Columbia and his career spanned movies and TV as well as the music industry.  In all he made some 640 recordings, over 300 of which were self-penned or co-written.

Like many Christmas albums, one side of this consists of secular songs, with the other devoted to carols.  His 1949 US no.1 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer gets Side 1 off to a gallop, followed by other child-friendly favourites such as Up On The House Top written in 1864 by Benjamin Hanby, and an adaptation of the American rhyme 'Ten Little Indians' called Nine Little Reindeer.  Like Charley Pride, Autry's country style is better suited to these than the mostly solemn Side 2, at the end of which an uncredited male lead is joined by a choir for What Child Is This?, rounding things off quite nicely even though Autry's sudden disappearance is quite odd.  There are short spoken sections between some songs, and it's here that my 25p record really shows its age, but I just close my eyes and pretend the crackles are coming from a nice log fire.


You can hear Gene and a whole host of other artists on this year's Car Boot Christmas cloudcast below.  Join me again tomorrow, Sunday the 18th of December, for Day 4 of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown, where I'll be taking a look at two very different seasonal records.


https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-christmas-2016/

Car Boot Christmas Countdown 2016 - Day 2

Hello and welcome to Day 2 of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown, where I'm digging out some of the festive albums I've found at car boot sales and charity shops over the last couple of years.  If you missed the first installment yesterday you can find it here http://carbootvinyldiaries.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/car-boot-christmas-countdown-2016-day-1.html

Today's seasonal duo were both found in charity shops, beginning with the Scrooged Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, for which I paid 50p.

Scrooged - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1989)

Scrooged was a 1989 update of A Christmas Carol, and stars the wonderful Bill Murray as Frank Crass, a TV exec who's forgotten the true meaning of Christmas and who needs his icy heart warming up a touch.  The soundtrack features a couple of Yuletide standards in Natalie Cole's version of The Christmas Song and a cool-as-heck rendition of We Three Kings by Miles Davies, Larry Carlton, David Sanborn and Paul Shaffer, who also appear in the film as a group of street musicians insulted by Frank:

The rest is a mixture of pop covers and original material, the best being Annie Lennox and Al Green's feelgood Put A Little Love In Your Heart (as opposed to the also very good version sung by the cast as the credits roll, with Bill shouting "Feed me, Seymour!"), U2's The Sweetest Thing performed by gospel group New Voices of Freedom, and the lightweight but fun Get Up 'N' Dance from Kool Moe Dee.  Low points are Robbie Robertson's Christmas Must Be Tonight and Dan Hartman and Denise Lopez's The Love You Take, which both display the worst kind of eighties bland forgettability.

From rear sleeve

Even with the weaker tracks, if you're a fan of the film this LP is a must-have.  If you've never seen Scrooged before, for goodness sake go and watch it this Christmas!  It's guaranteed to appear somewhere on the schedules, usually on Film 4 in the UK.


For some reason I don't have this next record written in my car boot notebook, but I'm fairly certain that it cost a pound.

Christmas And James Last (1973)

Christmas And James Last is one of several Christmas LPs from this most prolific of easy listening bandleaders and composers, but the only one I've seen so far, despite the seemingly endless supply of J-La at car boots and chazzas.  It features mostly traditional tunes, plus four pieces written by "Hansi" himself, and is all instrumental except for the choir's charming but wordless contributions.  It isn't in his trademark "non-stop dancing" style, but many tracks segue into the next in a totally non-cheesy fashion, including a version of German folk song Heidschi Bumbeidschi known here as Cheidschi Bumbeidshi, which flows sweetly into German carol Tomorrow, Children Is The Day.

German cover art

The whole album is a thing of tinkling, swoonsome loveliness, stately in parts, but always giving off a warmth just perfect for December evenings by the fireside with a large Baileys.  Grab it if you see it, especially if it's only a pound!


Join me again tomorrow (Saturday the 17th of December) for Day 3 of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown 2016, this time for three albums by some country gents.  In the meantime you can hear me play over an hour's worth of all-vinyl Christmas music on the Car Boot Christmas cloudcast via the player below, or click the link to hear it on the Mixcloud page.


https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-christmas-2016/

Car Boot Christmas Countdown 2016 - Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown 2016.  Over the next ten days, leading us up to Christmas Eve, we'll be looking at some of the seasonal records I've found at car boot sales and charity shops since the last countdown in December 2014.

We'll start with an absolute belter, The Ventures' Christmas Album, for which I paid an entire fiver (I know!) in April of this year.

The Ventures' Christmas Album (1965)

Don Wilson, Bob Fogle and the rest of the guys bring a touch of summertime to Christmas, packing twelve festive standards into under half an hour of glorious surf rock instrumentals.  Each one has a snippet of a 60s pop hit expertly melded to it, so Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer opens with the unmistakable riff from 'I Feel Fine', their wonderful rendition of Blue Christmas has the Searchers' 'When You Walk In The Room' lick applied, and one classic meets another on Sleigh Bells where their own 'Walk, Don't Run' appears throughout.


The sleeve notes talk about the adaptations the group made to these well known songs "to suit their own power-packed style".  This youthful power, the twang-tastic racket it produces, added to the sleigh bells a-go-go from start to finish, make this jingle bell rock an essential December listen.


Bought from a charity shop and sent to me by a dear chum (thanks Matt!) is Mary's Boy Child: The Christmas Album by Boney M.

Boney M - Mary's Boy Child: The Christmas Album (1981)

Known throughout the rest of the world simply as "Christmas Album", the extra bit in the title was added to the UK version due to the success of the single Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord, a medley of the Harry Belafonte song and and one written by BM mastermind and real male vocalist Frank Farian, which sat atop the chart for four weeks in 1978. 

International sleeve

The album is just how you'd expect it to sound: lightweight melodic Europop with a mildly Caribbean flavour.  Things are upbeat and feelgood for the most part (Jingle Bells, a reggae-lite White Christmas, José Feliciano's Feliz Navidad), with most of the second side given over to more solemn fayre such as the boldly named Christmas Medley, the much-covered When A Child Is Born, and a version of Handel's "Tochter Zion" translated to Zion's Daughter.  The solemnity doesn't last though; the album ends with the bouncy bubblegum of I'll Be Home For Christmas - no, not that one, but a song written by Farian, who also supplies the lead vocal (under Bobby Farrell's name of course).

An enjoyable record, its effect is probably best summed up by the following customer review on Amazon:

"I bought a Xmas (sic) vest and actually danced with my mom."

There can be no higher recommendation for a Christmas record!


You can hear tracks from both of these albums and much, much more on Car Boot Christmas 2016, over an hour's worth of vinyl-only car boot and chazza Christmas tunes introduced and played by yours truly.  Use the player below to stream, or click on the link to go directly to it on Mixcloud.  It's totally family-friendly (no swears), and your shares and likes will be much appreciated.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow (Friday the 16th of December) for Part 2 of the Car Boot Christmas Countdown and two more albums.


https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-christmas-2016/

Car Boot Christmas Giveaway 2016

EDIT: Congratulations to winner Darren Betts! I'll be in touch, Darren.

Car Boot Vinyl Diaries is delighted to be giving away a copy of The Snowman original soundtrack to one lucky winner this Christmas.

First published in 1978, Raymond Briggs' wordless illustrations told the story of a boy and his adventure when the snowman he built came to life.  The book was transformed into a 26-minute animation first broadcast on Boxing Day in 1982, and the soundtrack album was released the following year.  Scored by composer and conductor Howard Blake, Side 1 consists of the story narrated by the great Bernard Cribbins over the backdrop of the music, plus of course the original version of Walking In The Air by chorister Peter Auty (as opposed to the Aled Jones version that was released as a single).  Side 2 contains purely the score and song.  Whether you've got children or not, it makes for enchanting fireside winter listening.

This car boot vinyl copy is the second pressing from 1983, i.e. the normal sleeve as opposed to the gatefold on the first pressing.  It's in excellent condition and plays absolutely beautifully, and I'll also throw in a pair of Snowman coasters I forgot to use last Christmas, plus whatever other tat I can find lying about the house.  In addition, I'll even make you a special Snowman-themed Christmas card.  With my own bare hands!

To enter, simply fill in the contact form at the top right of the page, with your name (real or internet) in the first field, your email address in the second, and the message "Snowman" in the third, then click "Send".  My glamorous assistant will be drawing the winning name from the hat at 8pm this Sunday (11th December).  Due to postage costs and delivery times the competition this year is open to UK entrants only.

Good luck!  And in the meantime you can hear this year's festive cloudcast Car Boot Christmas 2016, where I present over an hour's worth of Christmas music, all on vinyl and all found at car boot sales and charity shops.  Use the player below or click the link to go to Mixcloud.  Shares, likes and comments welcome!



https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-christmas-2016/

Car Boot Christmas 2016

December is finally here, and this year's Car Boot Vinyl Diaries festive cloudcast is now on Mixcloud!  Whether you're in the car, out on your bike, at home wrapping presents and decorating the tree, or otherwise in need of some cheering Christmas music, it's all here; soul, pop, jazz, carols, surf and more - there's even a bit of cheesy disco.

It's all family-friendly too (i.e. no swears), so ideal for entertaining the kids on a long car journey or at home on a grey December day.  Hear me playing over an hour's worth of fab tunes, all on vinyl and all dug up from car boot sales and charity shops, using the player below, or click the link to go to the CBVD Mixcloud page.  Your shares, likes and comments would be most welcome.

I hope you enjoy listening as much I did putting it together.

Minibreakfast xxx




https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-christmas-2016/

P.S. Be sure to pop back to the blog tomorrow for an exciting Car Boot Vinyl giveaway!

Cloudcast Episode 14

Episode 14 of the Car Boot Vinyl Diaries cloudcast is now online.  As well as a double-disc Novelty Island and a bulging Boot Of Loot, there's also a featured album from Transatlantic Records, plus a special record for one of our regular listeners.  Listen using the widget below, or click on the link to go to Mixcloud.  Enjoy!




https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-vinyl-diaries-episode-14/