Don Ho - The Don Ho Christmas Album

I found this one, and snapped it up. Sadly it looked to be in better condition than it actually was ... but I can stream it if I want to hear it without the Rice Krispie Players adding their own textures to the songs. It didn't matter, at least for the first few times that I played it in the basement.

Don Ho, you know Mister Tiny Bubbles himself, was someone I knew of, more than I knew of. I always figured he was a one note joke and I didn't get the punchline. I had no idea what to expect, somehow in my mind I figured he'd be milking his 1967 hit, and signature song. "Tiny Snowballs" and the like. "Tiny Bubbles" from what I've read was originally penned for Lawrence Welk as a tie in to his champagne music. Mr. Welk passed, and Don Ho received it and scored a touchdown with it.

Released in 1967 Do Ho nailed it with his easy listening collection of Christmas standards, "Silver Bells", "The Christmas Song", and a wonderfully slowed down and sultry version of "Mele Kalikimaka" that is better than you'd expect it to be.

One of the things I enjoy most about a lot of the older albums is getting to deeper cuts and songs I've not heard before, and in that regard this album delivers. It really delivers, this is such a great album. From the opening track written by Kui Lee is a really great song and a wonderful way to lead off the album.

Don Ho had a really warm baritone, and for an album that I've not heard before it feels like a long lost friend. It still amazes me that I'm still discovering music I've not heard that is this good.

Weird.

The album closes with a really nice medley of "Some Children See Him & Po La'i E (Silent Night)" which tied everything together. The album contained eleven songs, and eight of them clocked in well under three minutes. I know it's an old adage to leave people wanting more, but this seemed to be over so quickly it seemed unfair.

If you're a fan of classic Christmas music, this is really something you need to add to your list.

The Don Ho Christmas album was a great way to kick off the Holiday season. It's too bad he didn't call himself Don Ho Ho Ho at least for this one.

Comments

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t...

Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack

It was going to happen sooner or later. Nostalgia is a cruel Mistress...she can dull the sharpest edges and over time can even soften the hardest of opinions. I found this in the dollar bin, and frankly at a dollar I was worried about what this would cost me. Not only from a monetary perspective, but my time, and more important my credibility. Fourteen year old me was screaming "Don't you dare. DON'T DO IT! Put it down. Walk away!" Then there was grey bearded me holding it and looking at it, thinking, "How bad could it be? I actually kind of like "Staying Alive" and me buying this record won't bring disco back, and no one will have to know I bought this." I pulled the album out of the bin, and carefully took out the records. They'd seen better days, and there were a couple of decent scratches that would no doubt make their presence known later. The jacket was in decent condition, and both of the albums had the original sleeves. I dusted the...

Old Enough to Forget

Search This Blog