Old Enough to Forget

Before Frank Mills punished the world with "Music Box Dancer" in 1979, Hagood Hardy had an unusual crossover with "The Homecoming" back in 1975. Okay, to the purists out there, yes, "Music Box Dancer" was actually recorded in 1974, but then "The Homecoming" got its start in a commercial for Salada tea in 1972. What this has to do with anything is beyond me, but there you go. By 1978, Mr. Hardy was a known commodity with his brand of piano tinkling, and it made sense that he put out a Christmas album at some point ... and then it happened. A Very Special Christmas was licensed to K-tel from Attic Records. Who knows how this came about, but there was a time the little label from Winnipeg wasn't that little. The album features sixteen tracks that cover all of the required bases. It should be noted that this album predates the A Very Special Christmas anthologies of Christmas music by about a decade. Those were good, but each album was a little...

Kids today have no idea that once upon a time, not that long ago, cable television was a luxury, and it wasn't until the mid-'70s that most of us had a colour TV. The channels that came in with the rabbit ears were the ones we watched. There was Gunsmoke , The Beachcombers , and on Saturday* it was The Tommy Hunter Show that I watched with my parents. Despite not being a country fan, I sure did like the guitar players. Wilf Carter seemed to be a staple, but chances are I only saw him a handful of times. I also remember a big deal being made out of fiddle player Al Cherney whenever he was on ... but I don't think he has a Christmas album. Wilf Carter was one of the first Canadian country stars in the classic cowboy tradition. Apparently, in the States, he was known as Montana Slim. Something I was this many years old when I found out. I was out to lunch the other day with my mum and mentioned I'd found Wilf Carter's Christmas album, and she told me how he was her da...

As a kid, the coolest name to say out loud that wouldn't get you into trouble was Engelbert Humperdinck. I could not figure out how adults were able to take this British helmet-haired crooner seriously. I mean, as soon as I heard, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Engelbert Humperdinck," I'd just lose it. Hump a dink, ha ha ha. In my twenties, my roommate had an Engelbert Humperdinck album, and every once in a while he'd appear in the living room in a black velvet smoking jacket and proclaim it was time for some Humperdinck. "Release Me" was fine, "Quando Quando Quando" was good, but we'd lose our collective shit and belt out "Lonely Is a Man Without Love" and then prance around. I never said I was mature, and for whatever reason, I had developed a begrudging respect for Mister Hump a dink as a fine vocalist. I'll also be the first to admit that there's a generic quality to his vocals that makes him hard to distinguish from many of h...

I actually really like these odd little double A-side collections. Take two somewhat related artists and cull a dozen songs from across their discography and try and make a buck at Christmas. There is no information printed on the spine, and no liner notes. To be fair, my used copy could have had some once upon a time ... but I doubt it. The double act Columbia Records decided to put together was Johnny Mathis and The Ray Conniff Singers. Whoever picked the songs for the Johnny Mathis side decided to stay with the sacred. From what I can figure, five of the six songs here come from his 1958 Christmas album, with "Ave Maria" likely coming from Good Night, Dear Lord , also released in '58. The sequencing follows a loose chronological telling of the Christmas story. The album kicks off with "O Holy Night", and when it comes to the French Kiss note, he does it with a full voice, no falsetto or warbly half measures. It's pretty impressive, and his voice seems to ...

Annunzio Paolo Mantovani died in March of 1980 at the age of 74. Before The Beatles dethroned him, Mantovani was Britain's most successful album act. He was the king of lush orchestra arrangements, or more to the point, the syrupy strings that were all the rage once upon a time. It's not like people didn't eat it up. Reading up on Mantovani, because that's what I do ... and what better place to start than to skim over a Wiki entry? He was a pretty big deal. According to the book British Hit Singles & Albums , he was the first to sell over a million stereo albums, and it would seem he cranked out records like a sausage maker. In 1959, Mantovani had six albums in the US Top 30 at the same time. Goodness. Mantovani released a couple of Christmas albums back in the '50s, but this collection appears to be new recordings by The Mantovani Orchestra, conducted by longtime arranger Roland Shaw. So even if Mantovani was no longer around, his arranger and orchestra were, s...

I was a baby when this came out, so I can't say I was a fan when it was first released. Like a lot of people, I came late to the party, really late. Sure, I knew about him from The Godfather , but that hardly counts. It was the maligned Godfather Part III and Johnny Fantane's character when he sang "To Each His Own" that sealed it for me as an Al Martino fan. That was awesome. "Promise Me You'll Remember (Love Theme from The Godfather Part III)" was supposed to be the big crooner moment with Harry Connick Jr., but a quick A and B between Al and Harry shows the absolute gulf between them as vocalists. I like Harry. Al was simply on another level. "To Each His Own" was supposed to be played at our wedding, except I forgot the cassette at home that had some of the songs we wanted to play. Which sucked, because we wanted to exit the reception to Michael Nesmith singing "Eldorado to the Moon" and when he got to the part where he sang, ...