🎄 Holidays! A shameless (self)-promotion

[Rudy]

Some of our more faithful readers may have heard mention of Tim Neely's book, Goldmine Christmas Record Price Guide. Records (including LPs, 45's, EPs) are priced by grade, and there is plenty of other reference material in the book that will help you locate that rare or long-lost Christmas song you heard all those years ago, including track listings of 'various artist' compilations.

If anyone's interested in purchasing this book, here's a link to Amazon:


> Click here < to buy this book from Amazon.

(Off to order my own copy now, in fact. )

 

[cakeicer]

I'll be waiting for a review from Mr. Hoodoo first.

 

[Rudy]

I'll be waiting for a review from Mr. Hoodoo first.

If it's like his last review "situation", nothing would get written for about six months. It might be easier to ask the author directly.

Amazon actually has a handful of page samples from the book, which I thought was nice. Just seeing those samples gave me a good idea of how the book was laid out.

I'm so tired tonight, I can barely put together a forum post without falling asle....................

 

[Tim Neely]

A little "inside information" from the author:

1. This book is going to go out of print once we run out of 'em. It's been available for five years, and alas, there are no plans for a second edition. Order it directly from Krause Publications over the phone and you can get it for $10 (half price). I don't think this price is available online. Call 1-800-258-0929 and mention offer code R62R.

2. Most of the research for this book you can't find elsewhere. I actually went out and bought a lot of the records, especially the albums, that you find listed. All the various artists LPs that are listed (hundreds of 'em) have their complete contents listed if I was able to find the records, and they also are cross-referenced back to the artists. So you can see at a glance which various artists LPs contained "Merry Christmas Darling" by the Carpenters, for example. (It appears on one of the Goodyear collections. Christmas Is..., that came out in the 1970s. That one has the original recording on it, by the way -- possibly the only vinyl LP to include this version and not the re-record.)

3. I've learned so much more since this book came out....

Anyway, I had a great time putting it together. At some point, I'll make my later research available, whether in book form or some other way.
I now have over 4,000 Christmas albums and probably over 1,000 Christmas 45s and hundreds of Christmas CDs. And I seem always to be adding to the collection.

 

[jimac51]

OK-Since Tim gave you the skinny about this on his own,let me add that I have owned this since it came out in 1997 and it is a favorite read any old time of the year. It is a major component of my music book shelves. Like he said,lots have been learned since its publication but there is no other,none,nada ,nunca book like this-listings of artists, singles,albums,compilations,photos throughout and it should be a load of fun for many of the music fans here. A note that it exclusively deals with vinyl-no tape or CD-and of course ebay rules much of the pricing today,but if you still collect vinyl,this is a very important reference tool for your collection. Oh,and Tim,as long as I send them,your collection should be larger by four LPs in a few days.Mac

 

[Mr Bill]

Just curious -- Does it mention both versions of I.R.S.'s Just In Time For Christmas? If so, I may just have to order a copy!

--Mr Bill
packing for a long trip...

 

[Rudy]

I've also got to order new versions of the two Joel Whitburn books I own: the Top 40 book, and the Billboard #1 Hits. The former dates to 1989, and the other back to 1985 ("We Are The World" is the last entry). I'd get more of his books if they weren't so darned expensive. $10 for Tim's book is a steal IMHO.

 

[Tim Neely]

Just curious -- Does it mention both versions of I.R.S.'s Just In Time For Christmas? If so, I may just have to order a copy!

--Mr Bill
packing for a long trip...

The second (1990) version, as far as I know, was not issued on vinyl, and the book only lists vinyl releases. If the first (1987) version exists on vinyl, I've never seen it. Based on the year of release, it's possible; but it's not in my collection anywhere! A couple years ago I found a copy of Version 1 in its original digipack at a used-CD store for cheap (I want to say about $2).

 

[Mr Bill]

The first version was created for promotional purposes only, but it proved to be so popular that a commercial version was created a couple years later (with some of the same tracks but largely new material). I only have a partial listing of what's on the first version.

--Mr Bill

 

[Tim Neely]

Just In Time for Christmas (Original Version)

I.R.S. IRSD-XMAS
1987

1. "All I Want for Christmas" -- Timbuk 3 (3:23)
2. "Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday" -- Reckless Sleeper (3:44)
3. "Christmas Time and You (Let's Put the X Back in X-Mas)" -- Tirez Tirez (4:29)
4. "Home for the Holidays" -- The dB's (2:47)
5. "Shouldn't Have Given Him a Gun for Christmas" -- Wall of Voodoo (4:04)
6. "Green Pants and Finance" -- The Balancing Act [2:48]
7. "Hark" -- Torch Song (2:26)

It was issued in a cardboard sleeve with a pocket, into which the CD (and its white protective sleeve) slides. Inside the gatefold on the right hand side are these words, in red:
"Happy Holidays
from our lot to yours."

My copy is presumably hand-signed above this to "Marty," and then is signed underneath this "Cary Baker" (?)

 

[Rudy]

Cary Baker was IRS's head of promotions from 1984-1988. Thought the name sounded familiar:

http://www.irscorner.com/forum/index.cgi?read=229

 

[Mr Bill]

Thanks for that info, Tim! Is the cardboard sleeve plane white? If so, any chance of a scan of the side with the printing? If it's not a plain sleeve maybe a scan of the cover. If this ispossible you can email it to me via the "email" link at my site (www.irscorner.com).

Thanks again for the info!

--Mr Bill

 

[Tim Neely]

Alas, I don't have a scanner. Even though I just bought a brand-new computer, I didn't get a scanner. It's a matter of principle with me -- why spend money on one when I can't scan an entire LP cover in one pass? (Some of my acquaintances who are into scrapbooking have the same complaint -- many scrapbook pages are the same size as LP covers.)

Let me describe as best as I can:
The front cover uses the exact same drawing as was used on the front of the 1990 edition! (At least I think it's exactly the same.)
The back cover lists the songs, artists, composers and times.
There is no spine printing at all.
The only place the catalog number "IRSD-XMAS" appears is on the disc itself.
As I mentioned, the cover opens up into a gatefold. The inside is white. The left page is completely blank. The right page has the message I descibed earlier.

 

[Rudy]

Good scanners are hard to find these days. Most of what I've seen will only scan 8-1/2x11. Mine will scan up to legal length, so I can do an LP in two passes, not four. Not ideal, I know, but with a program like Photoshop, it's very easy to stitch the two together once you know how. (Basically, scan both pieces right into Photoshop, increase the canvas size on one of the scans, then copy/paste the 2nd piece into the first.) If I had to scan four sections of an album cover, I would never bother! At least there's one advantage to CD's smaller artwork: you can scan it in one pass. (But that's the only advantage to us vinyl lovers, no? )

 

[jimac51]

A little "inside information" from the author:

1. This book is going to go out of print once we run out of 'em. It's been available for five years, and alas, there are no plans for a second edition. Order it directly from Krause Publications over the phone and you can get it for $10 (half price). I don't think this price is available online. Call 1-800-258-0929 and mention offer code R62R.

As Neil puts the holiday forum to rest,and if you are planning on buying Tim's book,I'd like to set the groundwork for a discussion next year. While you are going through the book,and based on things in the post-vinyl era,notice the artists that have no known Christmas recording,or just a song which was either a single or appeared in a compilation. There are some fascinating gaps. Criteria would be an arist with fairly deep catalog(five or more albums could be the benchmark,or,maybe 10 singles if its someone from the pre-LP era),have a leaning towards this kind of material(i.e.-nobody expects Ozzy Osbourne to do a Christmas song,-though knowing that Snoop Dogg DID is kind of scary-but how about Stan Getz? Or Sarah Vaughn? If Elton John has three Christmas-themed originals,wouldn't a complete album with some standards have been a no-brainer? Look how long it took Jimmy Buffett to do a holday album. Factors such as timing,artist's personal preferences,A&R people,etc all play into this discussion. I was going to bring this up this year,but between being distracted by some personal matters during the holday crunch time and feeling that Tim's reference book is good to bounce against,I'd thought I'd plant the seeds now and see what blooms next year. I would title the discussion: "Who didn't come to the Christmas office party? Mac

 

[Rudy]

I'm really afraid to get too in-depth with this book. I'm afraid I'll find a lot of music listed that I'll want to get, but can't find anywhere!

It does sound like a neat idea, though! I've already mentioned that I wish Al Jarreau would have done a Christmas album back in the 80's. I'm not a big fan of his current style as I was back then. (All I Got...well, I just didn't get it. )

Why not a new album from Herb, like Herb Alpert's Funkified Badazz Christmas. Christmas tunes with more of a contemporary groove to them. Or what about this: a quieter CD in a jazz combo format, with Pete Jolly, John Pisano, maybe Jolly's sidekicks Chuck Berghofer and Nick Martinis to fill out the combo. Maybe we'll start a "Wish List" topic next year as well!