🎄 Holidays! AOTW: Various Artists, "Something Festive"

[Rudy]

SOMETHING FESTIVE
Various Artists
A&M SP 19003

A perennial holiday favorite around here, Something Festive was an LP that A&M sold as part of a promotional deal with B.F. Goodrich. Some are tracks from existing A&M albums, but there are plenty of notable exceptions (noted below).

1. Herb Alpert & The TJB: Winter Wonderland (same as the TJB's album version, except the choral introduction is edited off)
2. Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66: The Christmas Song (never released on a Brasil '66 album)
3. Liza Minnelli: Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy
4. Julius Wechter & Baja Marimba Band: Partridge In A Pear Tree
5. We Five: My Favorite Things
6. Burt Bacharach: The Bell That Couldn't Jingle (never released on a Bacharach album)
7. Pete Jolly: It's The Most Wonderful Time (never released on a Pete Jolly album)
8. Claudine Longet: Snow
9. Julius Wechter & Baja Marimba Band: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (never released on a BMB album)
10. Herb Alpert & The TJB: Jingle Bell Rock (slightly different mix from the original album version--this features a glockenspiel instead of a marimba in the beginning)

No CD release on this one, but fortunately this album is readily available on vinyl. It's a good sampling of A&M's roster, but unlike other sampler albums, this one has four tracks not released on another album, and two that are slightly different from their original album version. That's six out of ten tracks here that are unique. Such a deal!

 

[Steven J. Gross]

WOW, I had no idea about all this new music I have to listen to!

 

[Harry]

My notes in red:

1. Herb Alpert & The TJB: Winter Wonderland (same as the TJB's album version, except the choral introduction is edited off) - So, in effect this one was released on CD on the TJB Christmas Album (if you chop off the choral opening.
   
2. Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66: The Christmas Song (never released on a Brasil '66 album) - No CD availability, in fact it's never resurfaced anywhere else.
   
3. Liza Minnelli: Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy - This one I'm not sure of - I don't have much in the way of Liza Minnelli, so I don't know if it's ever seen the light of day on CD.
   
4. Julius Wechter & Baja Marimba Band: Partridge In A Pear Tree - Even though three recent CD compilations of BMB material has been released, this one has yet to appear on a commercially produced CD, though it was on the For Animals Only LP.
   
5. We Five: My Favorite Things - This one was released by Collector's Choice on their two-fer of We Five's two A&M albums, thus is one of the few of these tracks to see commercial CD release.
   
6. Burt Bacharach: The Bell That Couldn't Jingle (never released on a Bacharach album) - It DID show up recently on a Collectables label release called The Ultimate Christmas Album Volume 3, sometimes associated with an oldies radio station in select markets. But the source material for the master must've been a 45. An LP in almost any condition would sound better than this, so in reality, it's not had a proper CD release.
   
7. Pete Jolly: It's The Most Wonderful Time (never released on a Pete Jolly album) - Never appeared anywhere else either.
   
8. Claudine Longet: Snow - From Claudine's Love Is Blue albumj which came out on Cd in Japan. Also on her Digitally Remastered Best compilation CD.
   
9. Julius Wechter & Baja Marimba Band: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (never released on a BMB album) - Nor anywhere else
   
10. Herb Alpert & The TJB: Jingle Bell Rock (slightly different mix from the original album version--this features a glockenspiel instead of a marimba in the beginning) - Therefore, it's never been on a CD in this form, the other mix of course from the Christmas Album.

This one has always been a favorite since the day I pestered my dad to take me to BF Goodrich in Ardmore to buy it! And I'd always had just that one LP copy all of these years. More recently, I've stumbled on a cleaner version, and of course, this one was an early choice for dubbing to CD.

Harry
...posting in living color, online...

 

[Rudy]

Julius Wechter & Baja Marimba Band: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (never released on a BMB album) - Nor anywhere else

I have a promo single (with red lettering ) that, I think, has this track on it...but I'd have to check to be sure. (Could have been "Partridge".) But I don't know if would have been commercially released or not.

I probably located my first copy of this album in the mid-to-late 80's. IIRC, it may have been on the same trip I bought the like-new copy of Equinox for a buck. Some of the tracks have grown on me a little (like Liza Minnelli's) and B66's isn't too bad, except for Sergio's opening vocal.

This one's dying to be a 22-track expanded version.

 

[jimac51]

Since I put this at the top of my list of personal favorite Christmas LPs,everone knows where I stand on this album. At the end of every Christmas,this is the one that gets the most spins in the house. I've used the Pete Jolly music box-like intro of "Most Wondeful"(celeste?)as a phone machine holiday message-it's just the right fit for timing and voiceover with that tasty Chuck Berghoffer bass a nice way to fade. A gutsy merchandising move on Herb's part was to put two tracks of his then newly released TJB Christmas LP on this low priced sampler(add the already availability of "Las Mananitas" and there were three out of ten TJB tracks appearing elswhere)and ,though I do not have Billboard charts,Herb's Christmas album did pretty well that year and (I think)remained in continual print tilll last year. A side note-the pinata cover and use of bright orange on a Christmas LP made this thing look different from other Christmas LPs but fell right in line with A&M cover art. The later re-release(with two different tracks),"We Wish You A Merry Christmas"(SP 8112)used a dark Christmas cookie in clay collage not nearly as effective as the original. Mac

 

[Harry]

The later re-release(with two different tracks),"We Wish You A Merry Christmas"(SP 8112)used a dark Christmas cookie in clay collage not nearly as effective as the original. Mac

This is not the first time I've seen a casual reference to a re-release of the Something Festive album. I think I've read here that it got a European release under a different name, but are you talking about a domestic re-release?

I'd like to hear more about it. Details, details... ...and I want one!

Harry
...inquiring minds want to know, online...

 

[Rudy]

Harry, here's the track line-up for SP-8112. You can get an idea of when it was released due to a name change below:

Side One

TJB: Winter Wonderland
Claudine: Snow
Bacharach: Bell That Couldn't Jingle
BMB: Partridge in a Pear Tree
Miguel Rios: Song Of Joy

Side Two

SM & Brasil '77: Christmas Song
Liza Minnelli: Raggedy Ann...
BMB: God Rest Ye...
Shawn Phillips: A Christmas Song (still haven't found this track yet!)
TJB: Jingle Bell Rock

Wonder if someone could scan it? I've never seen this album. A shame they axed Pete Jolly's song and left on the Claudine and Liza Minnelli tracks. (For Claudine, the song's OK, but I like that other one, "I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You", MUCH better.)

 

[Harry]

^^ What? No "Lord's Prayer" by Sister Janet Mead? Wasn't that from the same '70s era?

Harry
...thinking that would be a natural alongside "Song Of Joy" by Miguel Rios, online...

 

[Rudy]

I was a bit surprised to see "Song Of Joy" in my Billboard Top 40 book. I think this Miguel Rios version peaked in the teens, IIRC.

Can't wait to get my hot little hands on Tim's Xmas book. I can dig around and see what else A&M has released, holiday-wise, throughout the years.

 

[Mr Bill]

[*]Liza Minnelli: Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy - This one I'm not sure of - I don't have much in the way of Liza Minnelli, so I don't know if it's ever seen the light of day on CD.

This tune was on her debut A&M album, SP4141.

--Mr Bill
working from memory sitting in Bahrain...

 

[Harry]

^^ OK, good! Thanks! That's something I'd always wondered about, but not being a Minnelli fan, just didn't know. Did it ever make it to any of her A&M compilations, Japanese, etc?

Something Festive was odd among the A&M promotional series discs, in that it didn't list the source albums for the tunes. But then again, as we've learned, this album WAS the source for some of them.

Harry
...thanking Mr. Bill in more ways than one, online...

 

[Tim Neely]

A related 45 to this album was a promo-only single with the catchy catalog number of "XMAS 1." On one side of this 45 was "My Favorite Things" by We Five; on the other was "The 12 Days of Christmas" ("Partridge in a Pear Tree") by the Baja Marimba Band.

Shawn Phillips' "A Christmas Song" was on a 45 issued in 1970, about the same time as "Merry Christmas Darling." The 45 even had a picture sleeve. Mysteriously, Miguel Rios' "A Song of Joy," despite its hit status, appears not to be on CD at all, at least not in the US.

The BMB version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" also ended up on a non-A&M album called The Magic of Christmas (Columbia Musical Treasuries P3S 5806), which was issued in 1972. The same album contains the TJB version of "Winter Wonderland."

 

[Rudy]

Tim:

A related 45 to this album was a promo-only single with the catchy catalog number of "XMAS 1." On one side of this 45 was "My Favorite Things" by We Five; on the other was "The 12 Days of Christmas" ("Partridge in a Pear Tree") by the Baja Marimba Band.

That's the single I was thinking of. Found out I don't own it, but someone sent me a scan last year that I haven't had time to post. IIRC, wasn't the type on the label red and green?

Mysteriously, Miguel Rios' "A Song of Joy," despite its hit status, appears not to be on CD at all, at least not in the US.

Ya never know... Seriously, though, I'm surprised it hasn't shown up on any CD as of yet. It did make the Top 40 in Billboard, and while I only first heard it last year, quite a few others here apparently knew of it. Here's a classic title that would be on an A&M box set.

 

[Harry]

Mysteriously, Miguel Rios' "A Song of Joy," despite its hit status, appears not to be on CD at all, at least not in the US.

Apparently though, it HAS made it to CD. There are at least two collections of Miguel Rios' hits over at amazon. One, called de Coleccion, was issued by PolyGram, and looks like its from the same series as a similar disc from Maria Conchita Alonso. It's listed as out-of-stock, but there's another hit collection that IS still in print, listed as an import:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_4/104-3500188-5822361?v=glance&s=music

Both of these contain both sides of the old A&M single, "Song Of Joy" and "El Rio", with the titles listed in Spanish.

Harry
...who remembers airplay of both this and Sister Janet Mead's "Lord's Prayer", online...

 

[Tim Neely]

Tim:

That's the single I was thinking of. Found out I don't own it, but someone sent me a scan last year that I haven't had time to post. IIRC, wasn't the type on the label red and green?

I believe you are correct.

 

[Harry]

So, we're sitting here in our hotel room in the Chicago western suburbs, and I'm reading through the Forum posts on a very old Windows 95 laptop that had been lent to a family member, and now returned. You should see this place in all of the 'splendors' of 256 colors and a 640x480 screen. Ugh!

Anyway, while driving around Chicago today, we took along this particular album, dubbed to CD and expanded to a nice 22 tracks!

It's still a great sampler after all these years.

Harry
...enjoying the snow flurries here in the midwest, online...

 

[LPJim]

"Raggedy Ann" actually appears on SP 4164, COME SATURDAY MORNING.
JB

 

[daveK]

I've listed my copy of this LP twice on eBay and haven't had any bites yet. I would have thought someone out there would be wanting this.

 

[TulitaPepsi]

The Brasil '66 CHRISTMAS SONG was released in Japan as a single with a picture cover.

 

[PJ]

Something Festive 2 CD set was issued in UK in 1971/1972 with approx 18 tracks included

Will have to check for extra songs listed.

Peter

 

[Harry]

Something Festive 2 CD set was issued in UK in 1971/1972 with approx 18 tracks included

Will have to check for extra songs listed.

Peter

I would assume that you mean a 2 LP set, since CDs hadn't yet been invented!

Harry
...who'd still like to find the updated international version, online...

 

[PJ]

whoops

Yes double vinyl release....getting ahead of myself

Peter

 

[Rudy]

Please do. I've been trying for years to assemble a list of all the earlier A&M Christmas songs recorded. I may start a separate thread.

 

[Torxx]

I grew up listing to "Something Festive" LP ( I think my dad still has the vinyl). This Album helps define Christmas for me.

Besides the "Christmas Album" which is readily available on CD, were there any other Christmas compilations released on CD?

I seem to remember something closer to “Something Festive" than the “Christmas Album" being released on CD.

Any suggestions?

 

[Dave]

SOMETHING FESTIVE
Various Artists
A&M SP 19003

This is a very good album! I bought this many years ago, used. I bought a Still Sealed copy a few years ago. I like it very much. I play it every Holiday Season. I play it when it's NOT the Christmas Season. I like it a lot. I'm glad it finally made Album Of The Week!

Dave