🎄 Holidays! ¡Something Festive! (A&M SP-19003)

Rating - Music
5.00 star(s)
Rating - Sound
5.00 star(s)

It's December - time to start hauling out the Christmas music. And around these parts, that means:

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¡SOMETHING FESTIVE! (A&M SP-19003)​

in conjunction with B.F.Goodrich​



I thought it was interesting to look this album up on Amazon.com. It's never had an official CD release, and yet a third-party vinyl sale has prompted these reviews, all of them with high praise.

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Mark Michener
5.0 out of 5 stars SELLER DESERVES MEDAL!
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2013
Verified Purchase
I received my album over a month ago but didn't open it until today (Christmas is still a long way off!)

Not only did the package contain "Something Festive", but the seller also included a Herb Alpert & the TJB Greatest Hits LP with a handwritten note saying "Thanks for your order! I tossed in an extra record from our bargain bin." Signed Scott & Trish.

Both LP's were in PRISTINE condition, by the way.

Needless to say, as I continue to look for additional vinyl, I'll be looking at "Listen 2 The Music" first!

God bless you, Scott & Trish!

shesgoneforgood
5.0 out of 5 stars Our family tradition
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2019
Verified Purchase
This album was released a long time ago but was on the console stereo turntable year after year. We wore out the original and were thrilled to find a replacement.

Sheryl B.
5.0 out of 5 stars This is Christmas!
Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2020
Verified Purchase
I bought this album because it was my favorite growing up. My brother had it and misplaced it, so I was thrilled to find it here!

DoodleBug
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Christmas album
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2014
Verified Purchase
Thanks for bringing back the wonderful memories of my childhood. This is my favorite Christmas album. Arrived in perfect condition.

S. Sagheb
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Holiday Tunes
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2013
Verified Purchase
I have been a fan of A&M's classic 70's roster for a long time, and this album does not disappoint. A unique holiday album.
One person found this helpful

CHET C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Was given as a gift
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2014
Verified Purchase
Friend has a house built in 1920 and he likes to listen to music on a phonograph. (Record player)...so we sent him this record and he enjoyed it. It is great for a gathering at Christmas, but you need a record player...do they still make those?
One person found this helpful

Robert J Romero
5.0 out of 5 stars "It's the most Wonderful, Album!"
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2009

If you like Herb Albert, The Baja Marimba Band, Liza Minnelli, and a host of more talented musicians, 60s or not, this is one heck of a Christmas get together all in one album treasure. The Pete Jolly rendition of It's The Most Wonderful Time, is a knockout. All you need is a slideshow of snow covered houses and countrysides. Claudine Longet performs a soft wimsical song of being lost in the snow looking for a lost love. There she is in the 60s tradition of television being lost in the snow with a fur coat. Herb Albert's Jingle Bell Rock performs the final song in granduer finale, Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 gives us a song to roast chestnuts by the fire with The Christmas Song, and if you can't roast chestnuts then drink a hot cup of cocoa.
Liza with a capital Z sings a not so often heard song called Raggedy Ann & Raggady Andy which brings an open story of toys with a life all their own, and you just may find yourself singing along with Julius Wechter's Baja Marimba Band's Partridge In A Pear Tree marimba instrumental.
As the final chart topper, this album includes Burt Bacharach's The Bell That Couldn't Jingle which will take you back to the early 60s girl groups, complete with long white gloves and down to the floor dresses in this bouncy soul single.
Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass starts it, and Herb Albert finishes it, all in this one winning Christmas package.

Utonian
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Christmas songs by great artists!
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2018

I got this album on vinyl back in the late '60's or early '70's, and grew up with it. I loved it then and I love it now. I wish I could get it on CD! My copy is made from a cassette recorded from the LP, so it is not pristine. Anyway, if you can find this, I bet you will love it to. I'd buy it in a heartbeat!


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And those are just the first bunch.

The full album, plus some expanded tracks from the A&M family is still available here to listen to:

 
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It's nice to know that there are plenty of copies of this record for sale out there.
 
Of Course, ¡Something Festive! was the grandfather of all the A&M Christmas compilations. But the BAJA/WE FIVE single was A&M's first Christmas release, however it was promo only to radio stations.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Here are more...

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Merry Christmas Darling UK.jpg

Merry Christmas Darling UK_contents.jpg

Merry Christmas From Herb Alpert & His Friends.jpg

WeWishYouA&MerryChristmasz.jpg

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It's nice to know that there are plenty of copies of this record for sale out there.
You gotta wonder just how many of them were pressed. I've got three or four of 'em, and one was still sealed when I got it.
 
There are literally hundreds on eBay and Discogs. Hey! It was only $1.29!

"Hurry, the edition IS limited."

 
You gotta wonder just how many of them were pressed. I've got three or four of 'em, and one was still sealed when I got it.
I'm up to four. One was sent to me secondhand by someone who unsealed it, recorded it and passed it to me. Only I don't remember which of the four it is now. They are good players--no wear or scratches. I still have yet to do a hi-res needle drop to update my ancient one from years ago, but I'm still tweaking my record playback system a bit.
 
What year did SF come out, anyway? The only "special" A&M package I ever got was Music Box -- which was pretty much my gateway drug into all things A&M -- but I never heard of any of the others until I arrived here at the Corner.
 
I have to let everyone know that I just found this album in a thrift store today along with another long ago released album by Judy Collins that I did not have.
I decided at the last minute to go to the thrift store and made a good decision to check out the records!
 
In one of my recent Discogs orders, I tacked on a sealed copy of this record. If I ever get motivated this coming year to do a new dub of the LP to digital, I have this and another known clean copy to use as source material.
 
Forgot to mention but there was also three copies of TJB SRO in the bins. Hopefully someone will pick them up and become fans.
 
I've had one *sort-of* spin of this album this year as we drove around the Chicago area. All of the tracks are included in my annual Christmas compilation - which hasn't been updated since 2018. That edition had Herb's new Christmas album included.

As the songs played, my wife allowed the Claudine track "Snow" to play. I guess she was hearing "de weend blow thwoo de twees" which drowned out Claudine. Funny, but later on, "I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You" came on and she reached for the skip button with warp speed. "Not her again" was the excuse.

SOMETHING FESTIVE is always a welcome start to the Christmas Music season, and it seems to be among the last I play each year.
 
Funny, but later on, "I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You" came on and she reached for the skip button with warp speed. "Not her again" was the excuse.
I'd probably have done the same. 😁 Although those are two songs of hers I can listen to, I'm just not a fan of that type of voice.

I do have to hear the weend blow thwoo the twees though! Year's not complete without it!

We're getting good comments on the Something Festive album I posted on your A&M Corner YouTube channel. Lots of memories. A lot of famlies must have had this album, many remembering it fondly. I only need a couple more tracks before I can redo the compilation again, and I might change it up a bit, keeping the original ten tracks up front, and sequencing the rest as a second imaginary LP in the set.
 
I updated the album on YouTube to include chapters. And we've had a lot of great comments about remembering this record from decades ago!

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This album and the TJB Christmas Album are now currently getting played on my stereo.
One big question is how many Christmas songs were recorded in this time period that never made it to the lp?
 
Of Course, ¡Something Festive! was the grandfather of all the A&M Christmas compilations. But the BAJA/WE FIVE single was A&M's first Christmas release, however it was promo only to radio stations.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Here are more...

bmb xmas1a.jpg

bmb xmas2.jpg

Merry Christmas Darling UK.jpg

Merry Christmas Darling UK_contents.jpg

Merry Christmas From Herb Alpert & His Friends.jpg

WeWishYouA&MerryChristmasz.jpg

WeWishYouA&MerryChristmas_a.jpg
I have a question about this last release. Did Brasil'77 re-record Christmas Song or did the label just use the name and this is the Brasil'66 version?
 
Yes, it's the Brasil '66 version--the label used the group's most current name at the time the album was compiled.
 
A quick comment about digital/CD availability that I mention in the description of the YouTube video (as we get visitors who ask about it, and this will save me answering it ad nauseum).

There's almost no chance of a digital compilation like this ever happening. First, the TJB recordings are no longer with Universal (A&M), and it's doubtful as to whether or not Herb's own label would license them out. Second and more importantly, the 2008 Universal fire likely destroyed the individual masters for each song and/or the album compilation the LP was mastered from. So, many of these tunes, especially those never released digitally, would most likely be unavailable. And it's not Universal's style to release needle drops digitally.
 
Still one of my family's all-time favorite Christmas albums. I think we've been through at least three or four copies. Last December, I came across a still-sealed copy for two dollars at an antique mall while on vacation, and my dad and I couldn't grab it quickly enough! We've still yet to have the heart to open it, so we're still playing our previous copy. :laugh:
 
Right this minute there are seven sealed copies of iSOMETHING FESTIVE! on eBay here in the US. I'm sure there are more on Discogs and in whatever passes for record stores these days. We once had a theory that they multiply in the record racks like rabbits, as the supply, now 58 years long, seems unending.
 
Of my five copies, one was unsealed by the previous owner who played it once to tape it, then sent it along to me. The other I found within the past year or so. I'll probably part with three of them during my coming downsizing (I have hundreds of LPs and boxes of hundreds of CDs I need to get rid of), but I want the two good ones for making a good needle drop now that I have upgraded equipment here.
 
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