On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Artist: Esquivel
Title: Merry Xmas from the Space-Age Bachelor Pad
Label: BMG/Bar None DRC1-1363
Released: 1996

Although released in 1996, this is a collection compiled from Esquivel’s recording made between 1959 and 1962. For those not familiar, Esquivel was an over-the-top arranger, an Ellington without limits living in a space-age bachelor pad.

“Frosty the Snowman” zu-zu zooms throughout the town over a swinging xylophone, harpsichord, and bending pedal steel, with the guitar borrowing more from Warner Brother’s cartoon sound affects than country music.

Two of the tracks feature the vocal quintet, the Skip-Jacks, which included Stella Stevens as one of the singers. They tend to anchor the mania that is Esquivel. They’re ‘everything is gleeful” approach to melodies are nostalgic memory attributed to the late-50s-early-60s bursting at the suburbs America.

Esquivel swings more than the Three Suns, mostly from the absence of the tuba. It was a manufactured ‘cool’ in the land of housing development cocktail parties, kidney shaped coffee tables and tropical barware. It’s 28 minutes of a time that did exist that we now distort through rose-colored black-rimmed glasses. although our vision may be distorted, Esquivel’s was clear, but maybe only to him.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me… 

Artist: The Three Suns
Title: A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas
Label: RCA LSP-2054
Released: 1959
Genre: Lounge

This is the most manic Christmas album I’ve ever heard. Bells, chimes, accordions, tubas, electric guitars, harmonizing brass, harmonicas, organs and xylophones all deliberately arranged to drive you nuts. The only thing missing are the bagpipes and Jaw Harps. It’s strangely beautiful and upsetting at the same time; just like Christmas can be. And it’s all brought to you in the magnificence of RCA’s Living Stereo brand, an experience in stereo-orthophonic high fidelity recording.

They totally deconstruct “White Christmas” and put it back together with an Erector Set. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” sounds like a polka band covered it after dropping acid. “Jingle Bells” sounds like it was interpreted by The Schmenge Brothers with the Happy Wanderers. I’m craving cabbage rolls and coffee right now.

The sonic spectrum spanning of “Russian Sleigh Ride” with the rhythm provided by the tuba and the melody chimed on bells morphs into  spy jazz for a moment and then back to a typical Three Suns sound, which is not typical at all.

If you want to add confusion to your holidays, I highly recommend this album. It’s good at clearing your house of guests. The risk you take is there may be a visitor who will want to hear the whole damn record. Follow the record up with Esquivel’s Christmas album to bring back some semblance of order.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Artist: Various
Title: Merry Christmas Baby
Label: Gusto K-5018X
Released: 1978
Genre: R&B

Gusto mined the vaults of King, Federal and Hollywood Records to assemble this collection. This budget line album from Gusto Records album leads of with another version of Charles Brown’s “Merry Christmas Baby.” But after that, the only holiday standard you’re going to find among the 16 tracks is Bullmoose Jackson’s version of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.”

And don’t be fooled by the Jackson Trio’s “Jingle Bell Hop” or Lloyd Glenn’s “Sleigh Ride.” They only share the names of more popular holiday songs. But that’s not to say they don’t pack the same holiday cheer. “Jingle Bell Hop” is actually a honking sax version of the ”Jingle Bell” riff.  “Sleigh Ride” has no resemblance to the Leroy Anderson composition. They’re both angular instrumentals sharing that same characteristic to remind us it’s a Christmas song; the rocking sleigh bells.

Mabel Scott’s 1948 recording of “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” saw enough airplay to warrant a cover by Patti Page in 1950 and also a Brian Setzer version in 2002.  I’ll stick with Maybelle’s version, Patti’s was a cover with nothing changing in the arrangement except the ethnicity.

Other artists included on this collection Freddy King, Johnny Moore’s Blazers, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy Witherspoon and Billy Ward and his Dominoes. There have been a multitude of R&B Christmas collection compiled on CD and in 1988, most of these tracks showed up on a collection called, Rhythm & Blues Christmas (not to be confused with the LP from 1978) but it also contained some crap. If you can find this re-issue, or the original King press from 1961 or 1962, those would be the ones to get.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Artists: Various
Title: Rhythm & Blues Christmas
Label: United Artists UA-LA654-R
Released: 1976
Genre: R&B

Rhythm & Blues Christmas runs the gamut of the broad title, offering blues, doo-wop, vocal group harmony and rock and roll. It’s a good primer for an R&B neophyte.

The album leads off with one of the many versions of Charles Brown’s “Merry Christmas Baby,” (I believe its from the 1956 Aladdin session). No matter what version of it by Mr. Brown, it is the all-time R&B Christmas standard. It sets the tone for the remainder of the album; this is benchmark, let’s see how the other tracks stack up.

Baby Washington’s “Silent Night” isn’t Big Maybelle’s version, but it fits well in this collection. We used to sing “Silent Night” in church when I was growing up, but our church never had the church that Baby Washington brings to this carol.

The next track is “White Christmas” by the Clyde McPhatter lead Drifters. Some people will argue with me preferring to hear this jingle by Der Bingle, but I’ll take the Drifters version any day. I like the cadence of the doo wop better for this holiday number. The interplay between McPhatter and the bass of Bill Pinkney is just plain joyful.

The doo wop slows itself down to a near halt, drifting more into the vocal group territory with the 1951 version of the Five Keys’ “It’s Christmas Time.” It’s a nice contrast to the Drifters take on Christmas. The Keys owe more to the sound of the Ink Spots than the doo wop that would become prevalent in the later years of their recording career. With lyrics stating, “…our dream cottage…” and “…we loved in a younger prime…” the sentiment is from a different generation than what the Drifters represented.

Side one ends with the Chuck Berry rocker, “Run, Rudolph Run.” It too is an R&B Christmas standard, but on the other end of the spectrum in relevance to Charles Brown’s “Merry Christmas Baby.” In fact, it was music like this that made Brown’s career fade in the sixties. Brown and Berry are a couple of good bookends to side one.

Side two breaks out with the big band blues sound of B.B. King. Originally recorded for Kent in 1966, King’s signature guitar is augmented by a driving horn section. Nearly crossing over into soul music, it is a good companion to Lowell Fulson’s “I Wanna Spend Christmas With You,” which shows up later on this side. Fulson’s number was also recorded for Kent, his in 1967, making these two cuts the most “modern” representations of R&B on the album.

Back in the vocal group vein we have one of the leaders of all the bird groups, The Orioles with (It’s Gonna Be A) Lonely Christmas.” Only the Ravens could challenge the Orioles for supremacy amongst the R&B warblers. The Orioles built the bridge between vocal group harmony and doo-wop and nested highly upon it. The flipside of this release in 1949 was “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve,” which is sadly not included in this collection.

“Let’s Make Christmas Merry, Baby” by Amos Milburn was also recorded in 1949. It is more in the style of Charles Brown’s cut but lacks the refinement. Not to say it is not smooth, but in comparison, you can hear the wonderment of Brown’s voice.

The album closes with Marvin & Johnny’s “It’s Christmas.” It is closest in style to The Drifters but recorded in 1957, three years after “White Christmas.” It exemplifies a shift from doo-wop to straight R&B.

The album succeeds at providing the listener with a survey of R&B styles, they just so happen to be all holiday numbers. If you have the desire to hear some classic R&B Christmas tunes, dig through the used bins at your local record stores. The artwork is rather cheesy so it is often overlooked as a poor quality budget album. It is not. It’s worth the quest.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

Artist: Various Artists
Title:  A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector
Label: Philles
Released: 1963, various re-issues over the past 45 plus years
Genre: 60’s Rock, Girl Groups

I can’t remember what year I was, but I was in high school when I purchased this album. It was at least sixteen years after its original release. I was in pursuit of my own Christmas sound.

I know I already had purchased a Springsteen bootleg with ”Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” on it, but that was just one song. I had also bought the Motown Christmas album, but I found it spotty. I didn’t have enough Christmas music in my collection to make a mix tape at the time either. I didn’t have a complete holiday soundtrack.

The only other Christmas music I had access to was my mother’s three Christmas LPs; Christmas Music on the Pipe Organ with Chimes, a budget Christmas LP called Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on the Diplomat label, and the Bob Ralston Christmas Album, a collection of medleys by an adult chorus accompanied by Mr. Ralston on organ. This was music of a bridge club.

There it was, for $2.99 in the used record bin at Hot Licks (a local indie record store), A Christmas Gift For You. Damn right it was.

Three ascending solo piano notes open the album, and then the signature Wall of Sound hits you. Brass carries the bass line with the piano rolling underneath, sleigh bells jingle, glockenspiels chime and hand claps! Yes, hand claps, the most basic form of percussion and an identifying sound of 60s pop! And then there’s Darlene Love, yearning for her very own “White Christmas,” just like me.

The next track, drummer Hal Blaine brings “Frosty the Snowman” to life more than the magic hat. The short sustain of the pizzicato are landmarks in Frosty’s journey throughout the town as the strings lay a pathway.

Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans take of “The Bells of St. Mary’s” rivals the Drifters’ version. The Crystals’ “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” was the version for which Springsteen based his cover. The manic Leroy Anderson composed “Sleigh Ride” swings in comparison to its many previous undertakings. “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” incorporates the bossa-beat, which was the craze back in 1963.

The sound is just so big. It’s as big as the spectacle of commercial Christmas. During the holidays we’re bombarded by lights, displays, sales, cards, hustle and bustle.  In the songs too we are exposed to the Wall of sound, but the strings and the voices caress, the rhythm section makes us want to dance an the bells and chimes accent the holiday spirit. It is brilliance in musical arrangement.

Amongst the thirteen songs, twelve are recognizable standards, now all dolled up in Spector fashion. But the one track that makes the statement is the Spector-Greenwich-Barry original, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” It’s the first holiday song I play every year and the one I listen to over and over every holiday season for the past thirty-some odd years.  Once again, it’s Darlene Love yearning. She’s missing her boyfriend as she watches the snow come down, hears church bells and carolers as she watches the pretty lights on the tree shine. “They’re singing ‘Deck The Halls’ / But it’s not like Christmas at all,” sings Ms. Love. She’s missing that one last element for a merry Christmas, her boyfriend. “If there was a way / I’d hold back this tear / But it’s Christmas day / Baby please come home.” Wow!

There are no elements missing in this holiday collection. Even Phil Spector’s corny formal exposition over “Silent Night” can’t mar this work. If there’s one Christmas album to own, this is it.

Artist: Ronnie Spector & The E-Street Band
Album: 12” Promo Single of “Say Goodbye To Hollywood”
Label: Epic / Cleveland International
Released: 1977
Genre: Rock
Purchased: Charlie’s 33s and CDs, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 2010
Price: $17.99
Condition: Excellent

My first Spector record I found was called Echoes of the 60s. This was a collection of Phil’s work. I was steered to it through reading articles about Springsteen’s Born To Run. It was a collection of various singles by Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, the Crystals, Checkmates Ltd., Darlene Love, and of course, Veronica Spector, nee Bennett, and the Ronettes. The album contained the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” “Walking In The Rain,” and “Baby I Love You.”

Among all the pieces of rock candy on the album, Ronnie Spector’s had the most allure to a 16-year-old kid, born one generation too late.  This led to the purchase of a Ronettes’ Greatest Hits LP and then later a two-LP Phil Spector retrospective.

At the same time my interest in Springsteen grew. I had completed the collection of the first four Springsteen albums available at the time, but it did not satisfy my appetite. My musical vocabulary expanded with the discovery of the word bootleg. A bootleg, I learned was generally a live recording, usually of inferior quality, and illegal. These pressings were not distributed by the artists’ label and the artist did not profit from its sales. This was the music underground and I wanted in.

One of the Springsteen boots I bought was called The Great White Boss, a live recording from the Bottom Line in NYC from 1975 with a couple of bonus tracks. On the album he covered the Crystals’ “Then (S)He Kissed Me,” it was a direct connection to Phil Spector. The last track on the album was a bonus cut, recorded in a studio in 1973. A song Springsteen penned, “You Mean So Much To Me.”

I learned from a fellow Springsteen fan that Southside Johnny covered it on his I Don’t Wanna Go Home album. It was a duet with Ronnie Spector.

I almost shit in my pants.

He also informed me of this song she recorded with the E-Street band called, “Say Goodbye To Hollywood.”

I changed my pants.

He explained to me that it was a promo only release, which meant I couldn’t just go to my local independent record store and order up a copy. A promotional copy is not intended for public sale. It is put out there to taunt us and make us feel inferior to those in the record business. I hoped that maybe I’d find it on a bootleg. It had to be the most amazing song ever recorded.

There probably hasn’t been a full week in my life between 1979 and the present where I have not been in some sort of music retailer. I searched hard and heavy for that single until about 1984. That’s when, in my eyes, the man who led me to the music underground, Bruce Springsteen sold out with his Born In The USA record. He put his ass on the cover, married a model and had top 40 hits. He might as well been Billy Joel. I can’t stand Billy Joel.

So over thirty years later, I’m in Albuquerque, New Mexico at an indie store called Charley’s and I find a promo 12” of “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” by Ronnie Spector and the E-Street Band. It’s eighteen-freakin’-bucks. I haven’t seen one in thirty years. I’ve lost the passion for it but I still feel that I shouldn’t pass it up. I slap down the plastic and acquire it.

A few days later, I’m back home in St. Paul, unpacking, looking at the vinyl I brought back from New Mexico and the first platter I play is the Spector twelve inch.

Oh. My. God.

Holy. Shit.

This is awful. The fidelity is bad. It’s tinny. The E-Streeters make an attempt to sound like a band out of Spanish Harlem that Phil Spector produced, but they come across sounding worse than Sha Na Na. Ronnie’s natural vibrato sounded unnatural. It reminded me of those records that used to float around in the cut out bins; 20 of Today’s Top Hits as performed by Kings Road. It was a poor imitation of something that could be great.

The other song on the 12” was a Little Steven song called “Baby Please Don’t Go.”  It’s not a bad song, but I think my judgment of it was tainted by my overall disappointment of “Hollywood.”

So just who wrote this “Hollywood” song anyway? I looked at the credits and it was written by B. Joel. Freakin’ Billy Joel! No wonder why it sucks! I felt like a total idiot that one of my Holy Grails was written by Billy Joel.

I listened to it again and I thought it would have been a better song with Willy DeVille singing it in the hands of Jack Douglas. “Baby Please Don’t Go” should’ve been done by Dusty Springfield.

I still listen to anything Ronnie releases, as well as Springsteen. But I felt like I’ve been dealt a cosmic Nelson Muntz “Ha Ha!”

Since I’ve bought the single, I’ve seen a copy at Half Price Books in my neighborhood for a mere thirteen dollars. I actually held it in my hand and thought about buying another copy of it just because I rarely see it. That’s the sickness in me. I came to my senses and thought I should leave it for another sucker like me.

I couldn’t give it an F because it didn’t fail in holding my interest for 30 years.