Here's another forgotten vinyl Christmas album, rescued from the Goodwill bin of obscurity by Pastor McPurvis and the good folks at Vinyl Orphanage.
To quote Pastor McPurvis:
"Up today are the happy holiday sounds of Roy Meyer and his group of Singing Swingers. Hailing from the great state of New Jersey, Mr. Meyer founded this community group as a non-profit agency dedicated to providing music scholarshops to high school students, as well as promoting vocal group singing throughout the New York Metro area.
"Mr. Meyer penned some ambitious arrangements for the group, and though the singers may falter a bit on the more complicated harmonies, they more than make up for it with their enthusiasm and sincere delivery."
Pastor McPurvis hits the nail on the head... At first glance, this album looks like a church group recording but the arrangements more than make up for it.
It seems Roy Meyer is alive and well and still swinging in New Jersey. And if you got vocal talent, here's a way to join up and become an official "Roy Meyer Swinger":
Roy Meyer Swingers - Oakland NJ
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
Here's another forgotten vinyl Christmas album, rescued from the Goodwill bin of obscurity by Pastor McPurvis and the good folks at Vinyl Orphanage.
To quote Pastor McPurvis:
"Up today are the happy holiday sounds of Roy Meyer and his group of Singing Swingers. Hailing from the great state of New Jersey, Mr. Meyer founded this community group as a non-profit agency dedicated to providing music scholarshops to high school students, as well as promoting vocal group singing throughout the New York Metro area.
"Mr. Meyer penned some ambitious arrangements for the group, and though the singers may falter a bit on the more complicated harmonies, they more than make up for it with their enthusiasm and sincere delivery."
Pastor McPurvis hits the nail on the head... At first glance, this album looks like a church group recording but the arrangements more than make up for it.
It seems Roy Meyer is alive and well and still swinging in New Jersey. And if you got vocal talent, here's a way to join up and become an official "Roy Meyer Swinger":
Roy Meyer Swingers - Oakland NJ
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
Last December, I was so busy downloading stuff left and right that I never got a chance to listen to it all. During the last two weeks, I finally burned the last 40+ albums I downloaded to CD and have finally just begun to listen to the music.
Smack in the middle of full albums by Hugo Winterhalter and Menudo (watch for those reviews soon) was this little Internet gem of a find from a band whose existence is largely due to the Internet itself.
Arcade Fire hails from Montreal and formed in early 2004. Utilizing a massive amount of instruments (including harp, viola, cello, xylophone, even accordian!), they recorded an EP that they sold at their first live gigs (known to fans of Arcade Fire as the "Us Kids Know" EP).
They went on to record their first album Funeral around this time and got a small label to distribute the album. Music critics praised the band, word of mouth amongst their fans was aided by the Internet, and David Bowie was so impressed he asked to record with them! Their album quickly sold half a million copies in both the UK and Canada, getting more radio airplay, and causing them to jump from clubs to stadiums in less than one year!
Around one year ago, Arcade Fire appeared on the Canadian version of Time Magazine, hailing them as "Canada's Most Intriguing Band". They have continued to tour and even made inroads into the United States by appearing on "The Late Show with David Letterman" followed by a Central Park concert in NYC.
This holiday EP was recorded at a Christmas party in 2001 with several members of the band playing Christmas standards "The Christmas Song", "O Holy Night", and "Jingle Bell Rock", parodying the band's unique style of playing and having a lot of fun in the process. The fourth track is entitled "A Very Arcade Xmas" which is nothing more than an eight minute jam of those assembled. It very much reminded me of the Beatles' "What's The New Mary Jane?" in style and sound.
It's been reported that the band is very unhappy that this EP made it to the Internet because 1.) only half of the current band played on the tracks 2.) it doesn't represent their work of the present.
Since I knew nothing about this band before I reviewed this EP, I will definitely give their FULL album a listen and hope in the future they release a FULL Christmas album as well.
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
Last December, I was so busy downloading stuff left and right that I never got a chance to listen to it all. During the last two weeks, I finally burned the last 40+ albums I downloaded to CD and have finally just begun to listen to the music.
Smack in the middle of full albums by Hugo Winterhalter and Menudo (watch for those reviews soon) was this little Internet gem of a find from a band whose existence is largely due to the Internet itself.
Arcade Fire hails from Montreal and formed in early 2004. Utilizing a massive amount of instruments (including harp, viola, cello, xylophone, even accordian!), they recorded an EP that they sold at their first live gigs (known to fans of Arcade Fire as the "Us Kids Know" EP).
They went on to record their first album Funeral around this time and got a small label to distribute the album. Music critics praised the band, word of mouth amongst their fans was aided by the Internet, and David Bowie was so impressed he asked to record with them! Their album quickly sold half a million copies in both the UK and Canada, getting more radio airplay, and causing them to jump from clubs to stadiums in less than one year!
Around one year ago, Arcade Fire appeared on the Canadian version of Time Magazine, hailing them as "Canada's Most Intriguing Band". They have continued to tour and even made inroads into the United States by appearing on "The Late Show with David Letterman" followed by a Central Park concert in NYC.
This holiday EP was recorded at a Christmas party in 2001 with several members of the band playing Christmas standards "The Christmas Song", "O Holy Night", and "Jingle Bell Rock", parodying the band's unique style of playing and having a lot of fun in the process. The fourth track is entitled "A Very Arcade Xmas" which is nothing more than an eight minute jam of those assembled. It very much reminded me of the Beatles' "What's The New Mary Jane?" in style and sound.
It's been reported that the band is very unhappy that this EP made it to the Internet because 1.) only half of the current band played on the tracks 2.) it doesn't represent their work of the present.
Since I knew nothing about this band before I reviewed this EP, I will definitely give their FULL album a listen and hope in the future they release a FULL Christmas album as well.
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
If you are a Christmas music collector like me, you probably know that most Christmas CD comps are hit or miss - each containing one or two songs that standout in your memory.
Every once in a while, you'll find a Christmas compilation that just breaks new ground - every track a hidden treasure. You are looking at such a CD.
While doing a simple search for another Christmas CD at my local library, I came across this CD from the good folks at Dust-to-Digital in Atlanta, GA.
Lance Ledbetter took over a Georgia State university roots music radio show in the late 1990s and began absorbing all types of roots music. He began corresponding with other 78 collectors, music authorities, and playing all this on his radio show.
By the time Ledbetter left Georgia State, he was a bonafide roots music authority. He proved it in October 2003 when Dust-to-Digital released the mother of all box sets: Goodbye, Babylon. A six CD box set full of 135 Southern country gospel music songs from the pre-WWII era, revently packed inside a 1 lb cedar box with cotton for packing material. The box set made top 10 lists across the country and received two Grammy nominations.
A year later, this CD was released, featuring 24 rare, obscure recordings from 1917-1959 that leap from the speakers, grab your attention, and won't let you go. I was all set to offer a track-by-track review, but that simply will not do the music justice.
If you are a Christmas music enthusiast, you MUST own this CD.
Check out the amazing web site Dust-to-Digital has set up for this disc. While you're there, order up a copy so Lance can keep searching out this lost music so it won't be lost anymore!
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
If you are a Christmas music collector like me, you probably know that most Christmas CD comps are hit or miss - each containing one or two songs that standout in your memory.
Every once in a while, you'll find a Christmas compilation that just breaks new ground - every track a hidden treasure. You are looking at such a CD.
While doing a simple search for another Christmas CD at my local library, I came across this CD from the good folks at Dust-to-Digital in Atlanta, GA.
Lance Ledbetter took over a Georgia State university roots music radio show in the late 1990s and began absorbing all types of roots music. He began corresponding with other 78 collectors, music authorities, and playing all this on his radio show.
By the time Ledbetter left Georgia State, he was a bonafide roots music authority. He proved it in October 2003 when Dust-to-Digital released the mother of all box sets: Goodbye, Babylon. A six CD box set full of 135 Southern country gospel music songs from the pre-WWII era, revently packed inside a 1 lb cedar box with cotton for packing material. The box set made top 10 lists across the country and received two Grammy nominations.
A year later, this CD was released, featuring 24 rare, obscure recordings from 1917-1959 that leap from the speakers, grab your attention, and won't let you go. I was all set to offer a track-by-track review, but that simply will not do the music justice.
If you are a Christmas music enthusiast, you MUST own this CD.
Check out the amazing web site Dust-to-Digital has set up for this disc. While you're there, order up a copy so Lance can keep searching out this lost music so it won't be lost anymore!
On to the next new Christmas CD in my collection...
Capt
Here's another forgotten vinyl Christmas album, rescued from the Goodwill bin of obscurity by Pastor McPurvis and the good folks at Vinyl Orphanage.
