Happy holidays to any who've enjoyed the blog this year. I haven't completely abandoned it and don't intend for two years to fly by without completing a few more posts. I'm still re-listening to a massive collection of CD's after discovering that a few had been damaged by the portable player I had been using. Fortunately most received only superficial scratches that don't effect the sound at all.
I'm somewhat disappointed that the fiftieth anniversary of the Phil Spector produced "A Christmas Gift For You" album seemed completely ignored. Last year there was a 2-disc reissue that weirdly included a second disc of otherwise unrelated non-Christmas songs that happened to be produced by Spector, most by artists not on the original album. I would have thought it more appropriate to see a package including alternate takes or mixes, contemporary radio spots, a booklet containing all of the different sleeve art used by the various labels who've reissued it over the years (and they are legion, if you didn't know)-- something, anything. Since the album was released on the day that Kennedy was shot, I could have predicted that the exact day would have been preoccupied with memorial coverage to the exclusion of nearly anything else. I'm more disturbed about the month since then. No TV documentary? No all-star tribute/remake album? Quel dommage.
Next year is the fiftieth anniversary of the Beach Boys' Christmas album, admittedly Brian Wilson response to Spector's efforts. If I can rehabilitate this rather dusty blog, a good place to start would be a track by track review. See you here after the New Year. Leave any suggestions for songs whose history you'd like to see detailed in the comments section. No matter how old this post gets, I read all the comments.
Thanks for your interest,
pblfsda
I'm somewhat disappointed that the fiftieth anniversary of the Phil Spector produced "A Christmas Gift For You" album seemed completely ignored. Last year there was a 2-disc reissue that weirdly included a second disc of otherwise unrelated non-Christmas songs that happened to be produced by Spector, most by artists not on the original album. I would have thought it more appropriate to see a package including alternate takes or mixes, contemporary radio spots, a booklet containing all of the different sleeve art used by the various labels who've reissued it over the years (and they are legion, if you didn't know)-- something, anything. Since the album was released on the day that Kennedy was shot, I could have predicted that the exact day would have been preoccupied with memorial coverage to the exclusion of nearly anything else. I'm more disturbed about the month since then. No TV documentary? No all-star tribute/remake album? Quel dommage.
Next year is the fiftieth anniversary of the Beach Boys' Christmas album, admittedly Brian Wilson response to Spector's efforts. If I can rehabilitate this rather dusty blog, a good place to start would be a track by track review. See you here after the New Year. Leave any suggestions for songs whose history you'd like to see detailed in the comments section. No matter how old this post gets, I read all the comments.
Thanks for your interest,
pblfsda
