A Christmas note for you

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

The Miracles on compilations

.....As the first full Christmas album from the Motown group of labels, the 1963 LP CHRISTMAS WITH THE MIRACLES should have had the most opportunities to be represented on seasonal compilations. However, as the earlier posts this month attest, all other recordings made prior to its release either remained out of print or unheard entirely until 1990. Thus, there were no compilations until 1968, at which point two other original albums were out (from The Supremes and Stevie Wonder). The first compilation had a modicum of new material but otherwise drew from the three earlier albums. The only track from that first Miracles album used was the only original song, "CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY". In fact, although the album was routinely in print and the Miracles were a staple of the company's occasional Christmas compilations it would be over thirty years before any other song from the album appeared on a company compilation. Songs were usually drawn from the new 1968 material or their second Christmas album, out in 1970. The albums which carried "CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY" during that time were:

• VALP MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MOTOWN Motown MS681 (US) 12/06/68
• VALP CHRISTMAS GIFT WRAP Motown MS713 (US) 10/70 (same as 1968)
• VALP IT'S CHRISTMAS IN MOTOWN Music For Pleasure SPR90010 (UK) c.1973
• VALP WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS Natural Resources NR4011 (US) 10/78
• VACD MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MOTOWN MCA Special Products 737463850025 (US) 11/24/93 (This is not the same as the 1968/1970 album, no matter what the Barnes & Noble website tells you. It just has the same title.) This was reissued in 1996 with a different catalog number.

.....Over the next two decades each of the songs from the 1963 album appears on at least one compilation, with the possible exception of "SILVER BELLS", which is always presented by other performers. The largest sampling is found on CD OUR VERY BEST CHRISTMAS Uptown/Universal 153 356 2 (US) 10/12/99, which draws six songs from the first album and nine from the second, plus a new song from the 1968 compilation. Anyone interested in getting the traditional covers would be best served by getting the entire album; anyone looking only for the one original song would be better off getting it on any of a number of compilations that would also have otherwise scarce songs, such as the double disc VA2CD THE ULTIMATE MOTOWN CHRISTMAS COLLECTION Motown/Universal B0013383-02 (US) 10/13/09.

1963- Miracles' album sessions 2

.....I still haven't found specific dates for Pete Moore's military service. Hopefully more details about his life may surface this spring when the Miracles are belatedly inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. (Bizarrely, Smokey Robinson was inducted in 1987, 25 years ago, with no mention of the Miracles being nominated.) If and when that happens I'll leave a comment to the effect here and with the 1962 post (February 4th, 2012) specifying which dates Moore was available.

.....Finishing the album long before its seasonal release, Ron White produced two sessions. The first was on July 17th, 1963:

• 01:55 "SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN" (Haven Gillespie. J. Fred Coots)
• 01:42 "LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW" (Jules Styne, Sammy Cahn)

.....and the second session was August 8th, 1963:

• 02:20 "WINTER WONDERLAND" (Felix Bernard, Dick Smith)
• 03:05 "WHITE CHRISTMAS" (Irving Berlin)
• 02:03 "SILVER BELLS" (Jay Livingston, Ray Evans)

.....There was a later unrelated session produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier on August 23rd in which the Miracles recorded the non-seasonal specific "DANCIN' HOLIDAY" (Marc Jean). That song appeared on the album DOIN' MICKEY'S MONKEY just two weeks after the Christmas album. Speaking of which, the first Motown Christmas album greeted the world as LP CHRISTMAS WITH THE MIRACLES Tamla TM236 (US) 10/29/63. For more detailed explanations of the covers of traditional songs, see last year's posts at:

http://lgcmusic02.blogspot.com/2011/02/1963-christmas-every-day.html

http://lgcmusic02.blogspot.com/2011/02/1963-christmas-with-miracles-side.html

http://lgcmusic02.blogspot.com/2011/02/1963-christmas-with-miracles-side-b.html

.....The following post will list compilations that draw from the album.

1963- "Everyday's A Holiday"

.....Before reading this post about a Tri-Phi Records release, I'd recommend first reading the February 2, 2012 post about Wreg Tracey because it briefly explains the label's connection to Motown.

http://lgcmusic02.blogspot.com/2012/02/1960-all-i-want-for-christmas-is-your.html

.....I haven't been able to find any biographical information about the Ervin Sisters. When Gwen Gordy's three labels were absorbed in the Motown group, the Ervin Sisters didn't survive as an act, but I haven't found if they joined any of the vocal groups around at the time. These are the only two releases credited to them.

• -N/A- "CHANGING BABY" (The Ervin Sisters)
• -N/A- b/w "PLEASE DO IT RIGHT" (The Ervin Sisters)
• original source: 7" Tri-Phi Records TP1014 (US) 07/14/62

.....and the object of today's post:

• 02:38 "EVERYDAY'S A HOLIDAY" (Thomas Kemp, Robert White)
• -N/A- b/w "WHY I LOVE HIM" (Betty Ervin, Phyllis Ervin, Harvey Fuqua)
• original source: 7" Tri-Phi Records TP1022 (US) 01/63 or 03/63

.....If, as was common in this period, all four tracks were recorded at the same session, then this should precede the Kim Weston entry. All I have is a vague release date. I would be more concerned about placement except that there is some question as to whether this would be considered seasonal let alone a Christmas song. Many accepted Christmas songs don't mention the holiday or even anything related to it, so this choice is definitely subjective. Judge for yourself, if this Youtube link is still working:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVx4rBorowU

1963- "All I Want For Christmas Is You"

.....This single actually has two originals, so we'll lead with the A-side.

• 02:00 "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU" ([A.C.] Williams)
• 02:40 b/w "GEE WHIZ, IT'S CHRISTMAS" ([Carla] Thomas, [Steve] Cropper, [Vinnie] Trauth)
• performed by Carla Thomas
• original source: 7" Atlantic 45-2212 (US) 12/63
• and my source: VACD THE ORIGINAL SOUL CHRISTMAS Rhino/Atlantic and Atco Remasters Series R2 71788 (US) 1994

.....Carla Thomas is the daughter of soul and R&B legend Rufus Thomas, but while Rufus was a master of dance crazes and innuendo Carla became an artist in her own right with more straightforward mainstream hits while still in her late teens. These tracks were recorded on September 26th, 1963 in New York City for producer Jim Stewart, who had worked with Cropper when producing Booker T. and the MG's. 1963 was a great year for Christmas pop music with the Beach Boys' "LITTLE SAINT NICK" and albums from the Miracles and the Spector artists. This fine entry probably would have been lost in the crowd had the B-side not been a call back to a familiar hit from two years earlier. The A-side is the more solid tune, even if a little spare in this first recording. The actual running time on the 1994 CD I cited above 1:41; the time of 2:00 that I gave above is from the original vinyl's label (visible at Discogs and 45cat). The label also provides only last names of the composers, hence my use of the brackets in the notation. A.C. Williams was a long time Memphis, Tennessee disc jockey with strong connections to the music community there. It was on a label closer to home, Stax, that Carla Thomas issued a rerecording of the song:

• 02:50 "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU" (A.C. Williams) [version 2]
• 02:53 b/w "WINTER SNOW" ([Isaac?] Hayes)
• performed by Carla Thomas
• original source: 7" Stax S-206 (US) Nov. 18, 1966

.....All I really know about "WINTER SNOW" is that Booker T. released a single by that name in 1968, two years after a Christmas album that didn't include it. I guess that's something to look for next year. The new A-side opens with a string section not on the original and has a slower tempo. Thomas is also displaying much greater control over her voice, taking some lines down almost to a whisper (counter to intuition for us non-singers, that's actually more difficult to sing at than the volume of a normal speaking voice). The lyrics are exactly the same, following a A-B-B verse order. Unfortunately, neither version made it onto VALP SOUL CHRISTMAS Atco Records SD33-269 (US) Nov. 8th, 1968. Instead, "GEE WHIZ, IT'S CHRISTMAS" closes its first side. Years later when the tracks from the first single were licensed to King Records for a seasonal reissue (7" King GG4816 (US) 1979), "GEE WHIZ, IT'S CHRISTMAS" became the A-side. It also became her default contribution to holiday various artists' albums with at least two notable exceptions.

.....In 1991 producer Yves Beauvais, then director of the Atlantic and Atco Remasters division at Warners, took advantage of the greater capacity of compact discs to compile the more ambitious 65 minute VACD SOUL CHRISTMAS Atlantic 7 82316-2 (US) 1991. This brought together the 1963 B-side "GEE WHIZ, IT'S CHRISTMAS" with the 1966 A-side "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU"[version 2]. This must have prompted some kind of reaction from purists because only three years later the same division released a CD [refer to my notation at the top of this post] restoring the original program and artwork of the 1968 VALP SOUL CHRISTMAS, adding new liner notes and three bonus tracks, but calling it THE ORIGINAL SOUL CHRISTMAS. One of the bonus tracks was the original 1963 "ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU", reuniting it with its B-side for the first time on an album.

1963 Christmas With The Miracles side B

....."Business up front, party in the back" is just for mullets, it seems. As the previous post attests, the first side of this album contains the two purely secular winter numbers (party). Side two, I've found, ends with the two bona fide carols (business). It breaks down like this:

• 02:39 "THE CHRISTMAS SONG" (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)- First recorded in 1946 by Nat 'King' Cole. You can just about hear Marv getting his Charlie Christian on at the very end.
• 03:05 "WHITE CHRISTMAS" (Irving Berlin)- Most of the pre-60's standards have stories behind them but this one has an actual, entire book. Named for the song and written by Jody Rosen, it was published by Scribner in 2002. At under 100 pages, it's pretty slim but that's mostly because it sticks to its topic and avoids the temptation to pad out, as some pop culture criticism does, to create the illusion that their chosen subject is more pervasive than it actually is. Rosen was confident, and justifiably, that the song's history was a tidy book on its own. The lead vocal on this version isn't Smokey; it's a much deeper register.
• 02:03 "SILVER BELLS" (Jay Livingston, Ray Evans)- Speaking of "WHITE CHRISTMAS", there's that damn Bing Crosby again. Crosby famously introduced the previous song in 1942 and this song was first released as duet between Crosby and Carol Richards in 1950, just months after Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell recorded their version for the movie "The Lemon-Drop Kid", still in production at the time. According to Wikipedia, the film version was rerecorded after the single became a hit. The Miracles' version opens with a guitar part more reminiscent of "TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM", but continues with the conventional arrangement using a group vocal with Claudette clearly audible.
• 02:30 "NOEL" (Traditional)- The source I turn to for hymns and carols of indeterminate origin is Ian Bradley's "The Penguin Book Of Carols". The earliest published version was found by Davies Gilbert in an uncredited 1817 manuscript in Cornwall, the most southwestern tip of England. Gilbert included it in his bound edition, "Some Ancient Christmas Carols" (revised, 1823). Of the nine verses Bradley includes, this recording uses only the first and the the chorus.
• 02:11 "O HOLY NIGHT" (Adolphe C. Adam)- Actually, Adam wrote the music in 1847 to accompany an existing poem by Placide Cappeau called "Cantique de Noël". The English language version was written by John Sullivan Dwight to fit Adam's music more comfortably than would a literal translation of Cappeau's poem. Both Cappeau's and Dwight's versions have three verses alternating with three different proclamations (the "Fall on your knees..." bit) rather than a repeated chorus. The Miracles choose to do only the first verse/proclamation coupling.

.....At the end of 1981, the various remaining labels of the Motown group were consolidated and after that point there was simply the Motown label. Tamla, Motown and Gordy were really the only labels left; everything else ended by 1978. So, my vinyl copy of CHRISTMAS WITH THE MIRACLES is the reissue Motown 5254ML and attributed to "Smokey & The Miracles" on the spine. The liner notes by Ray Scott mention "William Robinson" and "Claudette Robinson", but not the other members. In fact, there are only four credits total:

• Produced by Ronnie White
• Assistant Producer 'Smokey' Robinson
• Liner Notes Ray Scott
• Cover Design Bernard Yeszin/Wallace Mead

.....I have what I believe is the first compact disc edition, handled by MCA, MCD09091MD (US) 1987.

Typical of MCA before it was absorbed into Universal Music, there are no liner notes for the CD. There isn't even a booklet, just an inlay and card.The shrunken art on the card is clearly taken from my early 80's vinyl reissue, with the red Motown logo clearly visible in the lower right hand corner in lieu of a Tamla label. The credits now are:

• Produced by Ronnie White
• Associate Producer: William "Smokey" Robinson
• Mastered for compact disc by John Matousek at Motown/Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios, Hollywood, California.
• Design: Katherine Marking/ Alana Coghlan

...and for reasons not at all clear, the disc surface identifies Ronnie White as "Ronald" and Smokey as "Assistant", not "Associate", Producer.

1963 Christmas With The Miracles side A

.....Assuming that the recording dates at the website Don't Forget The Motor City are correct, recording for the first full album of Motown Christmas recordings was completed by August 1963. The first five songs were recorded in August of 1962 and the previous post gives their producers and dates. The post also notes the question of Pete Moore's participation. Here, I'll list the songs from the July-August sessions of 1963, all of which were produced by Ron White:

• Jul. 17: "SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN"
• Jul. 17: "LET IT SNOW"
• Aug. 9: "WINTER WONDERLAND"
• Aug. 9: "WHITE CHRISTMAS"
• Aug. 9: "SILVER BELLS"

.....A close look at Tamla's catalog numbers reveals that the album LP CHRISTMAS WITH THE MIRACLES has a lower number than any other title from 1963, yet it was one of the last released that year. That doesn't prove, although it certainly suggests, that there were once plans to release it for the 1962 holiday season. With the recording completed in 1963, side one looked like this:

.....LP CHRISTMAS WITH THE MIRACLES Tamla TM236 (US) 10/29/63

• 01:55 "SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN" (Haven Gillespie, J. Fred Coots)- originally recorded in 1934 by Harry Reser, a band leader who used Tom Stacks as a vocalist. When I uncover that recording, it'll have it's own post.
• 01:42 "LET IT SNOW" (Jules Styne, Sammy Cahn)- Claudette takes the lead vocal on this; originally recorded by Vaughn Moore in 1945, this is more of a winter song than a Christmas song.
• 02:20 "WINTER WONDERLAND" (Felix Bernard, Dick Smith)- Several versions of this came out in a short period beginning in 1934. The first was likely Richard Himber, but the biggest hit version was by Guy Lombardo. Also not really a Christmas song.
• 02:29 "CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY" (William 'Smokey' Robinson)- The album's only original composition, and it's a good one. Oddly, off the top of my head I can think of four Motown various artists Christmas compilation albums to come out over the following forty years (including a double LP in 1973) that don't include this, despite drawing various other songs, many of them covers of old standards.
• 02:27 "I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS" (lyrics:Kim Gannon, music:Walter Kent, for legal purposes: Buck Ram)- OK, let me explain; after Bing Crosby scored a huge hit with the debut recording in 1943 there was a claim filed by Buck Ram, who had filed an identically titled song for copyright the previous year which the publisher sat on while circulating the Gannon/Kent song. In a sense, Ram was being cheated, albeit not in the conventional manner, and the compromise was for him to share the credit. Some covers will credit him and some won't.

.....Side two tomorrow.

1963 Christmas Every Day

.....If Marvin Gaye recorded "THE CHRISTMAS SONG" (see previous post) close to the holiday, then Motown already had it's first full-length Christmas album in the shops at the time. A recent visit to the website Don't Forget The Motor City suggests that many of the recording dates and production credits I've read in liner notes are actually different, though, and I'm less certain of their relative order. Contrary to the liner notes from two sources, the website contends that the Marvin Gaye track was recorded live on December 16th, 1962, not 1963. But it also contends that half the material for the Miracles' Christmas album was recorded as far back as August 1962 and the other half a year later.

.....The object of this post is:

• 02:29 "CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY" (William 'Smokey' Robinson)
• 02:39 b/w "THE CHRISTMAS SONG" (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)
• performed by The Miracles
• original source: LP CHRISTMAS WITH THE MIRACLES Tamla TM236 (US) 10/29/63
• as well as this: [promo] 7" Tamla EX-009 (US) Nov/63
• and my source: CD CHRISTMAS WITH THE MIRACLES Motown/MCA MCD09091MD (U) 1987

...which includes the album's sole original composition. I first heard "CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY" in the eighties and for someone hunting for original Christmas pop music it was a snow-glare intensity beam of sunshine in a hobby the requires slogging through the endless sleet of hundreds of iterations of "JINGLE BELLS" and "SILENT NIGHT". If this was in fact recorded in the summer of 1962, with plenty of time for preparation, packaging, promotion, etc., I can't imagine that Berry Gordy didn't have confidence in the recording. I suppose it's possible that he had his doubts about the market for seasonal novelties in general, given the failure of the previous year's single, "X-MAS TWIST".

.....According to DFTMC, the recording dates were as follows:

• Aug. 21: "THE CHRISTMAS SONG", produced by William Stevenson
• Aug. 21: "O HOLY NIGHT", produced by Ron White and Smokey Robinson
• Aug. 21: "CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY", produced by Smokey Robinson
• Aug. 23: "NOEL", produced by Smokey Robinson
• Aug. 29: "I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS", produced by Ron White

.....That last number brings to mind another problem regarding the chronology of this recording. The standard line-up for The Miracles' recordings was:

• William 'Smokey' Robinson
• Ronnie White
• Bobby Rogers
• Warren 'Pete' Moore
• Claudette Rogers Robinson
• plus Marv Tarplin on guitar
• all other instruments by the Funk Brothers

...but at some time before 1964, Pete Moore spent a year in the military. In fact, he's the only vocalist who doesn't appear in the album's original cover photo. Because the recording sessions for this album are about eleven months apart, Moore's service (and therefore his absence during recordings) almost certainly straddles one session or the other. I've looked around the internet for biographical information on Moore (at least 80% of which is just copied from Wikipedia) and while many sources corroborate the fact of his stint in the military I wasn't able to find specific dates for induction or release. For that matter, I'm only assuming that DFTMC is both authoritative and free of typos. I may have to track down a print biography of the group rather than rely on sources devoted to the label generally.

1963 The Christmas Song (Marvin Gaye)

.....This song is a cover, so I'm not going to go into any length for it.

• 02:35 "THE CHRISTMAS SONG" (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)
• performed by Marvin Gaye
• recorded live at the Apollo Theater in 1963, but not contemporarily released
• original source: 4CD THE MARVIN GAYE COLLECTION Motown MOTD4-6311 (US) 09/19/90
• and my source: VACD CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Motown Master Series 37463-6326-2 (G) 1993

.....Last month I posted on The Moonglows' "JUST A LONELY CHRISTMAS" (click on '1953' under the "Check Them Twice" list). Towards the end I mentioned that Harvey Fuqua had put together a new line-up of the group including a young Marvin Gaye. Harvey married Gwen Gordy and the two tried unsuccessfully to keep their own record companies going before putting their efforts to work for Gwen's brother Berry. Harvey brought Marvin with him and Marvin briefly worked as a session drummer before stepping up to the mike. He signed with Tamla and began releasing singles and an album in 1961. Although there is no specific date given for this recording, we can safely assume it was near the holiday in December. Earlier that year he recorded the album LP RECORDED LIVE ON STAGE Tamla TM242 (US) 09/09/63, produced by William Stevenson. Although my source says that this track was produced by Smokey Robinson, Discogs reports that the track, as it appears on the boxed set, was also produced by Stevenson. Why it was recorded is just as unclear. Was it intended for a 1964 release and simply forgotten? If it was recorded, as I assumed and as the stage patter suggests, close to the holiday, then it couldn't have been intended for release during the 1963 holiday season. It's also not likely to be an outtake from a live album recorded closer to the summer, although it's possible that the audience just sat there politely confused listening to a Christmas song. At the Apollo...

.....The song itself is of course a modern standard. It was recorded in 1946 by Nat 'King' Cole and became an instant hit sparking numerous covers even before this one. At the moment I haven't yet posted that recording, but since I own several copies it's inevitable that I'll get around to it.