Flashbacks – Page 47 – USA Radio Museum

December * George Winston

—PEACE—

Peace is the twelfth piano solo by George Winston from his fourth studio album, December. The album was recorded during September-October of 1982 and was released at the end of the year. It is a Christmas album, and more generally termed a tribute to the winter season. The album also spent 136 weeks on the Billboard 200, reaching a peak of #54 in January 1984, over a year after its original release. In 1987, five years after its release, it reached #2 on Billboard’s Top Holiday Albums chart. “Peace” was written by George Winston.

(Source: WiKipedia)

A ’63 HOLIDAY MEMORY. THE SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS!

THE CHRISTMAS SONG NAT KING COLE (COMPLETE LP) * 1963

—THE CHRISTMAS SONG NAT KING COLE—

The Magic of Christmas is a 1960 album by Nat King Cole, arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael. This was Cole’s only complete album of Christmas songs, although he had recorded several holiday singles earlier in his career. One of these, “The Christmas Song”, originally recorded in 1946, was re-recorded for the 1961 album The Nat King Cole Story. In 1963 The Magic of Christmas was reissued under the title The Christmas Song, with that recording added to the track list in place of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, and with new cover art. It is the best-selling Christmas album released in the 1960s, and was certified by the RIAA for shipments of 6 million copies in the U.S. The 1963 version reached number 1 on Billboard’s Christmas Albums chart and remained for two weeks.

(Source: WiKipedia)

— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —

Click on (COMPLETE LP) for the complete track listing on this album.

SEASONS GREETINGS FROM THE VOICES OF KEENER 13

WKNR * THE VOICES of KEENER * DECEMBER 1965

—SEASONS’ GREETINGS 1965 FROM THE VOICES of KEENER 13—

Phillip Nye * George Hunter * Dick Buller * Ed Mullen * Eric Smith * John Maher * Dick Purtan * Ted Clark * Jerry Goodwin * Bob Green * Scott Regen * J. Michael Wilson * Jim Jeffries * Paul Cannon

From all the Keener Key Men . . . Merry Christmas!

* BOB GREEN PRODUCTIONS *

A special THANK YOU to Bob Green (Bob Green Productions, Houston, TX) for providing this (wonderful!) WKNR Christmas 1965 audio memory with Motor City Radio Flashbacks

A ’63 HOLIDAY MEMORY. THE SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS!

THE ANDY WILLIAMS CHRISTMAS ALBUM (COMPLETE LP) * 1963

—THE ANDY WILLIAMS CHRISTMAS ALBUM—

The Andy Williams Christmas Album is the first Christmas holiday album released by singer Andy Williams and his twelfth studio album overall. It was issued by Columbia Records in 1963, and it would prove to be the first of eight Christmas albums released by Williams. Though it was also the album that introduced Williams’ perennial holiday classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, Columbia instead opted to release Williams’ cover of “White Christmas” as the album’s promotional single at the time. From 1963 to 1973, Billboard published special weekly Christmas Albums and Christmas Singles sales charts. For all five weeks that these special charts were published in 1963 (for the weeks ending November 30, 1963 through December 28, 1963), The Andy Williams Christmas Album was the number one selling Christmas album, while Williams’ cover of “White Christmas” was the number one selling Christmas single. The Andy Williams Christmas Album spent three weeks as the number one selling Christmas album during the holiday season of 1964, and one week as the number one selling Christmas album during the holiday season of 1965.

(Source: WiKipedia)

— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —

Click on (COMPLETE LP) for the complete track listing on this album.

A HOLIDAY TUNES COUNTDOWN! 03 CHRISTMAS DAYS

—MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING—

“Merry Christmas Darling” is a Christmas song by the Carpenters (music by Richard Carpenter, lyrics by Frank Pooler), and originally recorded in 1970. It was first available on a 7-inch single that year (A&M Records 1236), and was later re-issued in 1974 (A&M 1648) and again in 1977 (A&M 1991). The single went to number one on Billboard’s Christmas singles chart in 1970 (and did so again in 1971 and 1973) and peaked at number 41 in Cashbox. In 1978, the Carpenters issued their Christmas Portrait album, which contained a new version of “Merry Christmas Darling”. The original 1970 mix continued to be used for all single releases, however. The major difference between the 1970 and 1978 versions is a newly recorded vocal by Karen Carpenter on the latter, which was done at her request. Richard Carpenter himself calls the original recording one of his sister’s very best.

(Source: WiKipedia)

— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —

THE CARPENTERS * 03 * DECEMBER 23

MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! CHRISTMAS, ’63

— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —

A JUDY GARLAND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Guests: Judy Garland’s children, Liza, Lorna and Joey; singers Jack Jones, Mel Torme, dancer Tracy Everett. Aired 12-22-63 Detroit CBS WJBK-TV (Channel 2), 9:00 p.m., 56 years ago, today.

THE JUDY GARLAND CHRISTMAS SHOW * CBS-TV * SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1963

A HOLIDAY TUNES COUNTDOWN! 06 CHRISTMAS DAYS

—ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE—

“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958; it has since been recorded by numerous other music artists. By the song’s 50th anniversary in 2008, Lee’s original version had sold over 25 million copies with the 4th most digital downloads sold of any Christmas single. Because of her mature-sounding voice, Lee recorded this song when she was only thirteen years old. The recording features Hank Garland and Harold Bradley on guitar, Floyd Cramer on piano, Boots Randolph on sax, Bob Moore on bass, and veteran session player Buddy Harman on drums.

(Source: WiKipedia)

— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —

BRENDA LEE * 05 * DECEMBER 21

A HOLIDAY TUNES COUNTDOWN! 07 CHRISTMAS DAYS

—MY FAVORITE THINGS—

“My Favorite Things” is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass released a version in 1969 as a single from their 1968 album, Christmas Album. It reached No. 45 on the Billboard 100.

(Source: WiKipedia)

— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —

HERB ALPERT & THE TIJUANA BRASS * 06 * DECEMBER 20

A HOLIDAY TUNES COUNTDOWN! 07 CHRISTMAS DAYS

—IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR—

“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is a popular Christmas song written in triple time in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle. It was recorded and released that year by pop singer Andy Williams for his first Christmas album, The Andy Williams Christmas Album. However, the song was not released as a promotional single by Williams’ record label (Columbia Records) that year, as they instead opted to promote his cover of “White Christmas” as the official promo single from the album.

(Source: WiKipedia)

— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —

ANDY WILLIAMS * 07 * DECEMBER 19

MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR! CHRISTMAS, ’68

— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —

A DEAN MARTIN CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Guests: Dom DeLouise, Bob Newhart and Dennis Weaver. Plus cameos by dozens of celebrities, including Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra Jr. William Holden, Johnny Carson, announcing the sending of gifts of toys to children in hospitals and through various charities at end of show.

Aired 12-19-68 Detroit NBC WWJ-TV (Channel 4), 10:00 p.m., 51 years ago, today.

THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW * NBC-TV * THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1968