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The Legacy Vault Opens For Christmas With Ray Price, Jerry Vale, John Davidson, More

December 8, 2014 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Ray Price Christmas AlbumWithout a doubt, 2014 has shaped up to be another joyous year for fans of Christmas music. Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings has been at the vanguard of delivering holiday music with a recent batch of titles from Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and others as part of its Classic Christmas Album Series. Sony has also licensed festive titles from Robert Goulet, Rosemary Clooney, The Brothers Four and Frank DeVol and the Rainbow Strings to Real Gone Music. Those titles have recently been joined by 20 digital-only releases from the Columbia and RCA libraries which can be found in The Legacy Vault, all of which are new to the digital format.

Since its inception in 2013, The Legacy Vault has allowed fans to suggest undigitized titles from the vast Sony Music Library for digital release. The Legacy Vault Christmas Series is open for business now, and has something for everyone to place under the digital Christmas tree.  Four titles were added to the Christmas series last year, with another 16 having recently arrived in time for this year’s merriment.

John Davidson - ChristmasFans of classic vocalists will appreciate the holiday titles from musical theatre star, actor and television personality John Davidson, talk show host Mike Douglas and the late, great Italian-American singer Jerry Vale. Also on the television front, the Vault has trips down Memory Lane via The Waltons Christmas Album and Bonanza star Lorne Greene’s Have a Happy Holiday. Other warmly nostalgic albums being issued digitally for the first time include easy listening favorites John Gary’s Christmas Album and The Melachrino Strings’ Christmas Joy, and one for fans of the Bronx Bombers: Yankee Stadium organist Eddie Layton’s 1964 The Organ at Christmas! NFL fans aren’t left out, either, thanks to the reissue of John Facenda’s The Nativity. Many football fans knew the broadcaster and NFL Films narrator, simply, as “The Voice of God,” but on this 1964 release, he celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.

Jerry Vale - Christmas GreetingsA number of vintage country-and-western titles are also part of this release slate, from legends like Ray Price, Boots Randolph, Hank Snow, Jimmy Dean and even the satirically-minded Homer and Jethro, known as the “Thinking Man’s Hillbillies.” The Beers Family’s 1967 Appalachian folk-flavored Christmas album for a Columbia is a rare slice of Americana. Other releases available now include RCA’s 1972 A Golden Age Christmas with songs from the earliest part of the twentieth century (from artists like Enrico Caruso, John McCormack, and Richard Crooks), a treat from Polka King Frankie Yankovic, a holiday set from instrumental group The Three Suns (reportedly Mamie Eisenhower’s favorite group!) and a groovy winter wonderland courtesy of The Moog Machine’s Christmas Becomes Electric. More reverent is The Edwin Hawkins Singers’ gospel-R&B holiday fusion, Peace is Blowin’ in the Wind, from 1969.

Hit the jump for more information on these titles including a complete list!

These long out-of-print recordings, now available for download on iTunes and Amazon, have all been remastered by Vic Anesini at Battery Studios from the original master tapes. During the holiday season, most of the 20 titles are available for just $4.99 per album. You can visit The Legacy Vault for more information on all of these, or sample tracks on Spotify via The Legacy Vault Christmas Sampler.  For more information, you also might want to sit back, pour some hot cocoa and take a listen to a special Legacy Vault Christmas podcast featuring Legacy’s Tom Tierney and author Greg Ehrbar.  Amazon U.S. links are provided below.  As of this writing, all releases are $4.99 on Amazon except where indicated.

EASY LISTENING

Melachrino Strings, Christmas Joy, RCA, 1959 ($7.99)
Eddie Layton, Christmas, Epic, 1964
John Davidson, My Christmas Favorites, Columbia, 1969
Mike Douglas, My Kind of Christmas, Epic, 1967
Jerry Vale, Christmas Greetings, Columbia, 1964
Three Suns, Ding Dong Dandy Christmas, RCA, 1959
Frank Yankovic, Christmas Party, Columbia, 1964
John Gary, Christmas Album, RCA, 1964

FOLK & COUNTRY

Hank Snow, Christmas with Hank Snow, RCA, 1967
Homer & Jethro, A Cool Crazy Christmas, RCA, 1968
Christmas with the Beers Family, Columbia, 1967
Jimmy Dean, “Christmas Card”, Columbia, 1965
Boots Randolph, Boots & Stockings, Monument, 1969
Ray Price, Christmas Album, Columbia, 1969  (also available on CD)

ENTERTAINERS

The Waltons Christmas Album, Columbia, 1974
John Facenda, The Nativity, RCA, 1964 ($3.99)
Lorne Greene, Have A Happy Holiday, RCA, 1965
Various Artists, “A GOLDEN AGE CHRISTMAS”, RCA, 1972 (Link TBD)
Moog Machine, Christmas Becomes Electric, Columbia, 1969

R&B

Edwin Hawkins Singers, Peace Is Blowin’ In The Wind, Buddah, 1970

 

Categories: News Formats: Digital Download Genre: Country, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul Tags: Jerry Vale, John Davidson, Ray Price

Joe Marchese

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Peggy Lipton, Doris Day, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and his work still appears with frequency in the magazine. In 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as The Supremes, Melissa Manchester, Laura Nyro, Bobby Darin and Johnny Mathis, legendary producer Bob Crewe, soul legend Wilson Pickett, and many others. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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Comments

  1. Gdr says

    December 8, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    Where is the digital release of The Doris Day Christmas Album

    Reply
  2. The King of Jingaling says

    December 8, 2014 at 6:24 pm

    Wow! It IS a Merry Christmas!!!

    Reply
  3. Morgan says

    October 17, 2015 at 9:11 am

    Hi Joe,

    Any word if there will be more Christmas releases for 2015??

    Reply

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