Category: Disco

LUTHER VANDROSS - THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS ALBUM

8/27/2012

1. The Christmas Song
2. My Favorite Things
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
4. The Mistletoe Jam (Everybody Kiss Somebody)
5. With A Christmas Heart
6. I Listen To The Bells - Featuring Darlene Love
7. A Kiss For Christmas
8. Every Year Every Christmas
9. This Is Christmas
10. Please Come Home For Christmas
11. O' Come All Ye Faithful
12. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Live)
13. May Christmas Bring You Happiness
14. At Christmas Time

AMAZON

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VARIOUS ARTISTS - A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOU

8/4/2012

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1. Christmas Stars & More - Orchestral Fever (1981)
2. Christmas Time Is Here Again - Perfect (circa 1976)
3. (Everybody Needs) A Christmas Tree - Roy Hudd & The Children From Oliver (1978)
4. Good King Wenceslas (Disco Version) - Orchestra Fever (1976)
5. Live From The Blue Boar - Laurie Lingo & The Dipsticks (1976)
6. Mr. Christmas - Elaine Holloway (1981)
7. Santa's Little Helper - Bob Pryde (1978)
8. A Christmas Tale - Billy Scott (1976)
9. Christmas Is - Boizee (circa 1982)
10. Christmas - Katie Kissoon (circa 1977)

STATE RECORDS FACEBOOK PAGE
AMAZON MP3

(Thanks to Randy of Hip Christmas for researching the release years on these)

State Records was an Independent British label that existed from the mid-70s through the early 80s. The label was founded by Wayne Bickerton, Tony Waddington and John Fruin. Bickerton & Waddington were songwriters and Bickerton had also been a successful producer at other labels. I'm kinda thinkin' Fruin was the "silent partner", the investor. Anyway, State was primarily a singles label and they ran off a bunch of chart hits during those years--almost always songs they, themselves, had written and often songs that were performed by studio musicians that they just slapped a name on the label later. Sort of the British equivalent of Buddah Records in the states, in that regard. State's biggest "stars", though, were real. The Rubettes ("Sugar Baby Love") were the big money makers at the label, followed by Mac & Katie Kissoon (whose big hit stateside, not on State, was "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep"). State's records almost never crossed over the Atlantic. In the mid-80s, State went dormant. I have no idea why. And State issued nothing from about 1983 through 2011.

Just recently, the label has fired up again, releasing most of their back catalog digitally for the first time. And they're even releasing some newly recorded stuff. As yet, they've released none of the Rubettes material and that might be a legal issue or perhaps they're planning a monster release of Rubettes catalog for later. "A Christmas Gift For You" represents most of State's holiday output during their active period and, according to the timeline on the State Facebook page, was originally released on vinyl in November 1981. I can honestly say I've never seen a vinyl copy of this--on eBay or anywhere else.

The tracks, here, make for a nice overview of what folks were listening to at the time, soundwise. There's the disco "Stars on 45" approach from Orchestral Fever, a talking record from Billy Scott (sounding, to me, all the world like Brother John Rivers of the old Powerline radio shows), the pure novelty of "Santa's Little Helper" (same song as was done stateside by The Pipsqueek's in 1966), the soulful pop of "Christmas Time Is Here Again" and "Christmas Time" (same song, and the same song as from the late 60s girl group The Flirtations--indeed, the version credited to Katie Kissoon sounds exactly the same, at least in preview), and a New Wave-ish number from Boizee. For those of us who've exhausted the old American singles and look longingly at (but can't afford) the British Xmas singles listed on eBay, this is really a very nice little collection.

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LUTHER VANDROSS - THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS ALBUM

VARIOUS ARTISTS - A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOU

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