According to the back of the album, this is a happy album full of happy songs and recorded by musicians that were happy when the record was cut. So much happiness. Whew.
Seriously, there are some notable things about this record. First of all, none other than Boots Randolph is credited with the 'Sax-Xylophone' (??) And, members of the Jordanaires (Elvis' backup group) and the Anita Kerr singers appear on the record. It sounds like a call went out in Nashville one Saturday afternoon to all the available singers hangin' around town. "Hey! Whatcha doing today?" "Nothin' much". "Let's go cut a Christmas record". "Okey-doke". And so here we have "Favorite Songs of Christmas".
The music is pretty good, even though I poke a little fun at the album cover. Ten songs, nine standards plus the not-so-standard "Christmas Time is the Best Time of the Year". Good stuff.
If anyone knows what a 'sax-xylophone' is, please comment. My guess is it's the creation of a rookie copy writer at Halo Records. My second guess is that Boots did whack on a xylophone when he was taking a break from the sax. He did play the vibraphone early on, so says the internet.
Please enjoy "Favorite Songs of Christmas"
Without hearing this, I can only guess: Perhaps Boots played some mallet percussion on the record, and the credit "sax-xylophone" means both, much like "guitar-harmonica-percussion" might read for a different multi-instrumentalist?
ReplyDelete//freddie jaye