My friend Franny gave me not one but two complete sets of this collection from Tops featuring the Tops Orchestra and Choristers. The 18 songs are spread over three 7" 45rpm records, with three songs on each side.
If you and a buddy, over a beer at your local establishment, listed out the 18 songs most likely to be in this collection, you'd probably hit at least 15 or 16. All the usual suspects are here - Deck the Halls, Jingle Bells, Rudolph, Frosty, Hark, First Noel, Silent Night - you get the picture. You might not get "Twas the Night Before Christmas", but chances are you'd hit 16 of 18, which is batting .889. Pretty good, chaps.
But, what about that 18th? Included in this collection, on record 3, side 1, is a song I'd never heard called "Santa Claus is Flying Through the Sky". Our friend Lee over at Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anywhere Else shared out a version of this back in 2015. I don't know much about the song, but its rarity makes it a must for all the yuletide musica obscura collectors out there.
It's a nice collection of songs, done well. I'll add the disclaimer that the records are old and weren't in the best shape, so there may be a skip here or there, but I think generally the rips were pretty clean.
So, please enjoy Tops 18 Christmas Favorites! download link
So cool! I have a sleeve, but only one of the records, And it's a 78... :(
ReplyDeleteGreat to see this issue in EP form--thanks. Great scans! Actually, these tracks duplicate the ones in the Tops 12-incher I posted last year. I just revived the link: https://musicyouwont.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-favorites-tops-orchestra-and.html
ReplyDeleteSame track order any everything! And Tops seems to have used that exact same back cover for all their EP sets.
I mean, "and everything." I'm having a typo-athon this season!
ReplyDelete