Today's share is one of my top two featured albums this season, At Christmas Time by Teresa Brewer, a 1957 release on Coral Records, her label for the first 10+ years of her long career.
Teresa Brewer is a relatively recent "discovery" for me personally. I first learned of her a couple years ago from the album "It Don't Mean a Thing If You Ain't Got That Swing", which she recorded with Duke Ellington. Then last year I found an album she recorded with Mercer Ellington (featuring an excellent "Ring Dem Bells), and from there I began to explore her work, picking up a number of her albums at the local purveyors of used records.
So of course, I searched her discography for a Christmas album. At Christmas Time is her only Christmas record, and it, sadly, was not to be found ay my usual vinyl haunts. But, I did find it online (either eBay or Discogs - I don't recall which), and made the purchase. So exciting!
It shipped quickly, last year, from Canada. Some of you may recall the Canada Post strike that took place last year. The record was shipped, made it one stop along the way, and then was delayed for a few weeks before the strike ended. Happy ending though - once the strike was over, At Christmas Time made it to my home.
At Christmas Time is a very unique album. It is all original songs, and is interspersed with dialogue with Ms. Brewer's children. It makes for a very homey, cozy feel. The songs are in Teresa's wheelhouse in terms of vocal style and song composition. "Umpteen Days Until Christmas", "Christmas Cookies and Holiday Hearts", and "The Gingerbread House" and my personal favorites. All in all, this is one of my favorite albums in my vinyl collection.
Teresa Brewer has a unique singing style, full of sass and style, perfect 50's/60's pop. I think that there is a bit of 'love her or no-thanks-I'll-pass on her' amongst the general population of music lovers. I fall definitely on the 'love her' side, although there a few songs that wear out their welcome quickly (check out "I Gotta Go Get By Baby"). I continue to explore her musical catalog, and greatly enjoy her work, spanning from the early 50s into the early 90's. (She has a great guest-host episode of The Muppet Show too)
For the share, I decided to separate out the dialogue bits from the songs, so there are a whopping 29 tracks. I thought that this would make a better listening experience than either including the dialog with the song tracks, or having just two files for the two album sides.
I hope you enjoy one of my favorite shares this year, Teresa Brewer's At Christmas Time.
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