We'll be among the first ticket-buyers when Mitchell Kekin's in-production documentary Jingle Bell Rocks! hits theatres next year: expect an addictive look at the world of obsessive Christmas music collectors, pegged to Princeton University Radio's annual 24-hour yule tunes marathon, with appearances by kitschy fixtures like Dr. Demento and El Vez. (More on that here.) Until then, we’ll get our fix of retro yuletide treats with a handful of blogs dedicated to the vinyl treasures of Christmases past, proving that there's a world of seasonal songs that are not Macca's "Wonderful Christmastime."
Now in its third year, Falalalala may be the most exhaustive of the bunch, with liner notes of old LPs faithfully reproduced and even its own LastFM station. Expect classics like Lena Horne reissues and church choir LPs with impossibly campy cover shots.
Christmas Yule Blog may seem a bit scattered at times, but the breadth of obscurities is impressive. The Pac-Man Christmas Album? A Wild Christmas with Mae West? It's all here, with mp3s where possible.
Hi-Fi Holiday is the place to go for vinyl gems that haven't been ported over to CD -- here "lovingly recorded, declicked, decrackled and dehissed" for your listening pleasure.
written on Monday Dec 10, 2007
holiday vinyl.
