Both Amazon and CD Universe now have "Christmas Celebration" on pre-order for November 8th release so, for those in the USA and Canada who were putting off buying it, there's no longer any excuse!   Enjoy!

Alan

***THIS IS ANOTHER YULE LOG.COM EXCLUSIVE***


My friend Alan Bunting in the U.K. has just completed remastering work on a second Christmas compilation CD for the Guild Music label. It will be released in Europe later this month; and then here in the United States later this year.

The new CD will be called Christmas Lights and it will contain 13 songs from the King of Christmas Music, the great Percy Faith (8 songs from his first Christmas album, Music Of Christmas; and 5 songs from his second Christmas album, Hallelujah).

In addition, the CD will also contain songs from 2 long out-of-print classic Christmas albums that I am still currently working on getting back into print: Stanley Black's album, Christmas Holiday For Romance (2 songs); and Frank Chacksfield's album, Music For A Merry Christmas (3 songs).

As with the first CD, Alan has personally done all the transfers, audio restoration and remastering for the music on this new CD as well.

Christmas Lights

Track Listing:

 1. Joy To The World – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

 2. White Christmas – FRANK CHACKSFIELD & HIS ORCHESTRA

 3. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen – BILLY VAUGHN & HIS ORCHESTRA

 4. Deck The Hall With Boughs Of Holly – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

 5. Snowman’s Land – ZACK LAURENCE & KEN JONES & HIS ORCHESTRA

 6. Snowy Mountains – LUDO PHILIPP & THE SYMPHONIA ORCHESTRA

 7. Good Christian Men, Rejoice – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

 8. Good King Wenceslas – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

 9. Snow Ride – U.K. ORCHESTRA

10. Santo Natale – STANLEY BLACK & HIS ORCHESTRA

11. Hark The Herald Angels Sing – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

12. Angels We Have Heard On High – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

13. Away In A Manger – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

14. Gesù Bambino – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

15. I Wonder As I Wander – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

16. Holiday On Ice – U.K. ORCHESTRA

17. Once More It’s Christmas – GEORGE MELACHRINO & HIS ORCHESTRA

18. Alpine Sleigh Ride – FRANK CHACKSFIELD & HIS ORCHESTRA

19. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

20. O Come All Ye Faithful – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

21. Mozart's Sleigh Ride – ARTHUR FIEDLER & THE BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA

22. O Holy Night – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

23. The Skaters’ Waltz – FRANK CHACKSFIELD & HIS ORCHESTRA

24. Mrs. Santa Claus – GEORGE MELACHRINO & HIS ORCHESTRA

25. By The Fireside – STANLEY BLACK & HIS ORCHESTRA

26. The Holly And The Ivy/Here We Go A-Caroling – PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA

27. The First Noel – GEORGE MELACHRINO & HIS ORCHESTRA

My friends at Guild tell me that "Christmas Lights" will be released in the USA by their distributors (Albany) in November.

If you want to order it now from Guild's WEB site here is what they told me:

"The price is GBP 5.10 per CD plus GBP 2.65 for postage. What it will cost them  in USD, depends on their credit card company, as they have their own rates and charges. Our indications for USD on the Website (8.95 excluding postage) is on the higher side."

They accept Visa and Master Card as well as PayPal.  All CDs are shipped from their warehouse here in the UK (not Switzerland) and I know many people who are very pleased with the service they receive.

The Guild shop is here:

http://www.guildmusic.com/shop/index.php    (scroll down to find Christmas Lights in the New releases)

While writing I must own up to an error on the front cover of the booklet.

Despite careful proof reading by at least 4 people including myself and David Ades we all missed the fact that Arthur Fiedler's name is shown as "Fielder" - a classic example of reading what you expect to read instead of what is actually there!  Fortunately it is spelled correctly everywhere else.  I wonder how many of you would have noticed if I hadn't mentioned it?

Alan Bunting

I've seen the aforementioned George Melachrino Christmas Joy album available as a CD remastered from the LP at mymusicboutique.com:

http://www.mymusicboutique.com/product/GMCH104-9076777

Over the last few years I've come to believe that, for me, Mr. Faith's rendition of BRING A TORCH, JEANETTE, ISABELLA might be one of the most beautiful Christmas recordings I've ever heard. I have no personal connection or story behind my enchantment with this song except that it's always been a remarkable recording of another simply beautiful Christmas song by a true master. I've heard a few renditions of the song over the last few years, but like all of his Christmas music, nothing comes close to the version recorded by Percy Faith as Chip explained so eloquently.     

I recall my first introduction to Mr. Faith's recording of BRING A TORCH was an inexpensive bargain bin Columbia "limited edition" reissue of MUSIC OF CHRISTMAS  Vol.2 - the one with the dark photo of a decorative manger on the cover - that my sister bought at Woolworth's in Menlo Park Mall back in November 1974. Because I never took the time to find out the actual name of the song and because I rarely heard it played anywhere (except for maybe on WPAT and of course the Ch. 11 Yule Log) I forgot about it until I heard it again during the return broadcast of the WPIX Yule Log. After so many years, it all came back to me how beautiful that specific recording was. I searched for a CD of Percy Faith's second volume of MUSIC OF CHRISTMAS but the price for the few used copies I located were all way too high!

It was a true blessing to finally get the second volume of Mr. Faith's Christmas on CD music when if became more affordable along with the mono version of the first album year or two ago (many thanks Chip). At first I kind of wished that the CD included the '59 stereo release of Percy Faith's other musical Christmas masterpiece to compliment Vol. 2, but I admit now to feeling silly about pointing out such a very small thing all things considered.

Chip, did Columbia also reissue MUSIC OF CHRISTMAS Volume 2 under their Limited Edition line win the original HALLELUJAH form? I think I recall seeing a sealed copy with the original LP jacket with the white Columbia "circle in a box" Limited Edition logo at a record show a year or two ago. Odd how the album seemed to be so available in various vinyl forms over the years but the original CD release is often regarded as a "rarity" and now commands such a high price.