MY TOP 10  PERCY FAITH SONGS:

1.  Angels We Have Heard on High  (Music of Christmas Vol. 2 )
2.  Gesu Bambino  (Music of Christmas Vol. 2 ?)
3.  Fascination  (?)
4.  Deck the Halls  (Music of Christmas)
5.  I'm in the Mood for Love   (?)
6.  Windy  (?)
7.  As Long As She Needs Me (?)
8.  Theme from A Summer Place  (?)
9.  First Light (?)
10. Autumn Leaves (?)



You can listen to the whole Percy Faith 'Music of Christmas ' CD on Rhapsody, I think:

http://www.rhapsody.com/percyfaith/22830525_musicofchristmas


Of course, the great Angels on High, and Gesu Bambino are missing from that one

Sniffle.

Does anyone know who has a similar version of Gesu Bambino (instrumental) to Percy's ??

My Cup Runneth Over !   I might have guessed Mantovani.....but had no idea what the title was.   Mantovani and Percy Faith are nearly interchangeable.

Chip you've been a great help.  I can't tell you how long I'd been looking, just for the title of that song.  You know, I think I like Ray Coniff's version of  'Cup'  a bit better.  But it seems Ed Ames had the greatest success with that song.

Say, did Ed Ames do a version of "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day"  ????  Although, I like Frank's version of that the best.

Anyway, because, you been so helpful, Chip.....here's my playlist from Last FM---I don't know if it works, or if you have to register.....but anyway....it's just a mish-mash of songs I've collected, a lot of Christmas, but non-Christmas too.

I've got a few Billy Vaughn Christmas instrumentals, on there  that are very hard to find.  See if this works:

http://www.last.fm/user/YuleMaxine/tracks?page=1


Percy Faith -vs- Billy Vaughn -vs- Mantovani   !!!!

Hey, what about Felix Slatkin and Raymond Lefevre ?  YouTube has a little bit of Raymond Lefevre, but nothing Christmas.

Felix Slatkin has a version of Deck the Halls, that's I'd love to get my hands on, although it's nothing like Percy Faith's Deck the Halls....which is legendary.

Slatkin's compositions seem extremely uptempo and chirpy---at least the ones I've heard.

No Mike, I disagree.

First: Not all of the Harmony reissues were abridged LPs. Although, I completely understand that you are too young to have known that, since most of these Harmony reissues were released before you were born.

Second: Given the magnitude of the kind of star Johnny Mathis was at that time, do you really believe Columbia Records would have been that stupid not to take full advantage of offering this album in its entirety if they could have when they first reissued it in 1971?

Third: For what other possible reason would Columbia have had when they had Johnny re-record "The Little Drummer Boy" in 1969 if it weren't for the reason that the original master had been damaged -- much in the same way that Bing Crosby had to re-record "White Christmas" in 1947 because the original master had become damaged. And the age of the master has nothing to do with it. In fact, the "White Christmas" master was only 5 years old when Decca Records had to replace it. I used to think at one time that perhaps the reason Columbia didn't use "The Little Drummer Boy" track on the reissue was because they didn't get the rights to the Mercury LP until 1971, and since Johnny had recorded a version for their own label in 1969, they didn't need it. But that can't be the case because simply speaking, there is no big deal with having the same song on two different albums -- especially if they are two different versions as they are here.

Fourth: Why would Columbia voluntarily leave off the reissue LP (and today the CD) one of the two original songs that were written exclusively for this album by Jerry Livingston and Paul Francis Webster -- that song being, "Have Reindeer Will Travel." I used to think that it might possibly be because Columbia didn't want to pay the royalties to use the song, but since they use the other original song by Jerry Livingston and Paul Francis Webster, "The Sounds of Christmas," I really don't think that is the case.

Fifth: You say that you just can't believe that Columbia still couldn't do a remix even if the original master is not available, but you would really be surprised at what goes on in the recording industry sometimes. You naively give the record companies more credit than they really deserve, much more. Take the case of '60s pop group, The Vanilla Fudge for example. From what I understand, in 1986 they had to go back into the recording studio to re-record one of the albums they originally did in the late '60s for Atco Records because the original master had become damaged -- and this Atco album was issued several years after the Johnny Mathis Christmas LP for Mercury. Furthermore, here is an excerpt from an email I received from Norma Camby (the daughter of maestro Johnny Douglas of The Living Strings & Voices). This was in reference to possibly reissuing The Living Strings 1963 LP, "The Spirit of Christmas" and The Living Voices 1974 LP, "A Christmas Songbook":   

"As yet we cannot say which of the JD Christmas albums we will use.  It depends on whether RCA can locate the original masters and what condition they are in for re-mastering.  It took 6 months for them to find the tracks for “Where Did the Night Go”!!!!  Naturally we are hoping that “The Spirit of Christmas” will be acceptable as well as the Living Voices album.  We will of course notify you when we have a release date later next year."

And let me stress the point that this was for one album that was recorded in 1963 (the same year as the Mathis LP) and the other for an album recorded in 1974 (11 years after the Mathis LP). So you see, you really don't know.

Of course, I have a much different perspective on this from most people because I have family in the recording industry. My cousin Frank DeCaro was a member of the Baja Marimba Band back in the late '60s and early '70s, and then later became a record producer/arranger. And my late cousin Nick DeCaro was also a Singer/Musician who later became a record producer/arranger. Between them, they have produced, arranged and performed on albums for Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, Glenn Frey, Dolly Parton, B.J. Thomas, Martin Denny, among many others.

I've been looking for an instrumental version of 'Make It Easy On Yourself'......the one that has the piano running through it.

I'm wondering if it's Percy Faith's version, off the album 'Themes for the in-crowd' ...that I'm thinking of.

There's only two copies left of that on Amazon, and I'd be disappointed if I bought the album and it wasn't the version I remembered.

Chip, do you know if Percy Faith's instrumental 'Make It Easy On Yourself' was the one that had a bit of piano in it ?

No Maxine, there is no piano on Percy Faith's version of "Make It Easy On Yourself."

Here is a link to the CD on the Barnes & Noble's website where you can listen to a sample of the song:

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/Bim-Bam-Boom-Theme-from-the-In-Crowd/Percy-Faith/e/090431648322/?itm=1