The 3 Stooges “Sing Happy Yuletide Songs with the Music Wreckers” Golden Records (1960)   Larry, Moe and Curly-Joe Wreck the Halls!

(41 votes, average: 3.15 out of 5)

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“A Charlie Brown Christmas”   Charles Schulz   (Charlie Brown Records)   The 1966 Emmy and Peapody Award-winning, Primetime CBS-TV special that became an annual holiday ritual for kids of all ages.   Repelled by the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find the true meaning of Christmas.

The soundtrack by jazz composer Vince Guaraldi has become as well-known as the story itself.   In particular, the instrumental “Linus and Lucy”   has come to be regarded as the signature musical theme of the Peanuts specials. Additionally “Christmas Time is Here” has become a popular Christmas tune. A soundtrack album for the special was released by Fantasy Records and remains a perennial best-seller. (While the soundtrack contains some music that does not appear in the TV special, it also fails to include two musical themes which appear in the special. Both of those missing themes are, however, available on another album by the Vince Guaraldi Trio entitled Charlie Brown’s Holiday Hits.)

(52 votes, average: 3.81 out of 5)

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“Um Natal Tranquilo e Prospero”   1966   This is a strange one indeed.   A guy alone with his stocks and bonds on Christmas.   Yet he’s satisfied with just his pipe and his prosperity.   Why is he dressed as Santa?   He looks like he just pulled off a heist.   Maybe he dressed as Santa for his Wall Street Christmas party and stole everyone’s bonuses.

(36 votes, average: 3.64 out of 5)

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Bob Morrison “Santa Mouse”   c/w “It Is Christmas”   Columbia (1966)   (Note: Here’s a third listing from the same year)

(34 votes, average: 2.76 out of 5)

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“Exile On Main Street”   The Rolling Stones   Cover art design and photography by Robert Frank.   Frank’s, 1958 publication of The Americans, a book of photographs with an introduction by Jack Kerouac, changed modern photography.   In 1972, he directed “Cocksucker Blues,” an infamous, seldom-seen and much bootleged, cinema verite documentary of The Stones American Tour that year.   In conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum’s current Robert Frank exhibit of The Americans, I attended a screening of CB.   After years of having only a crappy VHS dupe, it was amazing to see the band misbehaving – and performing – on a clean print in the museum’s theater.   And how strange to see this notorious, dirty, “underground” movie being celebrated and analyzed at the Met, the bastion of high art.

(60 votes, average: 3.73 out of 5)

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Reuben Wilson   “Blue Mode”   Blue Note Records (1969)   Bambu; Knock on Wood; Bus Ride; Orange Peel; Twenty-Five Miles; Blue Mode. John Manning – Tenor saxophone; Melvin Sparks – Guitar; Reuben Wilson – Organ; Tommy Derrick – Drums

(50 votes, average: 3.64 out of 5)

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“After School Favorites”   Mercury Childcraft Records     Note the Record Care sticker with some of the basics of maintenance and handling such as “DO NOT place on or near heated surfaces”; ” Fingermarks and dust damage the playing surfaces”; and “Use caution when transporting”.

(30 votes, average: 2.93 out of 5)

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Los Zorzales Guaranies     “Fiesta Linda”   Philips

(38 votes, average: 3.29 out of 5)

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Navidades con Chucha La Loca   (Solo Para Adultos)

(72 votes, average: 3.42 out of 5)

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360 Degrees of Billy Paul featuring “Me and Mrs. Jones”   Philadelphia International Records   In late 1972/early 1973 this number one hit (penned by Gamble and Huff) was on heavy rotation on WJMO in Cleveland (and in my head!).   The album also includes the mighty “Am I Black Enough For Ya”.

(37 votes, average: 3.38 out of 5)

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