It’s another Friday in December, and time for another couple
of Christmas-themed oddities. And, to follow last week’s brace of Beatle
novelties, here are two more for you to endure.
First up is another Beatle-related festive novelty, Ringo-Deer,
from Toronto DJ Garry Farrier. Ferrier’s 45 was issued in Canada just
in time for Christmas 1964 by Capitol, although the company decided not t opt
for a US issue, leaving Ferrier free to license the tracks to New York-based
Academy Records. Ferrier had been involved in a number of novelty records,
usually with a political bent,
Next up is Christmas With the Beatles by Judy and the
Duets. This particular disc made the opposite journey, originally issued in New
York on the tiny Ware Records Inc label and then licensed to Apex in Canada –
the same label that had issued one of Garry Ferrier’s earliest releases, the
1959 novelty The Battle of Queenston Heights/The Tea Taster.
Christmas With the Beatles was written by Henry
Glover who, together with Fred Norman, was also responsible for the
arrangement. Glover and Norman were jazz veterans, Glover having played trumpet
with Lucky Millinder, while Norman was a trombonist in the Claude Hopkins
Orchestra. Both men also worked as songwriters, arrangers and producers during
their long careers. Glover had his own label, Glover Records, which began
issuing 45s in the late 50s and ran until 1964, shortly before this 45 was
issued. Many of the tracks issued by Glover were published by Jon Ware Music, which
would help explain why Glover wrote and arranged this one-off for Ware.
I've not been able to discover who Judy or the Duets were, although I have my suspicions. Glover worked with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson throughout 1964, and in fact recorded and released the hit duo's first three 45s, so I would not be massively surprised if that's Valerie Simpson on lead vocals.
Enjoy!
Download Ringo HERE
Download Christmas HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment