Christmas Cavalcade 2020, Part Two

 

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