More Ames Brothers for Christmas

Last time out, I presented a collection of the Ames Brothers' 1949-52 Christmas records, while noting that it was missing two items: the "Twelve Days of Christmas" and the "Wassail Song."

My great friend Ernie, who has more Christmas records than Santa, has now come to our rescue by providing those absent items. They are contained on his transfer of the brothers' first holiday album for Coral, Sing a Song of Christmas.

Just to be clear: the other six songs on this album are also included on The Sounds of Christmas Harmony, presented below. Still, this allows us to complete the Ames Brothers holiday collection on Coral records.

If you enjoy Christmas music as much as I do, you should make it a point to head on over to Ernie's blog, where he is in the midst of posting rare holiday music each day this month. Not to be missed!

Christmas Harmony from the Ames Brothers

The Ames Brothers achieved their first successes on Decca's new subsidiary, Coral Records, beginning in 1949, and it wasn't long before the label had them recording the latest holiday songs, along with traditional carols.

This 12-inch LP collects most of those efforts, beginning on side 1 with the 1949 coupling of "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland." The brothers are in great form here, as throughout, spirits undimmed by Roy Ross's clunky arrangements.

From 1951 comes "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and "Jing-a-Ling-a Tingle" (a lively polka), with Marty Manning showing a Western swing influence in his charts.

The 1952 holiday season brought "Sing a Song of Santa Claus" and "Winter's Here Again," backed by Ray Bloch. That year, Coral collected this coupling with Christmas singles by Eileen Barton, Johnny Desmond and Don Cornell into a special 10-inch LP, The NEW Christmas Songs, which I shared back in the early days of the blog. I've now remastered that recording and brought it back here.

1952 ad

The second side of the Ames Brothers LP collects carols the siblings set down in 1950 for their first Christmas album, a 10-incher that also included "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Wassail Song," which are missing here. The group handles the sacred items just as well as the secular tunes on side 1.

"The Sounds of Christmas Harmony" collection dates from 1957. By that time the Ames boys had moved on to RCA Victor, and the issuance of thus Coral LP was likely inspired by the new Christmas LP that they had taped for RCA.

Christmas disharmony

The New Christmas Songs for 1952

In 1952, Coral Records wrapped up Christmas themed singles from some of its leading pop acts, put a red bow around them, and sent them to record stores in a 10-inch album. These were the "NEW Christmas Songs," as the cover helpfully points out, and were Coral's attempt to generate some holiday cheer (and sales).

Not sure how much success they had, and the only song on here that has had much shelf life has been the adaptation of "The Night Before Christmas" by Johnny Marks, who produced several Christmas hits, starting with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

But it's a good record nonetheless. I enjoy pop tunes with a holiday theme that haven't been heard over and over, and this is a good collection of them. The artists include some of Coral's finest, including the Ames Brothers, Don Cornell, Eileen Barton and Johnny Desmond.

One reason why record companies like Christmas albums is that they can bring them back on a yearly basis to generate new sales. Coral did that with this record in 1953, just with a slight modification of the cover. You can see the results over at Ernie (Not Bert), one of the web's leading purveyors of Christmas music.

Note (December 2023): this record has now been remastered in ambient stereo and has complete scans.

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