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Post by kry658 on Dec 5, 2006 10:09:06 GMT -5
Here's a question: Of the Christmas shows that were done with Casey hosting, which one do you feel is the best? My vote would be for the "All-Time Christmas Countdown" from the week ending 12-22-73.
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Post by Matt Cameron on Dec 5, 2006 19:11:44 GMT -5
I have that one and I love it. Lots of pre-rock versions of Christmas tunes, mixed in with Elvis, Four Seasons, and Phil Spector-produced versions. Very cool.
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spt72
Full Member
Posts: 177
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Post by spt72 on Dec 5, 2006 20:48:23 GMT -5
Personally I like the ones from this decade with the standard Christmas songs. Yeah, the 73 show, for example, has the hard to find tunes, but I didnt think enough of them are recognizable enough (especially in the first hour) to make it something you can sit around and listen to as you open presents. The ones from this decade sort of lend themselves to doing just that.
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Post by at40petebattistini on Dec 9, 2006 9:30:56 GMT -5
Even though there's just a handful of Christmas programs hosted by Casey, I find it a difficult question to answer. It's like trying to identify an all-time favorite show -- that's just too hard! Of the two from the 70s, I did not have the opportunity to hear those on the radio as they were first heard in 1971 and 1973. It was years later when I obtained copies to enjoy. I must admit, however, that I was somewhat disappointed after first listening to them. There were many songs that I had never heard before that were considered "all-time" Christmas hits. (These songs apparently weren't part of my family's tradition of holiday favorites!) And there were a few songs that I expected to hear that weren't on the list. One song that was obviously missing was John Lennon's Happy Xmas. I believe it was released in 1971 so that automatically eliminated it from the first "all-time" list. But it quickly became a Christmas favorite and by 1973 was included in December rotation on many Top 40 and easy listening (today's AC) stations. In comparison, the Carpenters' Merry Christmas Darling was a 1970 release and was listed at #32 in 1973's version. At the very least, an "honorable mention" for Lennon in '73 certainly would've been appropriate. What is also interesting, no December AT40 program where a few Christmas songs were featured ever offered the Lennon record. It wasn't until a few years ago when the Christmas countdown concept was resurrected that we got to hear Casey introduce that song. One of the costs of having the Christmas shows in 1971 and 1973 was a shortened year-end countdown list. If there were no Christmas shows then, would we be able to listen to the Top 80 of 1971 and 1973 now? Of course, we'll never know! So going back to the original question (sorry for rambling!), I prefer the 1973 version. In that show we got to hear a novelty favorite -- Snoopy's First Christmas. (I don't know how so many stations were playing that one in 1971 and Watermark couldn't find a copy.) The 1973 program also offered a little more variety through various artist composites and it was one of the first specials offered in stereo. So kry658, thanks for asking...................and Season's Greetings!  |
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Post by kry658 on Dec 12, 2006 8:57:09 GMT -5
Even though there's just a handful of Christmas programs hosted by Casey, I find it a difficult question to answer. It's like trying to identify an all-time favorite show -- that's just too hard! Of the two from the 70s, I did not have the opportunity to hear those on the radio as they were first heard in 1971 and 1973. It was years later when I obtained copies to enjoy. I must admit, however, that I was somewhat disappointed after first listening to them. There were many songs that I had never heard before that were considered "all-time" Christmas hits. (These songs apparently weren't part of my family's tradition of holiday favorites!) And there were a few songs that I expected to hear that weren't on the list. One song that was obviously missing was John Lennon's Happy Xmas. I believe it was released in 1971 so that automatically eliminated it from the first "all-time" list. But it quickly became a Christmas favorite and by 1973 was included in December rotation on many Top 40 and easy listening (today's AC) stations. In comparison, the Carpenters' Merry Christmas Darling was a 1970 release and was listed at #32 in 1973's version. At the very least, an "honorable mention" for Lennon in '73 certainly would've been appropriate. What is also interesting, no December AT40 program where a few Christmas songs were featured ever offered the Lennon record. It wasn't until a few years ago when the Christmas countdown concept was resurrected that we got to hear Casey introduce that song. One of the costs of having the Christmas shows in 1971 and 1973 was a shortened year-end countdown list. If there were no Christmas shows then, would we be able to listen to the Top 80 of 1971 and 1973 now? Of course, we'll never know! So going back to the original question (sorry for rambling!), I prefer the 1973 version. In that show we got to hear a novelty favorite -- Snoopy's First Christmas. (I don't know how so many stations were playing that one in 1971 and Watermark couldn't find a copy.) The 1973 program also offered a little more variety through various artist composites and it was one of the first specials offered in stereo. So kry658, thanks for asking...................and Season's Greetings! Hey Pete, Kurt Youngmann here, I moved to Florida since we last "spoke." I agree about John Lennon's song, it should've been included but my guess is the sales of it from '71-'73 wasn't enough to surpass those that have been selling for decades. The same could be said for Elton John's "Step Into Christmas", which, even though the MCA label has it copyrighted as 1973, actually came out in December, 1972, so there ya have it! All the best to you as well... |
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Post by bandit73 on Dec 20, 2006 1:23:48 GMT -5
Wasn't there some song in the countdown called "I Yust Love Christmas" that Casey refused to play? Why did he refuse to play it? Was it some type of ethnic joke or something?
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Post by kry658 on Dec 20, 2006 8:32:36 GMT -5
"I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas" by Yogi Yorgesson was played briefly during the end of the first hour of the '73 show. Casey mentioned that it "starts off as a song, but then it goes into a comedy monologue which must've been realy funny back in 1946, but it really doesn't make it today, so we'll yust move along."
I think they did that for time reasons as they were showcasing different versions of classic Christmas songs during that show.
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Post by pandy on Dec 20, 2006 23:00:49 GMT -5
Both the 1971 and 1973 Christmas shows were great. I have the 1971 on reel tape and I just acquired the 73 show on CD after my original wore out from playing it so many times. Of course the 73 would be my choice by far. Mainly because of two reasons. One is the show was in stereo for the first year out, and for the exception of the songs by Gene Autrey being rechanneled to simulate stereo. I'd like to know where they got "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson. That has to be the best recording I ever heard. I can never locate a good stereo copy of that song. The second reason is that Watermark tape editers did a fantastic job of splcing different pieces of the same song from four to five artists to create a medley.
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