Like I said, Labor Day come and gone and now the neat stuff is coming to light.
For a couple of decades, Kay Martin's Christmas album was the not so secret desire of every Christmas music collector. Released in 1962 (on green vinyl, no less), "I Know What He Wants For Christmas...But I Don't Know How To Wrap It" was what was known, at the time, as a "Party Record". "Party Records" were the "Parental Advisory" records of their day--ranging from raunchy stand up comedy to nightclub singers specializing in double or even single entendre. These were the records they didn't sell "over the counter", the records the adults kept under lock and key only to play after the kiddies had gone to bed, lest it burn their little ears and lead them to a life of debauchery. What's funny isn't that Kay's record is so incredibly tame by today's standards--of course it is--but that, even in 1962, the lyrics of half the rock music on the radio was every bit as sexually charged, if not more so. But part of the whole cache of the Kay Martin LP and the other "Party Records" is that they were "forbidden". It reminds me of a very popular coin operated peep show from the fifties that advertised "Live Nudist Colony". When you dropped the coin in and the blackness gave way to the light...it was an ant farm. And, of course, anybody who paid the coin and only got ants was going to be far too embarrassed to blow the whistle on the scam.
I've listened to a lot of the old "Party Records" through the years--Belle Barth and B.S. Pully and Rusty Warren and Redd Foxx, of course. These folks were brilliant performers. They didn't need to "work blue"--it just paid better. Ah, but this album...this...Christmas album. "I Know What He Wants For Christmas" was special. Perhaps because it was a Christmas album (did I mention the green vinyl?). I like the way Rob Martinez described it on the Christmas Yuleblog several years back. "This wasn't an album to the Christmas music community - it was a secret handshake that gained you entrance into the fraternity of die-hard holiday music lovers." Every bit of it, Rob. After the Internet was born, the "secret" was out and, via file sharing and eBay, Kay Martin's record reached new heights of demand and popularity. Copies of the actual LP routinely went for 60, 70, even 100 dollars. Hmmm. Looks like they still do. And let it be known that Kay could actually sing. She had the chops and the looks (she was once a centerfold and pin-up model), but she also had an "act" of song and humor and, in those days, that meant steady income. Sadly, Kay passed away about 2008.
So, by now, I'm sure you've figured out that I'm not talking about this delicious slice of holiday magic for mere nostalgia. I'd put it on the Essentials page if it were that (another poor neglected page). So here's the deal.
Rockbeat is reissuing Kay Martin's "I Know What He Wants For Christmas" on October 28. No, not on CD. On VINYL. On GREEN VINYL. It's basically an exact replica of the original recording--right down to the original front and back covers. So if you've ever wanted to own your very own copy of this legendary recording in its original format, without putting up the rent money to get it, now's your chance.
Personally, I confess to having mixed feelings about such "replication" releases. I only ever bought one collectible in my life as an investment. It was a sure thing. And I was right. It went up, up, up in value. And, just as I'm patting myself on the back for doing the smart thing for once, they reprinted it...and they might as well have stuck a pin in a balloon and popped it good and proper. But, where Christmas music is concerned--where Kay Martin is concerned--I just want everyone to have the opportunity to hear the music and the humor. And Rob of the Yuleblog was right about that as well. It's still an incredibly fun album. It's lost nothing in the past 52 years.
For a couple of decades, Kay Martin's Christmas album was the not so secret desire of every Christmas music collector. Released in 1962 (on green vinyl, no less), "I Know What He Wants For Christmas...But I Don't Know How To Wrap It" was what was known, at the time, as a "Party Record". "Party Records" were the "Parental Advisory" records of their day--ranging from raunchy stand up comedy to nightclub singers specializing in double or even single entendre. These were the records they didn't sell "over the counter", the records the adults kept under lock and key only to play after the kiddies had gone to bed, lest it burn their little ears and lead them to a life of debauchery. What's funny isn't that Kay's record is so incredibly tame by today's standards--of course it is--but that, even in 1962, the lyrics of half the rock music on the radio was every bit as sexually charged, if not more so. But part of the whole cache of the Kay Martin LP and the other "Party Records" is that they were "forbidden". It reminds me of a very popular coin operated peep show from the fifties that advertised "Live Nudist Colony". When you dropped the coin in and the blackness gave way to the light...it was an ant farm. And, of course, anybody who paid the coin and only got ants was going to be far too embarrassed to blow the whistle on the scam.
I've listened to a lot of the old "Party Records" through the years--Belle Barth and B.S. Pully and Rusty Warren and Redd Foxx, of course. These folks were brilliant performers. They didn't need to "work blue"--it just paid better. Ah, but this album...this...Christmas album. "I Know What He Wants For Christmas" was special. Perhaps because it was a Christmas album (did I mention the green vinyl?). I like the way Rob Martinez described it on the Christmas Yuleblog several years back. "This wasn't an album to the Christmas music community - it was a secret handshake that gained you entrance into the fraternity of die-hard holiday music lovers." Every bit of it, Rob. After the Internet was born, the "secret" was out and, via file sharing and eBay, Kay Martin's record reached new heights of demand and popularity. Copies of the actual LP routinely went for 60, 70, even 100 dollars. Hmmm. Looks like they still do. And let it be known that Kay could actually sing. She had the chops and the looks (she was once a centerfold and pin-up model), but she also had an "act" of song and humor and, in those days, that meant steady income. Sadly, Kay passed away about 2008.
So, by now, I'm sure you've figured out that I'm not talking about this delicious slice of holiday magic for mere nostalgia. I'd put it on the Essentials page if it were that (another poor neglected page). So here's the deal.
Rockbeat is reissuing Kay Martin's "I Know What He Wants For Christmas" on October 28. No, not on CD. On VINYL. On GREEN VINYL. It's basically an exact replica of the original recording--right down to the original front and back covers. So if you've ever wanted to own your very own copy of this legendary recording in its original format, without putting up the rent money to get it, now's your chance.
Personally, I confess to having mixed feelings about such "replication" releases. I only ever bought one collectible in my life as an investment. It was a sure thing. And I was right. It went up, up, up in value. And, just as I'm patting myself on the back for doing the smart thing for once, they reprinted it...and they might as well have stuck a pin in a balloon and popped it good and proper. But, where Christmas music is concerned--where Kay Martin is concerned--I just want everyone to have the opportunity to hear the music and the humor. And Rob of the Yuleblog was right about that as well. It's still an incredibly fun album. It's lost nothing in the past 52 years.
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