As soon as we cry out "Where are all the Christmas singles?" this one comes to our attention. The songs aren't new and the artists passed away long ago. But still... gonna be nice, this one.
A 12" vinyl split single featuring two original members of the Skatalites should be welcome on any Christmas list. The Skatalites were among the earliest to the genre of Ska, the secret ingredient of which is Jazz. Jamaican Producer Coxsone Dodd hunted up some of the best Jazz musicians on the island to get in on this new sound. He finished with 10 and those 10 became the Skatalites.
Don Drummond was the trombone player. After the band split up, he scored several singles in Great Britain. In 1965, Don was convicted of killing her girlfriend but was also found criminally insane. He spent the rest of his live in Kingston's Bellevue Asylum. Don died young--just 37--and, while the cause of death is still a bit of a mystery, the most popular theory is that he suffered a heart attack as the result of an overdose of prescription medications. His side of the single is "Heavenless" and not a seasonal tune.
Ah, but Jackie Mittoo, the Skatalites keyboard man, gives us the brilliant "After Christmas" heard in the video above. Mittoo was barely a teen when he started playing with the Skatalites. When they broke up, Jackie found success in Canada and later toured Africa with Musical Youth. He died of cancer in 1990 at the age of 42. To the best of my knowledge, "After Christmas" was originally released in 1978, but the original 12" is quite rare.
The split vinyl 12" (cuz the tunes run over 6 minutes each) will be available from Amazon and other domestic vendors on November 11. Across the pond, "After Christmas"/"Heavenless" drops a week earlier, November 4.
Well, Josh's newly recorded holiday single is "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (no B-side has been specified) and it's a Barnes & Nobel Exclusive. Release is set for November 1.
Barnes & Noble is going Exclusive Vinyl crazy this year. Another I don't think we've mentioned yet is an LP of merry old soul. "Gee Whiz It's Christmas" doesn't look to include anything new. Rather it was an opportunity to get all your Soul and R&B favorites together on vinyl (vinyl makes everything better). So the collection includes Carla Thomas with the title track, Donny Hathaway's classic, the Orioles, the Drifters, Otis Redding, King Curtis, Brook Benton, etc., etc. Look for that one October 28.