Gospel Starlets

Artist: Gospel Starlets

LP: The Gospel Soul of Christmas

Song: "Children Go Where I Send Thee"

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Here's a terrific various-artists Gospel Christmas record I came across while digging through my holiday LPs, looking for something to listen to while wrapping presents over the weekend. The cover doesn't look very promising, but things improve right away with the opening track by the Gospel Starlets. There's not much info about the Starlets on the internet, but I did find this discography for Springboard International Records, of which Mistletoe Records was a subsidiary. (The discography says the label was based in Los Angeles, but the back of my record says their offices were in Rahway, New Jersey.) At the Steve Hoffman forums website I learned that LPs on the Springboard and Mistletoe labels had been staples in record departments at drug and grocery stores all across America in the 1970s. You can get your own copy of "The Gospel Soul of Christmas" for about 10€ here or listen to it on Rhapsody here.

Chanels

Artist: Chanels

LP: 7" single

Song: "Runaway"

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I didn't know what to think when I saw this 1980 single by the Chanels that my friend Aki picked up for me in Japan last month. The Chanels probably meant to pay tribute to popular American doo-wop groups of the 1950s with their vintage sound and style, but it's alarming to see someone performing in blackface more than fifty years after the demise of Vaudeville. I have to admit I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to the history of relations between the peoples of Africa and Japan, so I wasn't sure exactly how offended I should be. I tried doing a little research on the web, but all I found was this page at "Yahoo! Answers" where some guy named Brad wonders why there are so many black people in Japan, and then a black guy named Marvin who lived in Osaka for six months chimes in with some theories. Neither Marvin nor others who've left comments on the page suggest that some of the black people Brad's been seeing might actually be Japanese men in heavy makeup.

Doug Oldham

Artist: Doug Oldham

LP: Holiday Song

Song: "Come On Ring Those Bells"

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Song: "Winter Wonderland"

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I was sad to learn recently that gospel singer Doug Oldham passed away in July of 2010, just a few months after I posted some songs from one of his earlier Christmas records. Not only does Doug seem like a benevolent, congenial fellow whose resonant voice and vibrant spirit have moved people on a personal level, but he's also the only performer I've ever heard sing "he'll say are you married, we'll say no man" with an inflection that makes it seem like an exchange that actually took place, and not just the handiest way to deliver a line that rhymes with "in the meadow we can build a snowman." The basics on Doug Oldham are on Wikipedia here, there's more about his lengthy career and accomplishments in his Christian Examiner obituary here, find a moving tribute from Doug's daughter Rebekah here, and get your own copy of Oldham's "Holiday Song" CD and some of his other music on his website here.

[ Doug Oldham: November 30, 1930 — July 21, 2010 ]

Miyuki Nakajima

Artist: Miyuki Nakajima

LP: 7" single

Song: "悪女 (Akujo) (Bad Lady)"

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While hunting down some records for me in Nagasaki last month, my friend Aki was kind enough to include a single by his favorite Japanese singer, Miyuki Nakajima, also known as 中島 みゆき. Born in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo in February of 1952, singer/songwriter Miyuki Nakajima rose to fame in the late 1970s and enjoyed immense popularity in the early 1980s, writing material not just for herself, but for lots of other singers too. The lovely "Akujo," which Aki translates to English as "Bad Lady," was a #1 hit for Miyuki in 1981. You can read more about Aki's favorite singer on Wikipedia here, find her complete discography here, and go here to visit the official Miyuki Nakajima website.

[ Miyuki Nakajima ]

Liberace

Artist: Liberace

LP: Christmas

Song: "The Spirit of Christmas"

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Song: "Sleigh Ride"

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I guess it's about time I posted a Liberace record on my blog. Known as "Mr. Showmanship" due to his flair for wildly eccentric performances in concert and on TV, Liberace appears as "Frosty the Showman" on the cover of this delightful Christmas record from 1976. The album's liner notes, included below, describe the warmth and hospitality Liberace offers to each and every guest who's lucky enough to spend Christmas Eve at his home—though it's hard to imagine anyone being put at ease by a person wearing a gold lamé Santa Claus suit. Liberace's holiday record features lots of his trademark tickling of the ivories, as exemplified here on "Sleigh Ride." But on several tracks, like "The Spirit of Christmas," which features Liberace's brother George on violin, the virtuoso pianist demonstrates his vocal abilities as well—though he does sound a tad disingenuous singing "it's better to give than to receive" (wink, wink). Throughout his long career, Liberace denied rumors that he was gay—even suing a British newspaper that referred to him as "fruit-flavored"—but his good friend Betty White recently confirmed that the talented entertainer was indeed a homosexual. And what a fabulous homosexual he was! I've always admired Liberace's flamboyant indulgence in lavish extravagance; it's too bad he lived at a time when he could have lost everything simply by admitting he loved men. You can read all about the amazing life and career of Wladziu Valentino Liberace on Wikipedia here, and find photos and info about the recently-closed Liberace Museum in Las Vegas here.

  [ Liberace: May 16, 1919 — February 4, 1987 ]

Pink Lady

Artist: Pink Lady

LP: 7" single

Song: "Southpaw"

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As everyone knows, you can't really be considered a serious collector of vinyl in Japan if you don't pick up at least one Pink Lady single or LP every time you set foot in a Japanese record store. This baseball-themed "Southpaw" single is one of the things my friend Aki found for me at Sonny Boy Records in Nagasaki last month. Childhood friends Mitsuyo "Mei" Nemoto and Keiko "Kei" Masuda made their first TV appearance together as Pink Lady in the spring of 1976. Before long their ship came in, followed by an entire fleet of ships, and the duo landed an impressive string of nine #1 singles between 1976 and 1979. "Southpaw," from 1978, was one of Mei and Kei's biggest hits, remaining at the top of the charts for nine consecutive weeks. Pink Lady's decline in popularity in the ensuing years—which involves a no-show audience from the school for the blind, a disastrous American English-language TV variety show, and choosing to perform at the wrong New Years Eve celebration in 1978—is all documented on Wikipedia here. And speaking of New Years celebrations, Aki and I have nearly mastered Pink Lady's "Southpaw" dance routine (see clip below) in preparation for our performance at his upcoming NYE work party at Boeing!

Pink Lady on YouTube:

[ "Southpaw" ]

Julie Andrews

Artist: Julie Andrews

LP: Christmas With Julie Andrews

Song: "Jingle Bells"

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And now what you've all...well, what you've both been waiting for. Christmas music! My friend Sarah and I went to see Julie Andrews in VICTOR/VICTORIA last night, since neither of us had seen the film before and it was being screened at the newly reopened Uptown Theater as a tribute to Blake Edwards, who died earlier this year. Though not particularly convincing as a male female impersonator (she actually looks more like a man in drag on the cover of this album), Andrews is full of gusto in the title roles and the film is lots of fun. It's surprisingly forthright with its gay themes for Hollywood cinema of the early '80s, and I was shocked to discover at the end of the credits that the film had been rated PG! I could have gone to see it at the cinema in Yakima when I was thirteen instead of SUPERMAN III! I'm pretty sure it would have changed my life. Anyway, Julie Andrews applies her gusto to some mundane holiday material on this 1969 Christmas album, creating a little bit of heavenly holiday magic. She even throws in one of her shrill Victoria Grant vibrato stunts at the end of "Jingle Bells," which just shattered all of our martini glasses at work.

The Checkers

Artist: The Checkers

LP: 7" single

Song: "A Tearful Request"

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A few weeks before my trip to Washington, DC, my good friend Aki traveled to Nagasaki, Japan to visit his family. While he was there, he took the bus into town, the dear, to hunt for vinyl treasures to bring back to me in Seattle. He came across a used record shop called Sonny Boy that, judging from the photos he sent me, had just been waiting for someone like him to come along. This 1984 single by The Checkers is one of the things he found. The debate over "checkers" vs. what we call "plaid" here in the USA aside, these boys take their band's trademark pattern pretty seriously, as you can see from the design of their record sleeve below. (I guess you have to admit, "The Plaids" doesn't really have the same ring to it.) More photos from the single's fold-out picture sleeve coming soon. A big thanks to Aki, not just for the records, but for Japanese-to-English song-title translations too.

[ the outside of Sonny Boy Records — Nagasaki, Japan ]

[ the Sonny Boy Records sign — Nagasaki, Japan ]

[ the inside of Sonny Boy Records — Nagasaki, Japan ]