Saturday, December 01, 2012

It's That Time Again!


Now that December is upon us, it's time to again reach into the cornucopia of Christmas song-poems, and pull out the first of at least four holiday-themed 45's that I'll feature here during the weeks leading up to Christmas (and, if I can motivate myself, perhaps another half dozen that I'll put up over at WFMU next weekend).

And what better reason (as if I needed one) could there be to share a record on the ultra-weird and shadowy Noval label. And I think the first song featured from this 45, "A Christmas Stocking", is the only record I've heard on the label not to feature the sort of bland, pitch challenged male singer that seems to pop up on every other Noval release, including the flip side of this 45.

But in this case, the singer is a slightly more effective (emphasis on slightly) female singer, although as always on this label, she's accompanied by a bare bones combo (albeit with the addition of jingle bells ringing on every beat - on the other hand, I'm not sure I hear the vibes, which are usually the nicest part of a Noval record). The song itself is a generic tune, contained in a record which would barely last 80 seconds, if not for the fact that the backing band plays the entire tune through before the singing starts.

Download: Noval Productions - A Christmas Stocking
Play:

For the flip side, "Thinking About Christmas", the voice-of-Noval is back, as are the vibes heard on most of Noval's records, and as is the meandering, near-tunelessness which is also a Hallmark of the label's releases. But hey, it's Christmas!

Download: Noval Productions - Thinking About Christmas
Play:


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh! A new xmas song-poem!!! From "No Artist" at Noval, no less! Thanks Uncle Bob!! I hear jingle bells, I'm immediately in the spirit! Thanks!

JW said...

I think I wrote that last comment ha!

"Thinking Of Christmas" has really hit the spot for me this year, Bob! It's the sound of the end of Xmas, it's dark out, the tree is on, everyone's in a food coma, the kids are starting to conk out......and this song is perfect, just a droning song that sounds like falling snow on a Christmas night.....it's very seasonal-sounding!

And completely devoid of anything resembling a catchy tune! Oddly refreshing, after hearing cloying Xmas pop for months in stores and on radios!

Anyways, this year: Blinky, The Blue Nose Snow Deer, Smile It's Christmas, Santa Is A Superman, Christmas In Ireland and this one really added to my holiday...in fact, it almost WAS my holiday, this Coronavirus Christmas! I was alone the entire time!