Real Gone Releases Include Johnny Mathis and Glen Campbell

Article Contributed by Real Gone Music | Published on Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Johnny Mathis: The Complete Christmas Collection 1958-2010. (3-CD Set)

And you thought Real Gone’s first installment of 2015 Christmas releases was ambitious! Well, joining the five releases already announced for this year (from The 4 Seasons, John Gary, George Melachrino & His Orchestra, The Soulful Strings, and The Three Suns) are seven titles from perennial kings and queens of Christmas music. First, Real Gone proudly presents a 3-CD set from the vocalist who has probably sold more Christmas music than any other artist in pop music history, Johnny Mathis. The Complete Christmas Collection 1958-2010 is exactly what it says—every holiday recording Mathis recorded during the first 52 years of his career comprising five best-selling albums and a host of non-LP sides, with notes featuring a fresh interview with the man himself. Then, Real Gone turns a timely ear to the complete Christmas recordings by the great Glen Campbell, including his complete That Christmas Feeling album plus seven non-LP sides. A truly moving and uplifting listening experience.

Real Gone stays in a country vein with two more iconic figures. The late Lynn Anderson’s Christmas album finally returns to CD in an expanded edition featuring four rare bonus tracks she recorded for The Christmas Seals charity. And TV star, Bond villain and sausage seller extraordinaire Jimmy Dean sees his Christmas Card album expanded with three bonus tracks to encompass his complete Christmas recordings for the Columbia label. Speaking of complete Christmas recordings for the Columbia label, Real Gone also is presenting a 27-track, 79-minute collection from Jim Nabors featuring the two albums and non-LP sides that “Gomer Pyle” of TV fame recorded for Columbia. Real Gone then does the same thing for Bobby Vinton, compiling all the Christmas material that he recorded for the Epic label including an unreleased track. And Real Gone caps its early November schedule with the two Christmas records that The Living Voices recorded for RCA’s hallowed Living Stereo imprint.

Having released no less than six charting Christmas albums during his career including one of the Top Ten selling Christmas albums of all time (1958’s Merry Christmas, which hit the Christmas charts 16 times!), Johnny Mathis has probably sold more Christmas records than any other artist in pop music history. And, with a half dozen releases to date on our Real Gone Music label, he is also by far our biggest selling pop vocalist. Add to that the fact that Christmas music is such a big part of what we do here at Real Gone and you can see why the chance to do a truly comprehensive collection of his Christmas music has been a glimmer in our eye ever since we started the label back in 2011. Now, after years of preparation, we are finally ready to release such a collection…and it’s turned out even better than we’d hoped! Not only does The Complete Christmas Collection 1958-2010 contain all five Christmas albums Johnny recorded for Columbia and Mercury prior to his 2013 Christmas release—including Merry Christmas, 1963’s Sounds of Christmas, 1969’s Give Me Your Love for Christmas, 1986’s Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis, and 2002’s The Christmas Album, all of which charted—but it also includes many more non-LP tracks than we knew even existed before we started delving into the project. In fact, a full 16 of the 71 tracks—including duets with Bette Midler and Gladys Knight & the Pips—on this 3-CD set are rarities that did not appear on the albums, and two of them are newly discovered tracks! What’s more, the array of talent on these recordings is staggering (Johnny only worked with the best): among the producers, arrangers and conductors behind the scenes here are Mitch Miller, Percy Faith, Don Costa, Glenn Osser, Ernie Freeman, Gene Page, Jack Gold, Ray Ellis, and Henry Mancini. Little wonder, then, that Johnny’s Christmas music has been beloved for generations, and here it appears complete with fresh remastering by Mike Piacentini at Sony’s Battery Studios under the watchful eye of Sony producer Didier Deutsch, and packaged inside an eight-panel wallet sporting photos and notes by Joe Marchese drawn from an exclusive interview with Johnny Mathis himself. If there’s one indispensable Christmas release for this season and the seasons beyond, this is it.

The statistics concerning Glen Campbell’s career are staggering. Over 50-plus years in the music business, he has sold over 45 million records (and that’s not counting the tens of millions more he played on as part of the Wrecking Crew), accumulated 12 Gold albums, 4 Platinum albums and one Double Platinum album, and placed over 80 different songs on the Country, Pop and Adult Contemporary charts including such iconic recordings as “Gentle on My Mind,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” and “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Yet, among his massive body of work, it is his Christmas recordings that might just be his most beloved. Glen’s easygoing, conversational way with a song—and winning personality as seen by millions on CBS TV’s The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour—made him the perfect vehicle for Yuletide material both old and new, and thus his 1968 album That Christmas Feeling went to #1 on the Christmas charts and hit the charts three other times after that! But Glen (and his label, Capitol) weren’t done with seasonal fare; three more Christmas albums were issued under Glen’s name, each of which sprinkled new tracks in with songs taken from That Christmas Feeling. Now, for the first time ever, ALL of Glen’s Christmas recordings for the Capitol label have been gathered into one place on this Real Gone release, which includes the original 11 tracks from That Christmas Feeling plus seven more Christmas rarities for a total of 18 irresistible holiday favorites. Remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, and featuring liner notes by Joe Marchese festooned with rare photos, Glen Campbell: Complete Capitol Christmas Recordings will remind you of just how great an interpreter of songs Glen was, and of just how vibrant a performer he was, too. The man’s spirit and legacy remain undimmed.

With the phenomenal success of her 1970 single “Rose Garden,” Lynn Anderson was launched into the ranks of country and pop superstardom. The Grammy Award-winning singer’s string of No. 1 hits made her a chart fixture in the 1970s, and, indeed, one of the most successful artists of all time. Among her most beloved recordings is 1971’s The Christmas Album, which arrived on Columbia Records while Lynn was still riding high from the worldwide success of “Rose Garden.” Christmas Album, produced in Nashville by her then-husband Glenn Sutton, featured Music City’s A-team of musicians on a festive collection of both familiar and original yuletide tunes. In addition to her spirited revivals of “Frosty the Snowman,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” Lynn introduced “Ding-a-Ling the Christmas Bell” and “Mr. Mistletoe,” and in a classic three-hanky country weeper, insisted, “Don’t Wish Me Merry Christmas.” The Christmas Album placed high on the Billboard Christmas chart in the year of its release, becoming a Yuletide perennial for her legions of fans. However, the album has only seen a limited CD release that came and went, and fetches three-figure sums. Now, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records have come to the rescue with the first-ever expanded CD reissue of this Christmas classic. This new edition of The Christmas Album includes the original album as well as four super-rare bonus tracks, all of which make their debut on CD: the mono mixes of “Ding-a-Ling the Christmas Bell,” “Frosty the Snowman, and “Don’t Wish Me Merry Christmas” (complete with spoken word sections) that appeared on the special Christmas Seals promotional singles Lynn recorded in 1971 and 1972 as the charity’s ambassador. It’s all been beautifully remastered by Vic Anesini at Sony’s Battery Studios, and Joe Marchese has written the liner notes placing the album in context of Lynn’s groundbreaking career. Lynn Anderson was just 67 years old when she passed away earlier this year, but her original Christmas Album stands as a happy and spirited tribute to her enduring legacy.

The title of the late Jimmy Dean’s autobiography is 30 Years of Sausage, 50 Years of Ham, but a more appropriate summation of his life is etched on his tombstone epitaph: “Here Lies One Hell of a Man.” For Jimmy Dean really did do it all—Top Ten pop and country singer, pure pork sausage purveyor, James Bond villain, Tonight Show host, even patron saint to puppeteer Jim Henson (Henson got his break on Jimmy’s 1963-1966 TV show). But without question one of the highlights in a life full of ‘em was Jimmy’s 1965 holiday release, Jimmy Dean’s Christmas Card. Not only did the album hit #13 on the Christmas charts but it hit the charts for the next two years, and spawned a hit single, “Yes, Patricia, There Is a Santa Claus,” that remains one of the great Christmas novelty tunes of all time. We’re serving up a fresh remastering (by Maria Triana at Battery Studios) of this Christmas classic, and adding three non-LP sides (including the single version of “Yes, Patricia”) to comprise Jimmy Dean’s Christmas Card—The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings. Photos and liner notes by Joe Marchese complete one heartwarming Christmas package.

From his first appearances on The Andy Griffith Show, America fell in love with Jim Nabors’ portrayal of the sweetly bumbling gas station attendant Gomer Pyle. But Gomer was just one part of Nabors’ persona. Nabors also possessed a rich baritone that he used to great, and comic, effect on both Andy Griffith and then his own immensely popular spin-off, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., during its five-season run between 1964 and 1969. Columbia Records signed the actor-singer in 1965, and after one album sung in Gomer’s southern drawl, the label let Nabors’ real voice soar. His resonant tones were, of course, perfect for the sound of Christmas music. Now, for the very first time, Jim Nabors’ complete Christmas recordings for Columbia Records have been collected on one very special new release by Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records. The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings brings together 1967’s The Jim Nabors Christmas Album with 1972’s Merry Christmas, both of which have been long unavailable on compact disc. Produced by Jack Gold and arranged by Alan Copeland, Christmas Album featured Nabors on both secular and sacred carols, including a rousing “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and an inventive “Jingle Bells.” The Gold-selling album was so popular that it was the best-selling holiday album of 1969, and remained on the Billboard Christmas chart for an astounding seven years! Merry Christmas teamed Nabors with producer Snuff Garrett (Cher, Vicki Lawrence) for a more contemporary set once again blending holiday spirituals and pop favorites including the much-requested “A Girl Named Noel.” The collections’s 27 tracks also include the CD premiere of the rare single “I Was a King at Jesus’ Birth,” and adds three more seasonal selections culled from Nabors’ beloved gospel recordings including two distinctive renditions of “Ave Maria” and his heartfelt recording of “The Lord’s Prayer.” The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese has written the liner notes for this nostalgic, 79 minute-plus new release, which has been sparklingly remastered by Maria Triana at Sony’s Battery Studios. Jim Nabors’ timeless, joyful Christmas classics have never sounded so vivid…The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings just might have you and your whole family exclaiming, “Shazam!”

When The Beatles hit the top of the charts for the first time in 1964 with “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” do you know what single they displaced? Why, Bobby Vinton’s “There! I’ve Said It Again!” But, while the British Invasion spelled the end of chart appearances for just about every pop crooner of Bobby’s ilk, “The Polish Prince” just kept rolling along, racking up a total of 49 hits all the way through 1981, including such Top Ten smashes as “Mr. Lonely,” “Please Love Me Forever,” and “My Melody of Love.” Bobby was also a force on the Christmas charts, first with his 1963 EP Songs of Christmas and then with his 1964 full-length LP A Very Merry Christmas, both of which we have included in our new Real Gone release A Very Merry Christmas—The Complete Epic Christmas Collection, which also features the 1970 single “Christmas Eve in My Home Town,” two rare songs taken from various artists holiday packages released by Epic, and an unreleased track! Bobby offers an appealing mix of both traditional holiday favorites and contemporary ‘60s pop songs of the season, including Bobby’s Top Ten Christmas chart single of “Dearest Santa” paired with Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle.” Joe Marchese pens the liner notes, and we’ve included some nice shots of the ever photogenic Mr. Vinton. Remastered by Maria Triana at Sony’s Battery Studios—a very merry Real Gone release indeed!

RCA’s wildly successful Living Stereo series spawned a number of ensembles with “Living” in their titles; the two that folks remember these days are The Living Strings and The Living Voices. Both groups were the brainchild of RCA’s trailblazing female producer Ethel Gabriel, who assembled some of the finest studio musicians, arrangers and vocalists for lush, beautifully recorded albums aimed at a middle America eager to give their newly acquired stereo systems a spin. In particular, the two holiday albums, Sing Christmas Music/The Little Drummer Boy, featured on this twofer that she released with The Living Voices remain treasured among Christmas music aficionados for their ornate orchestration, innovative arrangements, and, most of all, sweeping stereo sound. The first, 1962’s Sing Christmas Music, had actually come out on the Living Stereo imprint in 1959 as Christmas Surprises from The Ralph Hunter Choir; choir director Hunter garnered two Grammy nominations that year for his album The Wild Wild West. Among the surprises was the introduction of orchestra of toys including the Hunter family’s electric train and transformer to “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” and an intriguing rendition of “The Indian Christmas Carol,” which is credited as being the first North American Christmas song dating back to 1643! The second album, 1965’s The Little Drummer Boy, featured the legendary Anita Kerr Singers and production by Anita Kerr herself; the program varies from recent Broadway fare (“Be a Santa” from Subways Are for Sleeping; “Pine Cones and Holly Berries” from Here’s Love) to warhorses like “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” to modern classics like “Blue Christmas” and the title tune. The Little Drummer Boy makes its first domestic CD appearance on this Real Gone reissue, while Sing Christmas Music has never been on CD anywhere; Joe Marchese pens the liner notes. A pair of easy listening Christmas classics!