Christmas Harmony from the Ames Brothers

The Ames Brothers achieved their first successes on Decca's new subsidiary, Coral Records, beginning in 1949, and it wasn't long before the label had them recording the latest holiday songs, along with traditional carols.

This 12-inch LP collects most of those efforts, beginning on side 1 with the 1949 coupling of "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland." The brothers are in great form here, as throughout, spirits undimmed by Roy Ross's clunky arrangements.

From 1951 comes "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and "Jing-a-Ling-a Tingle" (a lively polka), with Marty Manning showing a Western swing influence in his charts.

The 1952 holiday season brought "Sing a Song of Santa Claus" and "Winter's Here Again," backed by Ray Bloch. That year, Coral collected this coupling with Christmas singles by Eileen Barton, Johnny Desmond and Don Cornell into a special 10-inch LP, The NEW Christmas Songs, which I shared back in the early days of the blog. I've now remastered that recording and brought it back here.

1952 ad

The second side of the Ames Brothers LP collects carols the siblings set down in 1950 for their first Christmas album, a 10-incher that also included "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Wassail Song," which are missing here. The group handles the sacred items just as well as the secular tunes on side 1.

"The Sounds of Christmas Harmony" collection dates from 1957. By that time the Ames boys had moved on to RCA Victor, and the issuance of thus Coral LP was likely inspired by the new Christmas LP that they had taped for RCA.

Christmas disharmony