The February of Frank: More of The Lost Capitol Tapes

A few posts back, I shared the first volume of "From The Vaults" which contained "lost" tracks from the recording sessions of the classic Capitol albums. As I stated there, "From The Vaults" was a privately circulated release from the mid 90s and only 1000 copies were originally issued. Along with that first volume was a second volume which featured mostly out-takes from the same recording sessions from 1955 to 1960 with additional tracks from a BBC broadcasted concert in 1953 and songs from the short lived "Frank Sinatra Show" that aired from 1957 to 1958. Trying to find a copy of this album can be quite pricey. But well worth it when you consider that the sound quality on the disc is absoutely masterful. This collection, much like the "Inside Sinatra" box set, shows Sinatra in complete control of his recording sessions. Here is "From The Vaults, Volume 2". Enjoy!

Frank Sinatra-From The Vaults Volume 2

The 25 Posts of Christmas: Little Gives Us The Dickens

In 1978, my family had yet to have cable. However, my grandparents had it and with it came the holiest of these new cable channels, HBO. Before MTV, HBO was the best reason to watch TV at my Grandparent's house. Around Christmas of that year, HBO aired a special featuring the impressionist, Rich Little. At the time, Rich Little was huge. Though looked at today as tacky, back then he was a bona-fide star! The special that aired on HBO was Little's version of the Dickens classic, "A Christmas Carol". In true fashion, the cast was an ensemble made up of Little doing celebrity impressions. Scrooge was W.C. Fields, Cracthit was Paul Lynde and the Ghosts ranged from Richard Nixon to Humphrey Bogart to Peter Falk to Peter Sellers. Add Jean Stapleton, Groucho Marx, Johnny Carson, Jack Benny, John Wayne, Laurel and Hardy, James Mason, Jimmy Stewart and Truman Capote, and you have, in my humble opinion, a classic! For the next few years, HBO reran the special and it became a staple in my family's holiday viewing. Then it disappeared. I have always remembered it fondly and when I walked into that record store in Santa Monica (see earlier post) and saw the soundtrack from the album, it didn't take me long to spend my money on it. The album is pretty much the audio track from the special. Much like the story records of Star Wars and the like, this features all of the dialogue as well as the music from that HBO classic. It is a Canadian pressing and the cover states that it is the soundtrack from the 1979 CBC special. Obviously, HBO lent the special to Canadian Television a year later. Here is that album. BTW, the original special is finally on DVD. I purchased mine from Amazon and am patiently awaiting it's arrival to relive all of the glory! Here is the soundtrack album to "Rich Little's A Christmas Carol". Enjoy!

Rich Little's A Christmas Carol OST