When Bruce disbanded the E Street Band in 1990, Max started exploring other options and ultimately formed The Max Weinberg 7, which became the official band on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and for a time, The Tonight Show. As you probably know, Weinberg joined Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band in 1975, and he’s served as its principal drummer for most of the past 35 years. One of the songs was a short instrumental version of “Deck the Halls” that is credited to the Max Weinberg 7 but was apparently performed by Max’s horns section.
Fortunately, I stumbled across a series of bootleg recordings around that same time that features highlights from several of the annual benefit shows that Bruce Springsteen has been doing in Asbury Park in recent years along with a number of his friends and fellow local entertainers. The resulting clip told a powerful story, but I decided that not only was the piece likely to turn some people off as “too political,” but it was a little too depressing. By mid-October I’d fooled around with three or four different opening scenarios, including a montage of radio news reports that highlighted our continuing economic woes and the growing gulf between our nation’s richest citizens and the rest of us. Perhaps the toughest part of putting each year’s holiday CD together is figuring out the beginning, and this year I really had a tough time of it.
They're going back out on the road next year, and everyone used to think my interest in hearing Bruce do The Clash was pretty silly, too, until a couple of years ago.ĭeck the Halls, by The Max Weinberg 7 (2001) I'm not sure why I thought of linking this track with the preceding one, but I merged the two together by adding crowd noises and applause to the back of "Welcome Christmas" so it appeared to be part of a single concert following "Deck the Halls." I guess I must have had some subconscious desire to hear the E Street Band do both tracks back-to-back on some upcoming tour. Information about the plot is available in many places on the internet (you might start looking HERE). In 2000, the Grinch became a big-budget, live-action film starring Jim Carey.
The track I used on this year's CD was taken from this version of the story, which is still broadcast on TV each year. In 1966, Chuck Jones adapted the book as an animated television special featuring the voices of Boris Karloff and Thurl Ravenscroft. The Grinch series was launched in 1957 as a book by the inimitable Dr. If you're not familiar with this classic holiday story, you must be new to Planet Earth. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) Not surprisingly, this tragedy affected record sales and nearly everything else in the United States during the 1963 holiday season. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. If that date sounds familiar, it’s probably not because of either of these records. Unfortunately, Thomas's next several records failed to sell as well, which no doubt affected her decision to release this familiar-sounding holiday tune in 1963. While it’s appeared on a host of compilation albums over the years, “Gee Whiz, It’s Christmas” was first released on the same day as Phil Spector’s classic album A Christmas Gift For You – November 22, 1963. This was followed by “Gee Whiz (Look in His Eyes),” which became a smash hit. Her first record was released in 1960 - a duet she recorded with her father, R&B star Rufus Thomas. Back then, she was known as the Queen of Memphis Soul. Memphis native Carla Thomas is perhaps best known for the music she recorded in the 1960s for the Atlantic and Stax Records labels. Gee Whiz, It's Christmas, by Carla Thomas (1963) I'll be going through the tracks in order beginning with Track One, but the tracks within each day's individual posting will be listed in reverse to yield a final list in true reverse order. I probably won't keep it up past Christmas, so if you want a copy, don't delay!ĭuring the next couple of weeks, I'm planning to share some additional information and personal thoughts about many of the tracks on this year's CD. mp3 file or a zipped folder containing all 43 individual tracks.
I intend to post the complete CD on my regular holiday music website for a limited time beginning Monday, December 12, and anyone who's interested can download it from there either as a single. I'm very pleased with the final product, and I hope you'll enjoy it, too. It's Christmas (Again!), consists of 43 tracks and plays for almost exactly 80 minutes.
I finished my 2011 holiday CD shortly before Thanksgiving, and I'm now in the process of sending copies to my holiday mailing list.