Holly Jolly X'masu

Welcome to episode 83 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about Yoshiyas Ueda and Swing West's "Electric Guitar Christmas." I keep saying I'm a sucker for these flexi-discs. Whether it's a sonojournal, a promotional flexi, a musical greeting card, or a cardboard postcard, I have a hard time passing on them when they show up for sale. They're poorly documented overall, and a lot...

Welcome to episode 82 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the 1959 album, "Blue Christmas – Trumpet Mood Collection," by Keiichiro Ebihara And The Lobsters. I've had a lot of "most wanted" albums since I started collecting. This one spent nearly a year in my top three. Thankfully, it proved to be as good as it was elusive. Cleaning it up proved to be a struggle and you ca...

Welcome to episode 81 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about Hiro Tsunoda's 1991 album, "Ballad X'mas." This was a fun episode to work on. I love Tsunoda's voice, and the non-Christmas songs on his album gave me something a little different to talk about. It also let me discover Zapp's version of "Ooo Baby Baby." As a native Daytonian, I was surprised to learn a few months a...

Welcome to episode 80 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about Lisa Ono's 2004 album, "Boas Festas 2 – Feliz Natal." This is coming out a lot sooner than normal after my last episode. Despite all the setbacks I've been facing over the past few months, I wanted to make sure I got both episodes out this month. I'm hoping things calm down and I'm able to get back to a more regula...

Welcome to episode 79 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about Lisa Ono's album, "Boas Festas," from 2000. Over the past three years, I've pointed out multiple times that I don't speak Japanese and have, therefore, apologized for some of my pronunciations. This time, I have to point out that I don't speak Portuguese, so if my friend Ernesto is listening, I'm sorry for mangling...

Welcome to episode 78 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the Korean funk classic, "Woodpecker Merry Christmas," from 1985. As I said in the episode, this certainly didn't align with my expectations. I have a couple others that did, though, so when I mention "Korean Christmas" in the future, you'll be in for a pleasant surprise. My main disappointment here was all the ski...

Welcome to episode 77 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about Mieko Hirota's Christmas music. One of the most fascinating things about collecting Japanese records has been discovering these phenomenal singers and musicians I'd had no knowledge of before. Mieko Hirota was an amazingly talented performer, and while she'd had some exposure in the US, I'd never heard her name unt...

W elcome to episode 76 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about Hideko Kojima's 1970 album, "Christmas On Hammond – Jingle Bells." This month has been a bit tumultuous, to say the least. I've had a lot of issues that have kept me from working on my podcast, and just about anything else. I wanted to make sure I got these two episodes out, so I'll be cutting my blog posts short....

Welcome to episode 75 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about Chris Hart's 2022 album, "Christmas Hearts 2." I hope you enjoyed this second look at Chris Hart's music. Like I said last year, I really admire the way he followed his dream and turned it into a successful career in Japan. Be sure to join me in March as I cover a pair of fantastic female artists for Women's Histor...

W elcome to episode 74 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the Christmas flexi-discs released by the confectionary company, Juchheim. When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to spin on my record player was "It's A Super Spectacular Day" from the 1980 Mad Magazine Super Special. A few years later, it was superseded by "I'm A Boinger" from the Bloom County collection, "...

Welcome to episode 73 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the Riichi Maki's 1971 album, "New Sounds Of Christmas." I have several albums that were extremely difficult to acquire, but none of them really compare to this one. Thankfully, the effort was worth it, as this is a great album. I would have liked to have learned a little more about Riichi Maki, although I'm glad I...

Welcome to episode 72 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the Royal Hawaiian Boys' album, "Hawaiian Time Vol. 3: Christmas In Hawaii." I'm in a rush to get this out so I won't have much to say here. My 2022 was awful. I gave a friend this analogy: Years ago, we saw Lebron James play in the high school championships, right before he joined the NBA. It was literally like wa...

Welcome to episode 71 of Holly Jolly X'masu! For my special New Year's Eve episode, I'll be talking about the 1960 album, "The Blue Diamonds' Christmas." Growing up, when we weren't listening to Christmas music, my mom almost always had the Oldies station playing. I was always partial to the Everly Brothers and their wonderful harmonizing. When I first heard the Blue Diamonds, the Everlys were the...

Welcome to episode 70 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the virtually unknown 1988 City Pop compilation, "Christmas Lovers" from BBM Records. This is one of those albums that gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it. I'd spent hours listening to City Pop Christmas songs and playlists on YouTube, and I was familiar with all the really popular songs and most of the mo...

Welcome to episode 69 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the phenomenal 1987 compilation, "Mint Sound's X'mas Album." When it comes to Japanese Christmas compilations from the 1980s, Yen Records' "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" seems to get most of the attention. It's a great, groundbreaking album, but I don't think it holds a candle to Mint Sound's. I actually prefer "W...

Welcome to episode 68 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the King Orchestra's 1978 album, "Jingle Bell – Christmas Karaoke Collection." Despite some disappointment, I was glad to finally add this album to my collection. When I first started buying these records, I built a fairly substantial wishlist, and any time I finally get one of the albums that's been on it from the...

Welcome to episode 67 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the Hibari Children's Chorus's 1965 album, "Good Child's Christmas Party." How can you not love that album cover? Although not what I planned, this episode will go down in infamy as my (hopefully only) COVID episode. I tested positive last week and it really kicked my butt. You might be able to hear it in my voice...

Welcome to episode 66 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be wrapping up my "Big In Japan" month with a selection of records from a variety of artists who found their biggest or initial success in Japan. This is easily one of the episodes I've been most excited to record. While the nostalgia invoked by Bob McGrath, and the relative notoriety of Jennifer Connelly's record were big deals, t...

Welcome to episode 65 of Holly Jolly X'masu! For my second "Big In Japan" episode, I'll be talking about the Ventures and their 1965 album, "The Ventures' Christmas Album." I was on the fence about covering this album since it was originally a US release, but considering how big the Ventures have been in Japan for nearly six full decades, I wanted to make sure I included them in my "Big In Japan"...

Welcome to episode 64 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In the first of my "Big In Japan" episodes, I'll be discussing American figure skater Janet Lynn's 1973 album, "A Joyful Christmas With Janet." I've always been intrigued by the "Big In Japan" phenomenon. It wasn't something I gave a lot of thought to when I first started collecting Japanese Christmas music, though. However, not long after I started che...

Welcome to episode 63 of Holly Jolly X'masu! For Christmas Podcast Day, I've remastered one of my earliest episodes, where I discussed Jackey Yoshikawa's 1966 album, "Christmas With Blue Comets." November 1st is Christmas Podcast Day. It kicks off the peak season for Christmas podcasters, and a lot of us try to do something special to mark the day. This year, I'm revisiting my fifth episode. I've...

Welcome to episode 62 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the 2010 compilation, "We Wish You A Happy." A lot of my collecting requires leaps of faith. So many of the albums I buy aren't available online, so I can't sample them in advance. This is especially true of the older ones, but even a lot of the music from the 1990s and later still can't be streamed. I learned earl...

Welcome to episode 61 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be discussing Kaoru Akimoto's 1968 album, "Tenor Sax Mood White Christmas." I've collected a variety of things throughout my life. No matter what I've been collecting at the time, I've always had a handful of items that seemed just beyond my reach. In each case, I've managed to get at least a couple of those things I never thought...

Welcome to episode 60 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be talking about the 1990 compilation, "White Album '90." This is a fun album overall and I enjoyed listening to it again while preparing for this episode. Some of the tracks are real standouts, and if I were to do a "best of" playlist, I'd include at least three of the songs from this album. I'm still not sure why it took as long...

Welcome to episode 59 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I'll be discussing Mika Kanai's 1997 album, "Clam Chowder." I'm sometimes surprised by how hard it is to find various albums. Some seem to never show up for sale, while others are readily available from sellers on Amazon and other sites, but for exorbitant, unrealistic prices. "Clam Chowder" was in the former category. No matter how muc...