A rare slice of work from the great Sandie Shaw – material she recorded for broadcasts, at the time she was also serving up her classic material for Pye Records – easily some of the coolest, grooviest Brit female pop of the time! The presentation here is a nice change from the famous singles – in that although there's a fair bit of material penned by Chris Andrews, who gave Sandie some hits, there's also some nice covers of tunes of the time too – done in some straighter readings for BBC Top Gear shows, and given a different spin on some Shindig recordings, and a number of tracks from the Sandie Shaw Supplement program! The set's got 19 tracks in all – and titles include "I'd Be Far Better Off Without You", "Girl Don't Come", "Homeward Bound", "Route 66", "Day Tripper/Ticket To Ride", "Coconut Grove", "Love Letters", and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose". LP, Vinyl record album

Classic Christmas cuts from a range of female singers – some jazzy, some a bit more pop – almost all recording these sweet little gems in the postwar years, during a huge boom of Holiday music in the US! Titles include "Snowbound" by Sarah Vaughan, "The Christmas Song" by Peggy Lee, "Winter Wonderland" by The Andrews Sisters, "I'd Like You For Christmas" by Julie London, "Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt, "The Tree" by Peggy Lee, "Jingle Bells" by Dinah Shore, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" by Judy Garland, "The Man With The Bag" by Kay Starr, "Frosty The Snowman" by Ella Fitzgerald, and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by Patti Page. LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet cuts for the Christmas season – a great batch of jazz, vocal, and R&B numbers pulled from the postwar years – excellent songs and singles from a time when the best sort of Holiday music was coming out on record, year after year! The set's a great addition to the ever-growing Bear Family Christmas collections – and like the rest, it really shows a strong understanding of what makes a great Christmas tune so great – not just a hit, or a familiar chart number from the past – but new takes on old tunes, or fresh songs that really show just how much Holiday music was flooding the record business back in the day! The package is great, with notes on each track – and titles include "Ole Santa" by Dinah Washington, "Mambo Santa Mambo" by The Enchanters, "I've Had A Very Merry Christmas" by Jerry Lewis, "Happy New Year Baby" by Johnny Otis, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" by Ramsey Lewis, "Christmas Ball" by Georgie Auld with Bill Darnel, "Jingle Bells" by Knuckles O'Toole, "Jing A Ling Jing A Ling" by The Andrews Sisters, "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson, "Come On Santa Let's Have A Ball" by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards, and "Mister Santa" by Dorothy Collins. LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet cuts for the Christmas season – a great batch of jazz, vocal, and R&B numbers pulled from the postwar years – excellent songs and singles from a time when the best sort of Holiday music was coming out on record, year after year! The set's a great addition to the ever-growing Bear Family Christmas collections – and like the rest, it really shows a strong understanding of what makes a great Christmas tune so great – not just a hit, or a familiar chart number from the past – but new takes on old tunes, or fresh songs that really show just how much Holiday music was flooding the record business back in the day! The package is great, with notes on each track – and titles include "Ole Santa" by Dinah Washington, "Mambo Santa Mambo" by The Enchanters, "I've Had A Very Merry Christmas" by Jerry Lewis, "Happy New Year Baby" by Johnny Otis, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" by Ramsey Lewis, "Christmas Ball" by Georgie Auld with Bill Darnel, "Jingle Bells" by Knuckles O'Toole, "Jing A Ling Jing A Ling" by The Andrews Sisters, "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson, "Come On Santa Let's Have A Ball" by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards, and "Mister Santa" by Dorothy Collins. CD

A beautiful early 70s psych folk set from the angelic vocal and songwriting duo of Pat Gefell and Jo D Andrews – their Refuge album for Ovation in 1973 – highlighted by their gorgeous vocals, but committed with lovely, lightly soaring arrangements! Save for a solid cover of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin penned "Sixty Years On", Gefell and Andrews wrote the songs here, and it's remarkably strong stuff! The duo vocals and harmonies are especially sweet. The Chicago-based production wisely leaves ample space in the arrangements for them to sort of loosely, emotively embellish with their voices – with string arrangements by co-producer George Andrews and an impressive roster of session players including bassist Phil Upchurch, drummer Don Simmons and percussionist Bobby Christian. Includes "Jenny", "Voice In The Wind", "To A Flame", "Tomorrow Is A Long Time", "Refuge", "Song For Craig", "A Light Is Shining", "Feel The Spirit" and more. LP, Vinyl record album