Well, November 25th...exactly one month before Christmas Day. Therefore, another "Kayo Kyoku Plus" Christmas season has now started which means that from time to time between now and December 25th, there will be some seasonally appropriate tunes coming onto the blog.
To start off, I have to give my thanks to Scott who's an expert on J-Xmas tunes for providing me with this tip about singer Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）contributing her voice to some Western Christmas classics to vinyl. On November 25th 1972 (yup, exactly 48 years ago today), the Takarazuka Troupe alumna released an LP titled "Koyanagi Rumiko no Subete"（小柳ルミ子のすべて...All About Rumiko Koyanagi） on which Side A consisted of a medley of Xmas tunes.
Beginning with her version of "White Christmas" and then going through the Japanese versions of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" and "Silent Night", Koyanagi gives a fine tribute to the works of Berlin, Coots & Gillespie and Gruber along with some spoken-word tenderness under the medley title of "Rumiko to Christmas wo" (Rumiko and Christmas). With her crystal-clear voice, I think that she would have painter Normal Rockwell and the founder of Hallmark Cards nodding in approval. And if I still had the ability to do so, I would be putting up an Xmas tree right now.
Great little record. Funny that I got it right after talking about "Yellow Christmas" from "Winter Lounge."
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think you said that you got your yellow LP in a yellow sleeve. Perhaps that might be your lucky colour!:)
DeleteI got the No Comments' "A Merry Banana Christmas" in the same order, so there was a theme going. :)
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