Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody

IT'S CHRISTMAS! A line towards the end of the song that Noddy shouts to us all in this, my all time favourite Christmas song. The track was released in 1973 and went straight to number 1, the bands third single to enter the charts at number 1, a feat that only the Beatles had achieved earlier! The demand for the single was such that Polydor had to have copies pressed up in Germany and America (which is where my copy came from), with half a million copies sold within the first week of the singles release!

It was recorded in America in September 1973 and the track was a mixture of odd bits of songs Noddy Holder and Jim Lea had written over the years. It was about a normal family enjoy the festive period while being optimistic about the future, with everyone having been through a bad time during the year (economy, strikes, a bad year for everyone!) The track stayed at number 1 for 5 weeks and stayed in the top 40 for 9 weeks in total. The track is always one that gets played the most with (according to Wikipedia) 42% of the worlds population has heard this track! Along with Wizzard, the single is always hitting the charts every year and even hitting the top 40 this year on downloads alone and they don't even sing the title anywhere in the song! For more of a read about the track, have a look on Wikipedia for an interesting story of the making of the single!

So here it is, the scan of the single in all it's beaten and worn glory, the American vinyl is slightly different with it being more of a solid feel, less flexible than a UK piece of vinyl!

On that note, I would like to wish all the people who visit my Blog a Merry Christmas Everybody! Please continue to visit the Blog and hope you enjoy the singles that I post up on here!

Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

This feel good Christmas song originally was released in 1973 and reached number 4 for 4 weeks, Slade has taken the coveted number 1 spot with their single and Elton John's Step Into Christmas stalled at a lower number 24 with his Xmas offering.

Wizzard's track was written and produced by Roy Wood and originally had been recorded in the hot summer of 1973, with Roy and the engineer making a Christmassy theme feeling in the studio to create the right mood for the song. School children from Birmingham were brought down to London for the recording of the choir. When the band performed the song on Top Of The Pops, the school kids were to sing on the track, but were replaced with school children from a London stage school instead. There was also a video for the single with Roy's daughter featured in the video.

The single was released in a mock Christmas card picture cover and although the single came on Harvest records (owned by EMI) the promo copies were released on Warner Brothers records as the band had signed to them when it was discovered that EMI were still owed a single, so they released it.

Here is my copy of the single, released in 1981 which managed to get to number 41. Over the years it has managed to get onto the single charts and even in the years of downloads only still manages a placing on the charts. To me it is one of the best Christmas songs ever, a Christmas card turned into song!