well, what can i say. something of a tradition has developed, look you see, which sees me purchasing a Christmas themed CD off of Poundland around this time of year. as would make sense, what with it being the season, or time of year, for such.
usually, as was most decidedly the case last year, it is a set of recordings of The King, Elvis Presley that i purchase. no matter how many times or instances there are of me already owning the recordings bought. this year has, however, seen an entirely different approach. a change is as good as a rest, so they say, or at least so Poundland believes, for the main motivation behind the change of pace for Christmas 2019 was that they did not have any Christmas recordings of The King, Elvis Presley available for patrons (such as i) to buy.
yes, oh yes. my Christmas listening this year, except for the parts where i am listening to my many versions of the yuletide recordings of The King, Elvis Presley, and of course the b-side to the 12" of The Power Of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, shall indeed be all Mr Sinatra. this most elegant of sets was a no-brainer or auto-pilot purchase the moment i saw it, in truth. and why not.
no, you are right in what you can see above. for some reason all the copies what Poundland had of Christmas With Frank Sinatra by Mr Sinatra featured the booklet put in the case upside down. if he were around i have every confidence and absolutely no doubt that Mr Sinatra would have given instructions for them to remedy this, or face having him find out who was responsible and seeing him to go "bust his ass", as the Americans seem to call such things.
perhaps Poundland has simply clocked that their target market for cheaply made, mostly royalty free recordings hastily cobbled together for a profit is not particularly getting younger. no more am i up to the rock and roll excesses of The King, Elvis Presley, and instead yearn for something more mellow and smoothing, such as Mr Sinatra. good.
what i really like about this CD set is the respect. despite the fact that it is called Christmas With Frank Sinatra by Mr Sinatra, the manufacturers, or producers, have felt obliged to indicate that each and every singe song on the disc is a Mr Sinatra recording. this is as it should be.
you would think that Christmas was a particularly pleasing time of the year for Mr Sinatra and his inner circle, especially the more trusted members of the 'Rat Pack'. it probably was for everyone, even Glass Eye, despite the fact that Jewish people doing Christmas records was not really trendy in his era, like how it is now thanks to Neil Diamond and Barbs. on the basis of everything we know, however, and when i say "know" i do kind of mean "speculatively guess". there is a strong likelihood that Dean Martin did not enjoy it anywhere near as much as you might have thought.
someone (and modesty forbids me from saying who) has gone a great deal of research into the subject of how Mr Sinatra, aided by Glass Eye, used to sell any and all busted video or home entertainment equipment to Dean Martin, and at a profit. whilst such made a great deal of sense for Mr Sinatra, it was all to the inadvertent detriment of Deano, or if you like Dino.
on the basis of the above (let's just assume that it is plausible if not factual), there is every chance that Dean Martin, deep down, disapproved of the times when Mr Sinatra dropped by Dean Martin's mansion over Christmas. on such instances, there can be little doubt that Mr Sinatra will have felt compelled to sing a Christmas tune or two, for the benefit of both Dino (Deano) and any guests he happened to have at home. it is not unreasonable to assume, or take as a given, that Mr Sinatra would probably have billed Dean Martin for each performance, probably at a rate of between $5,000 and $10,000 per song.
please, do not mistake this for any sort of sign of greed on behalf of Mr Sinatra, or him (in conjunction with Glass Eye) finding it very amusing to torment Dean Martin in such a way. as a staunch and proud American, Mr Sinatra simply believed in fair and relevant pay for services rendered. in the grand scheme of things, $5,000 is an absolute bargain for having Mr Sinatra come to your home and sing a Christmas tune.
many of you may be wondering, or even directly asking, if this CD happens to be any good. well, yes, of course it is. that is the Mr Sinatra on the record. to suggest that anything he did is anywhere even slightly short of magnificent is going to get you into an awful lot of unnecessary and painful silly bother.
right, well, best i get back to listening to my variations of Christmas recordings. let me express a wish that whatever music you are currently playing at this time of year is seasonally appropriate and enjoyable. also, a reminder that if your choices are for some reason not the Christmas works of either The King, Elvis Presley or Mr Sinatra, well then you are doing it wrong.
in conclusion, i propose a toast of thanks to Poundland for making this selection of recordings available at a most agreeable price. certainly, if nothing else, far more economical in cost than what Dean Martin had to pay to enjoy them.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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