Holly Jolly X'masu

Welcome to episode 133 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the 1963 album, “$100 Million Christmas In Stereophonic Sounds,” featuring Hiroshi Ishimaru conducting the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. I hope you enjoyed Hiroshi Ishimaru’s “$100 Million Christmas In Stereophonic Sounds.” It’s really a fantastic album. I’m sorry that this episode is a little l

Welcome to episode 132 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this New Year’s Eve bonus episode, I talk about the 1979 album, “Christmas Carol With Go Go,” by Korean guitarist Ra Eum Pa. I hope you enjoyed “Christmas Carol With Go Go.” It’s been a rough week so I had to rush through this episode. Given a couple more weeks, I might have been able to find that blog that talked about

Welcome to episode 131 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this special Christmas Day episode, I talk about the truly amazing 1971 album by the Warner Beatniks, “Rock Christmas Rock.” I hope you enjoyed “Rock Christmas Rock,” and that you were able to make it part of your Christmas celebration. It’s one of the most unbelievable albums in my collection, and I’m lucky to have a c

Welcome to episode 130 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the Kodama Press sonojournal, “X’mas Dance Music,” featuring Yasushi Ashida and his Mellow Notes. I hope you enjoyed listening to and learning what little I was able to uncover about Yasushi Ashida. The music here really is fantastic. Collecting these old sonojournals and flexi-discs has been an adv

Welcome to episode 129 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the Tokyo Ocean Orchestra’s 1971 album, “White Christmas.” I hope you enjoyed the enigmatic Tokyo Ocean Orchestra as much as I do. I really love this, not just because it’s an 8-track, but because it helps show that there is still plenty of undiscovered Christmas music out there. I’ve been lucky

Welcome to episode 128 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this special X’mas Stars On 78 episode, I talk about a selection of my Christmas 78s. I hope you enjoyed this look at older Japanese Christmas records. The work and care that goes into these really make me appreciate them even more. Even though I’ve been collecting them for nearly five years, every time I listen to one, I can’

Welcome to episode 127 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about Takeshi Terauchi’s 1983 album, “Electric Merry Christmas.” I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about Takeshi Terauchi’s life and career, and listening to his Christmas music. The term “legend” tends to get thrown around a lot, but Terry truly lived up to the name. As you all know, December is t

Welcome to episode 126 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about Takeshi Terauchi’s 1979 album, “Let’s Go! Terry X’mas.” I hope you’re enjoying my coverage of Takeshi Terauchi. If you like Christmas Rock, you can’t go wrong with Terry. “Let’s Go! Terry X’mas” has a great, late 70s vibe to it, with its blend of Rock, Country, Funk and Disco. It’s

Welcome to episode 125 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about Takeshi Terauchi’s Christmas music from the 1960’s. I hope you enjoyed this first episode about the God of Electric Guitar. His records were some of my favorites early on, and I still listen to them whenever I get the chance. Although I managed to get back on pace at the end of last month, things got r

Welcome to episode 124 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about Hiroko Williams’ 2016 album, “My Room For Christmas.” I hope you enjoyed “My Room For Christmas” as much as I do. It’s such a fantastic album, and Hiroko Williams is absolutely amazing. She’s had a fascinating career, and learning about it really kept me engaged while working on this episode.