Apr 25, 2021
Welcome to the fourth episode of season two of Holly Jolly X'masu! This month, to celebrate my one-year anniversary, I’ll be discussing Jimmy Takeuchi and the Exciters’ White X’mas – Drum Drum Drum. It’s a great album, and their “Jingle Bells” has been part of my intro from the start.
From what I can tell, the album was released in 1976. It took some sleuthing, but based on the catalog number, I’m pretty sure that’s accurate. As you can see from my scan, the cover isn’t in the best of shape. Considering how much I paid, I can’t complain. I considered getting another copy just to have a better scan for this episode, but every affordable copy I found had similar damage. I did find a copy one 8-track and nearly got that, but I don’t have a player so it just would have been a curiosity.
Like I stated in the episode, Jimmy Takeuchi worked with and had ties to lots of the artists whose albums I’ve been buying over the past year or so. In addition to the ones I mentioned, he also crossed paths with Naomi Sagara and Yukari Ito, who were the first two hosts of the Sounds in “S” television show. Yukari Ito had a pair of songs on King Records’ 1963 album, Merry, Merry X’mas, which I covered back in June; while Naomi Sagara’s 1975 album, White Christmas, is one of the better vocal Christmas albums of the 70s. As for Shoji Suzuki, below is the cover of his Swingin’ Christmas, with Jimmy in the center on drums.
As I started working on this month’s episode, I had a hard time believing that it’s been a full year since I started this. I genuinely appreciate all my listeners, but particularly those of you have have been around since the first episode. While my collecting is a result of trying to find Akira Ishikawa’s album, the podcast is a product of COVID and a need to stay busy during the quarantine. Looking back over the past year, it’s hard to believe how much has changed in such a short amount of time.
On a positive note, I feel much more comfortable with the podcast now, and I’m looking forward to broadening what I do with it. I’ve expanded my collection to the point that I have plenty of albums to choose from. However, I also intend to try some other new things, including have a guest or two and having some more themed episodes.
Thanks for listening, and for helping me make it through a whole year. Next month, I’ll be discussing a pair of early 70s boy bands, Juke Box and Finger 5. I might even try to work in a surprise or two. Be sure to listen in.
As always, any feedback on this episode would be appreciated. If have any suggestions, or if you’d like to recommend a song or album for a future episode, drop me a line and let me know.
Remember, I've added a button to my Ko-fi page. If you'd like to support me one cup of coffee at a time, a donation is only $3. Any donations received will be put towards purchasing new Japanese Christmas music to review for future episodes. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And if you get a chance, leave me a review on iTunes. Thanks!
