Episode 99: Love, Live, Life's "Rock-In X'mas"

12/25/23 • 46 min

Welcome to episode 99 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the mind-blowing 1971 album, “Rock-In X’mas,” by Love, Live, Life + X.

Merry Christmas! I hope this lived up to your expectations and helped liven up your day. Other than some really obscure cassettes and small or private label albums, there aren’t too many Japanese Christmas albums that are harder to come by than this one. This was a real holy grail for me, and I’m glad I can finally share it with you.

Join me back here on New Year’s Eve for my special 100th episode. For this year’s New Year’s bonus episode, I’ll be covering the 1971 album, “Last Chance’s Explosive Sound: White Christmas – Instrumental Music For Go Go Dancing,” by the obscure Korean rock band, Last Chance. It features one of the most amazing versions of “Jingle Bells” ever recorded. You really don’t want to miss it.

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. I’ve also opened a Redbubble store. I only have a couple designs up, but keep an eye on it as I’ll be trying to add more. Half of any proceeds or donations received will be donated to support the people of Ukraine, while the rest will be used to purchase 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!

Welcome to episode 99 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the mind-blowing 1971 album, “Rock-In X’mas,” by Love, Live, Life + X.

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.

Previous Episode

Episode 98: Kayo Ishu's "Scat Christmas"

Welcome to episode 98 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about Kayo Ishu’s 1968 album, “Scat Christmas.”

I hope you loved “Scat Christmas” as much as I do. Kayo Ishu is great, and this is one of my favorite Japanese vocal albums. I have a few other albums done in a similar style, including a few with Singers Three, but this is the best of the bunch.

As promised in the episode, here are links to videos of the “11PM Theme.” The second one features a brief shot of Kayo Ishu singing it.

Nippon Television “11PM Theme” 1970s

11PM Theme (Keitaro Miho)

Be sure to join me back here on Christmas day for one of the rarest Japanese Christmas albums out there—Love, Live, Life’s “Rock-In X’mas,” from 1971. It’s truly one of the most mind-blowing Christmas albums ever recorded. Then join me on New Year’s Eve for my 100th episode where, like I do every New Year’s, I’ll be covering a non-Japanese album. This one is a real treat and almost as impressive as Love, Live, Life’s album. I’ll say a little more about it next time.

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.

Next Episode

Episode 100: Last Chance's "White Christmas"

Welcome to episode 100 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the phenomenal 1971 album, “White Christmas,” from the obscure Korean band, Last Chance.

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe this is my 100th episode. It’s been a lot of work, but I’ve really enjoyed it. I want to thank you all for listening in, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it half as much as I have. I also hope Last Chance’s “Jingle Bells” really knocked your socks off. I can only imagine how awesome it would have been seeing them perform it live.

As I mentioned in the episode, here’s the link to Rare Earth’s 21-minute version of “Get Ready.” Do yourself a favor and listen to it all the way through.

Rare Earth – Get Ready – Full 21 1⁄2 minute version

Join me back here in January as I kick off my fifth year of the podcast. I’ll be back to my normal schedule of two new episodes per month unless something special comes along. Up first, I’ll be talking about a handful of Christmas singles from the 1990s. I have a pretty large collection of CD-singles, so this will be the first of several episodes covering them. Then join me on the 25th as I talk about Mari Yoshiko’s “Singing Christmas Party” from 1962. It’s an album that doesn’t come up for sale often and it was a real struggle to finally get a copy. Both episodes should be a lot of fun, so 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.