""Death Might Be Your Santa Claus" was a Record Store Day exclusive on Black Friday this year. Issued by Sony Legacy, the album collects up 16 (18 on the CD version) classic Blues sides from the early days of Columbia and Okeh records. The CD version was limited to 5000 copies, while the vinyl version was limited to just 3000. Since I love Blues and always try to support it and since no track list had been publicly released at the time, I dutifully went down to my local participating record store to pick up a copy. They informed me that they'd been shut out on that particular Record Store Day item and I had to scrounge them up on the secondary market.
The press (post Record Store Day) about the collection promised some music that didn't get included--notably Walter Davis' "Santa Claus Blues" and a second Lightnin' Hopkins track--and lavished praise on the label for making all of these rare Blues sides available again for the first time. Or something like that. And that might be true for the novice music listener. We obsessive Christmas music collectors, however, surely had just about all of these recordings already...from the recent Document "Blues Blues Christmas" CDs, if not independently. That's not a bad thing. It's just a fact. For those who still don't have this music in their collections, there are certainly some classics to be enjoyed. Butterbeans & Susie's "Papa Ain't No Santa Claus" is a mixdisc classic of the highest order and everybody ought to own a copy of Bessie Smith's "At The Christmas Ball" (which Columbia initially balked at releasing, thinking it not reverent enough).
There was, however, one track that caught my attention as I don't believe I have "Don't Think I Am Santa Claus" by Lil McLintock anywhere in my collection. I know the song through more recent (albeit fairly obscure) cover versions, but, unless it's under a different name or lost in the uncatalogued portion of my collection (which is quite a substantial chunk), it didn't ring a bell. So that was sufficient for me to justify the purchase. And, anyway...I gotz to support da Blues, whenever and wherever I can. I will say that there is far too much Rev. Gates on the collection for my taste. Just sayin'. The Rev.'s tracks are recordings of sermons from back in the day. An historical artifact of interest, to be sure, but a little of the Rev. goes a long way. But any Blues Christmas collection is a good thing, and there's no such thing as too much of a good thing.
If you're looking to add this one to your collection, it seems that the CD version is, at this moment, pretty well available and at reasonable prices (cheaper, in fact, than the Record Store Day price), though I'm pretty sure they'll dry up sooner or later. The vinyl version is already a bit tough to snag and that one will be a bit more pricey.
UPDATE: I meant to add that there is still lots of old time Blues music that hasn't been rediscovered and rereleased in the digital/CD era. Some of it recorded and bever even released on vinyl or shellac. I would love for some label to find and issue some of that, like Willie "Boodle It" Right's "Christmas Blues". Document has done a fine job of finding and preserving a good deal of the old Blues, but there is still much more work to be done."-- stubbyschristmas
"This is a compilation of old timey Christmas recordings by African-Americans. The cover says there are "sermons, music, blues, jazz, gospel and devotionals". The sermons are all by Reverend J.M. Gates, who recorded nearly 200 sermons for records. Despite similar titles like "Will the Coffin Be Your Santa Claus", "Death Might Be Your Santa Claus" and "Will Hell Be Your Santa Claus", the sermons are quite different from each other. Everything else on the album is music. Most of the music is blues, and it's pretty great. There is one song by the jazz group The Hot Five (featuring Duke Ellington), but the song itself is another blues song. The one gospel song is by The Heavenly Gospel Singers. I'm not sure how devotionals are different from gospel or sermons. This is a very good compilation of records mostly from the '20's and '30's. The Lightnin' Hopkins song is from much later (1962)."-- Amazon Customer Rview
"Released for Record Store Day Black Friday (2012). Individually numbered to 3000 per Record Store Day Press release, but numbering on CD indicates OVER 5000.
Mastered at Battery Studios, NYC.
Images form the collection of John Tefteller and Blues Images (
www.bluesimages.com).
This compilation ℗ & © 2012 Sony Music Entertainment / Distributed by Sony Music Entertainment.
Track 13: song title is printed as "Santa, Bring My Man Back" on back cover & printed as "Santa Claus Bring My Man Back" in the booklet.
Track info:
1 - Rec. 1947 in Chicago; test pressing.
2 - mx. 4034432-B, rec. 12/16/29 in New Orleans, La.; Okeh record #8753.
3 - mx. 071069-1, rec. 10/1/41 at Kimball Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia; Bluebird record #B-8931.
4 - mx. 40330-2, rec. 10/21/27 in Atlanta, Georgia; Victor record #21030; Bluebird record #B-7644.
5 - mx. W151017, rec. 12/4/30 in Atlanta, Georgia; Columbia record #14575-D.
6 - mx. BS-80928, rec. 10/27/34 in Chicago; Bluebird record #B-5723.
7 - mx. 81672, rec. 10/4/27 in Atlanta, Georgia; Okeh record #8508.
8 - mx. 81584, rec. 10/28/27; Okeh record #8517.
9 - mx. 9866-A, rec. 11/3/26 in Atlanta, Georgia; Okeh record #8413.
10 - mx. BS-027880, rec. 10/23/38 in San Antonio, Texas; Bluebird record #B-8147.
11 - mx. BS-030849, rec. 12/17/38 in Aurora, Illinois; Bluebird record #B-8094.
12 - mx. C 2051, rec. 10/28/37 in Chicago; Vocalion record #3860A.
13 - mx. BE-48100, rec. 10/30/28; Victor record #21777-A.
14 - mx. W141283-1, rec. 11/18/25 in New York City; Columbia record #35842.
15 - mx. W 404294, rec. 8/13/30 in New York City; Okeh record #8950.
16 - mx. 041286-1, rec. 8/23/39 in Atlanta, Georgia; Bluebird record #B-8301, MW M8538.
17 - mx. BS-80958, rec. 11/1/34 in Chicago; Bluebird record #B-5726A
18 - Rec. 1962; from the Fire album, 'Mojo Hand' (FLP-104), rel. 1962."-- discogs -
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Death-Might-Be-Your-Santa-Claus/release/4059180
