Yuletide Grooves #2: A 1970's TV Christmas

You remember Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch, right? Younger readers may be more familiar with the role played by Snoop Dogg in the 2004 film parody with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. I couldn't stand his character in the classic blaxsploitation film, Foxy Brown - just a no-good stealin' druggie, and a liability to Foxy.

Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that Antonio Fargas had a freaking Christmas album!  This is the wonder of the Internet - crap like this will be circulated from blog to blog to blog to blog for the next 5 billion years when our sun becomes a red giant and engulfs planet Earth in a cataclysmic inferno.  By then, we will have colonized other planets, and thus have brought our awful albums from the 70's with us.  I guarantee the Huggy Bear Christmas album will be playing in the Venusian biodomes of the distant future..... but I digress.

I mentioned this album last year, but didn't provide a sound clip. Here's "It's Christmas" by Antonio Fargas.

Download or open the file here

Or, you can download the whole album from Christmas-a-go-go

If that's not enough for you, I should mention that The Brady Bunch got in on the Christmas action.

"Frosty the Snowman" was actually the Brady Bunch's first single. Listen to it here or download the whole album from Stax-o-Wax

 Cindy Brady provides lead on this track - the rest of the Brady kids are relegated to the background (yes, that includes Johnny Bravo). If this song is too sweet for you, then you have a heart of coal and I hope the Ghost of Christmas Future kicks your ass.

We all remember the Brady Christmas episode, "The Voice of Christmas" (1969), right? Here's the synopsis:

Just in time for the holidays, Carol develops laryngitis and may not be able to sing at Christmas services, prompting Cindy to ask a department store Santa for a miracle. Meanwhile, the older siblings decide that, given Carol's illness, Christmas should be postponed until she gets well, leading Alice to teach them the true meaning of Christmas.

 
If you can listen to Cindy say “He’s better than a doctor, he’s Santa Claus!” and not have a tear form in the corner of your eye, then I think that, like the Grinch, your heart is "three sizes too small"
 
And last but not least is The Partridge Family who released a Christmas album in 1971. Given the fact that Shirley Jones and David Cassidy were both excellent singers, this album is actually pretty good in its own right and not just for kitsch or nostalgic value.
 

I seem to remember a Partridge Family Christmas episode where they're in a small town that his its bell stolen.  Beyond that, I'm a little fuzzy. Oh well, here's "Winter Wonderland" by The Partridge Family. Enjoy!



Download or open the track here