We jump back around a bit to listen to three different versions of "Jingle Bells" (all recorded for RCA Victor) by the popular instrumental group the Three Suns!
First is this version from 1949 from the "Your Christmas Favorites" album:
That's the original sound of the group, with basically just Al Nevins on guitar, his brother Morty Nevins on accordion and their cousin Artie Dunn on electric organ (Artie also sang on some numbers).
They cut another holiday album in 1955, this one titled "The Sounds of Christmas," with a totally different arrangement of "Jingle Bells":
This strays from the group's original sound as it features "string orchestra" accompaniment. What's intriguing is that the orchestra is led by Marty Gold, our fiend from the Korn Kobblers!
We jump ahead a few more years to 1959 with another album, this with the catchy title of "A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas" and another very different arrangement of the song in question:
That's the sound that modern listeners want to hear from the Three Suns, the space-age pop with early stereo effects.
By this point Al Nevins was doing a lot of production work and most likely wasn't responsible for the extremely 1959-sounding guitar work! Who knows, maybe they were all ringers by then!
It's interesting to see the evolution in style over the ten years and three versions of "Jingle Bells!"
Before we go, let's listen to the Three Suns' theme song "Twilight Time," as originally recorded in 1944 for the independent Hit label:
Everyone knows the later vocal version by the Platters from 1958 - and that's a great record to be sure, but I really like the original!
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