Cameo / Parkway was a record label established in 1956 and active until 1967.  It was a conglomerate of Cameo Records and Parkway Records, both based out of Philadelphia.  It was bought by Allen Klein through his company ABKCO in 1968.  Allen Klein managed some of the Cameo artists in the early 1960’s and would later manage The Rolling Stones and briefly, The Beatles.

Cameo / Parkway Records released music in a wide variety of genres with a large array of performers.  That is not lost on this Christmas compilation CD.  Most of these people you have never heard of and there’s one I think you’ll be surprised with.  The CD contains 18 songs, which is very good for Christmas releases, for a total of 47 minutes of albeit “strange” Christmas music.

The cover is a black and white photograph of an early 1960’s family that are holding this year’s Christmas presents.  They still have their coats and hats on so we can only presume they either just got home from shopping, or they are getting ready to leave to visit relatives.  The gifts that they are supposed to be carrying are digitally altered to show record album covers from Cameo / Parkway artists and they are shown in color.  The CD title appears in the top right corner and on the left side of the cover is a partial list of the artists that are on this CD.

The back cover has a numerical track listing with performing artists listed under the song title.  The song list is overlaid on a colorized black and white photo of a late 1950’s housewife sitting near the Christmas tree.  To the left are production credits and at the bottom are the copywrite notes.

The CD cover opens along a single stapled fold that contains eight pages.  The second page begins with a short description of the virtues of this Christmas CD of songs released between 1957 and 1967.  Included in the small booklet, each song has its own paragraph describing the song and the artist that performs it.  All the songs are discussed so there is a lot of good background information.  I say that because most of these artists are totally unknown outside of Cameo / Parkway and most did not burn up the Billboard charts.

The last two pages feature a numerical track listing with writer credits.  Beneath the song title are recording dates, recording studio and location, followed by producer credits, original single catalog numbers, Billboard chart performance and the record album the song originally appeared on.  Whew!  That’s a lot of information!  I wish all Christmas CDs would come with that kind of information.

Just a little over half the songs are going to be familiar.  The CD begins with a traditional arrangement of Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker.  Both Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker were Cameo Records artists and probably the best they had.  While releasing their own albums, Cameo decided to pair the two up for a few singles during their heyday.

Even though there are artists on here that you are probably not familiar with, I think you’ll find a few of them quite pleasant.  The first you’ll come to is the Rudolph Statler Orchestra.  It is a very pleasant orchestra that is perfect for Christmas music.  They have 3 songs on here, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Winter Wonderland and Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, all from 1966.  All are beautiful arrangements of well-known Christmas songs. (Look for a review of Rudolph Statler’s 1966 Christmas album in this blog’s future).

The International Pop Orchestra is another unknown artist that does a terrific job with Joy To The World, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, The First Noel and Deck The Halls.  All their selections are from 1965.

They are both Cameo / Parkway artists but not necessarily big sellers.  They are also the most traditional artists on here and will appeal the most to most listeners.  Unfortunately, their songs are spread out over the whole CD and don’t run consecutively.  So, you have to listen to some strange Christmas songs before you are treated to more pleasant ones.

Doo Wop is represented here by The Cameos.  Discogs.com shows only one single ever released by them, Merry Christmas / New Years Eve from 1957.  Both songs appear here.

Dancehall is a music genre that is primarily instrumental and features banjo, piano and a regular rhythm section.  It is similar to ragtime or Dixieland jazz.  It is represented here by Beethoven Ben performing Auld Lang Syne, recorded in 1963.  Personally, I think the song is barely recognizable.  The arrangement is very fast, and the banjo really throws me off.  During his career, Beethoven Ben released two albums of similar style.

If you like novelty Christmas songs, there is a great one on here.  It is Bobby The Poet performing his version of White Christmas, subtitled 3 O’Clock Weather Report.  Written and released in 1967, this is a song that makes fun of current events of the time.  It begins with an interview of a US Senator who sounds remarkably like Senator Bobby Kennedy who picks to listen to a new folk artist also named Bobby who sounds remarkably like Bob Dylan.  It is all a spoof, and it is quite humorous for a novelty song.  I find myself cracking up every time I hear it.

More Doo Wop is represented with The Jaynells singing I’ll Stay Home (New Year’s Eve) from 1963.  I believe this was written by a Cameo / Parkway house arranger and released as a single in 1963.  It is the only version I have and it doesn’t show up on any other Christmas CDs.  The Jaynells released only 5 singles in their short career.  It’s possible that this is a studio group put together for the purpose of releasing singles to see if they’d sell.

Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker team up once again for a Christmas novelty song titled Jingle Bells Imitations.  In the song, Bobby and Chubby trade verses parodying Elvis, Fats Domino, Bobby Darin and even The Chipmunks.  Truly a novelty song, this must be one of the strangest Christmas songs ever released.  Believe it or not, it charted on Billboard’s Singles chart in 1961, going as high as # 21.

Very popular in 1966 was a fad of Mexican influenced Pop music.  You’re probably familiar with Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, (look for a review of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass’ Christmas album in this blog’s future), and maybe you’ve heard of The Baja Marimba Band, also on Herb Alpert’s A&M Records.  Cameo / Parkway gets in on the act with The Mexicali Marimba Band performing Twelve Days Of Christmas from 1966.

Not quite the same, but similar is Toni Sante singing Donde Esta Santa Claus (Where Is Santa Claus)? from 1965.  Performed in the Girl Group style, it features a teenage girl seeking the whereabouts of Santa Claus in the same manner other Girl Groups seek a new boyfriend.  Not too bizarre, more like early 1960’s Bobby Sox, but definitely not your average Christmas song.

Just when you think Cameo / Parkway has covered everything under the sun, track 16 has a Bluegrass instrumental version of Auld Lang Syne performed by Bob Johnson And The Lonesome Travelers, recorded in 1962.

And possibly saving the best (?) for last, the CD closes out with a raging song by Bob Seger And The Last Heard performing Sock It To Me Santa.  You most likely have heard of Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band, but his first band was called The Last Heard.  They released 4 singles on Cameo before going on to bigger and better things.  Recorded in 1966, this is an original song performed in the Detroit shouting style similar to Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels.  If you like your Christmas songs raucous and rocking, you need to have this one in your collection.  It shows up on other Rock & Roll Christmas compilations, so you can seek it there instead of here and not having to suffer through 17 other songs that you probably wouldn’t like.

So, there you have it.  Cameo / Parkway’s Christmas contribution must be one of the strangest Christmas compilation CDs out there that isn’t meant to be comedy.  Beware, this is unlike anything you’ve ever heard.  Depending on your point of view, that’s not a bad thing.  I’m happy to have it, it has some very pleasant Christmas songs, and it has some Christmas songs that would never appear anywhere else.

Cameo / Parkway was around for 12 years, and Bobby Rydell and Chubby Checker carried the load, but over the course of their existence, they featured a lot of different artists performing in a lot of different genres.  That is all represented here.

Most of your friends are going to get up and leave if you keep this on for very long.  This is not the kind of Christmas music they came over to listen to.  Okay, perhaps a song here or there, and the Bob Seeger And The Last Heard would probably get the most play, but overall, this is more novelty than traditional Christmas carols.

Everyone familiar with this blog knows that I go out of my way to collect rare and unusual Christmas songs.  This fulfills the latter.  And I think Cameo / Parkway does a great job of delivering unique Christmas songs in one package.  And there are 18 here, so that’s better than average.

I give this CD :

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