Carl Caprioglio earned a bajillion bonus points in HERC's baby-blue eyes when Carl's label Oglio Records put out the Richard Blade's Flashback Favorites and Hit That Perfect Beat series but they also issued at least two collections of Christmas songs which have some pretty diverse choices on them.
In 1994, Oglio issued The Coolest Christmas which led off with the full-length version of Bing Crosby & David Bowie's duet "Peace On Earth"/"Little Drummer Boy". [Only the abbreviated song-only edit, without the dialogue, is currently available on Spotify so HERC reluctantly included that in the playlist.] The next track is by U2-lite, The Alarm and their cover of the John Lennon chestnut "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". Third track jumps back to the Sixties and Roy Orbison's "Pretty Paper". The rest of the album jumps around like that, from the Eighties to the Fifties then back to the Eighties and then the Sixties before finishing up with the unlikely pairing of that song by Elmo & Patsy followed by Guy Lombardo's immortal "Auld Lang Syne". It's got a little something for everyone which makes it a perfect party platter. Here's a tip: put this disc on at your New Year's Eve party at 11:24PM and precisely at Midnight "Auld Lang Syne" will play. The booklet teased another Christmas compilation from the label:
Oglio returned the following Christmas with 1995's The Edge Of Christmas, a mostly Eighties collection of Holiday songs featuring an encore performance from Bing and Bowie, albeit this time in the song-only edit. (You win this time, Spotify!) The song was originally performed on Bing's 1977 TV special but later released as a 45 in 1982. (Oligo even released a CD single featuring both audio and video versions of the song in 1995 and then again in 1999.) On the rest of the album, there are some Eighties ringers from the Nineties by Pat Benatar, The Smithereens, and The Cocteau Twins, who also appeared on The Coolest Christmas. There is even a rarity of sorts in "Christmas Is Coming" by The Payolas from their third album, 1983's Hammer On A Drum. The Edge Of Christmas is a more consistent listen than The Coolest Christmas and if you're looking for a similar collection, those wascally wabbits over at Rhino Records would expand upon the Eighties Christmas theme the following year with their own Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Xmas compilation which also copped three tracks from The Edge Of Christmas.
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