Dec 25, 2021
Welcome to episode 38 of Holly Jolly X'masu! In this episode, I talk about the 1978 album, “Snow Flakes,” by the Paradise Garage. It’s a groovy collection of Yuletide Disco!
One of the best parts of this hobby is that feeling I get when I finally get an album I’ve spent months trying to acquire. The excitement I felt over “Snow Flakes” wasn’t quite on the same level as Jun Fukamachi’s “Now Sound Christmas,” but it was close. I had a couple near misses along the way. One was due to the fact that I stopped checking one site entirely due to the sticker shock I had from shipping on one order. After two weeks of not checking, I looked again and found that I’d missed a copy by less than a day. When it finally turned up again, I was intent on getting it. Thankfully, the person I was bidding against wasn’t as relentless.
I’ve had a couple albums that, while good, didn’t live up to my expectations. I’ve been lucky enough that most of the albums I’ve gotten turned out better than I hoped. “Snow Flakes” is one of those rare albums that turned out exactly as I expected. I had high hopes, so that’s not a bad thing. It’s a solid collection of Disco tunes that avoids the cheesy, fabricated sound of so many similar collections, and it took me back to the days of KC, Alicia Bridges and the Village People streaming out of my Snoopy transistor radio.
Thanks for listening, and I hope the Paradise Garage helped you boogie through your Christmas. Be sure to join me on New Year’s Eve for my special bonus episode where I discuss a handful of Singaporean Christmas records. Until then, remember to keep on truckin’.
As always, any feedback on this episode would be appreciated. If have any suggestions, or if you’d like to recommend a song or album for a future episode, drop me a line and let me know.
Remember, I've added a button to my Ko-fi page. If you'd like to support me one cup of coffee at a time, a donation is only $3. I’ve also opened a Redbubble store. I only have a couple designs up, but keep an eye on it as I’ll be trying to add more. Any proceeds or donations received will be put towards purchasing new Japanese Christmas music to review for future episodes. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And if you get a chance, leave me a review on iTunes. Thanks!
