Offered With Very Little (Festive) Comment #7 - Damon Metro, Yani Skordalidis, Viva, Estelle

Four dusty baubles from the back of the Christmas tree

Hello there. We're at the end of our Christmas single adventures for 2019, and I'm being quite serious when I say that we probably won't be doing this again in 2020 - purely because tracking down and finding interesting and obscure Xmas releases gets harder with each passing year, and I shudder to think how much time I'll have to devote to this in future.

But still, we've had a good run, haven't we? I mean, haven't we? If you click on the "Christmas" tag at the bottom of the post, you'll find many more festive mp3 we've included on this blog over the years, and it's plenty.

And if you click on "Read More" below, you're going to find four more singles I really couldn't find all that much to say about, no matter how hard I tried. You can listen to them and judge for yourself, though.

Artist: Damon

Single: Can I Wish You A Merry Christmas/ Welcome

Label: Nomad

Year of Release: 1975

You may remember that Dora Hall, the Queen of "Left And To The Back", had a long recording career thanks to her hundreds of releases on vanity labels, all funded by her picnicware magnate husband. Well, Damon was apparently the son of Brentford Nylons boss Mr Kaye Metrebian and was afforded the chance to record this Christmas single thanks to his generous Dad. Copies were apparently mainly sold in the nylon stores outlets.

Post-Christmas, a press release was sent out suggesting that 30,000 copies of this were sold, and while we might be tempted to treat this with scepticism, it's easier to find online and in second hand shops than some of the minor hits of the era, so it's probably not that exaggerated. Given that Brentford Nylons apparently piped it out incessantly during the Christmas shopping period, no doubt many electrified customers succumbed to its charms.

It's not a bad single, to be fair. A sweet and sentimental festive tune penned by Damon himself, which is far better than most of the other winterval vinyl I've managed to find this year.  It was re-released by Polydor the following year under the name "Damon Metro", but by then public interest had been lost, and it sold much more sluggishly. Find a copy of that issue, and I'll take a photo of myself pulling my best impressed face in response. 

Artist: Yani Skordalidis

SIngle: Little Drummer Boy/ Here, Pussy, Pussy!

Label: Pinnacle

Year of Release: 1975

This was mis-sold to me as a Christmas reggae single. Some folk on eBay really do have no shame whatsoever. It's obviously not that, instead being a sparse and chiming take on the Christmas classic more successfully covered by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. The flip "Here, Pussy, Pussy!" is slightly creepy, as you'd expect, but again largely instrumental. It's also much groovier, though, and may be of interest to people who love these kinds of period dancefloor pieces. 

The record stems from the period when Pinnacle weren't just independent record distributors, but also specialised in valve electronics and had their own label with designs on the big-time. This was one of many, many flops issued by them throughout the seventies. 

Artist: Viva

Single: Chris Must Stay/ Light Of The World

Label: Cambra

Year of Release: 1981

This one appears to have been the work of Eve Graham, ex-member of The New Seekers. This makes her a rare example of a bona-fide pop star gatecrashing her way on to "Left and to the Back".

While her post-New Seekers group Viva were a popular live draw and much-loved by the variety set, they failed to break through on to the charts in the same way, issuing two 45s before petering out. This festive effort was their sole release and the first ever outing on the young Cambra label. It has a sprightly fifties pop melody and an interesting pun for a title. Under the right circumstances it might have been a hit. 

Artist: Estelle

Single: Silent Christmas/ Heartaches

Label: Button

Year of Release: 1983

This one seems to be an early piece of work from Estelle Round, who later joined the EMI signed group Sheer Heaven in 1985. 

By comparison, This is a very sparse, low key effort, being a synth-dominated and sombre reading of "Silent Night". Estelle sounds very lonely this Christmas, but as defiant about it as can be. You go, girl.