W.O.C.K on Vinyl - Brady Bunch (Christmas LP 1970)

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Before things get too serious
here at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song at the end of each month, that could be categorized as being either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.

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Christmas with The Brady Bunch (also known as 'Merry Christmas from The Brady Bunch') is an album released by Paramount Records in 1970. It was re-issued by MCA Records in 1995. As its title suggests, the album consists of Christmas standards performed by the children who played the kids on the sitcom 'The Brady Bunch' during the 70's. The Brady Bunch: Barry "Greg" Williams, Maureen "Marsha" McCormick, Chris "Peter" Knight, Eve "Jan" Plumb, Susan "Cindy" Olsen, Mike "Bobby" Lookinland (vocals). For those expecting the bell-bottomed fun of their hit single "It's a Sunshine Day," think again. On their 1970 debut, the Brady Bunch serve up traditional arrangements of such holiday fare as "The First Noel," "Silent Night" and "Frosty the Snowman."

The TV Series
The Brady Bunch was one of the last of the old-style fun-around-the-house situation comedies, full of well-scrubbed children, trivial adventures, and relentlessly middle-class parents. The premise here was a kind of conglomerate family, formed by a widow with three daughters who married a widower with three sons; a nutty housekeeper, Alice, thrown in to act as referee; plus, of course, the family cat and a shaggy dog, Tiger. All of these smiling faces lived in a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the Los Angeles suburbs, from which Dad pursued his nice, clean profession as a designer and architect.
Typical stories revolved around the children going steady, family camping trips, competition for the family telephone (at one point Dad installed a pay phone), and of course war in the bathroom. The children ranged in age from 7 to 14 at the series' start, and the oldest son, Greg, played by Barry Williams, soon became something of a teenage idol; he was receiving 6,500 fan letters per week during 1971. Barry and several of the others tried to parlay their TV success into recording careers in the early 1970s, but without notable success. Re-runs of The Brady Bunch were aired as part of ABC's weekday daytime lineup from July 1973 to August 1975, and an animated spinoff titled The Brady Kids ran Saturday mornings on ABC from September 1972 to August 1974.
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Did You Know? Trivia
464 girls and boys were interviewed by producer Sherwood Schwartz to find the Brady kids.
In addition to the albums recorded by the Brady kids, there was an album featuring only Maureen McCormick and Christopher Knight. It was a commercial failure.

'Reed, Robert' was written out of the final episode because he refused to appear in it. It was no secret that Reed hated his role of Mike Brady and it was not the only time he was written out of an episode.
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The theme song during the first season, unlike subsequent seasons, was not sung by the Brady kids, but by a group known as The Peppermint Trolley Company.

We saw the Brady's bathroom many times, but not once did we see a toilet. The popular joke was that the Bradys are so good, clean, and wholesome that didn't even go to the bathroom. The truth is, they had intended putting a toilet in the bathroom, but the network censors wouldn't allow them.

Sherwood Schwartz originally wanted Gene Hackman for the role of Mike Brady, but Hackman wasn't considered well-known enough at the time.
Tiger, the Bradys' dog disappeared after the second season of the show. In reality, Tiger ran away and supposedly got hit by a car. The reason the dog house remained was because one of the studio lights fell and burned a hole in their beloved Astro-turf, so they moved the dog house to cover up the burn hole.
Even though this show stayed on for five seasons, it never was a ratings hit. The highest it ever got was number 34 in the rating charts, but stayed on the air due to its popularity amongst children.
The Brady kids attended Westdale High School, Filmore Junior High and Clinton Elementary School.
The Brady's next door neighbors, the Ditmeyers, were talked about, but only Mr. Ditmeyer was seen on one occasion.

The girls originally had a cat named Fluffy, but it was only seen in the pilot. The cat was gone by the time the second episode aired.

Originally, both Mike and Carol were going to be divorcees. However, when the concept was announced, A.B.C. was very much against it. It was then decided to make Mike a widower and leave Carol the divorcee. Carol's last name from her previous marriage was Martin.

Even though Greg dated a lot, you never actually saw him kiss any of the girls he went out with. In fact, the only Brady kid to have a kissing scene was little Bobby.

(Did You Know Facts from The Internet Movie Database at Sitcom Online) 

Like previous posts of past, I have chosen to post the December 'WOCK on Vinyl' a little earlier than normal, to coincide with the Festive Season. The rip supplied was found somewhere in cyberspace (probably close to the North Pole) and includes mp3's (192kps) and limited artwork. I have chosen to include the Brady Bunch TV Theme as a bonus track to make this a truly Korny post with a Christmas twist.
.I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a blessed and Merry Christmas, and in the very words of Jan Brady, I intend to continue Marcia! Marcia! Mar-sharing my vinyl with you all, in the new year..
 
Track Listing
01 The First Noel
02 Away in a Manger
03 The Little Drummer Boy
04 O Come All Ye Faithful
05 O Holy Night
06 Silent Night
07 Jingle Bells
08 Frosty the Snowman
09 Silver Bells
10 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
11 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
12 We Wish You a Merry Christmas
13 The Brady Bunch 1970 TV theme (Bonus)
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Brady Bunch Christmas Link (32Mb) New Link 18/10/2024
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