275. "It's Cold Outside" by The Choir

There are a couple of ways in which this one might disappoint you, so I'll get those out of the way: this is not a cover of the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (for which I would be grateful, were I you). It's also not a cover of a song by the '80s Christian rock band The Choir. It's a cover of the classic single by the '60s garage band and Raspberries precursor The Choir. If you don't know of that song, at least I've done one bit of good today by pointing it out to you.

One other thing that this recording is is the culmination of a much-delayed project. Skates & Rays did the basic tracks for this one back in December of 2007, around the same time The Chiggers were doing "Frosty the Snowman". "Frosty", this tune, and two others were slated for a Christmas compilation Heckman was putting together in Morgantown, WV. I recall running myself ragged trying to get the recording setup figured out, and to make the sessions happen. I had no confidence in my mixing abilities and no gear to speak of on which to test them, so I was planning on sending the raw tracks to Heckman for him to mix them. The project fell through, and the basic tracks have languished on the Cinemelon server ever since (although I did pull them down early in the 39-40 project in order to convert some of Derek's drum parts into loops, many of which you've been enjoying for most of the past year). With the holidays rapidly approaching, it seemed like it was now or never to actually do something with these, so I have, re-recording every single one of my tracks in the process. And thanks to the magic of having done it a long time ago, this one actually *does* have some backing vocals by Cliff. Otherwise, I would record these tracks dramatically different if I were doing them today!

As a side note, the original version of the lyrics aren't Christmassy at all... it's rain that's falling down, not snow. I could have changed it back, but it seemed a shame to waste all of that enthusiastic three-year-old sleigh bell jingling, so a Christmas tune it remains.

Personnel:

SKATES & RAYS

Rex Broome ~ Lead vocal, backing vocals, guitars, percussion

Derek Hanna ~ Drums, percussion

Clifford Ulrich ~ Bass, backing vocals, percussion

Original tracks recorded by Mark Erwin, December 2007.

"It's Cold Outside" performed by The Choir

"It's Cold Outside" performed by Skates & Rays