🎄 Holidays! What are your holiday favorites and recent holiday music purchases?

Rudy

¡Que siga la fiesta!
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I'm listening to this release from a few years ago, Michael Franks, Watching The Snow.

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It's one of those refreshing albums that has all original tunes written by Franks, as opposed to rehashing the same narrow repertoire that many albums cover (and many modern day artists absolutely slaughter :wink: ). Delightful!

As always my standby favorites include a few that I try to play at least partially during the few days I listen throughout the year. This list tends to change over time, and I've added a few recent ones that feature almost all original tunes that are a joy to listen to.

TJB: Christmas Album
Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas
Brian Setzer Orchestra: any of his three releases
Ramsey Lewis: Sounds of Christmas
The Mavericks: Hey! Merry Christmas!
JD McPherson: Socks
David Benoit: Christmastime

Runners-up:
Carpenters: Christmas Portrait (original vinyl only)
Jimmy Smith: Christmas Cookin'
Lou Rawls: Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!
David Benoit: Remembering Christmas
John Pizzarelli: Let's Share Christmas
Diana Krall: Christmas Songs
Henry Mancini: A Merry Mancini Christmas
Manhattan Transfer: The Christmas Album
Skafish: Tidings of Comfort and Joy
Peggy Lee: Christmas
Roomful of Blues: Roomful of Christmas
 
My Christmas favorites besides Herbs Christmas albums are David Benoit's 1983 Christmastime and Vince guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas and the earlier Mannheim steamroller Christmas albums as well as that ever classic " You're a mean one Mr Grinch .And my Carpenter's 2 CD Christmas set too just to name a few
 
TJB: Christmas Album
Carpenters: Christmas Portrait and An Old Fashioned Christmas
A&M Artists: i Something Festive !
Amy Grant: Home For Christmas
Vince Guaraldi: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Mannheim Steamroller: Christmas, Fresh Aire Christmas, Christmas In The Aire
Percy Faith & His Orchestra: Music Of Christmas
Herb Alpert: A Christmas Wish
Nick Bicât: Score for A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott version)

Plus many compilations with various Christmas tracks from everyone from Bing Crosby and Perry Como to the Eurythmics and Pomplamoose.
 
Dug some old vinyl out at the alternate location and found my original album from the old Rudolph tv special with Burl Ives.
 
so it’s only a few days before Christmas, and what Christmas albums do you pull out yearly and go into “heavy rotation” in your house? Sure you might have a lot of Christmas records, but which ones get spun more than once?

For me it would have to be
Carpenters Christmas Collection
Beach Boys Ultimate Christmas
Evie Christmas Memories
Burl Ives Have A Holly Jolly Christmas
Time-Life Treasury Of Christmas
Maranatha Music Long Play Christmas Collection
Sandi Patti The Gift Goes On
Brian Wilson All I want For Christmas
 
I have to start with the best selling single in history according to Wikipedia, that is, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." Other favorites are: The Carpenters "Merry Christmas Darling," Perry Como "Christmas Dream," from the film the Odessa File, Nat King Cole "The Christmas Song," Sinatra "The Christmas Waltz," Sinatra and Bing Crosby "We Wish You the Merriest," Steve and Eydie "Hurry Home for Christmas," Robert Goulet "Panis Angelicus," Harry Simeone Chorale "Little Drummer Boy," Leroy Anderson "Sleigh Ride." For me the old traditional ones are the best.
 
For me the old traditional ones are the best.
I have found the same myself--the older recordings have more of the "spirit" in them than many of the newer recordings. (Much of what I hear out in public--on radio or at retail--is pathetic.) I'm spinning The Jack Jones Christmas Album at the moment, digging the 60s vibe of it, and how it represents an era gone by.

The newer recordings I like are ones where the tunes are mostly originals. And they still have to be in a retro style anyway. Of my new finds this year, all three reach back into the 50s, 60s and 70s for inspiration. No drum machines, no Autotune, no synthesizers in sight--just singers and instruments, with a sleigh bell or two to kick things into high gear.
 
Rudy--did the Jack Jones Xmas album have his great recording of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Jack Jones several years ago hosted a PBS TV pledge drive special--the MY MUSIC series--essentially covering the great pop vocalists of the 60s. A great show, and he was and is a great singer who just turned 80.
 
It’s sort of like watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” There’s some things that you just never get tired of.
 
In the 1960s Columbia Records had a series of yearly holiday albums entitled "The Great Songs of Christmas". They cost only $1.00 and were available at Goodyear Tire stores. I have the albums between 1963-1968. And what an incredible variety of music both secular and religious. At this time Columbia had the biggest recording stars under contract and they all were featured. In the Pop realm you heard Streisand, Tony Bennett, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet, Jerry Vale, Percy Faith, The New Christy Minstrels etc. and for the Classical realm it was Leonard Bernstein, George Szell and Eugene Ormandy. Even today for the Christmas season these are my go to albums to play.
 
That reminds me of the compilation we had in the house:

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I found the CD equivalent and gave it a spin. It wasn't as good as I remember it, unfortunately, since much of it has not dated well. (And the Marlene Dietrich tune is very strange.) Yet the favorite tunes on these records are still favorites of mine today, like the Peggy Lee "I Like A Sleighride (Jingle Bells)" and Lou Rawls "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." For these, I found the original albums they came from, which I enjoy.
 
What was the connection between tire stores and music compilations? Seems like they all had one. Just like gas stations gave away steak knives and drinking glasses. Everyone gave away stuff in the 60s. (Still using some of these things. :whistle:)
 
Here is a terrific version of the "Christmas Waltz" from Volume 8 the Great Songs of Christmas from 1968, with a duet by Robert Goulet who was Lancelot in Broadway's Camelot and Carol Lawrence, Broadway's original Maria in West Side Story.

 
Here is another Xmas track--It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" from the same album--Vol. 8 The Great Songs of Christmas-- by Andy Williams who also was under contract with Columbia Records. The legendary Columbia Records CEO Goddard Lieberson had a knack at signing top talent to the label in the 1950s and 60s. And it was an amazing variety, from the likes of Bob Dylan to Bernstein to Mitch Miller and his sing along albums. And it all sold millions of records.

 
Great stuff, @lj ! A lot of these tunes are ones that a lot of us have heard in various places over the past few decades.
 
DeeInKY--You're right, it seemed like in the past tire company stores tended to sell holiday music compilations. Here is another one I found in my collection--"Popular Christmas Classics", copyright 1977, purchased at a Firestone or Goodyear store. This time Capitol Records recording artists like Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and Glen Campbell were featured.
 
Bumping this thread so we can keep the common stuff here rather than in the "rarities/long-lost" thread.
 
TJB -Christmas Album
Anne- Murray Christmas
Mannheim Steamroller -Christmas
Vince Guaraldi Trio- A Charlie Brown Christmas
Various Artists- The Merriest Christmas Album-A 3 cd set on Dynamic. The artists range from the time of Bessie Smith to Petula Clark. 75 selections total in the set.
 
Here are my favorite single releases. Position 1 has not changed since 1970. The others move in and out of rotation and are in no particular order, but for today:

1. Merry Christmas, Darling (Single Version) – Carpenters
2. The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle – Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass
3. Carol of the Bells – John Williams
4. Sleigh Ride – Arthur Fiedler & Boston Pops
5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – by anyone pretty much

Honorable consideration … are these Holiday songs?
1. 2000 Miles – Pretenders or Coldplay, either one
2. River – Sarah McLaughlin
3. Same Old Lang Syne – Dan Folgelberg

Holiday Pop spins I adore 🤷‍♀️
1. Mistletoe – Justin Bieber
2. Cozy Little Christmas – Katy Perry
 
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TJB Christmas Album

Larry Carlton - Christmas at my house (one of the best sounding CDs I have ever heard)

Harvey Reid - Heart of the Minstrel on Christmas Day

South Dakota Acoustic Christmas (several volumes)
 
Since I missed the first Analogue Productions reissue of A Charlie Brown Christmas (which was two 45 RPM LPs), I wasn't going to miss this 33⅓ RPM single LP (APJ-8431) that was cut by Kevin Gray and released in 2014--I bought it in 2015. I'm glad I did, as I purchased it for $29.99 and today, the lowest used copy available is $140 and the lowest sealed is $300. 😮 I wish it was still available as I'd urge anyone who likes this record and has a turntable should have a copy of it. No digital version has ever sounded like this either, even the SACD.

Anyhow, it sounds better than any other version I've heard. Fantasy, on the other hand, reissues this every year in new color variations. I counted close to 30, starting as far back as 2009. Also, several picture disc releases, foil (gold or silver) jackets, you name it. As far as releases go, I've had a couple of Fantasy pressings from recent years (of other albums) and the pressing quality isn't the greatest. As attractive as colored vinyl is, I'm not about to start collecting copies I'll never play.

But for fun, here is a sampling of what was available in colored versions.


Clockwise from top left: red/white split (Newbury Comics), red and green swirl (FYE), green/white/red starburst (Newbury Comics), pink ribbon candy (Newbury Comics).

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Clockwise from top left: "Blue blanket", clear with red/green splatter (Urban Outfitters), red with glitter (Walmart), clear with glitter.

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Clockwise from top left: clear with red/green splatter (with foil jacket, Urban Outfitters), peppermint (Record Store Day), green glitter (Cracker Barrel), red and green splatter (Vinyl Me Please).

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Clockwise from top left: green with gold splatter (Target, with gold foil cover), red with gold splatter (Walmart, with gold foil cover), ice blue mint (Craft Recordings, white snowstorm (Craft Recordings).

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I'm definitely a bit of a holiday-music buff and have heard countless hundreds of Christmas albums in my lifetime, so I thought I'd try and craft a list of the top twenty in the bunch that I personally consider to be the biggest standouts and find myself revisiting most often. Here's what I ultimately narrowed it down to:

- Something Festive! (how could I not include that one on here? All these decades later, it still sounds as fresh as it did back then!)
- Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' Christmas Album
- Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops' A Christmas Festival: there's just something magical about this one to me (and not simply just because he's a fellow Fiedler :D)
- Carpenters' A Christmas Portrait and An Old Fashioned Christmas
-
Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas: his very first Christmas album (this just has a real warmth to it - both in its production and in his singing style - that seems to be lacking in his later holiday records)
- Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song (basically just his previous album The Magic of Christmas with "The Christmas Song" replacing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen")
- Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Rita Ford's A Music Box Christmas and A Christmas Tree: Technically, Ford isn't even a musician - just a music box collector - but these albums are so, so enchanting and make for delightful background music during the holidays
- The Manhattan Transfer's The Christmas Album: Incredibly underrated. I never hear anything of theirs on holiday radio, but this record is just delightful, especially "Snowfall"
- Michael Franks' Watching the Snow (another deeply underrated one, one that eschews standards altogether for generally winter-themed originals but no less charming for it)
- David Benoit's Remembering Christmas
- Enya's And Winter Came ...: Just about the most ambient holiday album I've ever heard, and one that does an amazing job of conjuring up an aural winter wonderland
- Percy Faith's Christmas Is ....
- Bert Kaempfert's Christmas Wonderland: Definitely on the more obscure side, but this one is a sentimental favorite from my youth that's especially magical for younger ears, not in the least because of such playful tracks like "Toys on Parade," "Holiday for Bells," and "Children's Christmas Dream."
-
Natalie Cole's Holly & Ivy
- Amy Grant's Home for Christmas and A Christmas to Remember (two of the few '90s-and-after holiday albums from pop artists that I genuinely enjoy; Amy's one of the few modern-day artists who seems to know how to craft a truly tasteful holiday full-length that just sounds like a seasonal release, as opposed to being a standard studio release that also happens to have some seasonal lyrics)
- George Winston's December
 
I'm definitely a bit of a holiday-music buff and have heard countless hundreds of Christmas albums in my lifetime, so I thought I'd try and craft a list of the top twenty in the bunch that I personally consider to be the biggest standouts and find myself revisiting most often. Here's what I ultimately narrowed it down to:

- Something Festive! (how could I not include that one on here? All these decades later, it still sounds as fresh as it did back then!)
- Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' Christmas Album
- Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops' A Christmas Festival: there's just something magical about this one to me (and not simply just because he's a fellow Fiedler :D)
- Carpenters' A Christmas Portrait and An Old Fashioned Christmas
-
Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas: his very first Christmas album (this just has a real warmth to it - both in its production and in his singing style - that seems to be lacking in his later holiday records)
- Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song (basically just his previous album The Magic of Christmas with "The Christmas Song" replacing "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen")
- Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Rita Ford's A Music Box Christmas and A Christmas Tree: Technically, Ford isn't even a musician - just a music box collector - but these albums are so, so enchanting and make for delightful background music during the holidays
- The Manhattan Transfer's The Christmas Album: Incredibly underrated. I never hear anything of theirs on holiday radio, but this record is just delightful, especially "Snowfall"
- Michael Franks' Watching the Snow (another deeply underrated one, one that eschews standards altogether for generally winter-themed originals but no less charming for it)
- David Benoit's Remembering Christmas
- Enya's And Winter Came ...: Just about the most ambient holiday album I've ever heard, and one that does an amazing job of conjuring up an aural winter wonderland
- Percy Faith's Christmas Is ....
- Bert Kaempfert's Christmas Wonderland: Definitely on the more obscure side, but this one is a sentimental favorite from my youth that's especially magical for younger ears, not in the least because of such playful tracks like "Toys on Parade," "Holiday for Bells," and "Children's Christmas Dream."
- Natalie Cole's Holly & Ivy
- Amy Grant's Home for Christmas and A Christmas to Remember (two of the few '90s-and-after holiday albums from pop artists that I genuinely enjoy; Amy's one of the few modern-day artists who seems to know how to craft a truly tasteful holiday full-length that just sounds like a seasonal release, as opposed to being a standard studio release that also happens to have some seasonal lyrics)
- George Winston's December
I forgot about And Winter Came by Enya. Superb album in my book.
 
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