Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1935-1954

Billboard Greatest Xmas Hits | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 31, 1989)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0000032JQ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,220 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. White Christmas

2. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

3. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

4. The Christmas Song

5. All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)

6. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

7. Christmas Island

8. Silent Night

9. Here Comes Santa Claus

10. Santa Baby

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of A "Budget" Series From Rhino/Wea, October 5, 2007

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1935-1954 (Audio CD)

This is one a series of "budget" releases covering various aspects of Christmas to be released over the years by Rhino/Wea in conjunction with Billboard, all with 10-tracks each and liner notes in the form of track-by-track comments. Sound quality is generally good to excellent. All have "Billboard" as part of the title.

Some others are: Family Christmas Classics; Top Christmas Hymns; R&B Christmas Hits; Rock & Roll Christmas; Greatest Country Christmas Hits; and Greatest Christmas Hits (1955-Present). Some of the foregoing are also offered in 4-pack and 5-pack editions. In essence, these are the one you have to have if you want to recapture the delightful seasonal sounds of your childhood (assuming you're old enough to recall the periods covered).

This one gives you the original Silent Night by Bing Crosby way back in 1935 with The Guardsmen Quartette and the Victor Young Orchestra. It charted at # 7 and began a long association between Bing and Christmas music including, of course, the immortal White Christmas. a # 1 for ELEVEN weeks the first year it charted (1942), and a perennial hit thereafter.

Three more 1940's classics are Vaughn Monroe's Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! which, with The Norton Sisters on backing vocals, went to # 1 in 1945 and stayed there for five weeks (many years later it would be revived through use in one of the Die Hard films starring Bruce Willis), Nat "King" Cole's The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You), a # 3 in 1946 and a repeat hit for years and years, and Christmas Island by The Andrews Sisters & Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians, # 7 in 1946 and a hit again the next two years.

Gene Autry kicks in with Here Comes Santa Claus (Down Santa Claus Lane) which he wrote and took to # 9 in 1947 and saw it repeat many times after over the years, as did his Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, billed to Gene Autry & The Pinafores, a # 1 for EIGHT weeks in 1949 and a hit again over and over. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is a repeat from the Country edition, while Spike Jones & His City Slickers bring you All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) which, with George Rock doing the vocal, was also a # 1 (for 3 weeks) in 1948, and would be an annual entry for several years. And you won't want to miss the sultry Eartha Kitt cooing to Santa Baby, a # 4 in 1953 with Henri Rene's orchestra.

Loads and loads of fun and memories.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A definite MUST HAVE!, September 6, 2001

By 

Nikol Le Vine "poet17" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1935-1954 (Audio CD)

I grew up listening to these songs on records my parents owned. They really were the soundtrack for Christmas to me. They're classics, to be sure. One of my very favorite songs from this album is Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt. Madonna redid this song a few years back on one of the Very Special Christmas albums, and she just didn't do the song justice. This album is full of memorable tunes done by wonderful recording artists. It's a perfect addition to any Christmas collection. And if you DON'T have a Christmas collection, start with this. You won't be disappointed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traditional Holiday Music, FINALLY!, November 12, 2004

By 

M. Poletes - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1935-1954 (Audio CD)

I am so happy to have FINALLY found a CD with all the Christmas songs I remember as a child. EVERY song is a classic! These to me are the true christmas songs of the season.