Billboard Greatest R&B Christmas Hits

Billboard Greatest Xmas Hits | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B0000032JS
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,346 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Merry Christmas, Baby

2. (It's Gonna Be A) Lonely Christmas

3. Boogie Woogie Santa Claus

4. Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby

5. The Little Drummer Boy

6. This Time of the Year

7. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

8. Run Rudolph Run

9. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

10. Silent Night

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of The Best Of The Series, October 23, 2007

By 

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

This review is from: Billboard Greatest R&B Christmas Hits (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; Rock & Roll Christmas; Greatest Country Christmas Hits; Greatest Christmas Hits (1935 - 1954); 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).

Another reviewer docks 1 star because, he claims, it's missing Lou Rawl's The Little Drummer Boy! I don't know what he's looking at, but my copy has that 1967 # 2 and 1969 # 5 Billboard Christmas Chart hit at track 5. From 1947 you get the classic Merry Christmas Baby by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers (Moore on guitar, Charles Brown at piano and also on vocals, and bassist Eddie Williams (# 3 R&B and charted again in 1948 at # 8 and in 1949 at # 9), while from 1948 comes It's Gonna Be A Lonely Christmas by The Orioles (# 8 R&B) and Mabel Scott's (wife of Charles Brown) rocking Boogie Woogie Santa Claus (# 12 R&B). Two more charters from 1949 are Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby by Amos Milburn (# 3 R&B), and Silent Night (Christmas Hymn) by Sister Rosetta Tharpe & Rosette Gospel Singers (# 6 R&B),

It then jumps to 1957 and The Cadillacs' swinging version of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer which, with the backing of the Jesse Powell orchestra, reached # 11 R&B, and from 1958 Chuck Berry's "sequel" Run, Rudolph, Run (# 69 Billboard Pop Hot 100). At Christmastime 1959, the late, great Brook Benton and the Belford Hendricks orchestra brought us the beautiful hit, This Time Of The Year (# 12 R&B/# 66 Hot 100), while in 1970 The Jackson 5 had a # 1 Billboard Christmas Charts hit with Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, which returned to # 1 the following year and to # 9 in 1973.

Just a solid little package providing loads and loads of fun and memories.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Billboard R&B Christmas A Keeper, But Bring Back Lou Rawls!, December 24, 2000

By 

Anthony G Pizza "trivialtony" (FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Billboard Greatest R&B Christmas Hits (Audio CD)

Outstanding collection of early rhythm and blues Christmas songs is docked one star for Lou Rawls' missing "The Little Drummer Boy," a huge jazz/soul reworking from his out-of-print 1967 Christmas album "Ho, Ho, Ho."

The rest is delightful, however, with classic reworkings and originals featuring stylish jazz (Johnny Moore's now-standard "Merry Christmas Baby," redone by everyone from Elvis Presley to Sheryl Crow), sentimental strings (Clyde Otis' delightful arrangement on Brook Benton's "This Time Of The Year") reverent hymns (Sister Rosetta Tharpe's "Silent Night,") and offbeat novelties (the Cadillacs' doo-wop reworking of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," Chuck Berry's overdone, generic "Run, Run Rudolph.") It's another well-made Rhino collection for vintage R&B fans and those liking their Christmas music freshly done, and essential once Rawls' classic is restored (or that LP reissued).