Customer Reviews

Christmas Anthology

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I'm a great collector of Christmas music, preferring the traditional and nostalgic. For many years one could only get the same few songs from before 1950. This two disc collection is pretty generous and includes rarities like the Nat King Cole Trio's 'Jingle Bells' and lots of big band novelties. I'd also recommend the ASV/Living Era largely British Christmas discs, if you can still find them. The original Capitol Records Christmas on the Range has old country stuff that's great, and I love Blue Christmas (also out of print?)with Johnny Otis, Sugar Chile Robinson, and several jump blues greats. one can have a lot of fun without burning out on Bing Crosby or the tasteless Mariah Carey, though I commend her...volume.

Anyway, this is a great start if you likie swing music, crooners, and Santa Claus.

Happy Christmas!

I'm also a big collector of Christmas music (mostly pre-1970: jazz, big band, blues, rock, R&B, classical, pre-rock vocalists, country), and I found this to be a very well done collection that has some rare recordings that I, at least, have never heard before. We have over 200 Christmas CDs in our collection at home, including many that are from the big band era like this two-disc set, so I was surprised that they came up with material that was new to me.

Yes, there are some familiar commercial recordings that have been reissued numerous times (for example, Louis Prima's "What Will Santa Say? (When He Finds Everybody Swingin')"; Vaughn Monroe's "Let It Snow"). There are also some radio broadcast recordings that also aren't all that hard to find on CD (for example, Glenn Miller's "Jingle Bells"). These are all very enjoyable, but I've heard them before.

But the compilers here have also dug up some sides that were completely new to me: the Nat King Cole Trio's very lively "Jingle Bells" from a radio transcription disc is one. There are also different versions of familiar holiday hits: the "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Judy Garland on this set, for example, aren't the commercial versions that are on every other anthology, but less well known radio broadcast recordings. Both performances are very good. The version of Dick Haymes' "O Little Town of Bethlehem" here is from a V-Disc, and "Good Morning Blues (I Wanna See Santa Claus)" by the great Count Basie is a broadcast recording instead of the more familiar commercial record. And the compilers have also included some British performers who may be new to some American listeners (e.g., Lew Stone and His Band on "Winter Wonderland," which I'd heard before; and one that I hadn't, the Three Sisters singing "The Fairy on the Christmas Tree" with harmonies that seem to come from the film version of The Wizard of Oz).

The sound quality is generally quite good for music of this age (1930-1950), although there are one or two cuts that are not as good as the rest. (Unfortunately, Perry Como's "I'll Be Home For Christmas," while a good perfomance from a radio program, is in much lower fidelity than the remainder of the material.) Overall, the remastering here was very well done. I also appreciate it that the compilers have carefully edited out the audience applause from the broadcast recordings, so that they fit more seamlessly with the commercial recordings. (I do like the live feel of broadcast recordings with applause, but it's kind of nice here that it doesn't disrupt the flow.)

So, while this CD set does have some very familiar recordings, it also has some nice surprises, with very good sound quality on most. The compilers did a very creative job of choosing a fine selection of holiday tunes that most fans of big band music will probably enjoy.

The older the Christmas song the better, I've always said. This collection has a nice mix of some old and really old favorites. The anthology is simple and the recordings sound good for their age. It should satisfy one's craving for that nostalgic Christmas feeling.