Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters [Original recording remastered]

Brenda Lee | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B0000C23E0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,002 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than Rockin' around the Christmas tree, November 18, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters (Audio CD)

This collection was originally released on an 18-track CD titled Rockin' around the Christmas tree.

Brenda is one of those singers - just like Bing Crosby - who's most famous song is a Christmas classic, despite a vast catalog of other material. On this collection, Brenda demonstrates her skills on a wide variety of Christmas songs, although there is only one carol (Silent night).

The oldest recordings here (from 1956, when Brenda was only 11) are Christy Christmas and I'm gonna lasso Santa Claus - this song is quite amusing but also has a moral tale, as it points out that Santa is more generous to the rich than the poor. Sadly, that will always be true.

In 1958, Brenda recorded Papa Noel, a cajun-flavored song, and Rockin' around the Christmas tree. Expected to be a massive hit, it missed the charts completely, though Brenda wasn't yet in the big time. Following the multi-million selling I'm sorry in 1960, a decision was taken to try again that Christmas. This time, the song went high in the charts, not just in America, but around the world.

The remainder of these songs, except White Christmas, Jingle bells and Silent night (which were recorded in 1965, but remained unissued outside Japan until the release of the Rockin' around the Christmas tree CD mentioned in the opening paragraph), were first released on Brenda's original Christmas album in 1964, which also included some of the earlier tracks, including (of course) Rockin' around the Christmas tree.

Some of the songs were originally popularized by other singers, including Jingle bell rock (Bobby Helms), White Christmas and Silver bells (both Bing Crosby), This time of the year (Brook Benton) and Blue Christmas (Ernest Tubb, but made even more popular by Elvis), but Brenda's vocal style makes her versions distinctive, even though the arrangements are mostly faithful to the originals. It's a marshmallow world is a brilliant song which had already appeared on the Phil Spector Christmas album, though I don't know it's origin.

What really makes this album, though, are the original songs. Apart from those recorded in 1956 and 1958, there is Christmas will be just another lonely day (a serious song written by Ray Stevens, best known for his comic songs), Strawberry snow and the slightly silly (but brilliant) The angel and the little blue bell.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Problem With Stereo, December 11, 2003

By 

jaydee56 (Brandon, MS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters (Audio CD)

Has anyone purchased this CD where the only track that is in stereo is "Rockin Around The Christmas Tree?" I have the original Decca LP on vinyl and there's a huge difference. I'm sure the tracks recorded in 64 and 65 should be in stereo.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great old Christmas favorites, January 6, 2012

By 

C Aist - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters (Audio CD)

My husband enjoyed and enjoyed this CD of older songs. The quality of sound was very good. Great buy. We recommend this for any Brenda Lee fans.