Customer Reviews

Christmas Spirit

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been searching and searching for this album on CD. This album epitomizes Christmas for me, I remember my father playing the vinyl version when I was a very young girl, and singing along in his own baritone voice. Johnny Cash is truly a poet, and nowhere is this more evident than in the recordings on this CD. 'Ringing the Bells for Jim' still brings tears to my eyes nearly 40 years later!

Since this is the second Johnny Cash Christmas CD I own, I can compare this one, THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, to his COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CD from 1991. This one is better, in my opinion, but since they are both priced so low, you can buy both on amazon.com for the price of a normal CD, so you might as well do that!

This CD, THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, has 1996 in the fine print of the CD cover, but other amazon.com reviewers are saying it is from the 1960s, which does agree with the younger Johnny Cash photo on the cover. The CD booklet is just a one-sided insert, and there are no details beyond the names of the song composers.

There are 12 songs for 38 minutes of music on this CD, THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT.

If this CD is from the 1960s, then they did a pretty good job of remastering it for a CD. This is issued by Sony Music, so I think it sounds a little better than the COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CD which is issued by the off-brand LaserLight label.

None of the performances are the same, so you can buy both CDs without duplicating any performance, but Johnny and friends did repeat 3 songs on COUNTRY CHRISTMAS with new performances captured. "Blue Christmas" and "Silent Night" are better on COUNTRY CHRISTMAS, but "Here Was A Man" is better on this CD, CHRISTMAS SPIRIT.

This CD has 3 songs composed solely by Johnny, another traditional one arranged by Johnny, and even one co-written by Johnny and his father-in-law, Ezra "Eck" Carter! June Carter also co-wrote two songs.

"Christmas as I Knew It" is an interesting biographical song about Johnny's Christmas as a kid in Dyess, Arkansas, co-written by June!

"Little Drummer Boy" has a novel focus on the drumming, though it is sparse and a bit strange upon the first listen.

At first I kind of was distracted by the 1950's barber shop quartet styled backing vocals, but then I kicked myself when I realized that has to be the Carter Family ladies for the female vocals! So those oldie styled backing vocals are much more appreciated, but they are still oldies-styled.

Johnny sings lead vocals on all the songs, and the overall feel of the album is calm, with mostly strong, heartfelt lyrics. This is better than the 1991 COUNTRY CHRISTMAS which suffers from being too uneven in quality and tone, with some songs seeming to have little to NONE of Johnny's lead vocals.

My brother bought this in vinyl the Christmas of 1964. I was only 10, but the words of "The Ballad of the Harp Weaver" and "Christmas as I Knew It" became indellibly etched in my mind. I had completely forgotten the album until Johnny Cash passed into glory and I started remembering our old albums. The old Sun recordings were some of his best early work. I don't think any other artist has had a greater effect on the American Music Scene.

My parents gave this album to me along with Jim Reeves Christmas album in the early 60's and they both remain standards in my home. I wore them out on vinyl...and then on cassette. At a time when artists performed the standard holiday classics the Man In Black stepped outside the norm and put down some of the most beautiful and moving holiday music not equalled in my opinion. "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" stuck in my mind and gave me the courage to stand on that schoolhouse stage and sing it solo when i was afraid to even speak in front of class. "Ballad Of The Harp Weaver" continues to be a source of hope and consolation more so now that when i first heard those haunting words many years ago. Johnny Cash had the ability to put you there by singing from the heart and personal experience. If traditional holiday music is what you want you can't get any better than this.

I bought it on vinyl back in 1964 when I was 14. Played the heck out of it until it was virtually unplayable. Glad that I finally found it on cd, but I wish Sony would have taken some time to remaster/remix for optimum sound quality. It also would have been nice if they would have used the original artwork/graphics. But, I guess for the price you can't have everything. Hopefully, they will re-release this album one day on the Legacy label with deluxe packaging.

You can enjoy Johnny Cash anytime of the year. This cd brings the Christmas spirit home now. It arrived in excellant condition and on time.

one of the songs has the line "Sorry I'm Crying/My brother Jim's dying/Ring a bell for Jim." Hey, but it's Cash-- what do you expect? Very slow, but some of the songs are good. I'm happy

Perhaps someday I'll learn to discard any pigeon hole preceptions, as with this album and many others, songsmiths will take the listener along a seasonal sleigh ride down a variety of soundscapes serving special surprisals with unexpected turns. I feel dumbstruck with the artistry applied with such sencertiy toward the YULEridGEMals and the seldom sung selections presented here.~~~Merrily Mix~ 1$, 2#, 5$, 6$, 9#, 10#1\2, 11# and 12$ ~~~ Post Script: Americana YULEtide Treasure to be dug here of a type rarely found duplicated elsewhere in the seasonal soundscape, please cherish and share it's play often as I'm not sure such styling will continue in a modern~millennium homogenized world we are heading toward***buyit*saveit*sharemost*donateit to the local library*** YULEridGEMality Factor = 5 1\2

Perhaps someday I'll learn to discard any pigeon hole preceptions, as with this disc and many others, songsmiths will take the listener along a seasonal sleigh ride down a variety of soundscapes serving special surprisals with unexpected turns. I feel dumbstruct with the artistry applied with such sencertiy

Perhaps someday I'll learn to discard any pigeon hole preceptions, as with this album and many others, songsmiths will take the listener along a seasonal sleigh ride down a variety of soundscapes serving special surprisals with unexpected turns. I feel dumbstruck with the artistry applied with such sencertiy toward the YULEridGEMals and the seldom sung selections presented here.~~~Merrily Mix~ 1$, 2#, 5$, 6$, 9#, 10#1\2, 11# and 12$ ~~~ Post Script: Americana YULEtide Treasure to be dug here of a type rarely found duplicated elsewhere in the seasonal soundscape, please cherish and share it's play often as I'm not sure such styling will continue in a modern~millennium homogenized world we are heading toward...YULEridGEMality Factor = 5 1\2