Gene Autry Christmas

Gene Autry | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 23, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000029K1
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #288,148 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Gene Autry was perhaps less a singing cowboy than the prototype for all singing cowboys. He made his mark by representing an Americana that was all old-style Western romance and clear blue skies. His yodeling hasn't held up well, but his emphasis on both types of music--"country and and western," as the joke goes--has made him among the first that people think of when they dream of how the West was won. Here, he sings solo and in duets with Rosemary Clooney, the Mitchell Choirboys, the Cass County Boys and the King Sisters, and the Pinafores. The recordings cover the post-World War II era, between 1947 through 1956, and include many Christmas faves, including "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman," and "Jingle Bells," among them. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hit-and-Miss Collection from the Christmas Cowboy, February 15, 2002

By 

Timothy Hulsey (Charlottesville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Gene Autry Christmas (Audio CD)

This collection of Christmas songs contains some genuine classics: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (which Autry introduced), as well as "Here Comes Santa Claus" and "Santa, Santa, Santa" (both co-written by Autry). (Conspicuously missing is "Santa's Comin' in a Whirlybird," a bouncy children's favorite guaranteed to drill a hole in your head. It's on other Autry Christmas compilations, so its absence from this one is a bit of a mystery.)
Autry's greatest strength as a singer is that he never succumbs to easy cynicism; regardless of his vocal shortcomings (or perhaps because of them), he always sounds sincere. His paeans to Santa Claus are informed by a casual, unforced belief in the spirit of Christmas. The best tracks feature gentle, casually sophisticated Western-swing arrangements that should delight children and parents.
Unfortunately, this particular album has more than its share of duds. By and large, the worst songs on this compliation also have overproduced arrangements. The duets with Rosemary Clooney (except for "The Night Before Christmas Song," which is a little gem) are mostly busts, as are the songs with cutesy, childish lyrics ("Where Did My Snowman Go," "If It Doesn't Snow on Christmas"). To be fair, Autry delivers these songs as well as anyone could, but the question remains: Why did they have to be included here?
Three stars.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but now there's a better one!, November 8, 2004

By 

randysrodeo.com (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Gene Autry Christmas (Audio CD)

This CD was eclipsed in 2004 by Varese Sarabande's "Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings." 27 tracks, well mastered, fully annotated.

3.0 out of 5 stars Up on the Housetop is missing, January 13, 2011

By 

Michael Ceciliani "Mike C" (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gene Autry Christmas (Audio CD)

I got this CD for $5.00 at a store. It contains most of Gene's signature holiday tunes. Here Comes Santa Claus (which he wrote) and Rudolph are here, of course. Frosty The Snowman is another Autry favorite and I personally like his version of Jingle Bells. It includes the verse "Now the ground is white, go it while you're young . . ." You don't hear that verse too often.

I also like The Night Before Christmas Song where he teams up with a young Rosemary Clooney. But the one song I like that's not included is Up on the Housetop. Gene's version includes all the verses and I think it's one of the best versions of the song ever done.

Gene left us in 1998 at age 91. Ironically, fellow cowboy Roy Rogers also died that same year. Shame that Gene never lived to see his baseball team Angels win the World Series, but we have his music and movies to remember him by.