Customer Reviews

Goodyear: Great Songs of Christmas, Album 5

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

 

 

This is the LP we had in my home when I was growing up. It's a fascinating pre-rock, pre-counterculture pop music artifact--and also just plain fantastic listening.

What do I like about it? Anna Maria Alberghetti singing with a voice like fine crystal, Diahann Carroll's moving "Some Children See Him," Dinah Shore's "Twelve Days of Christmas," Doris Day doing "Silver Bells," Steve Lawrence & Eddie Gorme's delightfully over-the-top "Sleigh Ride," and Sammy Davis Jr.'s Vegas-swank cocktail of "Jingle Bells" aned "It's Christmas Time All Over The World." The high point of the album is the majestic "We Three Kings," in which Eugene Ormandy cranks the Philadelphia Orchestra up to its maximum rated output.

It isn't perfect. The two Andre Kostelanetz pieces are straight out of an elevator lobby, and the world could have done without Maurice Chevalier's heavily-accented pseudo-rap versions of "Silent Night" and "Jolly Old St. Nicholas." Even the sub-par tracks are just part of the atmosphere.

This album was our daughter's favourite Christmas album when she was quite young. It wore out through constant playing, so decided to surprise her with a copy this Christmas. The look on her face was the best we saw this Christmas. The album is great, even the Maurice Chevalier tracks work. It contains a great selection of the better artist of the era, so well worthwhile having.