Customer Reviews

Merry Christmas

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

 

 

I bought this CD primarily for the old Doris Day tracks on it. Unfortunately, they sound like they have never been remastered and they are underwater. Horrible sound and a big disappointment that Laserlight/Delta music put out. Why did they bother?

I would recommend the new "Doris Day Christmas Album" which has been re-released (by either Columbia or Sony). You can find it on Amazon UK or Tower Records UK. It has been out of print for a long time, but finally was re-released in November 2003. It has all 9 original tracks of the Doris Day Christmas Album as released in 1964. If you prefer the "older" tracks like "Here Comes Santa Claus" as found on this CD, the Personal Christmas Collection actually has decent remasters of the same recordings on this CD. Either way, don't waste your money on this CD.

One track on this CD has Doris' beautiful rendition of "Second Star to the Right" but again it is a bad recording. I recommend the "Secret Love" box set from Bear Family Records -- all the 1950s recordings sound like they were recorded yesterday - and this same song sounds great.

Doris is a wonderful singer -- one of the 20th Century's best.

The highlight of this Cd is hearing a very young Peggy Lee sing a live version of "The Christmas Song" and the Dinah Shore tracks are nice(as far as I know Dinah's only Christmas songs). Most of these selections were taken from V-Discs and radio broadcasts. Recommended to jazz vocal buffs as well as casual listers alike.

I agree with tallguy - this is bad. This CD sounds like it was recorded off of an old radio broadcast - and I don't mean at the station! The sound is awful and the quality makes me wonder if this might not be a bootlegged copy of the songs. It sure isn't a studio quality recording. I cannot believe anyone connected with any of the recording artists would have approved this release. A junior high student with a cheap cassette recorder and an equally cheap radio could make a recording this good.

Even if you are a fan of the 40's-type music, DON'T BUY this one! Stick with the "Doris Day Christmas Album" because it is so much better.

OK, so this isn't a great-sounding CD. Or even a good-sounding CD. It's a historical document. Perhaps the manufacturer of the CD should have put something to that effect on the cover. But it's by no means horrible.

Doris Day Christmas material is easy to come by. Not true for Christmas songs by Dinah Shore. While there are really only three Christmas songs sung by Dinah here (plus parts of a medley), these are rare and valuable additions to the Dinah Shore catalog.

The poor quality of the CD obviously comes from the source material. I have no knowledge of the original source, but I'm guessing that this was taken from an acetate transcription of a radio broadcast from probably 1949 or 1950.

So don't buy this if you're wanting some nice Christmas songs by Doris Day; stick to her Christmas CDs. But for the collector of all things Doris and Dinah, this is a must. And it's really cheap!

Although I do agree with the previous reviewers in that the audio quality is sub-par for most of the tracks, I believe that the material rectifies this fact because of the rarity of some of the songs. Some of the Doris Day songs are easy to come by; you can find some on her "Personal Christmas Album" CD--and with much better audio quality. However, some of the tracks--particularly a few of the Dinah Shore tracks such as "The First Noel" are extremely rare and to my knowledge are only available on this CD; they are gems (I would really like to know where LaserLight gets these songs). Therefore, if you keep this in mind when listening to the recordings, you may be very pleased with this album.

They really need to remaster this because the audio is kind of awful, but there are songs here that you cannot find elsewhere, so you gotta take the good with the bad and roll with it.

Doris Day & Dinah Shore - Merry Christmas From / Laserlight / 1992 / /

Track Listing
1. Here Comes Santa Claus (Doris Day)
2. O Little Town of Bethlehem (Dinah Shore)
3. Toyland - (from "Babes In Toyland")(Anita Ellis)
4. The Second Star to the Right (Doris Day)
5. Jingle Bells (Kay Thompson & her Rhythm Singers)
6. White Christmas(Dinah Shore)
7. The Christmas Song (Peggy Lee)
8. I'll Be Home For Christmas (Connie Haines)
9. The First Noel (Dinah Shore)
10. Christmas (Doris Day)
11. Christmas Medley: Joy To The World / O Come All Ye Faithful / Hark! The Herald Angels Sing / O Little Town Of Bethlehem / Silent Night (Dinah Shore & friends)

Again, I purchased this item shortly before christmas and arrived with plenty of time to enjoy during the season!!!