Nostalgic Merry Christmas to You

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 10, 2000)
• Original Release Date: October 10, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Asv Living Era
• ASIN: B00004WKEJ
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363,535 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bing Crosby

2. The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat King Cole

3. Medley: Uncle Mac's Christmas Carols: Unto Us a Boy Is Born/Here We Come A-Wassailing/Patapan/Rocking/Good Christian Men, Rejoice - St. Brandon's C.D.S. Choir

4. The Kids Go Carolling - Harry Hemsley

5. The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot - Arthur Tracy

6. O Little Town Of Bethelehem - Herbert Dawson

7. Adeste, Fideles (O Come, All Ye Faithful) - John McCormack

8. At the Christmas Ball - Bessie Smith

9. Jingle Bells - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra

10. The Cradle Song Of the Virgin - Dick Haymes

11. I'm Sending a Letter To Santa Claus - Gracie Fields

12. On a Christmas Tree - Debroy Somers & His Band

13. I'm Spending Christmas With the Old Folks - Vera Lynn

14. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth - Spike Jones & His City Slickers

15. Here Comes Santa Claus - Gene Autry

16. White Christmas - Frank Sinatra

17. Winter Wonderland - Perry Como

18. Christmas Island - The Andrews Sisters

19. The Merry Christmas Polka - Dinah Shore

20. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Bing Crosby

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some great performances, some not so great,but all memorable, November 22, 2002

By 

Neal C. Reynolds (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nostalgic Merry Christmas to You (Audio CD)

Living Era has released two splendid collections of nostalgic Christmas recordings. The first was "The Spirit of Christmas Past". I do rather wish they had both been released as one 2 CD collection with the songs chronologically arranged, but that's no major complaint. A chronological arrangement, though, would've shown how historical events, especiallly war, affected the music.

This collection covers a longer time span than the first, from John McCormick's great rendition of "Adeste Fidelis" recorded in 1915 to Dinah Shore's "The Merry Christmas Polka" recorded in 1949. Many of these were recorded in London, and one, "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" (Do I need to translate that for you?) in Berlin.

Some of these are absolute classics, and some are cornball, but they all represent the development of recorded Christmas music. Some were million sellers in the days when there were few million sellers and high on the newly created music charts. These include Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song", Glenn Miller's "Jingle Bells", Spike Jones' "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth", Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Claus", Frank Sinatra's (!) "White Christmas" (the bigger hit recording by Bing is on Living Era's earlier recording), Perry Como's "Winter Wonderland", The Andrews' Sisters' "Christmas Island", and Bing Crosby's "I'll Be Home For Christmas".

Bing's #3 hit recording of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" is one of those reflecting the impact that the second world war had on Christmas music. England, of course, was more closely touched by the war; Gracie Fields' "I'm Sending A Letter To Santa Claus" and Vera Lynn's "I'm Spending Christmas With The Old Folks" express this.

One very notable English song is the sentimental "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" sung by Arthur Tracy in 1937, later recorded in the U. S. by Nat King Cole. A choice oddity, also from England, is Master Dennis Barthel, boy soprano, singing "O Little Town Of Bethlehem". a 1930 recording. And you thought Billy Gilman had accomplished something new?

There are many treasures here to fascinate those interested in the development of popular music. As I said before, I do wish these had been chronologically placed. One more warning, the sound quality of these monaural recordings obviously isn't up to today's standards. For me, that's part of the charm of old recordings.

Basically, this is highly recommended to those of you fascinated by the old music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice, January 24, 2003

By 

Richard Wagoner (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nostalgic Merry Christmas to You (Audio CD)

I wanted something different, and this one is exactly what I wanted. Old-time Christmas music with a good sound quality (good processing). If you like "standards," you'll like this.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice, January 24, 2003

By 

Richard Wagoner (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nostalgic Merry Christmas to You (Audio CD)

I wanted something different, and this one is exactly what I wanted. Old-time Christmas music with a good sound quality (good processing). If you like "standards," you'll like this.