Oh yeah, Chet and Perry most certainly qualify as artists with multiple outstanding holiday albums. I am going to have to check out the other two folk artists you mention on your list as well.
If the criteria is two outstanding Christmas albums, I'm not sure if Chet Atkins clears the bar. His second Christmas album is pleasant but kind of bland in my opinion anyway. Second Christmas albums that are truly outstanding are hard to come by. The only ones I can think of that haven't been mentioned already are Ramsey Lewis: More Sounds of Christmas and Yuletide Beat by Los Straitjackets.
Annie Haslam did two and they're both wonderful. Also She & Him and Buck Owens. (And the Beach Boys, if you did the quirkier '70s one). And you can sort-of count Darlene Love if the Spector album was the first.
That's me exactly. Sure, I was born in the 60's, but I did not grow up listening to Doris Day (or Ella, Percy, Jack, Felix, Longines Symphonette(!) etc.) These are now some of my all time favorites. There's a huge aspect of nostalgia here, but not because I ever heard these records growing up at Christmas. Just beautifully done and recorded music for the season.
Always wondered, how much of it comes from Bach/Gunoud's "Ave Maria", stylistically and spiritually...it appears the two were written/adapted only a few years from one another... Speaking of which...heard this one yet?
Yeah, that is very interesting. I can hear the similarities now that you point that out to me. It's funny, because I have always been drawn to both of those melodies. I might have never connected O Holy Night and Ave Marie on my own.
Frankly, I never did myself until I heard Deodato to "Ave Maria"...and then I took his version to my church with me, and did it with a tuba player and a drummer....
There is another great holiday album by an artist that does not get near the attention she deserves. The Doris Day Christmas Album might just be the most romantic and sexist holiday album ever recorded. I just looked at some of the legendary musicians that were a part of this album; Pianist Buddy Cole and legendary Sinatra drummer Irv Cottler were two of the amazing talents listed on this song. If December romance is in the air, I highly recommend this album by the Hollywood legend followed closely by Dean Martin's A Winter's Romance.
I just noticed that Perry Como’s Merry Christmas is being sold on Amazon and it appears to be a new issue - does anyone know anything about it? Looks like the mono issue, not the rechanneled stereo one.
Fantastic... I was just looking at this on discogs last week and thinking of buying it, but couldn't find one that checked all the boxes (mix, condition/grade, cost) so I'll definitely take a look on amazon!
Here you go. It’s a 3rd party seller which makes me a little skeptical, but they’ve got multiple copies. Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07VP6CGGG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabt1_wEwVFb83QFBXV
Ok, once again I gotta completely agree here. I first heard Doris on the "Personal Christmas Collection" CD from '94 that includes the entirety of the "Christmas Album," plus 3 older Columbia singles (Here Comes Santa Claus, Ol' Saint Nicholas, and Christmas Story). Of course all these and more are included on the RGM "Complete Christmas Collection." So up until I came across this CD, I had never really heard or paid attention to a Doris Day recording in my life (although I do kinda remember her tv show from the late 60's). It's now in my top 5 all time favorite holiday albums. Perfect for many moods throughout the season. Also had no idea about the players on this one. Truly lovely recording. (As it turns out, I liked this CD so much that Doris showed up in my avatar!!)
Heads up. Real Gone has a 20% sale going on including a lot of their Christmas reissues. Wish I hadn’t bought 3 CDs a couple weeks ago but maybe I’ll pick up a couple more?! SALE! I put on the Chet Atkins today and WOW. If you include the bonus tracks on this one maybe he does have 2 amazing Christmas albums.
Christmas Favorites by The Hollyridge Strings is a true sonic delight and another another fantastic holiday album. Stu Phillips was an amazing arranger with great pop sensibilities. This is not Percy Faith or Mantovani mind you, both of whom I love, but a great group of studio musicians put together by the conductor and recorded in the great reverb chambers of the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood. Take a listen to Stu's fantastic cover of Jingle Bell Rock below. This CD now goes for astronomical prices, but I am hoping that one day Real Gone Music will be able to get it reissued in the future, especially considering that it was Gordon Anderson's old label (Collector's Choice Music) that had the original CD issued.
A classic - The Merriest and Sorry To See You Go are great songs, and the whole album is a great addition to classic Christmas canon. For amazing original Christmas songs of the era, I'd also add Julie London's I'd Like You For Christmas - written by her husband, Bobby Troup (who also wrote Get Your Kicks On Route 66). Sad that she never recorded a whole holiday album. It's amazing how nostalgia can spring retroactively upon people who never even experienced the material in their past - there's something magical in some of those recordings that really brings out a wistfulness and sentimentality. I was surprised how much I loved the Doris Day album when I first picked it up a couple of years back - I've always known her but more so as an actress and I always thought of her music as too vanilla, a perception I've been proving wrong to myself for a few years now. Surprised not to see Peggy Lee mentioned yet (at least she didn't show up in a thread search) - her Christmas album is one of my favorite holiday albums ever. A new compilation was just released a month or two ago gathering most of her holiday songs into one release. Not sure if the sound is good or not, but it's available on both CD and vinyl. Bit of an odd non-Christmassy photo of her on the cover, but it works in a modern, minimalist kind of way.