Tired of your Manheim Steamroller and Manillow Christmas CD’s? Here are ten venerable holiday albums to consider. Feel free to respond and share your picks.
#1
Bing Crosby
Christmas Classics
1962
My favorite pick is a bit of a curveball; while many favor the 1940’s White Christmas-era recordings of a younger Bing Crosby, this 1962 Capitol release is the one I loved most growing up. The older Crosby (he was nearly 60 when these were recorded) chose more reverent, less playful material, and this album yields definitive versions of “O Holy Night” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and the ultra-rare, “The Littlest Angel.” This kind of craftsmanship is seldom found anymore. Oh yeah, his voice ain’t half bad either.
A long overdue remastered edition was finally released in 2006. Two songs from the ’62 LP have been reunited with the original cuts, and the “Little Drummer Boy” duet with David Bowie is thrown in as a bonus.
#2
Bing Crosby
The Voice of Christmas
1935-1956
No collection is complete without this one. These are the mega-familiar tunes der Binger recorded for Decca when he ruled the pop charts in the 40’s. They include his most popular secular carols, many backed by the Andrews Sisters. He practically invented the genre during this time. This 2-disc set is pricey but worth it; it’s remastered and very comprehensive. It includes multiple versions of his peerless “White Christmas.” Factoid: the original 1942 version was so popular that its master deteriorated from overuse. Another recording was commissioned in 1949, which is the one everyone knows today.
#3
The Louvin Brothers
Christmas With the Louvin Brothers
1961
You probably won’t find this in stores, but it’s worth seeking out on Amazon. Of all these recommendations, this is the most austere; it’s a low-budget, sparsely produced throwback that relies on the close harmony style perfected by the two brothers before Ira Louvin died in 1965. Good for listening to by the fire because it sounds like it was recorded by the fire, not in a studio. Sincere cheer.
#4
Perry Como
A Perry Como Christmas
1946-1982
Perry Como’s interpretative skills — his conversational voice and phrasing — are second only to Bing Crosby. Any Como Christmas CD will do (you gotta have at least one), but this one is a singular treat. Of the 22 tracks, maybe 9 are standard carols; the rest are either obscure Christmas tunes or just songs about family, but they’re so evocative that the spirit of the season pours from the grooves. The 10-minute “Story of the First Christmas,” “Love in a Home” and the hard-to-find “Ave Maria” are delights you won’t find elsewhere.
#5
Johnny Cash
The Christmas Spirit
1963
This is the spare, storytelling Johnny Cash from his earliest days on Columbia records, not the overproduced, made-for-tv-specials Cash of the 70’s and 80’s. Here his voice radiates the “Christmas spirit” with humility and reverence as he reflects on the spartan Christmas pasts of his hometown in Dyess, Arkansas. With only spoken words, his powerful imagery transports us 2000 years.
#6
Bruce Cockburn
Christmas
1993
Apart from being one of the most authentic celebrations of the meaning of Christmas (Bruce doesn’t sing about reindeer or shopping), this 1993 album signaled a return to the fine acoustic form of Cockburn’s High Winds White Sky era, after a decade of music shaped by politics and technology. It features several overlooked, regional carols: “Riu Riu Chiu,” “Jesus Ahatonnia” and “Down in Yon Forest” are seldom covered by other artists. Of his 25+ albums, this is near the top.
#7
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
1960
In the late fifties, Ella Fitzgerald made some of the most important contributions to recorded music when she covered the songbooks of eight esteemed American composers, including Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. This Christmas album combines the inspiring orchestras and arrangers of the songbook series with her crystalline voice. The result is a classy, almost regal collection of secular holiday goodies that would sound trivial in lesser hands.
#8
The Clancy Brothers
Christmas
1969
I doubt this CD is still in print (I think I bought the only copy), but it’s worth tracking down for afficionados of Irish music. Like an Irish wake, the Clancy’s celebrate Christmas with piety and verve. “Home then to the laden table / ham and goose and pints of beer / Whiskey handed ‘round in tumblers / Christmas comes but once a year.” Priceless.
#9
Windham Hill Artists
A Winter’s Solstice II
1989
Perfect music for contemplation and reposing by the fireside. Will Ackerman, formerly of Windham Hill, dared to publish quiet instrumentals that evoke the wonder of Christmas, often without having much at all to do with the season. Volume II is my personal favorite, though the first two releases are practically interchangeable; the rest of the Solstice series grows progressively redundant and inconsequential.
#10
New England Christmastide Musicians
New England Christmastide
1987
This collection of earthy instrumentals will bring a bit of Appalachia into your suburban home; if you don’t live on a mountaintop, this is the next best thing. Totally unplugged, its colorful stringed and woodwind instruments include flute, banjo, concertina, mandolin, cello, harmonium and hurdy gurdy. If music was played at the first Christmas, it might have sounded like this.
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