Search - Various Artists :: Nostalgic Merry Christmas to You

Some great performances, some not so great,but all memorable

Neal C. Reynolds | Indianapolis, Indiana | 11/22/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Nice

Richard Wagoner | Rancho Palos Verdes, CA USA | 01/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."