No comments about Home for Christmas.

4 comments about Rockin' Christmas Party, Volume 1.

1. Ron Dante, best known as the lead singer of The Archies and producer of Barry Manilow's first wave of million-selling recordings, has lost neither his golden voice nor his golden touch ... his latest production effort, "Rockin' Christmas Party," a super-cool compilation of holiday tunes, bears this out. This CD features a pleasing mixture of Yuletide classics and original tracks (tomorrow's classics) - the familiar coexisting comfortably with the new, just like the meaning of Christmas itself. The music is fantastic! - but with heavyweights such as Ron, Lou Christie, Tommy Roe, Bobby Vee, Gary Lewis and Chris Montez contributing their talents, what else would you expect? Plug in the Christmas tree lights, grab a cup of eggnog, and settle back for some very pleasant listening.
   
   The first of Ron Dante's four tunes on the CD, "Rock & Roll Christmas," is fast-moving and energetic, the epitome of holiday fun, underscoring Ron's talents as composer, producer, and performer; no better song could have been chosen for the opening track. "Christmas in New York," performed by Lou Christie along with his backup singers, The Crayons, is a sentimental midtempo offering; listening to it makes me want to hop a plane to Manhattan and Rockefeller Center at tree-lighting time, and even those who weren't born and raised in the NYC-Metro area, as I was, will get a warm and fuzzy thrill from this original holiday tune.
   
   Tommy Roe's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," is, in a word, electrifying ... folks who remember Tommy only for his candy-coated 60's hits "Dizzy" and "Sweet Pea" will be blown away after hearing this one. "This Diamond Ring" purveyor Gary Lewis presents a rockin' good time with "Jingle Bell Rock," followed by Bobby Vee taking us "Home for the Holidays" with a lilting country twang. Next comes a pleasant surprise as Chris Montez serves up his own salsa-flavored version of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." (For the trivia buffs among you, this song was penned by the same composer who gave us "Rudolph" - the incomparable Johnny Marks.)
   
   The lovely "Shine Your Light On Me" is illuminated by Ron Dante's flawless vocals and impeccable phrasing, and is the perfect lead-in for Lou Christie's "O Holy Night," in which the falsetto king (remember "Lightning Strikes" and "I'm Gonna Make You Mine" from the 60's?) proves not only that he can still reach the notes but also the heartstrings. Gary Lewis returns with another Marks classic, "Holly Jolly Christmas," then Ron takes center stage with a strong rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming To Town." This version, with the titular observation repeated three times in the refrain, was popularized by the Crystals and later picked up by Springsteen, among others - but Ron truly makes this song his own, and this track is itself destined to become a holiday classic. Bobby Vee's "Peace on Earth," another pleasant Yuletide offering, is sandwiched between "Santa" and another future holiday classic courtesy of Ron Dante, the lovely "The Christmas Of Our Lives."
   
   The words "Volume One" splashed across the cover of this CD indicates that future editions will be forthcoming. If the subsequent releases are as good as this one - and I have no doubt that they will be - I'll be first in line to buy 'em!



2. It is a great cd. All of the Christmas Favorites sung by some of our old time favorite people. Ron Dante just keeps getting better as the years go by. He is a great writer and an even
   greater singer. The other guys aren't too shabby either.



3. rockin' Christmas Party, Volume 1 is a must for the festive season.
   
   Relive memories from yesteryear with artists of the calibre of Lou Christie, Tommy Roe, Gary Lewis, Bobby Vee, Chris Montez plus ron Dante.
   
   Old favourites like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bell Rock, Santa Claus is coming to Town.
   
   Good value for money!



4. The music selection is good but even after I returned the first cracked disc the replacement disc was also cracked. But the second one at least played in the computer. I do have to wonder about the quality of production with two in a row being cracked.

5 comments about Christmas Album.

1. I'd like to give this album 5 stars, but my individual track ratings don't justify it. I love this CD. I love listening to it all throughout the year. This is really good Christmas music plus really good Tijuana Brass music. Buy it. My individual track ratings are:

   1. Winter Wonderland -- 5 Stars
   2. Jingle Bells -- 4 Stars
   3. My Favorite Things -- 4 Stars
   4. Christmas Song -- 4 Stars
   5. Mañanitas -- 4 Stars
   6. Sleigh Ride -- 4 Stars
   7. Bell That Couldn't Jingle -- 4 Stars
   8. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! -- 3 Stars
   9. Jingle Bell Rock -- 4 Stars
   10. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring -- 3 Stars




2. I remember listening to this every night as a kid when I went to sleep near Christmas time. The songs seeped into my subconcious. Now as an adult I can't find it anywhere. $120 secondhand on Amazon?? No wonder the music industry is losing money. They keep pumping out endless loops of junk while a possible good seller goes by the wayside. They could re-issue this one, sell it for 10.99 and make a mint! Heck, I'd buy at least 4 myself and give them as gifts.



3. I heard a few tracks recently on the radio and would love to purchase this and other Herb Alpert CD's but the price is ridiculous!!! Why is that?



4. This would make a great Christmas CD if you could buy it! I wanted to order about 6 or 7 Herb Alpert CDs (especially the Christmas CD) but most of the original releases are out of print? If there are thousands of CDs available for "Video Game Soundtracks" , why does great music like Herb Alpert's go out of print? When did "Real" style.........go out of style? If these classic CDs are released again I will buy them but until then, I guess I will have to settle for 30-second samples at Amazon.



5. This is one of the best Christmas albums out there, but why isn't it available? I have great memories of listening to these songs as a kid growing up in the late 70s, and I would love to add this to my Christmas CD collection. But I cannot spend $100 on any CD, and I sure won't spend it on a used one.
   
   THIS ONE NEEDS TO BE RE-RELEASED, A&M.

5 comments about Mark And Brian: Little Drummer Boys.

1. I bought it for the listener duet with Barry Manilow & The Jenerators. But found that it is great driving music all the way through. And the Elfis bit had my wife and I cracking up in tears. You'll Love it!



2. M&B have another great CD to add to your collection of favorite past moments. The WAY and The LIGHT are certainly concerned about entertaining their fans, and have shown it again in this CD. We can only thank M&B, and lets not forget the support staff for more great comedy and excellent music. This is a MUST have.



3. A devoted M&B fan, I jumped at the chance to purchase their new CD. I wasn't disappointed. Two CDs (one music, one comedy) packed with fun and wonderful music. Way to go guys!



4. How else can I possibly put it: Mark and Brian RULE. They ROCK. They REIGN.

   Across the spectrum from in-your-face toilet humor to subtle digs, jabs and feints at social mores, these kings of L.A. morning comedy never fail to dazzle.

   Proceeds go to charity: yet another reason to love the Way and the Light, and to buy this disc.




5. Stern follows M & B with a shovel and cleans up their mess. Mark and Brian are 2 of the funniest men to ever grace the airwaves. With Brian Phelp's background in improvisation, and Mark Thompson's, sometimes, scatalogical humor and real life family funnies, you cannot go wrong.

No comments about Christmas in the Country.

No comments about Christmas In Connecticut I.

4 comments about A Christmas Carol/Mr. Pickwick's Christmas.

1. Lately, Deutsche Grammophon has been releasing on CD some of the old American Decca mono recordings of the 1940's and '50's. While the original 78-RPM Broadway cast albums of "Oklahoma!", "Carousel", "The King and I" and "Annie Get Your Gun" found their way to CD years ago, some of these Decca recordings have inexplicably been ignored by American CD labels, including Decca itself, and now DGG has taken up the slack and is doing a splendid job.
   
   Their latest is not a classical or popular music release. It is a spoken word album - a very overdue American release of two Charles Dickens classics, "A Christmas Carol" and "Mr. Pickwick's Christmas". Both were previously available on an Australian CD which was never released in the U.S. Each Dickens tale was originally released by American Decca as a single item on 78 RPM before the age of LP's. "Carol" was recorded in October 1941, and released in November of that year, a sobering thought considering the fact that Pearl Harbor was soon to be attacked, ushering the United States into World War II. "Pickwick" followed three years later, in November of 1944. Both were later included on a single 33 1/3 RPM LP, one of the most popular Decca albums ever made, selling well into the late 1960's. The LP version of "A Christmas Carol", however, omitted two characters (the charity collectors) heard in the 78 RPM version, and that moment has not been restored on this CD. (Ferdinand Munier, who played one of them, is erroneously credited as appearing on this album. He does not.) The sound is quite good, especially for recordings made before the age of real hi-fi, though, of course, it is not stereo.
   
   Both stories are beautifully done. In "A Christmas Carol", renowned film actor Ronald Colman stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, and while he would have seemed miscast if he had ever done a film version of the story, he is quite excellent on records, his beautiful voice not only acting the role of Scrooge, but, in a very imaginative touch, narrating the story to the listener in character, as if Scrooge were reminiscing about his misspent life. He makes no attempt to sound "old", but is nonetheless completely convincing - better than Laurence Olivier is in *his* recorded version (and I, an Olivier fan, once never imagined I'd say that).
   
   A further testament to the excellence of this production is that, although it is only twenty minutes or so long, each actor convinces completely in his role, and the story never seems rushed, because director George Wells has known exactly how to edit it. The supporting cast includes few familiar names, although all were noted screen character actors of the period; the most familiar names are Hans Conried (Captain Hook in Disney's animated "Peter Pan") as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Gale Gordon ("The Lucy Show"'s Mr. Mooney) as a *speaking* Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
   
   This "Carol" certainly won't replace Alastair Sim's 1951 film, but it will certainly do on records. (I have not heard Patrick Stewart's one-man version).
   
   The second selection on this CD is a tour-de-force for Dickens enthusiasts and fans of virtuoso acting. It is Charles Laughton doing a one-man reading of the Christmas chapter from "The Pickwick Papers". Unlike "A Christmas Carol", this selection is not really adapted, just abridged. It is Dickens' words all the way through, with musical accompaniment, and no one has ever read Dickens better than Charles Laughton, one of the greatest actors of the twentieth century. Dickens is not boring in his hands. Laughton is delightful as he supplies all the voices, male and female, of the many characters.
   
   Those who like their CD's to play 70 minutes or more may be disappointed with this one; it plays for only 39 minutes. But it is undoubtedly a very worthwhile recording, and it ought to have the same success on CD that it had on LP and 78 RPM years ago.



2. Loved these storries, especially Mr Picwicks Christmas, beautiful old english storry. loved it



3. I discovered this CD last Christmas and have added it to my Christmas favorites. The Colman 'A Christmas Carol' full-cast radio play is much better than either Laurence Olivier's or Orson Welles'. Furthermore, though it is a monologue, I think the Laughton 'Mr. Pickwick's Christmas' a greater artistic work than the Colman 'A Christmas Carol'. No one could have read this story better than Laughton, one of the 20th-century's greatest actors.
   
   Last year I gave a copy of this CD to a friend who is an old-movie buff, and she was delighted. I shall do likewise next Christmas as no classic movie lover could resist these performances.



4. Literary scholars love to tell us folk who love Christmas that the holiday, as we know it, was invented by the imagination of Charles Dickens in his novel, "Pickwick Papers," and his first Christmas novella "A Christmas Carol." Personally I have every recording of "A Christmas Carol" publicly produced, and none produces the magic of Redemption except Alastair Sim's 1951 movie. However, no Christmas was complete in mid-20th Century America without listening to Charles Laughton perform "Mr. Pickwick's Christmas." If you have not heard it, give yourself a treat that will last a lifetime. And the recording here presented has been carefully cleaned by Deutsche Grammophon. You may like the Carol very much; you will love Laughton's Pickwick.

No comments about Dallas Christmas Gala (Hybr).

1 comments about Goin Home for Christmas.

1. An outstanding holiday album, with Merle crooning over a tasteful bed of strings'n'pedal steel; he was admirably suited to the cornball spirit of the holidays, and really put his heart into each of these tracks... Most of the songs are Haggard originals, ranging from tearjerkers like "Grandma's Homemade Christmas Card" and "Daddy Won't Be Home Again For Christmas" (he's in prison...) to a sleighbell-bedecked remake of "If We Can Make It Through December" and the cheery "Santa Claus And Popcorn." Plus, his spins at older tunes like "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" and "Blue Christmas" are pretty rich and resonant -- Merle's version of "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a welcome addition to the hillbilly holiday repertoire.  (The CD reissue also includes a bonus track from 1986, a jazzy acoustic version of "White Christmas..." It doesn't match the tone of the other tracks, but it's also kinda cool.) This is a really nice album.

No comments about Country Christmas Hits.