Album Reviews

Chad Kassem's got a vinyl selling website, a reissue label, a pressing plant and well-oiled licensing deals so what's left to do but a self-produced double vinyl Christmas compilation pressed on red and green?

So that's what Mr. Kassem has done here. You could argue that doing one on vinyl really isn't necessary and that a digital stream is more than sufficient since more likely than not you'll be listening as background music to accompany your holiday festivities, but then you could also say the same thing about having a fire in your fireplace given that your home probably has a perfectly adequate heating system.

There's something comforting about a Christmas fireplace (though on the east coast it looks to be a ridiculously balmy and snow-free Christmas) and there's also something equally comforting about Christmas music played back on a turntable— regardless of your religion, though it would have been excellent had Kassem included Robert Smigel's brilliant "Christmastime For the Jews" sung by Ronnie Spector.

Speaking of which, there's also nothing here from Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift For You, but never mind, this is a swell set of well-chosen Christmas tunes smartly sequenced.

The set opens with Nat Cole's classic "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)" ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire"), co-written by Mel Torme, followed by Ray Charles and Betty Carter's frisky, more seasonal than Christmas-themed, "Baby It's Cold Outside", then "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi Trio from the Charlie Brown Christmas special. The sequencing goes from cute to funky with Charles (not Charlie) Brown's "Please Come Home For Christmas", then Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and the first side ender, Ella Fitzgerald's take on "Sleigh Ride".

Now that's what I call smart sequencing! The other sides are equally well sequenced and packed with great selections you'd want to have collected in one place including Gene Autry's "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", "The Little Drummer Boy", Aaron Neville's pleasingly warbly "Ave Maria", Leroy Anderson's classic "Sleigh Ride", Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad", Eartha Kitt's suggestive "Santa Baby", Kenny Burrell's foot tapping "Merry Christmas, Baby", Chet Atkins' version of Bobby Helms' classic "Jingle Bell Rock" (a Bill Porter engineered "Living Stereo" sonic gem), as well as Helms' original, and of course the double LP set ends with Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".

Would I have liked for the set to have included "Bing and Bowie's now classic "Little Drummer Boy" duet? Sure. And Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song" for some balance and levity? Sure! And maybe "Here Comes Susie Snowflake"? Yes. But that's just because I actually once dated Susie Snowflake, who was song writer Sid Tepper's daughter, (who was hardly light as a snowflake). That is true.

The double LP gatefold package is festively presented with inside liner notes by Robert Hull that provide an excellent backgrounder on each of the tunes, written from a music lover's and a record collector's perspective.

Ryan K. Smith mastered the set at Sterling Sound from high resolution digital sources, which, given the nature of a compilation like this makes sense for reasons both financial and technical. Kassem made sure to get high resolution 192/24 or DSD transfers of all tracks except for the Kenny Burrell tune, which is CD resolution 16/44.1K, which is all that's available... and the sound is very good throughout.

Just for the hell of it, I've transferred 45 seconds of the opening tune from both this reissue and from an original Capitol "Rainbow" label copy (SW 1967) so you can compare for yourself, even though now both are digital versions. Of course I'm not saying which is which. You tell me. I think you'll find the answer very interesting!

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Funny that the opener "The Christmas Song" and the closer "White Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" were all written by Jews! But I want to assure everyone that you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this album (or Christmas for that matter---after all he was also Jewish!