John Gary is the greatest Pop Standards singer you’ve never heard of.  I stumbled upon him in the very early days of my CD collecting.  I have a Very Best Of CD that was probably among the first 20 CDs I ever bought.  I have been a big John Gary fan ever since.  I was impressed with his career achievements when reading his biography on Wikipedia to get ready for this review.

John Gary Strader was born in 1932 in Watertown, New York.  He started singing at the age of 5 and by the age of 12, he had received numerous awards for his singing.  At the age of 12, he toured around the southern states.  Incredible.

He was seen on local TV and heard on local radio in Louisiana.  At the height of his career, he appeared on Broadway, played Carnegie Hall, and appeared on the Tonight Show numerous times during all the hosts’ tenures.  John Gary toured the country extensively throughout the 1960s.  He also had his own TV variety show for a while. 

John Gary was considered to have the smoothest tenor voice during the 1960s.  After signing a recording contract with RCA in 1963, he went on to release almost 30 albums for RCA Victor throughout the 1960s.  After the sixties ended, so did his popularity.  He would continue to release albums throughout the 70s and 80s, but only a few in the 1970s, a couple in the 1980s and one in the 1990s before his death from cancer in 1998.

This CD is a reissue of John Gary’s Christmas album from 1964.  The title remains the same, and the songs are presented in their original order.  But any resemblance to the original album ends there.  This reissue is produced by BMG Special Products, courtesy of the RCA Records Label.

The cover for the CD shows a head and shoulders picture of John Gary in a yellow cashmere cardigan over a light blue sport shirt.  Two lit candles sit in front of him.  The CD title appears at the top of the cover in white letters.  John Gary’s name is considerably larger than the rest of the title.  All is superimposed over a festive red background.

The back of the CD has a close-up picture of the candle flames from the front cover.  The title appears near the top on the left and below is a numerical track listing.  Below are copywrite notices from RCA Records, BMG Special Products and RESTART Temps, Inc.  Again, all is superimposed over a festive red background.

The back of the CD cover holds no new information.  The CD cover is only a double-sided piece of heavy paper.  The back of the CD cover is an almost exact duplication of the back of the CD but in black and white.  Some of the copywrite notices are worded differently and in a different spot, but overall, the back of the CD cover is just a black and white image of the back cover.  More detailed recording information would have been nice.  We don’t get time signatures, writer credits or publishing information.  There are quite a few Christmas songs on here that are unique to this album, and more information would have been a bonus.

The cover for the original album was much more festive and had the look many Christmas albums had in 1963.  It featured a picture of a smiling John Gary dressed in a tuxedo, holding a couple of ornately wrapped Christmas presents.  In the background is a slightly out of focus Christmas tree.  The background is light green, and the album title appears at the top and the songs are listed underneath the title.

The original album contained 11 songs.  Peter Matz & his Orchestra produce all the wonderful, lush arrangements.  Out of the 11 songs, only four are traditional Christmas hymns.  But two of those songs are medleys so we get a total of 8 familiar Christmas hymns.  Of the other songs on the CD, five are familiar secular Christmas songs from the 20^th century.  There are two original Christmas songs that are unique to this album.  With all that said, there is still no mention of Rudolph, Frosty or even Santa himself.

The CD begins beautifully.  The 1^st song, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire), has the greatest opening I’ve ever heard.  The arrangement begins triumphantly with sleighbells, celesta and brass, then quickly the chorus declares “Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday…”.  The arrangement they sing to has nothing to do with the song itself, it’s not the same melody.  It’s an opening verse of sorts and it adds a wonderful start to the whole album.  The orchestrations and John Gary’s vocals are soft and traditional.

The 2^nd song, Winter Wonderland, is soft.  The melody is accented with flutes that dance through the verses.  The string orchestra and the celesta combine to make for a beautiful song.  The chorus echoes the vocals softly on the refrains.

The 3^rd song is an original Christmas song, unique to this album.  Little Snow Girl uses reeds, celesta and flutes along with soft choral voices to produce an endearing Christmas song that speaks of the love a Little Snow Girl finds in an adjacent snowman.  It is a love song just like many others were written at the time, but the subjects are not young couples, or teenagers, they are snow people.  The song has all the elements that love songs did in the early 60s, it’s just the nature of the subjects that makes it a cute song.  The song goes on to caution the Little Snow Girl not to cry when the snow stops falling and the sun comes out and begins to melt the snow man, for he will return next year.  It’s not really a Christmas song, but nonetheless, it’s a fun Winter song.

The 4^th song is a medley of three traditional hymns; The First Noel / O Come All Ye Faithful / O Holy Night.  The songs are structured with their own unique arrangements making it three separate songs.  The transitions between the songs use brass instruments to finish the current song and add an introduction into the next song.  We get three distinct Christmas songs in 4:40.  The arrangements are all triumphant and the chorus joins in full voices on all the songs.

The 5^th song, Wintertime And Christmas Time, is another original, unique Christmas song.  The song speaks of the sights and sounds of Winter and how it ushers in the Christmas season.  The song ties into the Three Wise Men and their journey to the manger on Christmas Eve.

White Christmas follows.  The arrangement is light, and the chorus adds soft harmonies.  There is no mention in the liner notes of the CD or the original album as to who the chorus might be.  I’m sure RCA had a large ensemble of voices they could pull together.  The song ends jubilantly as John Gary and the chorus shout a warm Christmas greeting.

The 7^th song is Do You Hear What I Hear.  The opening features brass and a snare drum paired with cellos, while the arrangement stays light throughout the song.  Flutes and muted brass instruments accompany a light string orchestra to make up most of the melody.  As the song progresses, John Gary declares the vocals in reverence.

Sweet Little Jesus Boy follows as the 8^th song.  It is not a commonly recorded song, yet it should be familiar to seasoned listeners.  Again, the instrumentation is light, incorporating acoustic guitar with muted trumpets.  This is one of those Christmas songs that must be sung with solemn vocals, just like Little Altar Boy.  John Gary’s vocals demonstrate the octave range he was so acclaimed to possess.

The 9^th song, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, returns to lush strings and celesta.  Again, John Gary uses the softness in his voice to add passion to the lyrics.  The chorus is also light as muted trumpets assist with the refrains.

Song # 10, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, begins with the refrain used as an introduction.  Again, light orchestrations of strings, celesta and brass allow John Gary’s vocals to shine.  Even with this mostly jubilant Christmas song, the arrangement is given the soft, solemn treatment.

The final song on the album is the second of two medleys.  Hark! The Herald Angels Sing / O Little Town Of Bethlehem / Silent Night begins triumphantly and again, the arrangements are completely different with each song in the medley.  Muted brass instruments usher in the second song, while tolling bells and harp introduce the final song.  More time is given to Silent Night than the other two.  This allows the CD to close with a very solemn finish.

If there was one word to describe John Gary’s Christmas album, it would be solemn.  There are very few Christmas albums that are consistently this soft and eloquent.  Peter Matz has arranged all the songs with light orchestrations as opposed to large symphonic stylings.

John Gary does a superb job on all the songs.  His voice is soft and solemn.  He treats every song with reverence and humbleness.  The chorus provides the perfect accompaniment to his vocals.  John Gary treats every song like it’s the last song he’ll ever sing.  His passion for the lyrics is transcended in every song.

As I said earlier, John Gary may not be well known to a lot of people.  He didn’t chart any Top Forty hits, and his career took place during the 1960s when Rock music dominated record sales.  His singles performed better on the Adult Contemporary charts than the Pop charts.  Yet he had one of the best voices in the Pop Standards market.  And the same can be said for his 1964 Christmas album.  This album did not go to # 3 on Billboard’s Christmas charts because it was a bad Christmas album.  On the contrary, it is one of the best Christmas albums released in all of the 1960s.

If you enjoy Christmas albums from the Classic Christmas Music Era and you like adding to them every year, then you should include this in your collection.  John Gary’s Christmas album from 1964 is every bit as good as any of the more popular Christmas albums from Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams or Perry Como.  Most of the songs are familiar Christmas tunes and the two originals are great, unique Christmas songs.

I give this CD :

****