If you were allowed to own only one Christmas CD or box set, this CD box set from Sony Music Entertainment Inc. would have to be one to consider.  Once again, Sony Music has done a great job of putting together a 3-disc set of familiar Christmas favorites.  There are 40 songs spread out over 3 CDs and the whole set takes over 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete.  That’s a good start to any Christmas collection.

First, let’s get to the artwork.  As per Sony releases, there is room for improvement.  The cover is festive.  It shows a large cathedral’s silhouette against the dusk of a cloudy evening.  The nearby tree branches are decorated with Christmas ornaments.  The CD title appears a little below the center and some of the artists featured on the CD are listed in sentence form below the title.

The back of the CD has a continuation of the night sky.  Superimposed over the image are three separate numerical track listings, one for each CD, featuring performing artists.  Below are typical copywrite notices.

The fun stops there, though.  All three CDs come in a box that has two distinct sections that open along hinges built into the case.  I’m sure you are familiar with this type of CD case.  There is enough room to add one more CD, and a small booklet.  But there is no small booklet.  Sony missed a great opportunity to include a multiple-page booklet giving more information about the songs.  Years of recording, writer credits and any other information is always appreciated.

Of course, the fun doesn’t really stop with the lack of liner notes, the fun is just beginning.  Like I said earlier, this could possibly be the only Christmas compilation CD you would ever need.  Most of the songs are familiar Christmas hymns and carols or secular Christmas songs from the 20^th century.  Most of the artists are familiar as well.  There are a few songs most listeners will not be familiar with and there are some artists that are not known solely for their Christmas music.  For me, that just makes for a more well-rounded collection.  Too many Christmas compilation collections that feature the same songs over and over already exist.

Frank Sinatra, (Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, 1950), Johnny Mathis, (Give Me Your Love For Christmas, 1969), Burl Ives, (O Little Town Of Bethlehem, 1968), Tony Bennett, (White Christmas, 1968) and Andy Williams, (Some Children See Him, 1965) are all here.  Doris Day, (Christmas Present, 1964), Rosemary Clooney, (Snow, 1954), Aretha Franklin, (Winter Wonderland, 1964) and Patti Page, (Christmas Bells, 1965) are all here as well.  I noticed there was no Bing Crosby or Perry Como.  That’s because most of the artists, if not all, were on Columbia Records.  Bing Crosby was on Decca and Perry Como was on RCA Victor.

Vocal groups such as The Lennon Sisters, (Silent Night, 1960), The Brothers Four, (Mary’s Little Boy Child, 1966), and The New Christy Minstrels, (O Bambino (One Cold And Blessed Winter) 1966), all contribute one song.  The Hi-Lo’s sing a haunting version of The Star Carol a cappella, from 1959.  It must be heard to be appreciated.

Christmas stalwarts the Percy Faith Chorus, (We Need A Little Christmas, 1966), and the Ray Conniff Singers, (Here Comes Santa Claus, 1959), are here to enjoy also.

All the songs date from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, so that means all the songs are from the Classic Christmas Music Era.  Frankie Laine sings You’re All I Want For Christmas from 1948.  The Modernaires provide their tight harmonies along with a Big Band arrangement of The Jingle Bell Polka from 1947.  Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark sing their # 3 duet hit, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, from 1949.

Orchestras, symphonic or otherwise, are represented by Duke Ellington, (Jingle Bells, 1962), Andre Kostelanetz, (Sleigh Ride, 1963), Lester Lanin (Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairies, 1959) and Les Brown And His Band Of Renown, (We Wish You The Merriest, 1961).

The two songs from the 1970s are Julie Andrews, The Secret Of Christmas, from 1973 and Vikki Carr, What Child Is This?, from 1972.

There are two songs I have been having trouble getting years for.  Diahann Carroll sings Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming.  This could be anywhere from 1965 to the early 1970s.  I’m inclined to believe it’s from 1965.  The first time it shows up on a Christmas album is a Christmas compilation LP, Great Songs Of Christmas, that was distributed through Goodyear in the 1960s.  Many times, songs appear on these types of commissioned LPs and nowhere else.  But I need label confirmation before I can accurately say that it’s from 1965.

The other song, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire), by Mel Torme, is not as easy to track down.  Mel Torme recorded this Christmas classic that he helped write numerous times.

Some other artists worth mentioning include Jimmy Boyd (I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, 1952), Bobby Vinton, (The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle, 1964), Gene Autry, (Frosty The Snowman, 1950) and Roy Orbison, (Pretty Paper, 1963).

17 of the 40 songs appear in my Top 500 Classic Christmas Recordings.  Two of those that I have yet to mention include Arthur Godfrey With The Chordettes And The Cherry Sisters singing A Marshmallow World from 1950, and Mitch Miller And The Gang singing Must Be Santa from 1960.

A few of my personal favorites include Louis Prima & Kelly Smith with their hip, jive swinging Shake Hands With Santa Claus from 1951.  Jim Nabors, (Three Wise Men, Wise Men Three) and Jerry Vale, ((There’s No Place Like) Home For The Holidays) are both from 1967.

As you can see, many different genres of music are here as well.  Christmas music comes in all kinds of flavors, and I look at it like this; we know it’s Christmas music, but what style is it in, and who was the audience the song was targeted to.  In addition to Pop Vocals, there are Symphonic, Orchestral and Big Band Christmas songs.  Irish Folk Christmas is represented by The Clancy Brothers with Christmas In Carrick from 1969.  Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson sings Do You Hear What I Hear? From 1968.

Most all of these songs come from Christmas albums released by the individual artists, and I have most of those in my collection.  Look for reviews of those Christmas albums elsewhere in this blog, or in this blog’s future.

One of the greatest things about this Sony Christmas compilation box is that no single artist has more than one song, and the same song title is not repeated throughout all 3 CDs.  That makes for 40 individual artists singing 40 different, terrific Christmas songs.

Because this CD does not contain artists from Decca, RCA Victor or Mercury, etc., there is room in your collection for more great Christmas compilations.  The Readers Digest box sets are also terrific Christmas compilation CDs to own.

The thing to take away from this review is this : Sony Music puts together great Christmas music collections, some are a single CD, and others like this one, are 3 CD sets.  Look for the Sony Music collections when you look for Classic Christmas music.

I give this CD :

****