If you are on a budget and you want to start a small Christmas music collection or if you’re looking to expand an existing collection to have more traditional Christmas songs, then look no further.  This CD box set of 60 traditional Christmas songs from Reader’s Digest is for you.  Reader’s Digest has always done a remarkable job of repackaging Christmas songs released throughout the Classic Christmas Music Era.  If you were allowed to have only one Christmas CD, (or box set), this should be it.  Or any of the other 3 CD box sets of Christmas music that Reader’s Digest has put out throughout the years.  I have 3 different box sets, each with 3 CDs each.  (I would have more but then I would have way too many repeats.  When you have over 1,600 Christmas CDs and LPs, you start to get a lot of repeats).

Time-Life Music does a really good job of repackaging Christmas songs too, but I think Reader’s Digest does a better job.  For one thing, the Time-Life collections usually have 12 to 15 songs on each CD for a total of 36 to 45 songs.  Most Reader’s Digest 3 CD compilations will have 60 songs total.  Plus, the information in the liner notes on the Reader’s Digest collections is far better than the Time-Life CDs.

This is a 3 CD box set of Christmas songs that spans 40 years, 1941 – 1982, with most from the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s.  The set comes in a double hinged box that could hold 4, and that is very typical of box sets of 3 CDs.

The cover depicts a family returning home after cutting down their Christmas tree from the nearby woods.  Its setting is on a mountain side covered in snow, and you can see a couple of other houses in the background.  The title of the CD is placed over and at the top of the painting.  The artwork on the back of the box has the Reader’s Digest logo at the top, followed by the CD title and below is a numerical track listing separated by CD.

The inside artwork is very good, and most Reader’s Digest compilations come with very good liner notes.  Included inside the box is a reference booklet with a whopping 48 pages.  There is a lot of information to be gathered from this.  The first page of the booklet has some production notes about this set.  One thing in particular is that it mentions the letters AAD.  As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, this stands for Analog – Analog – Digital.  It means the songs were originally recorded in analog, and the remastering for the release was done on an analog machine, and the music is presented in a digital format, this CD.  I like AAD.  It means I’m getting the original song, which means it was recorded before 1985, and the music is presented in a digital format, a CD, so the quality will be the best.  Honestly, ADD is better.  That means the original analog tapes were remastered digitally, and presented on CD.

The 3^rd page of the booklet offers an endorsement of the quality of the music included.  Starting with page 4 and continuing through page 40, each song is listed by title with writer credits and performing artist.  Then there is a small description of the history of the song and artist who performs it, including the year of release and Billboard chart performance.  This is done for all 60 songs.

At the back of the booklet, starting with page 41, is a numerical track list with performing artists and time signatures for each CD.  After that is an alphabetical list of all the songs and their performers that appear across all 3 CDs.  There is also a page reference for looking the song up in the booklet and which CD it’s on.  Excellent liner notes!

There are 60 Christmas carols, hymns and secular tunes spread out over 3 CDs. Almost three hours of music.  What you would expect is here; Arthur Fiedler And The Boston Pops performing Sleigh Ride, Bobby Helms with Jingle Bell Rock, Brenda Lee with Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, etc.  Even the Singing Dogs performing Jingle Bells is on here.

There are some Classic Christmas artists that are overlooked on other compilations represented here as well.  Kate Smith with Christmas Eve In My Home Town, The Lettermen with O Holy Night and Merv Griffin singing The Merry Christmas Polka.  There are old Christmas carols, newer Christmas songs from the mid-20^th century and even some novelty Christmas songs.

Upon close inspection, there are a few that are missing.  There is no Johnny Mathis, Doris Day or Frank Sinatra.  I think it is due to an artist / label relationship.  The CD does mention RCA, and there are also notations for MCA Records, Capitol Records and Monument Records.  There doesn’t seem to be any Columbia Records’ artists here.

Most people will be familiar with all the songs and artists, but possibly not the artist singing the song you are familiar with.  It’s always nice to get something new.

This CD should appeal to anyone that likes traditional Christmas music.  If you prefer contemporary arrangements performed by today’s artists, then you would find this compilation CD boring.  But turn on the radio during Christmas and many of these songs will be playing.

I give this CD :

*****