Santa’s Top 10 comes to us from Laserlight Digital, a record label dedicated to reissues of older songs from the 1940s to today, in all genres.  Laserlight Digital or Delta Music will become a familiar name in this blog.  You will see a lot of Christmas compilations from Laserlight.

There are some unique characteristics about this release.  First, this Christmas CD contains a few “other” Pop vocalists that don’t automatically appear on every Top 10 release of Christmas songs.  Second, there are only two songs out of the ten that were written before the 20^th century.  And all the songs except one, Little Drummer Boy by Vienna Boys’ Choir, are secular, traditional Christmas songs.  There are no surprises here or original Christmas songs, all songs will be familiar to most listeners.

I like the cover, but I also like depictions of Victorian Santa’s.  I’ve seen prettier covers, for sure, but this is not bad.  The CD cover features a Victorian Santa checking his list (of song titles).  He appears on a white background and on the right side is a list of seven artists and the songs they sing.  I just realized that if you take those seven and add the three that are visible on Santa’s list, you have all 10 tracks that appear on this CD.

The back of the CD is all writing; no graphic images are present.  The CD title is at the top in red lettering and a numerical track listing is featured.  Below the song titles are performing artist credits and below that are writer credits.  To the right of the song list are copywrite notices and the Laserlight name all on a red boxed background.

The CD cover comes out and opens along a single fold-out but reveals no information pertinent to this release.  Both sides are taken up with a list of Laserlight Christmas compilation CDs.  This is a good place to see if there is anything interesting, then you could go to their website, or another online marketplace and purchase it.

I would rather have had more information about the artists’ versions of the songs than a list of CDs.  The year of recording and orchestra leaders are always welcome!  The back of the CD cover shows a sunburst image that takes up the whole page.  Except for a Laserlight trademark notice at the very bottom, the page is blank.

So, the only place to find any information about the songs or artists is on the back cover.

I am familiar with all the songs, and I am familiar with all the artists, but I am not familiar with these songs sung by these artists.  A few, but not many.  For most of these artists, I have looked at their discographies on Discogs.com, Wikipedia.com and in the Billboard books, and I can’t find any viable, label issued and trusted information for the years or orchestras.  I have CDs by many of these artists, but these songs are not on them.

I can’t tell you about who is directing these orchestras, or what year the song came from, things I usually discuss.  But I can tell you that the CD begins beautifully with Patti Page singing Frosty The Snowman.  For the first 8 bars, I swore it was Doris Day.  Patti Page’s vibrato is very much like Doris Day’s, and her voice is in the same key.  But after the song gets going, I can tell the difference.  The orchestration is fantastic, with muted trumpets, reeds and flutes all in unison.  Organ, piano and celeste fill the middle part beautifully.

The 2^nd song is Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer sung by Gene Autry, recorded in 1957.  I have quite a few copies of this one, that’s how I know it’s 1957, but none of the CDs they come from has the name of the orchestra.  The orchestra showcases muted trumpets, accordion and reed instruments providing a wonderful melody.  This is a classic from 1957!

The 3^rd tune, Jingle Bells, has a jazzy, trumpet driven melody.  Joe Williams, the jazz singer, provides upbeat vocals.  I don’t know the orchestra, but they do a really good job.  It sounds like an eight- or ten-piece jazz orchestra.

The 4^th song I can tell you about.  It is Andy Williams singing I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus from a live Christmas performance he recorded at his theatre in Branson, Missouri in 1993.  I know this one because I have the CD.  Actually, I have two different copies.  It was one of the last Christmas recordings Andy Williams did.  His voice still sounds great.  It features a tap dance routine during the song, but not having seen it, I’m not sure if it’s Andy Williams dancing.

The 5th song is Gene Autry singing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.  The orchestration is great, but light.  Reed instruments are followed by celeste and then more reeds, flutes and muted trumpet.  A wonderful chorus gives this a classic Christmas sound.  It’s hard to even guess a decade with this one.  Gene Autry’s voice is unchanged from when he had his previous Christmas hits in 1953.  The orchestra has a very 1950s sound.  I don’t detect any electric pianos or synthesizers but that is not always a telltale sign.

The 6^th song is a new tune for me.  Glen Campbell sings and plays the song Sleighride wonderfully.  His terrific lead guitar, matched with flutes, piano and harp are a treat to listen to.  I have a couple Glen Campbell LP’s and CDs, and this is on none of them.

The 7^th song has Pat Boone and his wife and daughters singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas from their Christmas album in 1975.  (That CD reissue was just reviewed the other day).  It’s the Pat Boone Family Christmas!  Pat and the whole family have fun with this one.  I am impressed with how great the daughters sound singing in unison.

A special treat is Debbie Reynolds singing Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!.  Debbie Reynolds did not release a Christmas album at the height of her career, but she did release one in 1975, but this song is not on it.  Debbie Reynolds was known as one of the best musical actresses in the 1950s and 1960s and she recorded many cast albums and Pop standards.  To have any Christmas songs from Debbie Reynolds is a treat.  Her voice is soft, but strong.  I’ve not heard her sing much, but she is terrific.  The band has a jazz combo feel to it.  It’s probably a ten-piece orchestra or something like that.  It sounds like Count Basie or Jack Parnell, but no strings or percussion like tympani.  It sounds a lot like the Lena Horne version from 1966.

The 9^th song is Vic Damone singing Winter Wonderland.  Now, here you hear strings.  A wonderful, lush string orchestra provides most of the melody, accented by piano in the middle part.  Vic Damone has a wonderful tenor voice.  One of the best.  Has spent a great deal of his career headlining in Las Vegas.

The 10^th and last song is probably the most familiar one to me.  Little Drummer Boy performed by Vienna Boys’ Choir.  This recording comes from their 1995 Christmas CD.  It features an arrangement that is almost a cappella.  For the first 45 seconds, The Vienna Boys’ Choir is backed up by a single acoustic guitar that barely plucks the melody.  Then the guitar is joined by one cello.  Together they barely play 4 notes in a measure.  The voices do all the work.  By the end of the song, slowly, instrument by instrument, a string quartet is heard with flute and snare drum.  But throughout the entire song, many times the instruments just stop, and the voices carry the melody.  It is the only traditional carol here and it is a beautiful Christmas song.

The bad news first.  There are only two things, and I’ll be brief.  First, there are only ten songs on this terrific Christmas compilation CD.  Second, there are no orchestra or recording date information.  But the “only ten songs” thing really gets me.

Then people might say, “Then why did you buy it”?  I can’t remember how I got this.  Every year, Kroger would put out a Christmas CD display with lots of titles for only $5.00.  I bought a lot of those.  In the beginning, I collected more compilations to have variety.  Then I started collecting individual artist’s Christmas releases.

Now the good news.  This is a great, great Christmas CD, albeit a short one.  There is not a bad song on here and there are a few artists not found on a lot of Christmas compilations.  Plus, for about seven of these songs, these are the only copies I have and since they don’t show up in artist discographies, that tells me they are on the rare side.  They may have been recorded for promotional albums that were given to customers, or record clubs.

I give this CD :

***1/2*