Track listing
The original release of Merry Christmas Music was an RCA Victor "Musical Smart Set" consisting of four 10" 78 RPM records.
Disc 1:
- "That Christmas Feeling" (3:23), Recorded August 6, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra
- "I'll Be Home For Christmas" (2:53), Recorded August 6, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra
Disc 2:
- "Silent Night" (3:50), Recorded August 20, 1946 with Organ and Choir conducted by Russ Case
- "O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)" (2:45), Recorded August 20, 1946 with Organ and Choir conducted by Russ Case
Disc 3:
- "Jingle Bells" (2:58), Recorded August 22, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra and Chorus
- "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" (2:15), Recorded August 1, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra and The Satisfiers
Disc 4:
- "Winter Wonderland" (2:37), Recorded August 1, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra and The Satisfiers
- "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (2:54), Recorded August 20, 1946 with Organ and Choir conducted by Russ Case
The 1947 Reissue: This reissue replaced "O Little Town of Bethlehem" with "White Christmas". With this change, "White Christmas" was now on the second side of disc three moving "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" to the first side of disc four and "Winter Wonderland" to the second.
The 1951 Reissue: The same contents as 1947, only the album was now available on a 10" LP vinyl record as well as a 45 RPM set, containing 4 records.
The 1956 reissue was the first major change. [1] The album included the same eight songs as before, as well as eight "new" ones which had been recorded and released in 1953 on the Perry Como LP, Around The Christmas Tree. This album was also released that year as two separate EPs, one with the same title, Around The Christmas Tree, and the other, Christmas Joy. [2] The 1956 album had the newer songs on Side One and the original eight songs on Side Two. The album was also released on three extended-play 45s. The first two came as a set, (EPB-1243) while the third one was sold separately (EPA-920).
Side One:
- "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" (3:45), Recorded June 22, 1953 with String Ensemble Directed by Mitchell Ayres
- "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (3:59), Recorded May 26, 1953 with Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and Chorus
- "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" (3:32), Recorded May 26, 1953 with Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and Chorus
- "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" (2:51), Recorded May 5, 1953 with Mitchell Ayres and His Orchestra
- "Joy To The World" (2:37), Recorded May 26, 1953 with Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and Chorus
- "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" (2:44), Recorded May 21, 1953 with Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and Chorus
- "Frosty The Snow Man" (2:18), Recorded May 21, 1953 with Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and Chorus
- "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" (3:33), Recorded May 5, 1953 with Mitchell Ayres and His Orchestra
Side Two:
- "That Christmas Feelin'" (3:23), Recorded August 6, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra
- "I'll Be Home For Christmas" (2:53), Recorded August 6, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra
- "Silent Night" (3:50), Recorded August 20, 1946 with Organ and Choir conducted by Russ Case
- "O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)" (2:45), Recorded August 20, 1946 with Organ and Choir conducted by Russ Case
- "Jingle Bells" (2:58), Recorded August 22, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra and Chorus
- "White Christmas" (3:27), Recorded July 10, 1947 with Mixed Chorus and Lloyd Shaffer's Orchestra
- "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" (2:15), Recorded August 1, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra and The Satisfiers
- "Winter Wonderland" (2:37), Recorded August 1, 1946 with Russ Case and His Orchestra and The Satisfiers
In 1961, RCA Victor reissued the album on its budget label, RCA Camden, [3] available in both original monophonic and for the first time in reprocessed (fake) stereo sound. [4] For this slightly shorter budget release, the album retained the same track sequence, except the song "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" was omitted. The album also featured a different cover photo of Como, but utilized the same liner notes from the previous RCA Victor LP release. This version charted 14 weeks on Billboard's Christmas Records album chart peaking at #16 on December 23, 1967. [5]
During the 1970s, Pickwick Records leased the rights to reissue a number of recordings from the RCA Camden catalog and reissued the Merry Christmas Music LP with revised cover art on the Pickwick label. RCA eventually reclaimed the rights to its catalog of Camden recordings leased to Pickwick, and reissued Merry Christmas Music on LP, cassette and compact disc, in 1985. The album has been reissued on the RCA Camden/Special Products label at least three times on CD since then, each with different artwork. RCA has also issued the album in many countries including Mexico, Australia and the UK. In 2012, RCA reissued all the tracks from Merry Christmas Music along with the rest of Como's Christmas recordings in the 3-CD set, Perry Como Complete RCA Christmas Collection.
The Fontane Sisters were a trio from New Milford, New Jersey.
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"(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" is a 1954 song commonly associated with the Christmas and holiday season. The lyrics detail the joys of being in your home community during the holidays and give examples of how some people will travel long distances to be with their loved ones. The music was composed by Robert Allen, with the lyrics written by Al Stillman.
"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé.
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We Get Letters is a 1957 album by Perry Como, his second RCA Victor 12" long-play album. The LP's concept is an album of requests from Como's television show, but forgoing the usual big-band sound of Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and the Ray Charles Singers for a small group known as "Como's little Combo", with soft, breezy jazz arrangements by Joe Lipman. The album was recorded between June 1956 and February 1957.
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The Perry Como Christmas Album is Perry Como's 15th RCA Victor 12" long-play album.
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Merry Christmas is a Christmas-themed compilation album by Bing Crosby that was released in 1945 on Decca Records. It has remained in print through the vinyl, CD, and downloadable file eras, currently as the disc and digital album White Christmas on MCA Records, a part of the Universal Music Group, and currently on vinyl as Merry Christmas on Geffen Records. It includes Crosby's signature song "White Christmas", the best-selling single of all time with estimated sales of over 50 million copies worldwide. The album was certified 4× Platinum by RIAA for selling over 4 million copies in United States. The original 1945 release and subsequent re-releases and re-packages spent a total of 39 weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard pop albums chart.
Season's Greetings from Perry Como, originally released in 1959, was Perry Como's sixth RCA Victor 12-inch long-play album and the fourth recorded in stereophonic sound, as well as his first major full-length Christmas album.
Perry Como was a prolific American recording artist for RCA Victor Records from 1943 until 1987, and is credited with numerous gold records. Como had so many recordings achieve gold-record status that he refused to have many of them certified. Over the decades, Como is reported to have sold millions of records, including at least fifteen of his singles selling over a million copies, but he commonly suppressed these figures.
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Mitchell Ayres was an orchestra leader, music arranger, composer and performer. He is best known for his many years of work with Perry Como on radio, records, and television and as the musical conductor for The Hollywood Palace.
After Perry Como left the Ted Weems Orchestra in late 1942, he returned to his home in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania with the idea of going back to his barbering profession. Como had many offers before and after he was back in his home town. As he was preparing to sign a lease to re-open a barber shop, he received a telephone call from Tommy Rockwell, who was with General Artists Corporation. Rockwell, who also represented Ted Weems, offered Como a sustaining (non-sponsored) radio program on CBS and also to get him a recording contract. The offers made by Rockwell meant remaining in New York to perform with no more road tours as had been the case for many years when Como was with both Freddie Carlone and Ted Weems. On the advice of his wife, Roselle, Como agreed to go to New York as it meant he could continue working in the music business and not be separated from his family.
Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis is the fourth Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 23, 1986, by Columbia Records. This was Mathis's fourth holiday-themed LP and focused exclusively on secular material.
Helen Carroll and the Satisfiers were an American smooth harmony popular music singing group of the mid-20th century consisting of Carroll and the Satisfiers
Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.
