12 Songs of Christmas (Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Fred Waring album)

Last updated
12 Songs of Christmas
12SongsofChristmas.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedAugust 1964
RecordedJune 16–19, 1964, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Genre Traditional pop, Christmas
Length38:18
Label Reprise
FS 2022
Producer Sonny Burke
Frank Sinatra chronology
It Might as Well Be Swing
(1964)
12 Songs of Christmas
(1964)
Softly, as I Leave You
(1964)
Bing Crosby chronology
Robin and the 7 Hoods
(1964)
12 Songs of Christmas
(1964)
Bing Crosby Sings the Great Country Hits
(1965)

12 Songs of Christmas is a 1964 album of Christmas music by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians. [1] [2] The singers previously collaborated on the album America, I Hear You Singing , which was released earlier the same year. The album was reissued as White Christmas on by WEA budget label Midi in 1973.

Contents

While the album has never been reissued on a standalone CD, Reprise Records included it in a special 2-CD "Christmas edition" of their Frank Sinatra compilation Nothing but the Best in 2008.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Record Mirror Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]

In the US, Variety received the album favorably. "This is an attractive compilation of seasonal standards delivered in standout style by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, singly and in tandem, with the polished support of Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians. Among the top sides in this set are "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "The Little Drummer Boy," "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and "The 12 Days of Christmas." [4]

Gramophone in the UK was not so keen, commenting: "'12 Songs of Christmas,' with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians (Reprise FS 2022). Plenty of expensive talent crammed uncomfortably into a small, well-worn stocking. Obvious, pallid stuff, with the two head groaners actually together on only two tracks, and neither of them anywhere in particularly good voice. Collectors of sheer corn may take a perverse delight in an item called 'We Wish You the Merriest.'" [5]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."White Christmas" Irving Berlin 3:46
2."It's Christmas Time Again" Sonny Burke, John Elliot, James K. Harwood2:50
3."Go Tell It on the Mountain"Traditional, John Wesley Work III 3:25
4."An Old-Fashioned Christmas" Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen 3:46
5."Where Angels Sang of Peace"Traditional2:59
6."The Little Drummer Boy" Katherine K. Davis 3:05
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Johnny Marks 2:38
2."Do You Hear What I Hear?" Noël Regney, Gloria Shayne Baker 3:11
3."The Secret of Christmas"Cahn, Van Heusen3:48
4."The Twelve Days of Christmas"Traditional3:51
5."Christmas Candles"Dean Kay, Vincent O'Dea, Jay Clinton2:40
6."We Wish You the Merriest" Les Brown 2:19

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<i>America, I Hear You Singing</i> 1964 studio album by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Fred Waring

America, I Hear You Singing is an album recorded and released in 1964 by American singers Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, backed by Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians. The album is a collection of patriotic songs, recorded as a tribute to the assassinated president John F. Kennedy. The artists would collaborate again for the album 12 Songs of Christmas, released later the same year.

<i>A Man and His Music</i> 1965 studio album by Frank Sinatra

A Man and His Music is a 1965 double album by Frank Sinatra. It provides a brief retrospective of Sinatra's musical career. The album won the 1967 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

"All the Way" is a song published in 1957 by Maraville Music Corporation. The music was written by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.

<i>High Society</i> (soundtrack) 1956 soundtrack album by Bing Crosby

High Society is a 1956 soundtrack album, featuring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Grace Kelly. This was Crosby's fifth LP album, and his first recorded for Capitol Records. It was the soundtrack for the MGM feature film High Society, also released in 1956. Initially issued on vinyl either in mono or stereo format, the album has been issued on CD by Capitol in Japan in 1991 and by Capitol in the UK in 1995. The album was also included in a 3-CD box set called "Original Soundtrack Recordings" issued by the EMI Music Group Australasia

"The Secret of Christmas" is a popular Christmas song, written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen for Bing Crosby, and first performed by Crosby in the 1959 film Say One for Me. He recorded the song with an arrangement by Frank DeVol for a single that year released by Columbia Records.

"Witchcraft" is a popular song from 1957 composed by Cy Coleman with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh.

<i>Merry Christmas</i> (Bing Crosby album) 1945 compilation album by Bing Crosby

Merry Christmas is a 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.

<i>Nothing but the Best</i> (album) 2008 greatest hits album by Frank Sinatra

Nothing but the Best is a 2008 compilation album by American singer Frank Sinatra. All the tracks on this album are recordings made when Sinatra was on his own Reprise label, thus the first track, "Come Fly with Me" is not the 1957 Capitol version. Other notable differences are "Strangers in the Night" has an extended fade out and the first cymbal hit is cut from the beginning of the "Theme from New York, New York".

<i>Robin and the 7 Hoods</i> (album) 1964 studio album by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Falk

Robin and the 7 Hoods is a 1964 12" vinyl LP album originally issued by Reprise as No. F-2021. Wrongly assumed to be a true soundtrack album of the film Robin and the 7 Hoods, it was advertised as "Original score from the motion picture musical comedy" which is correct. The film was made in November/December 1963 and the album was subsequently recorded at United Recording, Hollywood, in April 1964. The scene with Frank Sinatra's vocal of "I Like to Lead When I Dance" was dropped, so only the background instrumental can be heard in the film.

<i>Frank Sinatra Christmas Collection</i> 2004 compilation album by Frank Sinatra

The Frank Sinatra Christmas Collection is a 2004 Christmas compilation album from Frank Sinatra. The selection of tracks on the album spans Sinatra's career from 1957 to 1991 and includes four previously unavailable tracks—two previously unissued on CD and two previously unissued in any format—the latter the last Christmas carol Sinatra recorded.

<i>Sinatra 80th: All the Best</i> 1995 compilation album by Frank Sinatra

Sinatra 80th: All the Best is a double compilation disc album by Frank Sinatra. On the final track, "The Christmas Song" is recorded both by Sinatra and Nat King Cole. The title, like the previous album, was released and named to coincide with Frank Sinatra's birthday, as he was celebrating his 80th at the time.

<i>Frank Sinatra: The Reprise Years</i> 2010 box set by Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra: The Reprise Years is a 36 disc boxed set by American singer Frank Sinatra.

<i>Christmas with Sinatra & Friends</i> 2009 compilation album by Frank Sinatra

Christmas with Sinatra & Friends is a 2009 compilation album by Frank Sinatra.

<i>Song Hits from Holiday Inn</i> 1942 studio album by Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire

Song Hits from Holiday Inn is a studio album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire released in July 1942 featuring songs presented in the American musical film Holiday Inn. These are the longer studio recorded versions of the songs presented in the film. For the songs that were actually in the film, see Holiday Inn (soundtrack). This album is not only notable because it is one of the greatest works of the highly regarded songwriter Irving Berlin, but it is only Crosby's third studio album. This was also the first release of Crosby's signature song "White Christmas" on shellac disc record. The 1942 version would be released only one more time, in 1945's compilation album, Merry Christmas, before the song was re-recorded in 1947. The later version became the standard.

This is a list of Bing Crosby songs he recorded twice or more during his career, excluding all of the 1954 re-recordings for Bing: A Musical Autobiography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bing Crosby's record labels after 1955</span>

After Bing Crosby's long-term Decca Records contract was up, he signed many short-term contracts with a wide variety of labels. These included many popular labels such as Reprise, RCA, Verve, Decca (again), United Artists, Capitol and more.

<i>Holiday in Europe</i> 1962 studio album by Bing Crosby

Holiday in Europe was a long-playing vinyl album recorded for Bing Crosby's own company, Project Records at Radio Recorders in Hollywood and issued by Decca Records (DL-4281) in 1962. The album consists of twelve European songs. The orchestral arrangements were by Bob Thompson and the orchestra was conducted by Malcolm Lockyer at Decca's West Hampstead, London studios in October 1960. Crosby had recorded four of the songs with Lockyer on October 15, 1960, in London but a decision was taken not to use these vocal tracks. Crosby subsequently over-dubbed his vocals on all of the orchestral tracks in May 1961. Malcolm Lockyer does not receive a credit on the album cover.

<i>I Wish You a Merry Christmas</i> 1962 studio album by Bing Crosby

I Wish You a Merry Christmas was a long-playing vinyl album of Christmas themed songs recorded by Bing Crosby for his own company, Project Records, and issued by Warner Bros. (W-1484) in 1962.

<i>Return to Paradise Islands</i> 1964 studio album by Bing Crosby

Return to Paradise Islands is a long-playing vinyl album of Hawaiian themed songs recorded by Bing Crosby for Reprise Records (R-6106) at three separate sessions in 1963. The tracks were arranged by Nelson Riddle who also conducted the orchestra.

<i>A Christmas Story – An Axe, an Apple and a Buckskin Jacket</i> 1957 studio album by Bing Crosby

A Christmas Story – An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket is an LP album by Bing Crosby made for children by Golden Records in 1957. The Arthur Norman Choir and Orchestra provide support. The album has been reissued by various record companies sometimes with different titles such as "How Lovely Is Christmas" and even as a cardboard record by Bing Crosby Phonocards Inc. This took the form of a 7" cardboard disc at 33 1/3 revs which was issued as a publicity item for Goodyear Tyres and was issued free at Goodyear Service Stations.

References

  1. "12 Songs of Christmas Frank Sinatra Bing Crosby and Fred Waring album". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  2. "12 Songs Of Christmas Frank Sinatra Bing Crosby And Fred Waring Album". The Marsvolta.Com. Archived from the original on 2018-11-04. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  3. "Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Fred Waring: Twelve Songs of Christmas" (PDF). Record Mirror . No. 191. 7 November 1964. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  4. "Variety". Variety. October 7, 1964.
  5. The Gramophone. December 1965.{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)