Christmas Greetings (album)

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Christmas Greetings
Christmas Greetings (album cover).jpg
Studio album by
Bing Crosby
ReleasedOriginal 78 album: 1949
Original LP album: 1949
Recorded1949
Genre Christmas
Length18:39 (78rpm album)
24:31 (10" album)
Label Decca
Bing Crosby chronology
South Pacific
(1949)		Christmas Greetings
(1949)		 Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
(1949)

Christmas Greetings is a studio album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby released in 1949 featuring popular Christmas songs.

Phonograph record disc-shaped vinyl analog sound storage medium

A phonograph record is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. At first, the discs were commonly made from shellac; starting in the 1950s polyvinyl chloride became common. In recent decades, records have sometimes been called vinyl records, or simply vinyl.

Bing Crosby American singer and actor

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. The first multimedia star, Crosby was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1931 to 1954. His early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop an intimate singing style that influenced many male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Yank magazine said that he was "the person who had done the most for the morale of overseas servicemen" during World War II. In 1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. Also in 1948, Music Digest estimated that his recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1949.

Contents

Background

Crosby had recorded Christmas songs for the first time in 1935 and he had a huge hit with "Silent Night" that year. In 1942, he recorded "White Christmas" with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers for Decca Records in just 18 minutes on May 29, 1942, and it was released on July 30 as part of an album of six 78-rpm discs from the film Holiday Inn. In 1943, he recorded three more songs with a holiday theme – "Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", and "I'll Be Home for Christmas". All of these songs were huge hits and the issue of a 78rpm set called Merry Christmas in 1945 firmly cemented Crosby’s association with the Christmas season. The Merry Christmas album has been available in one form or another ever since 1945 and in 1949 Decca decided to issue the Christmas Greetings album to complement this.

Silent Night 1818 Christmas song by Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr

"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. The song has been recorded by a large number of singers across many music genres. The version sung by Bing Crosby is the third best-selling single of all-time.

White Christmas (song) original song written and composed by Irving Berlin

"White Christmas" is a 1942 Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. The version sung by Bing Crosby is the world's best-selling single with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. Other versions of the song, along with Crosby's, have sold over 50 million copies.

John Scott Trotter, also known as Uncle John was an American arranger, composer and orchestra leader.

Reception

Billboard reviewed the album saying: "Crosby single-handed has something of a corner on the Christmas market with his 'Merry Christmas' album and 'White Christmas'. This new album should widen that corner even more, for Bing is at his best and has the benefit of some top-notch support in the disposition of this collection of a couple of new seasonal pops and a group of familiar carols. A top-notch seasonal package which should stand out head-and-shoulders in sales over most any other new Christmas entry." [1]

<i>Billboard</i> (magazine) American music magazine

Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style, and is also known for its music charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows.

The album peaked at No. 4 in Billboard's best-selling albums chart for the week ending December 30, 1949. His Merry Christmas album was in first place. [2]

Track listing

The songs were featured on a 3-disc, 78 rpm album set, Decca Album A-715. [3]

Disc 1: (24658)

  1. "Here Comes Santa Claus",.
  2. "Twelve Days of Christmas",

Disc 2: (24659)

  1. "You're All I Want for Christmas",
  2. "The First Nowell",

Disc 3: (24670)

  1. "Christmas Carols - Part I", (Deck the Halls, Away in a Manger, I Saw Three Ships),
  2. "Christmas Carols - Part ll", (Good King Wenceslas, We Three Kings of Orient Are, Angels We Have Heard on High),

LP track listing

The 1949 10" LP album issue [4] Decca DL 5020 consisted of Decca A-715 (details above) plus two additional songs "The Christmas Song" and "O Fir Tree Dark". [5]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Performed withLength
1."Here Comes Santa Claus" (May 10, 1949) Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman The Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and His Orchestra3:00
2."Twelve Days of Christmas" (May 10, 1949) Frederic Austin The Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and His Orchestra3:21
3."You're All I Want for Christmas" (May 11, 1949) Seger Ellis, Glenn Moore Victor Young and His Orchestra, and the Ken Lane Singers3:08
4."The First Nowell" (May 11, 1949)TraditionalVictor Young and His Orchestra, and the Ken Lane Singers2:31
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Performed withLength
1."Christmas Carols - Part I":
"Deck the Halls"
" Away in a Manger"
"I Saw Three Ships" (May 31, 1949)
Thomas Oliphant
William J. Kirkpatrick, James Ramsey Murray
Traditional		Simon Rady and His Orchestra and choir3:22
2."Christmas Carols - Part ll":
"Good King Wenceslas"
"We Three Kings of Orient Are"
"Angels We Have Heard on High" (May 31, 1949)
John Mason Neale
John Henry Hopkins Jr.
James Chadwick 		Simon Rady and His Orchestra and choir3:17
3."The Christmas Song" (March 19, 1947) Robert Wells, Mel Tormé John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra, and the Ken Darby Singers2:52
4."O Fir Tree Dark" (March 28, 1947) N. F. S. Grundtvig, Carl Christian Nicolaj Balle Victor Young and His Orchestra, and the Ken Darby Singers3:00

[6]

45 rpm releases

The album was also issued as catalog number 9-66 in the form of three 45rpm vinyl discs [7] in 1950 with identical tracks to the 78rpm release A-715. Subsequently, it was issued on two EP records numbered ED 561 [8] which included the two extra songs on the 10" LP.

Related Research Articles

<i>Merry Christmas</i> (Bing Crosby album) studio 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 has sold over 15 million copies and is the second best-selling Christmas album of all-time behind Elvis' Christmas Album, which has sold more than 19 million copies worldwide. The original 1945 release and subsequent re-releases and re-packages spent a total of 36 weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard pop albums chart.

<i>Go West Young Man</i> (Bing Crosby album) 1950 compilation album by Bing Crosby The Andrews Sisters

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<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 only be released only one more time, in Merry Christmas in 1945 before the song was re-recorded and the later version became the standard.

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<i>South Pacific</i> (Decca album) 1949 compilation album by Bing Crosby

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<i>Selections from The Bells of St. Marys</i> 1946 studio album by Bing Crosby

Selections from The Bells of St. Mary's is a studio album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby released in 1946 featuring songs that were presented in the American musical comedy-drama film The Bells of St. Mary's.

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References

  1. ↑ "Billboard". Billboard: 38. November 19, 1949.
  2. ↑ "Billboard". Billboard: 24. January 7, 1950.
  3. ↑ "Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ "BSN Pubs". BSN Pubs.com. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  6. ↑ "A Bing Crosby Discography". A Bing Crosby Discography. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Discogs.com". Discogs.com. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Discogs.com". Discogs.com. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
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