Although Christmas only comes around once a year, the largest novelty of the time is Christmas-based music. Enter Phil Spector, the genius and wall-of-sound production wizard who later went to prison for some rather unspeakable crimes. That matter aside, this album is an interesting listening experience as a bunch of Christmas songs alone. It was initially released on the same day as John F. Kennedy was shot dead but was withdrawn fairly quickly for a later release after that the nation went into mourning over that incident. The album features a smorgasbord of artists and was recorded from September to October 1963, produced and recorded at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood by Phil Spector. It was eventually properly released on 22 November 1963 on Philles Records. This is also Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys favourite ever album. Let’s jump in and listen to this album.

1. White Christmas features Darlene Love. It begins with piano, and brass and sounds gorgeously magnificent to listen to. Darlene Love sings pleasantly about the snow creating a so-called white Christmas, and this music sounds very, very good. More than just a mere novelty, this sounds amazingly layered and professionally produced and is a very listenable tune. A great tune to listen to, it has lyrics about travelling to the colder areas of the USA to embrace the cold and snow. A lovely listen, this is thoroughly good. A great start to a Christmas music album.

2. Frosty the Snowman features The Ronettes. It begins with some sleigh bells and gets straight into it with some gorgeous and excellent singing about the tale of a snowman. Brilliant and excellently conducted, this short two-minute-long tune is a sweet and lovely winner throughout. For a Christmas-based album, so far, this is extremely impressive to listen to. There is an orchestral break rather than a guitar solo as well. Nonetheless, this is a very good tune that particularly will appeal to children. Great all the same. It fades out gently at the end.

3. The Bells of St. Mary features Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans. It begins with a chiming bell and enters into a decent piece of Christmas-based Pop Music. This sounds very good, if a little cheesy. But that is the point. Christmas music albums are designed to be a little that way. Still, even so, this sounds really good for what it is. It has some sweet and lovely harmonies throughout, even if the lead vocal isn’t the best throughout. This does sound really amazing for what it is. A really great tune to listen to, this does sound very amazing. This could have been mixed a bit better, however. Good job anyway.

4. Santa Claus is Coming to Town features The Crystals. It has some good piano and some softly spoken vocals over the top. This is a fabulous tune that reveals the Christmas spirit to the world. It quickly launches into a good rendition of the original tune and it sounds sweet and amazing throughout. Again, this album is somewhat cheesy, but that is perfectly okay here. The production and sounds throughout sound very rich in a musical sense. In the middle is a glorious saxophone solo that sounds really cool. All in all, this is a good Christmas album so far, even if it is purely a musical novelty. A joyous and excellent listen throughout. This sounds very beautifully awesome to hear. Great to hear. The drumming at the end is sweet.

5. Sleigh Ride features The Ronettes. It begins with some twinkling sounds and some very interesting sounds that are a lot like The Beach Boys. This quickly launches into a sweet and pretty tune that sounds very orchestrated and gorgeous for Pop Music. This is a fantastic creation that has some really good and sweet melodicism about it. Cool, quirky and devoted for Christmas. There is a key change throughout which sounds very great. All in all, a decent Christmas song with a huge array of instrumentation present. Very good to hear, and a sweet listen. Excellent listening. The ending is really good as well, with sound effects galore and bass guitar to match.

6. A Marshmallow World features Darlene Love. It begins with some interesting string sections, followed by piano and horns to match. This quickly enters into a good song that has a rich amount of instrumentation and some good drumming throughout. A very nice and interesting listen, this album has some gorgeous and interesting arrangements to every single song. There is a trumpet solo, followed by a saxophone solo on this album. A very cool and articulate listen, this is a winner. Definitely worth hearing around Christmas time.

7. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus features The Ronettes. It begins with sweet strings, and the sound of a door opening and a kiss being made. This quickly launches into a strange tune about overseeing the mythical man who is Santa, and one’s mother. A pretty cool listen anyway, for this album’s novelty value. The strings and music throughout sound really excellent, mind you. A good Christmas-based listen that is quite impressive. Worth hearing, once again. A very good tune.

8. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer features The Crystals. It begins with some interesting guitar work and percussion and launches into a traditional take on the song. This is very appropriate for the Christmas season, and the music is both as varied and interesting as it can be, for this album’s purposes. A very good listen, although again, this music does sound very cheesy. Even so, this tune is a really good listen throughout. A wonderful listen, and something that sounds really cool. Worth your time.

9. Winter Wonderland features Darlene Love. It begins with some bass guitar and other melodies that sound really sweet. This song quickly launches into action with a large variety of luscious instrumentation and playing throughout. Even so, this is a cool take on the Christmas classics and sounds absolutely awesome to hear. A really brilliant, colourful and wonderful listening experience that works wonders. Not bad for a two-minute-plus-long Pop Music song. Very, very good to hear, and a winner to listen to. Smooth and sweet.

10. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers features The Crystals. It begins with an assertive horn section and percussion to match. This is a good listen but sounds very nonsensical throughout. A good tune, but definitely not that great, even for this album. Regardless, this tune isn’t really necessary to skip here. It just sounds like a weaker addition to the album. In any case, this song is okay, even for a novelty album such as this one. A childlike and pleasant tune to hear regardless. The music present is spot on for Christmas, regardless. A good tune, regardless. It fades out at the end.

11. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) features Darlene Love. It begins with a rich array of lush instrumentation and sounds really great to listen to. The music and singing throughout are absolutely awesome to listen to. Sure, this is a novelty album but the singing, playing and performing throughout are absolutely sweet to listen to. This music has a gorgeous saxophone solo in the midsection, before returning back to the main song at hand. A very nice, sweet and lovely listen, all the same. This is about missing a lover for Christmas. Very sad to listen to, but absolutely worth hearing. Good tune.

12. Here Comes Santa Claus features Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans. It begins with sleigh bells and gorgeous percussion throughout, before launching into a sweet and joyful tune that is very pretty and lovely to hear. An awesome and lively tune, this is a real winner of a song for Christmas time. There is a trumpet solo in the second half, which sounds really gloriously lively. A solid gold, gorgeous tune that sounds absolutely wonderful. Worth a listen.

13. Silent Night features Phil Spector, Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans, Darlene Love, The Crystals and The Ronettes. It is a take on the original Christmas classic and has Phil Spector speaking over the music. He thanks everyone on this album, and he sounds really grateful for the final effort. A sweet and and lovely listen. This is a perfect conclusion to a decent album, and certainly the best Christmas album ever made. A fantastic listen, very moving.

For novelty albums, this is a winner. Phil Spector and friends have created and arranged a really fine album to listen to, which sounds top-notch. It’s by no means a perfect listen, but you can definitely hear where Brian Wilson got inspired to record The Beach Boys 1966 Pet Sounds classic album from. Should you listen to this album anyway? If you like Christmas novelty music, then yes. Otherwise, avoid it.

A decent themed album.

7/10