Lewis
Member
This is a album that my dad had and still has. But I was able to get a original tape of it about 3 years ago. And Johnny sings some great Christmas songs' he takes it to another level. I remember this from 1958' I was only about 3 but my dad played it every Christmas' and I never forgot it. I just can't stop playing' O' Holy Night' and What Child Is This' and also Silent Night ,Holy Night. Below is some stuff on this land mark album.
Johnny Mathis has one the sweetest, smoothest voices I have ever heard, and it is perfectly matched for these lovely Christmas tunes; he even makes the two up-tempo numbers included, "Winter Wonderland" and "Sleigh Ride", sound soft and mellow.
My all-time favorite song is "O Holy Night", and his interpretation of it is superb, with a lush string arrangement, and a final gorgeous pianissimo note from Johnny. Hearing it never fails to inspire and move me.
This is a calming and peaceful collection, with songs like "Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" and "Silent Night" taken at a slow and easy pace, with wonderful backing from Percy Faith and his orchestra. Mathis was a 23 years old when he recorded this in 1958, but was already a big star, and shows enormous musical maturity.
The bonus tracks, "Christmas Eve" and "My Kind of Christmas", I feel are slightly out of place. Though they were recorded a mere three years after the original songs for this album, they sound too "modern", as if they are from another era, and perhaps this is because the songs are not familiar classics like the rest; that slight quibble aside, this is an excellent collection of Christmas music, of such quality that it can be enjoyed any time of the year. The re-mastered sound is very good, and total time is 50'29.
Johnny Mathis has one the sweetest, smoothest voices I have ever heard, and it is perfectly matched for these lovely Christmas tunes; he even makes the two up-tempo numbers included, "Winter Wonderland" and "Sleigh Ride", sound soft and mellow.
My all-time favorite song is "O Holy Night", and his interpretation of it is superb, with a lush string arrangement, and a final gorgeous pianissimo note from Johnny. Hearing it never fails to inspire and move me.
This is a calming and peaceful collection, with songs like "Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" and "Silent Night" taken at a slow and easy pace, with wonderful backing from Percy Faith and his orchestra. Mathis was a 23 years old when he recorded this in 1958, but was already a big star, and shows enormous musical maturity.
The bonus tracks, "Christmas Eve" and "My Kind of Christmas", I feel are slightly out of place. Though they were recorded a mere three years after the original songs for this album, they sound too "modern", as if they are from another era, and perhaps this is because the songs are not familiar classics like the rest; that slight quibble aside, this is an excellent collection of Christmas music, of such quality that it can be enjoyed any time of the year. The re-mastered sound is very good, and total time is 50'29.