"Santa's Beard" redirects here. For the They Might Be Giants song, see
Lincoln (album).
The Beach Boys' Christmas Album is the seventh studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released November 9, 1964 on Capitol Records.[1][2] It contains five original songs and seven standards on a Christmas theme. The album proved to be a long-running success during subsequent Christmas seasons, initially reaching No. 6 on Billboard's Christmas LP's chart in its initial release and eventually going gold.[3] Music historian James Perone wrote that it is "regarded as one of the finest holiday albums of the rock era".[4]
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While leader Brian Wilson produced and arranged the rock songs, he left it to Dick Reynolds (an arranger for the Four Freshmen, a group Wilson idolized) to arrange the 41-piece orchestral backings on the traditional songs to which the Beach Boys would apply their vocals.[5] One single was released from the album, the original song "The Man with All the Toys" backed with the group's rendition of "Blue Christmas". "Little Saint Nick", a single which had already been released the previous year, was included on the album.[6]
In 1977, the Beach Boys attempted to follow the album with Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys, but it was rejected by their label. The entire Christmas Album plus selections from the Merry Christmas sessions were later assembled for the 1998 compilation Ultimate Christmas.
The album was devised as a response to Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records (1963), an album Brian had attended recording sessions for. He played piano on the song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" but was dismissed by Spector due to his "substandard" piano playing.[8] Original album cover photo by George Jerman for Capitol Photo Studio.[citation needed] The a-side consists mostly of original Christmas-themed rock songs penned by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, while the b-side features both secular and religious Christmas standards with orchestral accompaniment directed by Dick Reynolds.
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In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Jason Ankeny stated: "Brian Wilson's pop genius is well suited to classic Yuletide fare, and the group delivers lush performances of standards ranging from 'Frosty the Snowman' to 'White Christmas' as well as more contemporary material like 'The Man With All the Toys' and 'Blue Christmas.'"[6]
While interviewing Wilson for a promotional radio special in 1964, Jack Wagner remarked that Wilson's decision to sing solo on a version of "Blue Christmas" could be "the start of a whole new career," to which Wilson responded "I don’t know. It could and it couldn't. I really don’t know."[5] Referring to the standards which he believed "proved that the Beach Boys' vocal power was bigger and more agile than the surf and hot rod records [and] staking a claim for wider musical terrain," author Luis Sanchez reflected: "The Beach Boys' Christmas Album music shows a quality of aesthetic selectivity that none of the group's records that came before it do, aspiring not just to assimilate one of pop's stock ideas, but also enabling Brian to make one of his biggest artistic advances."[5]
On April 6, 1982, the album was certified gold by the RIAA, selling more than 500,000 units.[3]
Mike Love's writing credits on the tracks marked with a (*) were only awarded after a 1994 court case.[13]
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1991 CD reissue bonus tracksTitle | Writer(s) | Lead Vocals |
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13. | "Little Saint Nick" (single version) (*) | | Love | 2:01 |
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14. | "The Lord's Prayer" | Traditional, arranged by B. Wilson | The Beach Boys | 2:34 |
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15. | "Little Saint Nick" (alternate take) (*) | | Love | 1:56 |
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16. | "Auld Lang Syne" (alternate take) | Traditional, arranged by B. Wilson | The Beach Boys | 1:19 |
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Total length: | 35:27 |
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Partial credits courtesy of session archivist Craig Slowinski.[10]
The Beach Boys
Additional musicians and technical staff
- Al Viola – guitar
- Cliff Hils – double bass
- Jimmy Rowles – grand piano
- Jack Sperling – drums
- Eddie Rosa – flute and/or alto saxophone and/or tenor saxophone
- Chuck Gentry – soprano clarinet, alto clarinet, tenor clarinet, and/or bass clarinet and/or baritone saxophone
- William Hinshaw, Richard Perissi, Arthur Briegleb – French horns
- Henry Laubach, John Audino, Conrad Gozzo, Raymond Triscari – trumpets
- Harry Betts, Francis Howard, George Roberts – trombones
- George “Red” Callender – tuba
- Edgar Lustgarten, Jesse Ehrlich, Nathan Gershman, Alfred Wohl, Margaret Aue – violins, violas, cellos, and/or double basses
- Benjamin Barrett – orchestra master
- Dick Reynolds – orchestra conductor
- Mainerd Baker, George Yocum – copyists
- Bill Putnam – engineer- Orchestral tracks
- Chuck Britz- engineer
- Mark Linett- remix engineer (1991)
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Doe, Andrew Grayham. "GIGS64". Endless Summer Quarterly. Retrieved December 9, 2014. Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys. The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books, San Francisco, California, 2004. ISBN 0-87930-818-4 p. 72 Doe, Andrew. "RIAA". Endless Summer Quarterly. Retrieved December 9, 2014. Sharp, Ken (January 2006). "Christmas with Brian Wilson". Record Collector. United Kingdom: 72–76. Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). London: Oxford University Press. p. 479. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.