A Christmas Album
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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A Christmas Album
- Artist: Barbra Streisand
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1967
- Total Time: 1:53
- Type: Christmas
- Genre: Vocal Music
Review
If Simply Streisand, which appeared earlier the same month as A Christmas Album, indicated that Streisand was overly reverent when it came to standards, reverence was no problem with seasonal fare. You don't necessarily look for unusual interpretations of your Christmas music; you just want those old favorites sung well, and for the most part, that's what you got from Streisand. She did lead off with "Jingle Bells?" into which she injected some of her trademark humor while performing at a breakneck pace. Marty Paich arranged and conducted the secular songs like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "White Christmas," which occupied side one, while Ray Ellis handled the religious material on side two. But both were traditional in their charts, and Streisand gave her singing just enough personality without getting in the way of the familiar songs. They were trying to make a timeless classic, and that's what they achieved. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi| A Christian Testimonial (1959 Album by Dixie Hummingbirds) | |
| A Christmas Album (1983 Album by Amy Grant) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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A Christmas Album (Barbra Streisand album)
| A Christmas Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Studio album by Barbra Streisand | ||||
| Released | October 1967 | |||
| Recorded | June 1966 at Olympia Sound Studios in London; 9–16 September 1967 in Los Angeles, California | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 33:40 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Jack Gold | |||
| Barbra Streisand chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
A Christmas Album (1967) is the first Christmas album released by Barbra Streisand.
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Contents
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Background
The album is one of Streisand's best-selling albums and is ranked as one of the best-selling Christmas albums of all time.[citation needed] Many of the tracks on this album were re-issued in 1970 as part of a compilation album titled Seasons Greetings from Barbra Streisand...and Friends, pieced together by Maxwell House Coffee and Columbia Special Products. The cover photograph of the album was taken on June 16, 1967 during the rehearsal for her concert, A Happening in Central Park.
On May 5, 1999, A Christmas Album was certified Quintuple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of five million copies in the United States.[2]
Chart
On Billboard magazine's special year-end weekly Christmas Albums chart, A Christmas Album spent all five weeks that the chart was published in late 1967 at number 1, making it the best-selling holiday album of 1967 in the U.S.[3] The album charted for the first time on Billboard's weekly Billboard 200 album sales chart in December 1981, peaking at position #108 during a five-week chart run.
Track listing
Side one
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Jingle Bells?" (New adaptation by Jack Gold and Marty Paich) | James Pierpont | 1:58 |
| 2. | "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" | Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin | 3:14 |
| 3. | "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" | Mel Tormé, Bob Wells | 4:00 |
| 4. | "White Christmas" | Irving Berlin | 3:08 |
| 5. | "My Favorite Things" | Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers | 3:09 |
| 6. | "The Best Gift" | Lan O'Kun | 3:11 |
Side two
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sleep in Heavenly Peace (Silent Night)" | Franz Gruber | 3:07 |
| 2. | "Gounod's Ave Maria" | Charles Gounod | 3:26 |
| 3. | "O Little Town of Bethlehem" | New adaptation by Jack Gold | 2:58 |
| 4. | "I Wonder as I Wander" | John Jacob Niles | 3:18 |
| 5. | "The Lord's Prayer" | Albert Hay Malotte | 2:43 |
Personnel
- Barbra Streisand – singer
- Marty Paich – arranger, conductor
- Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor (*)
- Jack Gold – producer
- Rafael O. Valentin – recording engineer
- Jack Lattig – recording engineer
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ "RIAA Searchable Database - Gold & Platinum Certifications". Recording Industry Association of America. http://riaa.org/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=A%20Christmas%20Album&artist=Barbra%20Streisand&format=ALBUM&debutLP=&category=SOLO&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&awardDescription=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=12&startYear=1958&endYear=2010&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Christmas in the Charts (1920-2004). Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 195. ISBN 0-89820-161-6.
External links
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