Elvis' Christmas Album

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Elvis' Christmas Album
Elvis' Christmas Album cover
Studio album by Elvis Presley
Released 1957
Genre Christmas Vocal
Length 30:09
Label RCA Victor
Professional reviews
Elvis Presley chronology
Loving You
(1957)		 Elvis' Christmas Album
(1957)		 Elvis' Golden Records
(1958)


Released in November 1957, Elvis' Christmas Album is a very popular holiday album that continues to sell well. It was actually Elvis Presley's fourth long-playing (LP) album, peaking in the top spot on the Billboard Album Chart for four weeks in late 1957. The album was reissued in 1958 (with a different sleeve), and reached the album charts each year until 1962, eventually selling over three million units worldwide.[1]

Contents

[edit] Album Content

The original 1957 LP featured twelve tracks - six songs per side - divided into a program of secular Christmas songs on Side A, ( featuring four songs made popular by other artists, plus two new numbers), and traditional Christmas carols and gospel numbers on Side B, including Frankie Laine's pop-spiritual hit, I Believe. Elvis had previously released the album's last four numbers of Side B on his Peace in the Valley EP, issued in April 1957 to public acclaim (highest position #39 on the Billboard Top 100 singles chart; #3 on the Extended Play (EP) chart).[2]

While some of the songs selected were traditional Christmas fare, such as O Little Town of Bethlehem and Silent Night, Elvis selected a new blues-based rock and roll number with which to open the album. The song, Santa Claus Is Back In Town, was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two writers responsible for some of rock and roll's most finely-honed satire (Willie Mae Thornton's "Hound Dog", The Robins' "Smokey Joe´s Cafe"), as well as having already supplied Elvis with two of his biggest hits ("Hound Dog" and Jailhouse Rock).

Elvis had asked the pair to come up with another Christmas song during sessions for the album and, within a few minutes, they had the song written and ready for recording. Originally titled "Christmas Blues", this slyly risqué number is given a full-throated treatment by Elvis who, aided by the gritty ensemble playing from his band,[3] was determined to ensure that this Christmas album would not be easily ignored.

Much of the remaining program was performed in a more traditional manner appropriate to the solemnity of Christmas ("I'll Be Home For Christmas", "Silent Night", "O Little Town of Bethlehem"), although Elvis' innate sense of occasion shone through on his left-of-centre reading of Ernest Tubb's 1949 hit, Blue Christmas.

[edit] Controversy

The Bing Crosby hit White Christmas, which appeared every year on the Billboard charts from 1942 to 1962,[4] became the centre of controversy upon the album's release, with calls by the song's composer Irving Berlin to have the song, and the entire album, banned from radio airplay.[5] After hearing Presley's version of his song, which Berlin saw as a "profane parody of his cherished yuletide standard" [6] he ordered his staff in New York to telephone radio stations across the US, demanding the song be discontinued from radio play. While most US radio stations ignored Berlin's request, at least one disc jockey was fired for playing a song from the album, and most Canadian stations refused to play the album.[7]

The controversy was, ironically, fuelled by Elvis's performance of the song in a style mirroring the version by Clyde McPhatter's group ofDrifters, which had been a Top 10 rhythm and blues hit in 1954-1955. Unlike Elvis's recording, however, their version attracted virtually no adverse reaction, and certainly no reported opposition from Irving Berlin. Part of the reason that the Drifters' version of White Christmas was less contraversal was because that version was played only on black radio stations. Most mainstream stations did not take interest in the Drifters' version back then and would not until the 1980's.

[edit] 45 rpm releases

The other new composition on the album, "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)" was paired with "Santa Claus Is Back In Town", and issued as a UK single concurrently with the album's release. The single reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart in November 1957.

No US singles were issued from the album until 1964, when Blue Christmas was paired with Wooden Heart ( failing to reach the Hot 100), while "Blue Christmas"/"White Christmas" became a Top 20 UK hit in late 1964. "Santa Claus Is Back In Town"/"Blue Christmas" was a 1965 single release for the US market, but failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100.

An EP, "Elvis Sings Christmas Songs", was released in December 1957, reaching #1 on Billboard's EP charts. Track listing: "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)", "Blue Christmas", "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" and "I'll Be Home For Christmas". [8]

[edit] Re-releases

The original Elvis Christmas Album was out of print by the late 1960s. Still, there was interest in the album. As a result, RCA decided to re-release the album in an altered version in 1969. The album would have a new cover and was released on its budget label Camden (where they also re-released Perry Como's Christmas Album). This record had a blue RCA label as opposed to the then-orange RCA Victor label. This release eliminated the four non-Christmas gospel tracks, and added the 1966 recording If Every Day Was Like Christmas. To round off the number of tracks to ten, Mama Liked The Roses, issued a year later as the B-side to The Wonder Of You, was added. The religious and secular Christmas songs were also mixed together. RCA eventually eliminated its Camden label. In 1971, Elvis released another Christmas album called "Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas" with songs like Silver Bells, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Winter Wonderland, and others.

In the late 1970s, RCA stopped issuing the revamped original Christmas album, but assigned the rights to a budget label called Pickwick. This album continued to be in print until the late 1980s. At that point, RCA released the 1969 version on CD. This version has been in print on CD ever since. All the album's songs are also included in the box set "The King of Rock 'N' Roll: The Complete '50s Masters."

[edit] Original LP track listing

Side One

  1. "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 2:26
  2. "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin) – 2:25
  3. "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" (Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman) – 1:56
  4. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (Buck Ram, Kim Gannon, Walter Kent) – 1:55
  5. "Blue Christmas" (Bill Hayes, Jay Johnson) – 2:09
  6. "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)" (Aaron Schroeder, Claude Demetrius) – 1:54

Side Two

  1. "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (Phillip Brooks, Lewis H. Redner) – 2:37
  2. "Silent Night" (Joseph Mohr, Franz Gruber) – 2:25
  3. "(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)" (Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey) – 3:22
  4. "I Believe" (Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl, Al Stillman) – 2:05
  5. "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" (Thomas A. Dorsey) – 3:21
  6. "It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)" (Stuart Hamblen) – 3:52

[edit] Recording data

Tracks 1-8 recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, from September 5 to September 7 1957.

Tracks 9 and 11 recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, on January 13, 1957.

Track 10 recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, on January 12, 1957.

Track 12 recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, on January 19, 1957.

[edit] The 1969 Elvis Christmas Album Track Listing

Side One

  1. "Blue Christmas" (Bill Hayes, Jay Johnson) – 2:09
  2. "Silent Night" (Joseph Mohr, Franz Gruber) – 2:25
  3. "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin) – 2:25
  4. "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 2:26
  5. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (Buck Ram, Kim Gannon, Walter Kent) – 1:55

Side Two

  1. "If Every Day Was Just Like Christmas" - 2:55
  2. "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" (Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman) – 1:56
  3. "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (Phillip Brooks, Lewis H. Redner) – 2:37
  4. "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)" (Aaron Schroeder, Claude Demetrius) – 1:54
  5. "Mama Liked The Roses" - 2:38

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Charles Wolfe, "Elvis Presley:If Every Day Was Like Christmas", Liner Notes p.7. As the liner notes are not numbered, page 1 is deemed to be the first page of the text, with page numbers following in ascending page order.
  2. ^ Peter Guralnick (1992) "The King of Rock 'N' Roll:The Complete 50s Masters Box Set",Discography. US chart positions courtesy Billboard, compiled by Record Research, Inc.
  3. ^ Scotty Moore (guitar), Bill Black (bass), D.J. Fontana (drums), Dudley Brooks (piano); Elvis also played guitar on the session. Peter Guralnick, "The King of Rock 'N' Roll:The Complete 50s Masters Box Set" CD Liner notes. Sessionography. p.15.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Charles Wolfe, "Elvis Presley:If Every Day Was Like Christmas", Liner Notes p.4.
  6. ^ Charles Wolfe,"Elvis Presley:If Every Day Was Like Christmas", Liner Notes p.7.
  7. ^ Charles Wolfe, "Elvis Presley:If Every Day Was Like Christmas", Liner Notes p.7.
  8. ^ Chart information obtained from (i) "The King of Rock 'N' Roll:The Complete 50s Masters Box Set, Discography"; (ii) "From Nashville To Memphis:The Essential 60s Masters I Box Set, Discography"

[edit] References

  • Guralnick, Peter (1992). The King of Rock 'N' Roll:The Complete 50s Masters Box Set [CD Liner notes]. RCA Records Label, BMG Music, 66050-2/4.
  • Guralnick, Peter (1993). From Nashville To Memphis:The Essential 60s Masters I Box Set [CD Liner notes]. RCA Records Label, BMG Music, 66160-2/4.
  • Guralnick, Peter (1994). Last Train to Memphis:The Rise of Elvis Presley. Little, Brown and Company (UK). ISBN 0-316-91020-1
  • Wolfe, Charles (1994). Elvis Presley:If Every Day Was Like Christmas [CD Liner notes]. RCA Records Label, BMG Australia Limited, 7863664822.
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