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Legends Of Christmas PastIn the early 1990's, the compact disc was all the rage, and EMI launched their "Legends Of Rock 'n' Roll" series to properly reissue their vast archive of vintage music. The EMI vaults held the catalogs of Capitol, United Artists, Liberty, Imperial, Aladdin, and a wealth of other labels. With Legends Of Christmas Past (1992), subtitled "A Rock 'n' R&B Holiday Collection," EMI collected 20 gems spanning nearly 20 years, stretching from Amos Milburn's amiable 1949 single, "Let's Make Christmas Merry Baby," to an improbable 1968 collaboration between Canned Heat and the Chipmunks.

Legends Of Christmas Past includes a handful of widely acknowledged classics but is most notable for its genuine rarities. Most of these songs remain hard to find decades later, and some of the most common tracks - including "The Chipmunk Song" and the Beach Boys' "Little Saint Nick" - are presented in brand new stereo mixes. And, two songs by Bill Haley & His Comets were previously unreleased, having gathered dust in the vaults since the group's brief tenure at United Artists in 1968. The tracks are fairly pedestrian covers of Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" and Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree," but their historical significance makes up for it since they represent the only Christmas songs Haley ever recorded with the Comets. Haley had, in fact, previously recorded a Christmas single back in 1951, but it consisted of two country weepers - that is, before he kick-started the rock 'n' roll juggernaut with songs like "Rock The Joint" and "Rock Around The Clock."

Far and away, however, the most historically significant songs on Legends Of Christmas Past are four rhythm 'n' blues singles released by Aladdin, a Los Angeles-based indie label later sold to Imperial, which was later sold to Liberty, which was later sold to United Artists, which was later sold to EMI. Got all that? Anyway, Aladdin's holiday hit parade starts with the aforementioned 1949 Amos Milburn single. The remaining three - the Five Keys' "It's Christmas Time" (1951), Marvin & Johnny's "It's Christmas" (1958), and Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas Baby" (1956) - all placed in my Top 100 Songs. The Charles Brown track is particularly important, as it is the definitive version of a song he recorded numerous times, starting back in 1947 as vocalist for Johnny Moore's Blazers. Today, "Merry Christmas Baby" is the preeminent rhythm 'n' blues holiday standard, rivaled only by another Charles Brown song, "Please Come Home For Christmas."

The Beach Boys' Christmas Album
Merry Christmas From Bobby Vee
The Ventures' Christmas Album

Rarities of Christmas Past

Around the same time they issued Legends Of Christmas Past, EMI also reissued several important Christmas albums from their catalog, including Merry Christmas From Bobby Vee (1962), The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964), and The Ventures' Christmas Album (1965). Legends Of Christmas Past dutifully excerpts a track from each of those - including the Ventures' "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer," a Top 100 Song from a Top 20 Album - but almost all remaining tracks are rare singles, most of them seldom reissued before or since.

Foremost among them is the fine, gospel-tinged reading of "Silent Night" by Baby Washington, a soul singer best known for her 1963 hit "That's How Heartaches Are Made." However, "Silent Night" has a rather confusing backstory. It was originally released as the b-side of Washington's Sue single "White Christmas" in 1966 - both sides of which can be found on Collectables' Ultimate Soulful Christmas Album (2001) and Universal's Lost Christmas 4: Holiday Rarities (2018). The single was reissued on the Veep label (a United Artists subsidiary) in 1967, and it was purported to be a new recording. The truth is more complicated.

Most collectors - myself included - first heard "Silent Night" on the foundational compilation Rhythm & Blues Christmas (1976), and a new stereo mix of the Veep single is included on Legends Of Christmas Past. In his liner notes, Rhythm & Blues Christmas producer Snuff Garrett asserts that the Veep single was recorded on November 15, 1967 - which is echoed in the liner notes of Legends Of Christmas Past. But, the Sue and Veep recordings of both sides of the single are remarkably similar, and both records credit the same producer, Henry "Juggy" Murray, also owner of Sue Records. All that added up, I am convinced that the Veep single is built on the same basic tracks as the Sue recording, with edits to "Silent Night," and string, horn, and vocal overdubs added to both sides.

Legends Of Christmas PastBear in mind, however, that Sue, Veep, and United Artists would all eventually be under EMI auspices, which muddies the water even further. And, while the spruced up Veep version of "Silen Night" appeared on Rhythm & Blues Christmas and Legends Of Christmas Past, the Veep master of "White Christmas" - a spiffy, uptempo arrangement, by the way - has never been reissued.

A Cavalcade of Christmas Craziness

Anyway, after Baby Washington's soulful milestone, Legends Of Christmas Past treats us to a cavalcade of Christmas craziness - a bunch of random singles ranging from wonderful to wacky to bizarre.

  • Canned Heat: Both sides of their non-LP 1968 Liberty single are included, both in stereo for the first time. The a-side, "Christmas Blues," is an original song. The b-side is ostensibly a cover of "The Chipmunk Song," but it's really a pitched battle between Heat singer Bob Hite and the Chipmunk's Alvin. It ends on a happy note when Alvin learns how to boogie.
  • Jan & Dean: "Frosty The Snowman" gets the full "Baby Talk" treatment, with Frosty doing the Twist and the Mash. It was issued as a non-LP Liberty single in 1962 backed with, appropriately enough, "She's Still Talking Baby Talk." Neither side charted, and Jan & Dean soon jumped on the surf bandwagon.
  • Manfred Mann: Fans of the band will be interested, but their "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is a strange little number recorded in 1965 and featuring mostly drummer Mike Hugg on vibes. It was first issued in the UK on Soul Of Mann (HMV, 1967), a collection of instrumental recordings, and its appearance on Legends Of Christmas Past was its US debut.
  • The Holly Twins: The explosion of Elvis Presley in 1956 prompted a lot of Christmas-themed Elvis records for the holiday season, and "I Want Elvis For Christmas" (Liberty single b/w "The Tender Age") was one of the best. It is most notable for the guest appearance of Eddie Cochran, lending tasty guitar licks and a credible Elvis imitation, plus the fact that it was written by youngsters Don Kirshner and Bobby Darin. By the way, the Holly Twins were sisters Jonell and Glenell McQuaig, and they recorded one more single for Liberty as the Holly Twins and several more for Decca, Dot, and 4-Star under their own names.
  • Bobby Goldsboro: Hot off his 1968 #1 smash "Honey," Goldsboro released a holiday single, "A Christmas Wish," which reached #3 on Billboard's Christmas chart. Legends Of Christmas Past features its b-side, "Look Around You (It's Christmas Time)." A vaguely self-righteous, folk-rock protest song, it's much more interesting than the maudlin a-side. Both sides, by the way, later appeared on Universal's digital compilation, Lost Christmas: Holiday Rarities.
  • The Statues: A trio of clean-cut kids from Nashville, the Statues incorporated both white and black vocal traditions in their quasi-doo wop "White Christmas." Originally issued as b-side of their Liberty single, "Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair," the song appears on Legends Of Christmas Past in a new stereo mix.
  • The Belmonts: After lead singer Dion DiMucci departed in 1961, the boys soldiered on as a trio with ever-diminishing results. On "Wintertime," a 1964 non-LP single backed with "I Don't Know Why, I Just Do," they acquit themselves nicely, but the single flopped. It was one of several the Belmonts recorded for United Artists without much success.
  • Lon Chaney, Jr.: I can't really recommend this track - a long lost 1964 Tower Records single - since it's just a lukewarm cover of Bobby "Boris" Pickett's 1962 single, "Monsters' Holiday." But, it's certainly of historical interest to horror movie buffs. Chaney's real first name was Creighton, but he was the son of horror legend Lon Chaney, so he started using that name after he launched his own career in the 1930's, later starring in such films as The Wolf Man (1941) and Son Of Dracula (1943). By the way, for some reason the original 45-rpm record lists the song as "Monster Holiday" and artist as "Lon Chaney." But, it was produced by Charles Underwood, who wrote the song for Pickett - so he should know. Tangentially, the b-side, "Yule-Tide Jerk," was written by a young David Gates, still several years away from his starring role as singer and songwriter for soft rock giants Bread.
Lost Christmas: Holiday Rarities
Lost Christmas: Holiday Rarities 2
Lost Christmas: Holiday Rarities 3
Lost Christmas: Holiday Rarities 4

Postscript

When Legends Of Christmas Past was released in 1992, EMI was one of six major record labels. Today, there are but three major music groups - Sony, which includes Columbia and RCA, Warner, and Universal, formed by a merger of MCA and Polygram and, eventually, EMI. Legends Of Christmas Past was only ever issued on CD and cassette, and it is long out-of-print. While it never made the leap into the realm of downloads and streaming, Universal included many of the tracks on an excellent series of digital compilations called Lost Christmas: Holiday Rarities.

Albums Albums

SongsEssential Songs

  • The Chipmunk Song (The Chipmunks, 1958)
  • The Chipmunk Song (Canned Heat & The Chipmunks,1968)
  • Christmas Blues (Canned Heat, 1968)
  • Frosty The Snowman (Jan & Dean, 1962)
  • God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Manfred Mann, 1967)
  • I Want Elvis For Christmas (The Holly Twins with Eddie Cochran, 1956)
  • It's Christmas (Marvin & Johnny, 1958) Top 100 Song
  • It's Christmas Time (Five Keys, 1951) Top 100 Song
  • Jingle Bell Rock (Bill Haley & His Comets, 1968)
  • Let's Make Christmas Merry Baby (Amos Milburn, 1949)
  • Little Saint Nick (Beach Boys, 1963)
  • Look Around You (It's Christmas Time) (Bobby Goldsboro, 1968)
  • Merry Christmas Baby (Charles Brown, 1956) Top 100 Song
  • Monsters' Holiday (Lon Chaney, Jr., 1964)
  • Not So Merry Christmas (Bobby Vee, 1962)
  • Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (Bill Haley & His Comets, 1968)
  • Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (The Ventures, 1965) Top 100 Song
  • Silent Night (Baby Washington, 1967)
  • White Christmas (The Statues, 1960)
  • Wintertime (The Belmonts, 1964)

Further ListeningFurther Listening

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