I listen to a lot of Christmas music between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have an iPod Classic that I load with my holiday music playlist. There are a handful of albums in my collection that should be a requirement for anyone serious about Christmas music. What Christmas playlist would be complete without Elvis and The Chipmunks? I have a few Christmas albums in my collection that may not be in yours that I think you should at least know about. I have put them into 3 categories: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. This week I focus on The Bad.
THE BRADY BUNCH – MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BRADY BUNCH
During the second season of The Brady Bunch sitcom, the kids sang the theme song during the opening credits. They also recorded this album traditional Christmas songs. Because the album has the feel of a family sitting around singing their holiday favorites, there are not expectations that these are professional musicians. The quality of the singing is best when they all sing in unison. All the kids have solos but some struggle to stay in tune. The homey feel of the album lets me forgive the weakest performances. Anyone who grew up watching The Brady Bunch should listen to this album at least once.
THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY – A PARTRIDGE FAMILY CHRISTMAS CARD
On the Partridge Family sitcom, the fictional family band didn’t perform any of the music. David Cassidy did sing the lead vocals and Shirley Jones did contribute some of the background vocals. For this Christmas album, Shirley Jones does sing lead vocals on The Christmas Song. The music is performed by members of The Wrecking Crew, some of the most skilled musicians recording at the time. There is nothing lacking in production values for this recording. The arrangements mimic the style of the rest of the Partridge Family recordings. The bad thing about this album is a recording of Frosty the Snowman. In my opinion this song should be jolly and happy like the title character. This arrangement is a slow ballad. I can imagine the tears rolling down David Cassidy’s face as he waves goodbye to Frosty. No thumpety thump thump in this version.
BONANZA – CHRISTMAS ON THE PONDEROSA
Bonanza was one of the most popular television series of it’s time. NBC was always willing to try to sell albums related to their popular shows. In 1962, they released Ponderosa Party Time! which had cast members sing in the middle of telling a story. I guess it was successful enough for them to follow-up with a Christmas album that followed a similar format. The cast members are all relatively good singers. Dan Blocker who played Hoss was the weakest but performs well within his capabilities. Since a story is incorporated into the album, it doesn’t work very well as an album to add to a Christmas playlist. But anyone who ever watch Bonanza should listen to this at least once.