The Andy Williams Christmas Album

To prepare for this holiday season I went to my go to store and decided to take advantage of their Black Friday sale and pillage their dollar bin and see what was there. I ended up finding an even dozen albums and with the discount (yeah, I'm so cheap I was looking for a deal on albums in the dollar bins) I was out of there for less than ten bucks.

Here we are December 1, and we're (the Royal "We") going into the Christmas pile and starting off with Andy Williams' classic from 1963. You never know what you're going to end up with, but I wound up with a very nice copy, and as a plus the jacket still had it's original shrinkwrap. I still find it odd when I find a record thusly wrapped. I had friends who told me never, ever, ever leave that shit on - it'll warp your records.

Anyway, I've always loved Andy Williams. As a young kid I have a handful of memories. From the Andy Williams show I remember The Cookie Bear. Don't ask me why. The other was making my mum comb my hair like Glenn Campbell - if she couldn't get my side part to curl up properly I'd not want to go to school. Ah, the early 70s - they were the best of times.

This album remains one of my favourites, and all of the big songs are here. The ever ubiquitous "White Christmas" gets a wonderful rendition and the number of wonderful songs here is only marred by "A Song and a Christmas Tree" which is an odd rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" a song that tries a variation on a theme and misses (by that much). Still, there's an almost hypnotic quality to Andy Williams voice that just melts me. Of course I have to call out "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" as the album's great contribution to the Christmas Carol Cannon.

It's interesting that every artist, even Andy had to take a crack at the penultimate Christmas song "White Christmas" but to me a close second is "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" as it too is a signature song, and oddly enough few artists have tried to cover it. Oh, I know there have been a few who've tried, but you never hear them.

One tends to forget how big a deal Mister Williams was at one point, even if he's remembered for nothing other than his Christmas album he'll still live on.

I like that he writes Happy Holidays on the back cover. To those who like to argue this takes the "Christ" out of Christmas weren't paying attention to the songs on the album.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Comments

6 Cylinder

As a kid we had one radio station, not counting CBC, and generally there was very little that was worth listening to, although there were times something would come on that would make you pay attention. It was 1979 and on a couple of occasions I heard "There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and it cracked me up, and I always wanted to get a copy for myself. A few years ago when my niece was dancing, they did a performance to this song, and now I can't separate my niece from a bunch of dancing chicks in chicken suits. Such is life. When I found this in the dollar bin I actually let out a little chirp, my goodness could it be? It was, and it was in great shape - including the inner sleeve. Score. I had no idea what to expect, for all I knew there was only one song worth listening to, and if that was the case it was still a dollar well spent. If I could buy an album by Showdown and enjoy it, odds are I'll find something to enjoy here to. Before I put this on I...

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t...

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