SIDE 1
1. Merry Christmas, Baby......Charles Brown (1956)
2. Silent Night......Baby Washington (1967)
3. White Christmas......Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters (1954)
4. It's Christmas Time......The Five Keys (1951)
5. Run, Rudolph Run......Chuck Berry (1958)
SIDE 2
1. Christmas Celebration......B.B. King (1966)
2. (It's Gonna Be) A Lonely Christmas......The Orioles (1949)
3. Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby......Amos Milburn (1949)
4. I Wanna Spend Christmas With You......Lowell Fulson (1967)
5. It's Christmas......Marvin & Johnny (1957)
Once upon a time, I suggested to a Blues act that they record a Christmas album. Their response was “but there are only two Blues Christmas songs.” Having hunted for Christmas music for roughly 40 years, now, it is my considered opinion that it is harder to find good Blues Christmas music than virtually any other genre. And good new single artist Blues Christmas albums are almost unheard of. But “only two Blues Christmas songs” woefully undershoots the mark.
I begin where I began, more or less. As a young Stubby, I was pretty much a Top 40 kid, a Bubblegum child truth be told. United Artists’ “Rhythm & Blues Christmas” album, issued in 1976, can rightly be said to have altered the course of my musical existence. I was already several years into my budding love of Christmas music when I first heard it, but (to use a reference from a different genre entirely) I was still looking for love in all the wrong places.
I’d like to be able to say that I discovered this album myself. Or even that I first heard it in 1976. But it was actually a close friend (hoping to silence my whining about the lack of variety in the holiday selection at the local record shops) who threw this on the turntable a couple of years after its release. From the first notes, I was in a trance-like state of bliss, and there I stayed until the end. At which point I think I let out the kind of exclamation Lucy makes when Schroeder hits upon the toy piano sound for “Jingle Bells”--“That’s IT!” I had heard some of the songs before, but not in one continuous stream like that. And, certainly, there were many I hadn't heard before and never knew existed. (What else might be out there waiting to be rediscovered?)
“Rhythm & Blues Christmas” is only 10 tracks, but every one is a true classic. The album opens with Charles Brown’s 1956 Aladdin version of “Merry Christmas Baby”. This is either the greatest Blues Christmas song ever written or the greatest R&B Christmas song ever written; probably both. The original version was recorded with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers in 1948, but, for me, the 1956 Aladdin is Brown’s best of many recorded versions.
The album then weaves its way through The Drifters, The Five Keys, Chuck Berry. Side 2 was even better, a musical soundscape of BB King, Amos Milburn, and Lowell Fulson--all totally new to me at the time--ultimately coming to a close with the bouncy and hopeful sounding “It’s Christmas”, a 1957 recording by Marvin & Johnny. Every song an absolute classic. Every song an absolute “must have”. The selection, the pacing, the liner notes on the album’s back cover—everything about this album was perfect. At this late date, of course, all of the tracks have appeared elsewhere. But the original UA “Rhythm & Blues Christmas” album, itself, has never been issued on CD. I still rank it atop my “must have” list of Blues Christmas albums. I even keep an extra sealed copy on hand...just in case. Christmas isn't Christmas for me without this "Rhythm & Blues Christmas" LP. After all these years, it's still......perfect.
1. Merry Christmas, Baby......Charles Brown (1956)
2. Silent Night......Baby Washington (1967)
3. White Christmas......Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters (1954)
4. It's Christmas Time......The Five Keys (1951)
5. Run, Rudolph Run......Chuck Berry (1958)
SIDE 2
1. Christmas Celebration......B.B. King (1966)
2. (It's Gonna Be) A Lonely Christmas......The Orioles (1949)
3. Let's Make Christmas Merry, Baby......Amos Milburn (1949)
4. I Wanna Spend Christmas With You......Lowell Fulson (1967)
5. It's Christmas......Marvin & Johnny (1957)
Once upon a time, I suggested to a Blues act that they record a Christmas album. Their response was “but there are only two Blues Christmas songs.” Having hunted for Christmas music for roughly 40 years, now, it is my considered opinion that it is harder to find good Blues Christmas music than virtually any other genre. And good new single artist Blues Christmas albums are almost unheard of. But “only two Blues Christmas songs” woefully undershoots the mark.
I begin where I began, more or less. As a young Stubby, I was pretty much a Top 40 kid, a Bubblegum child truth be told. United Artists’ “Rhythm & Blues Christmas” album, issued in 1976, can rightly be said to have altered the course of my musical existence. I was already several years into my budding love of Christmas music when I first heard it, but (to use a reference from a different genre entirely) I was still looking for love in all the wrong places.
I’d like to be able to say that I discovered this album myself. Or even that I first heard it in 1976. But it was actually a close friend (hoping to silence my whining about the lack of variety in the holiday selection at the local record shops) who threw this on the turntable a couple of years after its release. From the first notes, I was in a trance-like state of bliss, and there I stayed until the end. At which point I think I let out the kind of exclamation Lucy makes when Schroeder hits upon the toy piano sound for “Jingle Bells”--“That’s IT!” I had heard some of the songs before, but not in one continuous stream like that. And, certainly, there were many I hadn't heard before and never knew existed. (What else might be out there waiting to be rediscovered?)
“Rhythm & Blues Christmas” is only 10 tracks, but every one is a true classic. The album opens with Charles Brown’s 1956 Aladdin version of “Merry Christmas Baby”. This is either the greatest Blues Christmas song ever written or the greatest R&B Christmas song ever written; probably both. The original version was recorded with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers in 1948, but, for me, the 1956 Aladdin is Brown’s best of many recorded versions.
The album then weaves its way through The Drifters, The Five Keys, Chuck Berry. Side 2 was even better, a musical soundscape of BB King, Amos Milburn, and Lowell Fulson--all totally new to me at the time--ultimately coming to a close with the bouncy and hopeful sounding “It’s Christmas”, a 1957 recording by Marvin & Johnny. Every song an absolute classic. Every song an absolute “must have”. The selection, the pacing, the liner notes on the album’s back cover—everything about this album was perfect. At this late date, of course, all of the tracks have appeared elsewhere. But the original UA “Rhythm & Blues Christmas” album, itself, has never been issued on CD. I still rank it atop my “must have” list of Blues Christmas albums. I even keep an extra sealed copy on hand...just in case. Christmas isn't Christmas for me without this "Rhythm & Blues Christmas" LP. After all these years, it's still......perfect.