The original 1964 album by this seminal American rock 'n roll band is kind of a schizophrenic affair. The first five tunes are Beach Boys originals with their trademark 60s sound, including "Little Saint Nick," then the rest of the album is period-pop Christmas standards with arrangements straight out of the Four Freshmen songbook (arranged by Dick Reynolds, a veteran of that group's recordings) and backed by a 40-piece orchestra (cocktail alert!). The original CD version adds several outtakes, including two alternate versions of "Little Saint Nick." The Boys attempted to match Elvis in recording a second unique Christmas album in 1977, but that project was shelved, with only the 1974 single "Child of WInter" finding its way to the public via Brother Records. The best tracks from that later effort were eventually combined with the 1964 album for a 1998 CD titled Ultimate Christmas. Several of those later songs were simple retoolings of existing Beach Boys tracks from the "Brian's Back" period, a little clumsy lyrically but still possessing the trademark sound. They even managed to do a song called "Melekalikimaka" that is no relation to the better known Christmas in Hawaii song. Some toy drive promos and a canned interview with Brian distributed to promote the original Christmas album round out this package. UPDATE: For 2004, Ultimate was reissued as Christmas With the Beach Boys, minus one cut, "Christmas Time Is Here Again." That album is the only one that remains in print, except for 2009's Christmas Harmonies, which just has 15 cuts from the 25-song 2004 album, including mono mixes of the 1964 songs.
The Beach Boys' Christmas Album, The Beach Boys (Capitol)
The original 1964 album by this seminal American rock 'n roll band is kind of a schizophrenic affair. The first five tunes are Beach Boys originals with their trademark 60s sound, including "Little Saint Nick," then the rest of the album is period-pop Christmas standards with arrangements straight out of the Four Freshmen songbook (arranged by Dick Reynolds, a veteran of that group's recordings) and backed by a 40-piece orchestra (cocktail alert!). The original CD version adds several outtakes, including two alternate versions of "Little Saint Nick." The Boys attempted to match Elvis in recording a second unique Christmas album in 1977, but that project was shelved, with only the 1974 single "Child of WInter" finding its way to the public via Brother Records. The best tracks from that later effort were eventually combined with the 1964 album for a 1998 CD titled Ultimate Christmas. Several of those later songs were simple retoolings of existing Beach Boys tracks from the "Brian's Back" period, a little clumsy lyrically but still possessing the trademark sound. They even managed to do a song called "Melekalikimaka" that is no relation to the better known Christmas in Hawaii song. Some toy drive promos and a canned interview with Brian distributed to promote the original Christmas album round out this package. UPDATE: For 2004, Ultimate was reissued as Christmas With the Beach Boys, minus one cut, "Christmas Time Is Here Again." That album is the only one that remains in print, except for 2009's Christmas Harmonies, which just has 15 cuts from the 25-song 2004 album, including mono mixes of the 1964 songs.
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