A Very Cherry Christmas, various (Laserlight)

Another Rod McKuen-produced Christmas compilation for budget label Laserlight, with a combination of the famous and forgotten. At the very top of the forgotten list, for me anyway, is Boney M's "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord." Boney M was big in Europe and its mastermind, Frank Farian, later was responsible for Milli Vanilli. The rest of this album is fairly high profile by comparison, with Brenda Lee doing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "A Marshmallow World," "Jingle Bell Rock" by Bobby Helms, Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run," Ray Charles' "Christmas Time," Otis Redding with "White Christmas" and for the jazzbos out there, Dinah Washington's "Make Me a Present of You." The Everly Brothers do "Deck the Halls" with a boys' choir, Booker T. and the MGs work out on "Jingle Bells," the Drifters do "The Christmas Song" and The Moonglows offer "Just a Lonely Christmas." Long out of print and commanding collector prices from 3rd parties at Amazon.