A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector

The random generator probably didn't pick this album at random today, on Boxing Day. And that's the only reason I listened to it at all. It suited the mood quite well. I wouldn't have listened to it at any other time. And despite it being Christmas time, the music got on my nerves after a while. Because it's Christmas: 🎅🏽 2/5

The perfect Christmas album to listen to on Christmas Day with the family. This can only be listened to in December but Phil Spectors versions of these hits are good.

Favourite song: Santa Claus is coming to town.
Least favourite: silent night. I have always found this song creepy.
Album artwork: Could be more festive

Nun glaube ich fast nicht mehr an Zufall in der täglichen Albenauswahl. Zum Superbowl 2024 kam ein Swift Album (Kelce) und heute am 25.12. diese Sammlung aus den 60er. Es gibt einem einen kleinen Eindruck des Lebensgefühl in den USA zur Kennedy Ära (übrigens wird er am Erscheinungstag des Albums erschossen). Insgesamt ein nettes Album mit vielen bekannten Songs, aber zu Bigband und Jazz lastig.

Some classic Christmas tunes on here

The Good: A Christmas album that pops up on the 26th of December
The Bad: if it would not have been December
The Ugly: having to listen to a Christmas message from Phil Spector, knowing what we know now…

Yes, a great album of Christmas songs that can actually be played during a party, as most of them invite you to get up and shake your booty!

However, nobody will ever play a Christmas album in the middle of summer… so, just 3 stars…
Which doesn’t take away from the great artists featured on this album!… screw it, 4*

What a fantastic album to receive on Christmas day

I'm surprised by how many of these songs/versions I actually knew before hand

The Ronettes and Darlene Love were the highlights - love love loved their songs

I was not aware of Phil Spector's personal life, which led to a horrific read of his wiki page. However, I'm here to rate the music and not him so...

5 ⭐️

How delightful. I definitely didn't listen to this on the 6th of January because I'm lazy.

It’s a 5.

I suppose Christmas is as good of a day as any to learn that Phil Spector committed murder in 2003 and died alone in a jail cell, rotting for his crimes 18 years later. That shadow will now loom over this, and the rest of the stuff he produced, and it only gives me even more disdain for the fucking wall of sound. However, because it’s the holiday season, I feel no desire to shit on the man, at least not yet – I get the feeling I’ll have plenty of opportunities to do that on some of the more prominent records of the 1960s soon to come.

For now, I think this is as good of a time as any to explain that I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas music; when it’s good, it’s so fucking good, but you have to be in the season, in the mood, and most of all, you have to avoid oversaturating yourself. Too much Christmas music, and suddenly, that inner Scrooge takes over and you’ll never want to hear another refrain of any of these tracks for at least a year.

Thankfully, it’s the season, I’m in the mood, and the only Christmas music I’ve really indulged in so far is George Michael, Mariah against my will, and oddly, Jschlatt. There’s not a lot of overlap, thankfully, so a lot of these compositions felt pretty fresh to my ears – I have to imagine some of the performances here became the standards over time, at least in a more pop-driven atmosphere for the 6 decades since this dropped.

Although I have to give a huge credit to the standout vocal performances and extra flair added on each track because of these singers, I think the orchestral compositions and big-band feel of this whole thing really make this album. It’s a combined harmony for sure, but I know most of these tracks by their more “basic” forms. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, for example, doesn’t normally sound like a 1970s Western film, but to hear it in that style on this album really shakes it up a bit, and stops this from being a traditional, paint-by-numbers Christmas album. Those shake-ups and Beatles-esque moments are here in spades, and it’s a rather enjoyable 34 minutes because of it.

So, yeah, I’m at a 5. Realistically, more of a 4.5 that goes up to a 5, but I’m in the holiday spirit, and this scratched a real itch – great singers, great compositions, great melodies, and yes, solid production, even if that murderous motherfucker tainted some of it with his stupid wall of sound. It’s just a damn good Christmas album, and I’m glad the site owner rigged it just for this occasion (or did they?). Really fun stuff.

That last track could’ve been skipped, though. Put the vocals in the bag, or whatever the kids say.

A couple people featured have nice voices, but I hate Christmas music with every fiber of my being. The only genre worse than Christmas music is country Christmas music

Might be one of the best Christmas albums.

I have an intense hatred for Christmas music. I can't decide if Velvet Underground or Christmas music is worse

As far as holiday albums go, everything about it is great and a great mix of tradition and upbeat arrangements.

I hate to be a Grinch, but I'm going to go against the prevailing wisdom: the Wall of Sound kinda sucks. Especially for background music, which Christmas music almost always is. It sounds like a Wall of Mush.

The performances were good, but as for listenability it's a bit disappointing.

Two things are contributing to my rating here:

1. Phil Spector was such a terrible person that the average dumpster fire seems pleasant in comparison. He'd been abusing women and children loooooooong before he committed murder at age 63.

2. On a less serious level, I can't stand Christmas music. I can't stand Christmas. Ugh. Even if it wasn't produced by a malignant person, I'd be avoiding this because it's a bad genre-to-listener mismatch for ME as a person.

In conclusion, NOPE NOPE NOPE

Only works at one time of year. Some magnificent performances on here, particularly the singing and drumming. Baby Please Come Home has an unexpected emotional power in the voice. Slightly overrated?

Here we go, the Phil Spector Christmas album. I heard about this album on the r/1001AlbumsGenerator subreddit and how it’s picked for a project’s first Christmas if it hasn’t been chosen already. I also heard about this album’s unfortunate associations, that it was released on the same day as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and that the man behind the production Phil Spector would later be convicted for the murder of actress Lara Jackson. This is on top of it being a Christmas album, which in of itself is a novelty limited to a specific window of the year for a specific audience celebrating that holiday. With all that said, this album is fine for what it is.

The selected acts do a solid enough job with their renditions of these Christmas classics, aided by the Wall of Sound production Phil was known for to make these songs come off brighter. In some cases, these renditions became staples of their own such as The Crystals’ cover of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, Darlene Love’s original “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, and The Ronettes’ covers of “Sleigh Ride” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”. Come to think of it, I consider the Ronettes to be the best act on this collection, given the harmonious vocals that they shared alongside the tight compositions.

That said, again it is a Christmas album which is a novelty that doesn’t get sought after beyond the last two months of the year at best. Not helping matters is the fact that not every song on here has exactly aged well in the pantheon of holiday music. I can’t imagine how often people seek out “The Bells of St. Mary”, “A Marshmallow World”, or even “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers”. Also the sign-off at the end from Phil over “Silent Night” is a bit creepy, not gonna lie.

Still, I get why this album is special for the time of year when holiday spirits are bright, in spite of some unfortunate circumstances outside of the actual music. I’m at least glad to have listened to it during the appropriate season.

Hooray! A Christmas Album...for me! (And everyone). I know a lot of these songs already, so of course I'm predisposed to like it more.

Highlights: 'White Christmas', 'Frosty the Snowman', 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', 'Christmas' (mainly because it's on the SNL Christmas special every year), 'Winter Wonderland', 'Sleigh Ride' (hehe horse noises), 'Marshmallow World' (spelled wrong on the cover? I never heard this one before, but it's not even necessarily about Christmas, which I like)

Fun Facts I told my parents and now I will put here: 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' was written for Montgomery Ward! 'Silent Night' is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Site!! Phil Spector says "thank" with a voiced interdental!

Here's a conundrum. If you extract a Christmas Album out of the season, is it still a good album? Or is the fact that I am listening to this album on Christmas Day irrevocably biasing my review?

Yeah, it probably is. But I don't really care. It's still a decent album.

Magical

simone_entao_e_natal.mp3

feliz natal porra! infelizmente o phil spector é um assassino, o que é a coisa menos natalina de todas, mas fazer o que.

pedradaça. natal sessentista, só músicão bem feito. bom pra arrumar a casa no dia 25.