“The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album” by The Beach Boys - album review
| features in: Album Chart of 1964 ● Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s |
Containing five original songs and seven standards, this is an album which has proved to be a perennial favourite in the U.S. It’s split between the pop-rock affection of Side 1 (where only “Little Saint Nick” kicks ass) and the outright orchestral traditional of Side 2, which is “Saturday Night Variety Show” dullness personified. Whilst leader Brian Wilson produced and arranged the “rock” songs, he left it to Dick Reynolds (an arranger of The Four Freshmen, a group Wilson idolized) to arrange the orchestral backings on the traditionals, to which The Beach Boys would apply their vocals. And they wonder why they were never truly hip?
The Jukebox Rebel
02–Jan–2013
| Tracklist |
| A1 | [01:59]  The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) Pop |
| A2 | [01:32]  The Beach Boys - The Man With All The Toys (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) Pop |
| A3 | [01:59]  The Beach Boys - Santa’s Beard (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) Pop |
| A4 | [02:22]  The Beach Boys - Merry Christmas, Baby (Brian Wilson) Pop |
| A5 | [01:35]  The Beach Boys - Christmas Day (Brian Wilson) Pop |
| A6 | [01:54]  The Beach Boys - Frosty The Snowman (Walter Rollins, Steve Nelson) Crooner / Cabaret |
| B1 | [04:03] The Beach Boys - We Three Kings Of Orient Are (John Henry Hopkins) Operatic / Choral |
| B2 | [03:09]  The Beach Boys - Blue Christmas (Billy Hayes, Jay W. Johnson) Crooner / Cabaret |
| B3 | [02:20]  The Beach Boys - Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (John Frederick Coots, Haven Gillespie) Crooner / Cabaret |
| B4 | [02:29]  The Beach Boys - White Christmas (Irving Berlin) Crooner / Cabaret |
| B5 | [02:44]  The Beach Boys - I’ll Be Home For Christmas (Buck Ram, Kim Gannon, Walter Kent) Crooner / Cabaret |
| B6 | [01:19]  The Beach Boys - Auld Lang Syne (Traditional, Robert Burns) Sketch / Skit |
