Part K - Phil Spector - "56th Anniversary Of Philles Christmas LP"!!!
HAPPY 56th ANNIVERSARY - A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR YOU FROM PHILLES RECORDS!
Friday, November 22, 2019, marks the 56th Anniversary of the iconic "A Christmas Gift For You From Philles Records" LP! Produced by legendary "Wall Of Sound' music genius Phil Spector, "A Christmas Gift For You" is considered by many to be the best Rock 'N' Roll Christmas album ever recorded. Not only that, "A Christmas Gift For You" was commercially released on FRIDAY, November 22, 1963. This year, 2019, November 22 is also on a FRIDAY. How often does THAT happen!!!
[NOTE: The following is from Wiki.]
"A Christmas Gift For You" was reissued by Apple Records in 1972 with different cover art — a photograph of Spector dressed as a heavily-bearded Santa Claus, wearing a "Back to Mono" button — and retitled "Phil Spector's Christmas Album". This version of the album went to No. 6 on Billboard's special Christmas Albums sales chart in December of that year, which was its highest chart ranking. It was also in 1972 that the album made its debut on the UK Albums Chart; it would re-chart in 1983, peaking at No. 19. On the week ending December 15, 2018, "A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector" entered the main Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time [[at position No. 48), eventually peaking at No. 12 three weeks later [[on the week ending January 5, 2019).
In 2003, the album was voted No. 142 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time", maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. In 2017, it was ranked the 130th greatest album of the 1960s by Pitchfork. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys has cited this album as his favorite of all time. The album was included in Robert Dimery's "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[NOTE: The following intro is from John J. Fitzpatrick's & James E. Fogerty's "Collecting Phil Spector".]
"During an Autumn 1963 appearance on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand", Estelle Bennett revealed that The Ronettes had just finished a month-long session of Christmas recordings. Musicians and others participating in those productions unanimously reported the experience as the most grueling of their professional lives. Many said they wanted never again to deal with Phil Spector's demanding perfectionism, though they mentioned as well the magic of the tracks falling into place for the holiday extravaganza.
The album resulting was the culmination of the Wall Of Sound to that date. The project, as conceived by Spector, was to wed the magic of Christmas music with the energy of his contemporary production style. The entire Philles roster of artists would adapt 12 holiday standards plus a Greenwich-Barry-Spector original, without concession to traditional interpretation. The recording of each track would receive the care and attention usually reserved for hit singles, something he had not done on previous albums.
In retrospect, the project can be viewed as the first Rock 'N' Roll concept album. The tracks are bound together not only by theme but also by intention of production style -- each track emanating from the one before it in a castanet-driven wall of crashing percussion, jangling sleighbells, and perfectly-inserted sound effects. The vocalists, to the first-time listener at least, sound as one voice, adding to the uniformity of the sound.
Choosing a best track from "A Christmas Gift For You" is difficult, as each track merits the honor as it plays! Some highlights include "White Christmas", a classic usually associated with Bing Crosby, soulfully interpreted by Darlene Love as a personal opening statement. Her version sports most of the original lyric missing from the Crosby version.
Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans' "The Bells Of St. Mary" surpassed earlier versions by Crosby, Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters, and Spector's own with Kel Osborne, and its immense production retains the inherent dignity of the song. While showcasing Bobby Sheen's heartfelt vocals, it highlights Spector's amazing use of authentic gospel surges, rumbling bass guitar and castanets backbone, and a bell-punctuated string line.
Sound effects like the clatter of horse hooves and the whinny on "Sleigh Ride", and the closing door and kiss on "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" add to the realism and intimacy of the work. Several worthwhile horn passages include the Herb Alpert-like trumpet passage on "Here Comes Santa Claus" and the chugging mid-section saxophone break on "Marshmallow World", borrowed by Sonny Bono for the 1967 Sonny & Cher hit, "It's The Little Things".
A couple tracks on the album took dead aim at recreating the atmosphere of specific Spector hits. "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" is like a grounded "Then He Kissed Me" with a less sonic but nevertheless full-bodied layer of castanets like that later evident in "Little Boy". "Frosty The Snowman" is reminiscent of "Be My Baby", while "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" previews the rhumba-with-castanet combination Spector pursued later on The Ronettes' version of "I Wonder".
Perhaps the most beloved and successful production of the album is the sole original, "Christmas [[Baby Please Come Home)". Its simple piano-and-sleighbell intro gives way to a stuttering horn punctuation and chimes on Spector's most ambitious Wall Of Sound yet. Darlene Love and a background chorus [[including Cher's husky voice) embark on a call-and-response climax that is pure gospel. The music escalates until the entire track reaches a climax perhaps unequaled in Spector's catalog.
For all its innovation in symphonic rock production, the album went largely unnoticed by the American public upon its release in 1963. As the drama of the John F. Kennedy assassination unfolded, the album was released to a nation in no mood to celebrate. But it became a perennial favorite in holiday seasons following.
Various critics have proclaimed Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds", The Beatles' "Rubber Soul", or "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" as the first Rock 'N' Roll concept albums. But Spector's "A Christmas Gift For You" predated them. The songs have returned to the airwaves every holiday season, and the album has been reissued more than a dozen times.* Its influences can easily be heard on Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" [[right down to Clarence Clemmons' sax break) and on U2's tribute to "Christmas [[Baby Please Come Home)". Perhaps the most durable of all rock albums, it remains a testament to Spector's artistry."
[NOTE: *A perennial favorite, it's true that the album has been reissued more than a dozen times as of the publishing of "Collecting Phil Spector" in 1991. Since then, there have been countless more reissues -- many of which we'll be covering here.]
