The Beach Boys' Christmas Album
| The Beach Boys' Christmas Album | ||||
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| Studio album by The Beach Boys | ||||
| Released | November 9, 1964 | |||
| Recorded | October 20, 1963; June 18–30, 1964 | |||
| Studio | Capitol Studios and United Western Recorders, Hollywood | |||
| Genre | Christmas | |||
| Length | 27:37 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Brian Wilson | |||
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| Singles from The Beach Boys' Christmas Album | ||||
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| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
The Beach Boys' Christmas Album is the seventh studio album by the Beach Boys, released in November 1964. Containing five original songs and seven standards, the album proved to be a long-running success during subsequent Christmas seasons, initially reaching number six in the US Billboard 200 chart in its year of release and eventually going gold. It is regarded as one of the finest holiday albums of the rock era.
While leader Brian Wilson produced and arranged the rock songs, he left it to Dick Reynolds (an arranger for the Four Freshmen, a group Wilson idolized) to arrange the forty-one piece orchestral backings on the traditional songs to which the Beach Boys would apply their vocals. One single was released from the album, the original song "The Man with All the Toys" backed with the group's rendition of "Blue Christmas". "Little Saint Nick", a single which had already been released the previous year, was included on the album.
In 1977, the Beach Boys attempted to follow the album with Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys, but it was rejected by their label. The entire Christmas Album plus selections from the Merry Christmas sessions were later assembled for the 1998 compilation Ultimate Christmas.
The album was devised as a response to Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records (1963), an album Brian had attended recording sessions for. He played piano on the song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" but was dismissed by Spector due to his substandard piano playing. Original album cover photo by George Jerman for Capitol Photo Studio.
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