The Beach Boys released their original Christmas album the year I was born--1964, for those who care--and, like every other album they'd recorded to that point, it was a hit, rising to number 6 on the Billboard music chart. The album itself was schizophrenic, though, split evenly between original songs ("Little Saint Nick," "The Man with All the Toys," "Merry Christmas Baby") and more traditional holiday fare ("Frosty the Snowman," "White Christmas"). Throughout, though, the harmonizing the Boys had become famous for.
In 1977, in an effort to satisfy their contract to Warner Bros., the Beach Boys recorded a second Christmas album, only to have it rejected (and shelved) by the studio. It sat in the vault for a couple of decades, until The Beach Boys Ultimate Christmas was released in 1997, with some of the tracks from the aborted 1977 effort included.
I lost my copy of Ultimate Christmas--along with every other CD I owned--when I had to abandon La Casa del Terror back in 2016. However, through the magic of Amazon.com, I landed a copy of the CD last year.
And? I love it to pieces.
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