White Christmas

by Elvis Presley

Overview

Nobody loved Christmas songs more than Elvis, and his abiding affection for them came through in his sensitive interpretations of seasonal hymns and carols. White Christmas is a compilation comprising songs from the two Christmas albums he cut in his lifetime, Elvis' Christmas Album and Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, plus the curious addition of a non-Yuletide country song, "Mama Liked the Roses." All of which means there's some lively standard touchstones here on the order of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland," as well as the reverently rendered hymns that made up almost the entire second side of Elvis's first Christmas album. Not least among the latter are two monuments from the pen of the father of gospel music, Thomas A. Dorsey: the beautiful "Peace in the Valley" and "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," neither one of them Christmas songs but nonetheless reflective of the day's true spirit. For fanciful balance, there are a few tough-minded Yuletide blues classics, "Blue Christmas" and the jaw-dropping, relentlessly grinding workout on Charles Brown's timeless "Merry Christmas, Baby," along with the lascivious Leiber-Stoller blues-rock greeting card, "Santa Claus Is Back in Town." Add in a couple of Elvis's most poignant vocal performances ever -- on the heart-tugging ballad "If I Get Home on Christmas Day" and the wistful lament "Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees" -- and it's clear why Elvis owned this subgenre lock, stock, and barrel. No one has ever topped the King in the conviction and sincerity he brought to his journeys through the emotional tides of the holiday season. The songs on White Christmas prove the point: They are the alpha and omega of rock 'n' roll Christmas repertoires, their production and performance representing a standard that everyone from Phil Spector to Bruce Springsteen has taken aim at over the years.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/26/2000
Label:	Rca Victor Europe
UPC:	0078636795928
catalogNumber:	367959

Tracks

1. Santa Claus Is Back In Town
2. White Christmas
3. Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)
4. I'll Be Home for Christmas
5. Blue Christmas
6. Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)
7. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
8. Silent Night
9. Peace in the Valley
10. I Believe
11. Take My Hand, Precious Lord
12. It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)
13. O Come All Ye Faithful
14. The First noel
15. On a Snowy Christmas Night
16. Winter Wonderland
17. The Wonderful World of Christmas
18. It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)
19. I'll Be Home on Christmas Day
20. If I Get Home on Christmas Day
21. Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees
22. Merry Christmas, Baby
23. Silver Bells
24. Mama Liked the Roses
25. If Every Day Was Like Christmas

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Elvis Presley   Primary Artist
Jordanaires   Vocals

Technical Credits

Gene Autry   Composer
Buck Ram   Composer
Franz Gruber   Composer
Felix Bernard   Composer
Ray Evans   Composer
Kim Gannon   Composer
Walter Kent   Composer
Jay Livingston   Composer
Jim Malloy   Engineer
Thorne Nogar   Engineer
Pachucki   Engineer
Johnny Moore   Composer
Dick Smith   Composer
Michael Omansky   Executive Producer
Frederick Oakeley   Composer
Klaus Schmalenbach   Executive Producer
Charles Tobias   Composer
John Francis Wade   Composer
Joseph Mohr   Composer
Lou Baxter   Composer
William Sandys   Composer
Phillips Brooks   Composer
Frisch   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Johnny Moore   Composer
Abel Balthazar   Composer
Oakley Haldeman   Composer
Lewis Redner   Composer
J. A. Balthrop   Composer