I agree.... the 1968 Christmas album ...
352126
I agree....the 1968 Christmas album SHOULD be on CD in ENTIRETY!
  PLEASE ???OH...PLEASE !!??
4023339
If you want a Rock and Roll Christmas this album is for you! It has become my favorite holiday music.
166986
After three or four years out of print, My Gift To You is finally available again - and with the original cover art restored - thanks to the folks at reissue label The Right Stuff. And it's about time, too.
Some fourteen years after its original release, My Gift To You still ranks as the best Christmas album I've ever heard. It's a fine mix of contemporary and traditional songs and arrangements, all tied together by the best vocalist that Jam & Lewis have ever worked with, Alexander O'Neal.
The Jam & Lewis-composed originals are concentrated mostly during the album's first half, with modern-day classic "My gift to you" as the opening track. The funky "Sleigh ride" (not the classic tune, but a new song) comes next, followed by the romantic "Our first Christmas" and Christmas tale "Remember why (it's Christmas)".
The album's second half consists mostly of Christmas standards. The first of these is "The little drummer boy", in a funky arrangement produced by Denzil Foster & Thomas McElroy, who are probably best known for their subsequent work with En Vogue. Mel Torme's "The Christmas song" is next - this one in a more traditional arrangement (think Nat King Cole). O'Neal's version of Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" is still my favorite; every other singer's take on it seems either thin or overwrought in comparison. "Winter wonderland" (probably my favorite track on the album) is performed with full orchestra - and it swings! Another Jam & Lewis original, "Thank you for a good year", and a reprise of "Remember why" close out the album.
One of the really nice things about this reissue is the restoration of the original cover art. When Tabu switched distribution in the early '90s, the album was inexplicably given a cheesy new cover, which it was stuck with until going out of print a few years later. The Right Stuff have corrected this by bringing back the original cover, adding only a border around the edges. In fact, the newly restored cover looks slightly better than the original, which looks sort of dull in comparision.
A minor complaint: The song lyrics are no longer included in the booklet. However, the new liner notes, while a bit thin, are entertaining.
This edition's remastered sound was a happy surprise. Mastering engineer Bob Fisher deserves more than a few compliments for his work here. Rather than follow the pack and use loads of compression and limiting to make everything sound loud for the sake of loudness, he used the 24-bit processing to ensure the best possible reproduction of the original master. So, rather than sounding louder, the remaster simply sounds better - slightly warmer, with improved definition.
In short, this is still the best Christmas album ever.
2644025
Johnny Mathis - So Christmas even today! I grew up in the sixties and this was a favorite, When he sings Carol of the Bells its awesome.
2510451
Like most reviewers before me, I have to say that this is the quintessential Christmas album.  I was born in 1975 and grew up listening to the Muppets during the holidays. Every song on this CD is good, and done with great class with respect to the holiness of the holiday season. John Denver and the Muppets play off of each other beautifully leaving you feeling warm and fuzzy inside.  Where, however does Laserlight get off eliminating three tracks from the orignal album?  Would it really have hurt them to duplicate the orignal track list as it appeared in 1979? Most notably, what gives them the right?  I thought technology was supposed to be a progression.  Often times CD's even offer bonus tracks that weren't available on the orignal release. Laserlight, unfortunately, regressed on this project by taking tracks away from us; and the real victims here are those of us who grew up listening to this during the holidays.  Our children may never know the difference but we will constantly be wondering whatever happened to When the River Meets the Sea?  This CD may be bargained priced but I would have gladly payed more if I could have gotten the entire album. I do, however, reccomend it since it seems this is the  only copy available on CD. I still have the orignal on vinyl, but sadly nothing to play it on.  Maybe I can ask Santa for a new record player for Christmas:)
4928978
I am so glad this album is now on CD, although it may have been for a while.  I listened to the samples and the memories just started flooding in.  The Jolly Old St. Nicholas/Little Drummer Boy medley is my favorite.  I am in my mid-30's and every Christmas in Michigan, we listened to this LP and Andy Williams Christmas 8-track.  Those were the days.  I am going to buy both of these CDs and get my new family into them.
3377475
If you're like me, looking for something new in Holiday music this time of year, "The Christmas Album" by Herbert von Karajan fits the bill nicely for 2014.  If sounds wonderful.  The music is varied, cheerful, and bright, combining movements from various Baroque Christmas concertos, music associated with the Holidays, and familiar Christmas carols featuring soprano Leontyne Price.  Mind you, these performances were recorded between 1961 and 1986 and previously released on earlier compilations.  Composers range from Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Respighi, Tchaikovsky, Corelli, Vivaldi and others.  Not all of the tunes are expressly about Christmas, but all do in fact fit with the festive Holiday mood.  The performances are beautifully performed, glorious in their digital sound reproduction, and enchanting and warm as a yule long glowing on the hearth.
2280736
I'm not a big fan of holiday or Christmas music and albums. They tend to be sappy affairs full of renditions of "classics" made worse by somebody's latest "improvements". Not this album. The songs are all originals and hold up quite well as songs, not just "holiday" songs. 'Tis a hard album to find though.
I first heard Material Issue's "Merry Christmas Will Do" whilst I was working out in the gym and recognized Jim Ellison's vocals and thus my quest began. That one song alone would be worth the price of the CD but you get other great songs. Spooner's "The Saddest Time of the Year" is absolutely gorgeous, full of longing and wistfulness. One word of advice to those who would record Christmas songs: listen to this song and if you can't record something as good as this, do us all a favor and don't bother. It just doesn't get any better than this for Christmas tunes.
Other standouts on this album are Shoes' "This Christmas" which features a very active bass line, "It's About Time" by The Idea, and Kelley Ryan's "It's Not Christmas". Really there's not a bad song on this CD although it may take some time to warm up to the Cavedogs' "Three Wise Men and a Baby (Xmas Song)" - I mean I like it 'cause it's offbeat and all but to each his own.
One other thing - the cuteness factor is kept to a minimum so there's not a lot of kids singing badly just to be cute on this CD. That seems to be limited to one song here - The Puddles' "The Christmas List" and it's not even that annoying like most kid songs are. All in all, this is just an excellent collection of tunes that you'll be listening to even when it's not holiday season, like I have been this week. That makes it the only Christmas album you'll ever need.
3608657
For years, my favorite Christmas album was a Musicland cassette tape I bought for 99 cents in the 1980s.  Today I finally looked at the name on it and found out it was the Londonderry Singers.  This is the album the songs came from.  I bought the MP3 download and plan to get the CD later.

This is the way Christmas music sounded in church when I grew up:  minimal background organ music and great vocal harmonies.  The songs have various versions within each one, such as all men, all women, soloists, a capella harmony, etc.  That way, it's not the same style all the way through.

It's also the right size choir.  Too many voices makes the songs muddy and not very nimble.  These songs are sung at a faster pace, which I love!!  It pains me to hear great, snappy songs like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" ruined by a slow pace.  Put some Joy into the music, it's Christmas!!

"Joy To The World" does go overboard with the bells, though.  A few odd organ notes are in "I Saw Three Ships".

This is as perfect a Christmas choir album as I've ever found.
3840163
I think this is my favorite Christmas album of all.  It's the one I play each year while decorating the Christmas tree with the family to get in the spirit.  Bing Crosby is the man!
2385519
As described by others, if you had access to this album in the mid-sixties, it was a staple at Christmas time.  My older sisters played it over and over.  It represented a time of innocence us boomers felt when singing along to the likes of Holiday Hootenanny.  I'll always wonder too if Brenda Lee released a later version of Jingle Bell Rock because of the nice job "Paul" and "Paula" did on their version here.  My kids cringe when we play such music but, in the era of over-embellished holiday cover songs, these two let their beautiful clear voices carry forward the great memories of a bygone era.
4454864
A nice Christmas album to complement your set.  Nice songs and easy to listen to.  I think you will be pleased with it.
4687349
I love Christmas Music, and I love that this album contains so many songs that I can put it on random (mixed up) play and let it play for hours.

If you enjoy Christmas music, you'll love this album. Be like me and play it during other times of year, too.
1233642
I am 45 years old . My father would play this album every Christmas . I LOVE it . Now my kids have to listen to it . Although they do not seem to mind .
227859
I picked this up for my wife and she was so happy.  Its the only Christmas music we can agree on. Personally I do like the older classic Christmas music, this is just something I can relate to and enjoy.
4383464
I am very happy this album was re-released. I ended up buying the first CD release from 1995 of this album on eBay for around 40 dollars a few years before this release. Years before I was competing with other buyers for that particular release and the ending bid would end up around the 70 dollar range. I must say my crazy purchase paid off. I really fell in love with this album. The first time I heard "Ding a Ling the Christmas Bell" I was hooked and now I can't go a year without listening to it. It has actually became one of my top ten favorites without exaggeration. The album also includes other Christmas favorites I like such as "Jingle Bell Rock" and while no one can beat Brenda Lee's Lynn's version of "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" comes in second. Lynn Anderson has this way of making a song either more appealing or keeping it simple and as charming as any original artist's version. I also love all her own work that no one else has recorded such as "Soon it Will Be Christmas Day" and "The Spirit of Christmas" or even "A Whistle and a Whisker Away" and "Don't Wish Me Merry Christmas." One day I happened to be browsing on Amazon for new releases, when I found out this album was going to be re-released with original artwork and that it would include bonus tracks I was all for it and made sure I got it. Therefore I immediately sold my other copy on eBay to get this newer well done up version. This version may not have special bonus tracks that weren't released before but it's still nice to get to hear her intros for the Christmas Seals Association. Kind of gives that special extra to this release.
3585446
I love all of Chicago's music. I was especially excited that they have a Christmas album. I think it is awesome!!!!