Product description

Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1955-Present

Price: $13.84
RRP: $6.98
Average customer rating: 4.5

Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0081227063627
Label : Rhino / Wea
Manufacturer : Rhino / Wea
Publisher : Rhino / Wea
Release date : 1989-07-31
Title : Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits: 1955-Present
Original release date : 1989-01-01
Studio : Rhino / Wea
Number of discs : 1

Customer reviews

review by: Reflective and Wiser Seer date: 2008-12-20 rating:

A Scrooge Collection for You.....
It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas
When this c.d. starts
Just listen to Brenda Lee, rockin' by the tree
with just 10 songs it's really just a start

It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas
we've heard these before
But disturbing, hate to say, are the people, after the day
who want to hear them more

A pair of blue-silver wigs and a hula hoop gig
Is the wish of Alvin and friends
Drummer boys that chant and Jingle bells that can't
Is the hope from way back when
And you and I can only pray these songs don't play again...

It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas
there in every mall
Elvis is blue once more, pining in every store
And Jingle Bell Square isn't very small

It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas
on and off the court
But whether naughty or nice, you don't have to think twice
that this c.d. is too short....

Do not be deceived by the title of this c.d. While there are classic essentials here, some of the tunes either don't belong or sung by another artist. Not only that but only 10 songs is not really enough to be called the Greatest Christmas Hits. As a young Seer I purchased this with wide-eyed innocence. That was when I had money and didn't care. Now I don't and I do. Now I must leave and borrow some cash from an elf...

Taking consolation with egg nog -------Metamorpho ;)

review by: date: 2008-11-22 rating:

Another Classic
Note: The artists listed next to the songs are incorrect on Amazon.

This is a great companion to the other Billboard Christmas CD. I have had this CD for years and it continues to be one of my favorites. One can never get tired of "Jingle Bell Rock," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," or "Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer."

review by: date: 2008-01-07 rating:

Classic music
I enjoyed this CD very much. It contained all of the "classic" Christmas hits. Nothing beats sitting around with your family at Christmas singing like Chipmunks!

review by: date: 2007-11-24 rating:

Christmas classics
With Christmas just edging right around the corner, I have been trying to accumulate as many of my favorite versions of classic Christmas caroles for my ipod. Christmas just isn't Christmas without The Chipmunks' squeaking out "The Christmas Song" or Brenda Lee belting out "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree". Thankfully Billboard has my favorite Christmas songs on one cd on their "1955 - 1983 (or "present" as it is noted on the cd packaging). As for the rest of the cd, I liked most of the songs however I can so live without hearing that tiresome novelty track "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" which has been satirized one too many times over the years, and the equally obnoxious "Nuttin' For Christmas". Other than those two annoying songs, I enjoyed listening to the cd.

review by: date: 2007-10-05 rating:

One Of A Series Of "Budget" Releases From Rhino/Wea
This is one a series of "budget" releases covering various aspects of Christmas to be released over the years by Rhino/Wea in conjunction with Billboard, all with 10-tracks each and liner notes in the form of track-by-track comments. Sound quality is generally good to excellent, and all selections are the original renditions despite what you may read elsewhere, with one exception in this volume where they tell you that Little Drummer Boy is a re-recording of the 1958 hit. All have "Billboard" as part of the title.

Some others are: Family Christmas Classics; Top Christmas Hymns; R&B Christmas Hits; Rock & Roll Christmas; Greatest Christmas Hits (1935-1954); and Greatest Country Christmas Hits. Some of the foregoing are also offered in 4-pack and 5-pack editions. In essence, these are the one you have to have if you want to recapture the delightful seasonal sounds of your childhood (assuming you're old enough to recall the periods covered).

This one repeats one from the Country edition, Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms, but does give you the original White Christmas by The Drifters Featuring Clyde McPhatter and Bill Pinkney, a # 1 2 R&B in 1954, and both a R&B and Pop chart entry for several years thereafter.

Here you get the following staples: Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, actually recored and released in 1958 when she was 14, but not a hit until 1960 when it went to # 14, and then appeared on the charts every Christmas from then on into the 1970s/80s; The Chipmunk Song by The Chipmunks with The Music Of David Seville (# 1 Billboard Pop Hot 100 for 4 weeks in 1958 and # 5 R&B, and seldom missed charting for the next several years); Mary's Boy Child by Harry Belafone (# 12 Top 100 in 1956); Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley (recorded in 1957 and part of his first Christmas album, later a # 1 Christmas Charts hit in 1964 and a charter for years thereafter); Nuttin' For Christmas by Art Mooney & His Orchestra - Vocal by Barry Gordon (# 6 Top 100 in 1955); Please Come Home For Christmas by Charles Brown (# 21 R&B in 1960, and on the charts for ten years in a row); Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer by Elmo & Patsy(# 1 on the Christmas charts in 1983 and a repeat hit over the next few years).

Regarding The Little Drummer Boy, the original, recorded for 20th Fox, charted at # 13 in 1958 and almost every year after up to 1970. In 1972 a new recording was done for Kapp Winners Circle and this is the version heard here. It charted at # 9 on the Christmas charts.

Loads and loads of fun and memories.

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