Various Artists - Christmas Wonderland (1981)

A 1981 compilation of traditional holiday music; selections previously released on albums from the 1960s on CBS-associated labels. Also released under the title It's Christmas!. An above-average collection, this thing reminds me of the Christmas compilations my father would pick up at the local Firestone shop every December in the '70s.

It seems odd to think that people would go by the tire store to pick up Christmas LPs, but that's exactly what we did back then. I still listen to those LPs as I chase memories of Christmases past.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

Only two stinkers on the whole thing, so a mindboggling .857 batting average for this album. My top picks are from Lynn Anderson, Sister Mahalia, and Julie Andrews. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the performances from John Davidson and Carol Burnett, mainly because my foolish young mind first associated them with television, not recordings. The rest are more than acceptable with the exception of tracks 7 & 9, mostly because of the poor arrangements (Little Drummer Boy with no drums? and what's with all the clarinet noodling?) but also because McCracken and Warfield are opera singers and oddly out of place here. All tracks are new to my collection with the exception of the Conniff cut. Now go listen and chase some childhood Christmas memories of your own:

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Longtime readers of this blog may remember that I am the son of a Presbyterian minister. The downtown church my father served from 1978-1986 presented 'living tableaus' every Easter and Christmas and had done so since the 1950's. Church members would dress in costume and sit/stand on the church lawn as people drove by in their cars to observe various scenes of the Christmas story in December and the death and resurrection of Christ in the spring. It was the church's "annual gift to the community."

If memory serves, the Christmas presentation started on the north end of Avenue H with three wisemen riding camels made of 2x4's, chicken wire, papier-mâché, and brown spray paint. A little further down the street, viewers were treated to several shepherds looking up at an angel standing atop the church roof, a local farmer would usually bring some hay and a live donkey (insert 'ass' jokes here). The short drive would end with the manger scene of two teenagers and their newborn child being portrayed by a middle-aged couple holding a doll. Some years, the part of Jesus was played by a 60 watt light bulb. Cardboard crowns, fake beards, homemade shepherd's crooks, wigs, the whole nine yards. Typical mid-century Americana.

Being a somewhat normal self-involved teenager, I hated the things, but as the preacher's kid, I was expected to be in them and, judging by the promo photo placed in the local newspaper in 1981 (below, I'm in the middle), I was miscast as one of the wisemen. I'm told the church no longer produces a tableau - due to lack of interest, too many entertainment options, dwindling church membership, take your pick - but the presentations had a good 50 year run. The whole thing really doesn't have much to do with this compilation other than coincidental timing, so never mind. As you were. And Merry Christmas.

Tuesday, December 22, 1981