PERRY COMO  SINGS

MERRY  CHRISTMAS 

MUSIC

RCA CAMDEN CAS-660(e) ( PCRS-5309/10 )

STEREO LONG PLAY

ELECTRONICALLY REPROCESSED

REISSUED IN 1964, 1987

 

RCA CAMDEN CAL-660 ( M3PP-2424/25 )

MONAURAL LONG PLAY

ASSEMBLED IN 1961

        Side One ~ recordings circa 1953

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

Poem by Clement Clarke Moore with original music by Ray Charles

With String Ensemble directed by Mitchell Ayres

 

( The ) Twelve Days of Christmas

Traditional Christmas Music

With Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra & Chorus

 

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Traditional Christmas Music

With Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra & Chorus

 

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S

Music by Eddy Arnold and lyrics by Jenny Lou Carson, 1949

With Mitchell Ayres and His Orchestra

 

Joy To The World

Words and Music by Isaac Watts and George F. Handel

With Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra & Chorus

 

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Words and Music by Johnny Marks , 1949

With Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra & Chorus

 

Frosty the Snowman

Words and Music by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, 1950

With Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra & Chorus

 

( The ) Christmas Song ( Merry Christmas To You )

Music by Mel Tormé and lyrics by Robert Wells, 1946

With Mitchell Ayres and His Orchestra

        Side Two ~ recordings circa 1946 / 47

That Christmas Feelin'

~ from the Musical Smart Set "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music"

Words and Music by Bennie Benjamin and George Weiss

With Russ Case and His Orchestra

 

I'll Be Home For Christmas

~ from the Musical Smart Set "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music"

Words and Music by Walter Kent, Kim Gannon and Buck Ram

With Russ Case, his Orchestra and Chorus

 

Silent Night

~ from the Musical Smart Set "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music"

Words and Music by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber

With Organ and Choir conducted by Russ Case

 

O Come All Ye Faithful ( Adeste Fideles )

~ from the Musical Smart Set "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music"

Latin Hymn translated by Frederick Oakeley

With Organ and Choir conducted by Russ Case

 

Jingle Bells

~ from the Musical Smart Set "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music"

Words and Music by J.S. Pierpoint

With Russ Case, his Orchestra and Chorus

 

White Christmas  ~ added in 1947

Words and Music by Irving Berlin, 1942

With Mixed Chorus and Lloyd Shaffer's Orchestra

Recorded July 10, 1947, New York

 

Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town ~ dropped in 1961

Words and Music by Haven Gillespie and J. Fred Coots , 1934

~ from the Musical Smart Set "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music"

With Russ Case and his Orchestra and The Satisfiers

 

Winter Wonderland

Words and Music by Felix Bernard and Dick Smith

~ from the Musical Smart Set "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music"

With Russ Case and His Orchestra and The Satisfiers

 

O Little Town of Bethlehem ~ dropped in 1947

Words and Music by Phillips Brooks and Lewis H. Redner

~ from the Musical Smart Set "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music"

With Organ and Choir conducted by Russ Case

| 1953 Sessions | 1946 Sessions | Album Notes |

Side One

~ with Mitchell Ayres' Orchestra and Chorus and String Ensemble

Produced by Henri René

Original Release 1953 in 10" LP format RCA Victor album "Around the Christmas Tree" RCA Victor LPM-3133

Released simultaneously as two 45 RPM Extended Play Albums EPA-496, titled

"Around the Christmas Tree," and EPA-497, titled "Christmas Joy" in 1953.

        Side Two

~ with Russ Case and His Orchestra, Organ and Mixed Choir, recorded August 1, 6, 20 and 22, 1946.

This set was released in several formats under the title "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music. "

The original compilation included "O Little Town of Bethlehem" , recorded during the 1946 sessions, which was substituted in the 1951 compilation, RCA Victor LPM-3023, with Irving Berlin’s "White Christmas," recorded with Lloyd Shaffer and His Orchestra.

In 1961, the RCA Victor album was re-released as RCA Camden CAL-660 excluding the 1946 version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town ( with the Satisfiers ) " With the release of the RCA Camden version, two of the original 1946 tracks were now withdrawn from commercial release.

Note: the RCA Camden release was later issued in Electronically Reprocessed Stereo during the mid-1960s when it became important for recordings to be available in a stereo format. Generally speaking, results were not very good but this was largely dependent on the remastering engineer. Oddly, a number of recordings previously recorded in real stereo were also remastered in this "fake" stereo for reasons assumed to be associated with the project budget but, nevertheless, in direct contradiction to G. R. Marek's original mission statement for RCA Camden recordings in 1958.

       

           | 1940s | Early 50s | Late 50s | Early 60s | Late 60s | Early 70s | Late 70s | 1980s |

A Perry Como Discography 

& Digital Companion

| Site Links | All Albums |  All Songs | The Recording Sessions |

First Edition Summer 1992

Second Edition Christmas 1993

Web Page Edition Christmas 1997

25th Anniversary Revision November, 2017

Digital Upgrade August, 2018

November 2024 Revised Edition