Vintage Christmas Albums

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As musical genres go, Christmas albums have got to be one of the most diverse. At one end of the spectrum there are the Ray Conniff Singers belting out spunky and earnest versions of "Frosty the Snowman" and "White Christmas" on their 1959...
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As musical genres go, Christmas albums have got to be one of the most diverse. At one end of the spectrum there are the Ray Conniff Singers belting out spunky and earnest versions of "Frosty the Snowman" and "White Christmas" on their 1959 classic, "Christmas with Conniff." At the other end is Pearl Jam, whose mournful 1998 Christmas release of Wayne Cochran’s "Last Kiss" was an unexpected hit for the Seattle-based grunge band. One of the earliest Christmas albums to break into the popular mainstream was Gene Autry’s "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which was released by Columbia as both a 78 and 33 1/3 RPM single in 1949. A 45 version came out in 1950, and that disc remains one of the best-selling Christmas records of all time. Throughout the early 1950s, The Singing Cowboy, as Autry was known, continued to release Christmas records on Columbia, including a 45 in 1952 with Rosemary Clooney ("The Night Before Christmas Song," backed by "Look Out The Window"), who had quite a run of her own Christmas records ("Suzy Snowflake" was Clooney’s 1951 hit). Harry Belafonte, recording for RCA Victor, was another singer to try his pipes at Christmas records in the 1950s. A 45 featuring "Mary’s Boy Child" was released in 1956, while an entire album of Christmas music called "To Wish You a Merry Christmas" came out in 1958—of the two versions of this album, the stereo copy is more collectible than the mono. Nat King Cole released a string of 45s on Capitol from 1950 to 1956, including “Mrs. Santa Claus” and “My Two Front Teeth (All I Want for Christmas).” Another landmark Christmas song from the 1950s was "Run Rudolph Run," a rockin’ 45 on Chess Records by Chuck Berry. And one of the most infamous Christmas tunes of the decade was Eartha Kitt’s sultry 1953 classic for RCA, "Santa Baby" (the picture sleeve features a very leggy Kitt being carried in the arms of a somewhat lecherous Santa Claus). But the undisputed kings of Christmas music from the late 1940s and...
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