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A Christmas Album (1967)

Catalog Number(s):

• CS 9557 (1967 LP)
• CK 9557 (CD, 1989 & 1994)
• CK 92708 (2004—U.S. "Essential Holiday Classics" version)
• 518970 2 (2004—U.K. Christmas Collection)
• 97722 (2005—U.S. Borders Christmas Collection)
• Related: Season's Greetings from Barbra Streisand ... and Friends

This page: Tracks > About the Album > CD Packaging> Billboard Charts > Grammy Award(s) > Cover Outtakes

Below: The front and back cover of the original LP

Tracks

1. Jingle Bells? [1:58]
   (new adaptation by M. Paich & J. Gold)
2. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas [3:14]
   (H. Martin / R. Blane)
3. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) [4:00] (M. Torme / R. Wells)
4. White Christmas [3:08] (I. Berlin)
5. My Favorite Things [3:09] (O. Hammerstein II / R. Rodgers)
6. The Best Gift [3:11] (L. O'Kun)
7. Sleep In Heavenly Peace (Silent Night) [3:07] (F. Gruber)
8. Gounod's Ave Maria [3:26]
9. O Little Town Of Bethlehem [2:58]
   (new adaptation by J. Gold)
10. I Wonder As I Wander [3:18] (J.J. Niles)
11. The Lord's Prayer [2:43] (A.H. Malotte)

Individual track credits:

(mouse and click on each song to reveal the credits...)

 

About The Album

• Released: October 1967
• Produced by: Jack Gold
• Arranged & Conducted by Marty Paich
• Engineering: Rafael O. Valentin, Jack Lattig
• Cover Photo: Horn/Griner

Producer Jack Gold told writer Shaun Considine, “[Barbra] didn't want to do [“White Christmas”] because it was too closely associated with Bing Crosby. I remembered that it had a special verse, an introduction that Irving Berlin wrote about being stranded in Beverly Hills on Christmas Eve, with the sunshine and palm trees.” Streisand liked the verse and recorded the song for the album.

Tracks 7, 8, 10, and 11 were recorded at London's Olympia Sound Studios, June 1966, Ettore Stratta producing, Ray Ellis arranging. Stratta remembered that Barbra insisted on different interpretations without traditional arrangements for these songs. “It was thrilling to see and hear her,” Stratta said. “She was so happy—she was having a baby, and she would soon be going home. It was a very good time for her.”

“I was actually a bit dissatisfied with my original Christmas album, which I made when I was pregnant with Jason,” Streisand confessed in 2001. “I was sick and had laryngitis, but we had an orchestra booked in London and I had to sing for three days. I never felt it was good enough, and I always thought I must do another one when I'm not hoarse.”

CD Packaging Notes

Barbra's Christmas Album has been repackaged many different times. The original 1989 disc contained nothing of note. In 1994, it was remastered. In 2004, the album received a new (tacky!) cover in the U.S. And in the U.K. in 2004, a box set called "The Christmas Collection" was released. The set contained the remaster of the 1967 album along with Barbra's 2001 recording, Christmas Memories. The collection was then released in the U.S. in 2005 at Borders Book Stores exclusively. The box slip cover looked like this:

In 2005, Sony/BMG licensed Barbra's 1967 previously unreleased English version of “Gounod's Ave Maria” to a Starbucks' compilation Christmas CD called Baby, It's Cold Outside.

Billboard Charts

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine.

Here's the numbers for this Streisand album:

• Debut Chart Date: 12-7-67 (on the Billboard Holiday Chart)
• No. Weeks on Billboard 200 Albums Chart: n/a
• Peak Chart Position: #1
• Gold: 1/21/76
• Platinum: 11/21/86
• 2x Multi-Platinum: 11/21/86
• 3x Multi-Platinum: 11/10/89
• 4x Multi-Platinum: 1/31/97
• 5x Multi-Platinum: 5/5/99

Gold: 500,000 units shipped

Platinum: 1 million units shipped

Notes:

Wikipedia states: “Billboard has adjusted its policies for Christmas and holiday albums several times. The albums were eligible for the main album charts until 1963, when a Christmas Albums list was created. Albums appearing here were not listed on the Top LPs chart. In 1974 this rule was reverted and holiday albums again appeared within the main list.”

The record company must submit an album to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) where it undergoes a certification process to become eligible for an award. The process entails an independent sales audit, which calculates the quantity of singles or albums shipped for sale, net after returns. The audit surveys shipments to the entire music marketplace, including retail, record clubs, television sales, Internet orders and other ancillary markets. Based on the certification of these shipments, a title is awarded Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum or Diamond status. The data here comes directly from official sources, mainly the RIAA online database.

Album Cover Outtakes

The cover photo of A Christmas Album was credited to Horn/Griner — a successful graphic design team comprised of Steve Horn and Norm Griner who worked together on design projects for fifteen years into the early 1970s.

The photograph was taken at Barbra's rehearsal for her concert in Central Park on the evening of June 16, 1967. Apparently, several photographers were allowed to capture images of Barbra's rehearsal, so there are many variations from that evening—Streisand wore a fabric band around her wig.

End.

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Related: “Season's Greetings from Barbra Streisand ... and Friends”

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