'Twas The Night Before Christmas

Words by Clement Clarke Moore

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

 

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 circa 1946 ~ 47, New York ( date not-listed )

 

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

 

 

RCA CAMDEN CCD-660 BMG MUSIC 1987

BMG SPECIAL MUSIC CAD1-660 1992

PAIR RECORDS 660

Original Issue 1961 Camden LP Compilation released as CAL-660

 

The first 8 tracks were recorded between May 5th and June 22nd, 1953, and first released in the

RCA Victor 10" LP "Around The Christmas Tree" LPM-3133 excluding one track recorded during

these sessions, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", which was released as a single on the flip

side of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer". This album was produced by Henri René with Mitchell

Ayres' Orchestra and Chorus ( the Chorus was probably conducted by Ray Charles and may have

included what came to be known as The Ray Charles Singers ). Recordings were made at

RCA Victor Studio 2 and the Manhattan Center, New York City.

 

All of the recordings from 1946 were included within the original 78 rpm RCA Victor Musical

Smart Set also titled "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music". Perry recorded these songs

with Russ Case and His Orchestra and The Satisfiers on "Winter Wonderland" and

"Santa Clause Is Comin' To Town". In 1947 he recorded "White Christmas" with Lloyd Shafer's Orchestra

and this song replaced "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in future album compilations. This set was released

in various formats including the 1951 10" RCA Victor LP  LPM-3023 with the same title. Recordings

were made at RCA Victor Studio 2, New York City.

 

The 1956 12" LP "Perry Como Sings Merry Christmas Music" combined both the 1951 and 1953 10" LP

releases within one compilation but still excluded the track "O Little Town of Bethlehem" which had

been dropped in 1947. In 1961 this album was re-released on the RCA Camden label and dropped one

additional track, "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town". The 1987 compact disc release was a duplication

of the RCA Camden re-issue. Perry's 1953 recording of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was never

released in any other format than the original single.

 

Album notes for the original compilation were by Robert Prestegaard but these were excluded

from the compact disc release.

 

 

LPM-3023 1951 10" LP Included 1946 & 1947 tracks excluding "O Little Town of Bethlehem"

LPM-3133 1953 10" LP "AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE" Included first 8 tracks

LPM-1243 1956 12" LP Included all tracks excluding "O Little Town of Bethlehem"

CAL-660(e) 1961 12" LP Deleted 2 Tracks as Listed

 

Notes: ~ The RCA Camden Label was established in 1957 as a value-for-money "budget"

compilation release. The label was purposely designed for sale at very low "affordable" prices.

While it was claimed that the quality of these releases were not being compromised, the facts

clearly show this not to be the case. Common sense clearly suggests that it's impossible ( pardon the pun )

to maintain the same engineering standards for a budget release label such as RCA Camden as compared

with the premium RCA Victor label. In 1957 this may have been reasonably possible but with the advent

of stereo recordings, and higher technical standards, this claim became increasingly difficult to maintain.

By 1960 the number of tracks contained within the average Camden album was reduced from 12 to 10 and

for stereo Camden releases it wasn't uncommon for some tracks to be reprocessed from monaural masters

to simulate stereo. In general, Camden releases are remastered from second generation sources and that

continues to be the case even today within compact disc compilations. While some RCA Camden compilations

can be very good, as were a number of Perry's original Camden albums, it is an unusual occurrence.

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

 

 

George Townsend

HQV Selekt Group

3 Seaview Avenue

Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2G3

Canada

 

Telephone: (902) 698-9848

Thursday, November 21, 2024

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