Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis

Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis
Studio album by
Johnny Mathis
ReleasedSeptember 23, 1986[1]
RecordedJuly 1986[2]
StudiosOne on One Studios,
North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California,
Conway Studios,
Hollywood, California,
Ocean Way Recording,
Hollywood, California [3]
Genres
  • Vocal
  • holiday[4]
Length33:28
LabelColumbia
ProducerDenny Diante[3]
Johnny Mathis chronology
16 Most Requested Songs
(1986)		 Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis
(1986)		 The Hollywood Musicals
(1986)
Alternate cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllmusicStarStarStar[4]
Peoplenegative[5]

Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis is the fourth Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 23, 1986,[1] by Columbia Records. This was Mathis's fourth holiday-themed LP and focused exclusively on secular material.

The album spent a week on Billboard magazine's Christmas Albums chart in the issue dated December 12, 1992,[6] (no such chart was published in 1986)[7] and two weeks on its Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in December 1994.[6]

The recording of "Jingle Bells" on this release is subtitled "(Let's Take a Sleigh Ride)" on the front and back covers of the album jacket.[3] (The CD booklet does not include song titles on the cover.) The track opens with background vocalists singing, "Let's take a sleigh ride, a merry sleigh ride," and the subtitle is inserted into each refrain of the chorus. Although no credit for additional lyrics is cited, the credit for the arranger of this rendition, Ray Ellis, is listed with the songwriter's name on the LP label.[3]

The album's opener, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", was featured in the 1992 holiday release Home Alone 2: Lost in New York[8] and included on its original soundtrack album.[9] In the issue of Billboard dated November 28, 2009, the list of the "Top 10 Holiday Songs (Since 2001)" places the Mathis recording at number 10.[10]

Reception

People magazine's reviewer, Ralph Novak, describes Mathis's singing on the album as "characteristically smooth, yet never very engaged", and feels that the arrangements "tend to big stringy orchestrations that are too much for intimacy and not passionate enough for majesty."[5]

Track listing

All tracks recorded in July 1986.[2] Personnel information taken from the liner notes for the original album:[3]

  1. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (Meredith Willson) – 2:14
  2. "Toyland" from Babes in Toyland (Glen MacDonough, Victor Herbert) – 3:41
    • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
    • John Arrias – recording engineer
    • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
    • Joe Soldo – contractor
  3. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Edward Pola, George Wyle) – 2:45
    • Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
    • John Arrias – recording engineer
    • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
    • Jules Chaikin – contractor
  4. "Jingle Bells" (James Pierpont) – 2:54
    • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
    • Daren Klein – recording engineer
    • Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
    • Marion Klein – contractor
  5. Medley – 5:09
    a. "Christmas Is for Everyone" (Richard Loring, Dorothy Wayne)
    b. "Where Can I Find Christmas?" from The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas (Doug Goodwin)
    • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
    • Daren Klein – recording engineer
    • Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
    • Marion Klein – contractor
    • International Children's Choir (Irene Bayless, director) – backing vocals
    • The kids from St. Michael's School, North Hollywood – backing vocals
  6. Medley from Santa Claus: The Movie – 4:03
    a. "Every Christmas Eve" (Leslie Bricusse, Henry Mancini)
    b. "Giving (Santa's Theme)" (Bricusse, Mancini)
  7. "The Christmas Waltz" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) – 2:36
    • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
    • John Arrias – recording engineer
    • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
    • Joe Soldo – contractor
  8. "We Need a Little Christmas" from Mame (Jerry Herman) – 1:54
    • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
    • John Arrias – recording engineer
    • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
    • Joe Soldo – contractor
  9. Medley – 3:44
    a. "Caroling, Caroling" (Alfred Burt, Wilha Hutson)
    b. "Happy Holiday" from Holiday Inn (Irving Berlin)
    • Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
    • John Arrias – recording engineer
    • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
    • Jules Chaikin – contractor
  10. "It's Christmas Time Again" (Sonny Burke, John Elliot, James K. Harwood) – 4:28
    • Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
    • John Arrias – recording engineer
    • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
    • Jules Chaikin – contractor

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album:[3]

References

  1. 1 2 (2014) The Classic Christmas Album by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Columbia Records 88843091032.
  2. 1 2 (2017) The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88985 36892 2.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (1986) Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records FC 40447.
  4. 1 2 "Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis - Johnny Mathis". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Picks and Pans Review: Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis". People. December 8, 1986.
  6. 1 2 Whitburn 2004, p. 167.
  7. ↑ Whitburn 2004, p. 106.
  8. ↑ "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - Soundtracks". imdb.com. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  9. ↑ (1992) Home Alone 2: Lost in New York by various artists [CD booklet]. New York: Fox Records 07822 11000-2
  10. ↑ "Holiday Cheer". Billboard. November 28, 2009. p. 38.

Bibliography

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