30 Days Out (From Christmas): The Beach Boys
Day Nine – Our heroes from California first entered the Christmas music derby in 1964 with their seasonal offering, The Beach Boys Christmas Album. It was a gold album for them, and the record went to No. 6 on the album charts. “Little Saint Nick,” a Brian Wilson/Mike Love original, was already a hit from Christmastime 1963, and “The Man With All The Toys” also charted. These are fairly standard arrangements, although I once read that these were “some of the most nasal carols ever committed to wax.” But the album is listenable, particularly Wilson’s original “Christmas Day,” which features Al Jardine’s first recorded solo vocal.
In 1998 Capitol issued the original Beach Boys Christmas album on a package titled Ultimate Christmas, which featured some alternate takes and 11 additional tracks including the 1974 single “Child Of Winter” and several previously unreleased tracks from an aborted 1977 Christmas album.
Leave a Reply