Barbra Streisand - A Christmas Album

A Christmas Album

Columbia 9557 (CD) Original Release: October 1967

Produced by Jack Gold

Arranged and Conducted by Marty Paich

Original Recording Engineers: Rafael O. Valentin, Jack Lattig

Cover Photo: Horn/Griner

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

Footnotes

Released simultaneously with Simply Streisand.

Tracks 1-6, and 9 recorded in LA during evening sessions on September 9 & 16, 1967 (Funny Girl was shooting in the daytime), Jack Gold producing, Marty Paich arranging. "I was very hoarse," Barbra remembered in 2002. "In those days, we made the record in three days, sang four songs a day or whatever it was, and that's it, that's the record. Nobody ever overdubbed anything. So I just sort of went with it. This is who I am now - hoarse, except it lasts for your lifetime."

Paich recalled Barbra's initial resistance to singing "White Christmas" because of its close association with Bing Crosby. After listening to the rarely performed introductory verse about being stranded in Beverly Hills on Christmas Eve, she agreed to record the song.

Tracks 7, 8, 10, and 11 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."

In 1966 tracks 7 & 8 first released as a single for Christmas and on Columbia Special Products' The Great Songs of Christmas (Album Six) exclusively for Goodyear stores.

Cover photograph from Central Park concert rehearsal, June 1967.

Among the all-time best-selling holiday season albums.

Digitally restored/remastered CD released.

Cover redesigned in 2004 and 2007.

BB: 12-7-67 (holiday chart) / #1 || G, 1/21/76; P, 11/21/86; 5P, 5/5/99
In 2005 Borders stores in the U.S. released the 2-disc box set which had originated in the UK in 2004 as The Christmas Collection (#518970 2) containing Barbra Streisand's two holiday CDs - 1967's A Christmas Album (which received a new border design that year) and 2001's Christmas Memories.
Baby, It's Cold Outside (Hear Music/EMI, November 2005) features Barbra's previously unreleased "Gounod's Ave Maria (English Version)," which was recorded along with track #8 above but not included on the album. Starbucks.com and coffee shops may no longer be selling the multi-artist Christmas compilation CD.