Long before Carpenters released their first Christmas album, two singles were released.  Richard’s ear for a unique arrangement resulted in this slow rendition of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” The original 1974 single mix appears on the 45RPM single, along with a rare Japan 3-inch CD box set of their singles, as well as a recent offering of their singles by PBS.  The track would appear as a remix on their Old Fashioned Christmas album.  They would record this song twice–the second version they would record was the more upbeat variety, as heard on their first holiday album, Christmas Portrait.  Both albums are available in their original track lineups as Christmas Collection, albeit with remixed tracks.

This video contains footage from a television appearance, to which they lip sync the track.

It was not uncommon to find holiday-related tracks buried on A&M’s albums. On the Road Song album, Wes Montgomery recorded a brief version of “Greensleeves.”  The tune dates back to the 16th century, even being mentioned in one of Shakespeare’s works (The Merry Wives of Windsor).  This version was recorded at Van Gelder studios and produced by Creed Taylor.

 

While the debate is out about “My Favorite Things” being a Christmas/holiday song, We Five did a really nice version on their You Were On My Mind album from 1965. This also appeared on the Something Festive compilation.

 

The late, great Pete Jolly recorded three LPs for A&M, along with this non-album holiday gem, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time.”  Jolly (born Peter Ceragioli) was best know for his long-live jazz trio in the Los Angeles area, as well as being a member of Shorty Rogers’ Giants.  This track appeared on the A&M compilation Something Festive.

This is a rare non-album track by Claudine Longet.  It has appeared on a handful of Longet’s anthologies, including Hello Hello: The Best of Claudine Longet, as well as on Universal’s Lost Christmas – Holiday Rarities digital album.