(EMI Special Markets, CD only, 2007)
OK, here’s an audio curve ball for you. I was uncertain about including it, but it’s listed on Discogs – and is available – so I figured what the heck. This is an EMI “Special Markets” CD produced for Kohls stores in 2007. Apparently Kohls did a series of such Christmas titles with different artists for a number of years. This one is made up of, as is obvious, Christmas songs delivered by the two most popular, well-known male vocalists of the past century. The 12 songs are all standards, all classics, and the two crooners alternate in delivering them. Why do I bother to include it in this review? Simply because somehow, surprisingly, this is sonically the best Christmas CD I own.
A few years ago a friend played this for me, said he’d found it at a local Kohl’s where they had a discovered an old bunch of them left over that they were blowing out for 25¢ or so. We were both impressed, so much so that I ran over and picked up a dozen of them and have been giving them out to different folks at Christmas time ever since – I still have a couple left.
Not only were these two guys some of the greatest vocalists of all time, the talent supporting them was also top-notch – the backing vocalists and musicians, engineers and producers were some of the best in the business. The original recordings are not documented for this disc, though I imagine that sufficiently dedicated musicologists could figure that out. For my part, I am quite willing to sit back and enjoy what I am hearing. These are some of the best recordings of these classic Christmas songs you are likely to hear. And though you might find the individual songs on a streaming service, I’m fairly confident that you’re not gonna find this wonderful collection there.