The Beach Boys' Christmas Album

[Charles LePage @ ComicList]

Discuss, review and rate The Beach Boys Christmas Album, released October 1964.

[the captain]

I give it an "eh..."

[Jason]

One of the top 5 Christmas albums ever. Period.

[the captain]

As if the Christmas album genre were much of a formidable one...

[st2580smile]

Christmas doesn't start until I play the mono VINYL version.
The snap crackle and pops are an audio switch that takes me back to
old Christmas.
The best!
Pete

[Matinee Idyll]

Ehhh, not as good as I'd hoped.  The single of Little Saint Nick is superior, and most of the originals are dire... The second side is much improved.  We Three Kings is stunning.

This is the best the boys harmonies ever sounded in my opinion, "We Three Kings", right there.

3 stars for that, and Dennys cute XMas message.

[SurferGirl7]

Personally, the best holiday album ever. Great harmony that leave chills (ending of We Three Kings), to make you want to dance (Little St. Nick) to make you grin (Santa's Beard). It's fun and traditional at the same time.


My mom played this every Xmas even long before I was a fan. I think it was as instrumental as Sounds of summer, Endless Summer and PS was for me.

[I. Spaceman]

2 for me. Fairly obvious that Brian couldn't care less about LP's at that point considereing this and Concert. He was totally focused on single tracks and distracted by touring.

[Compost]

2 for me also.  Listenable, but devoid of that "balls having the life squeezed out of them" factor.

[analogdemon]

I rank this as the #3 best Christmas album of all time behind "A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector" and Elvis Presley's "Christmas Album" from 1957.

[Evenreven]

Pretty boring. Mostly lame singing. It doesn't sound fun at all. The stereo mixing is pretty bad too. A shame it's that version on the cd.

2 1/2

[mike thornton]

this album is schmokin. get hip to it.

[shelter]

God, I love Winter Symphony... Easily the most underrated Beach Boys song, for as far as I'm concerned.

[Reverend Joshua Sloane]

The stereo mix is awful.

Little Saint Nick is a classic record.

Santa's Beard is cool.

The rest is a whopping mass of meh.

[Jonas]

Too much negativity in this board, sometimes. The lackluster tracks are made up by some of the most powerful Christmas records ever. This record has been timeless and will remain so until someone can match the beauty of the Beach Boys vocal sound. Brilliant record, probably the best 'themed' record after Party!

[Daniel S.]

The stereo mix is awful.

Little Saint Nick is a classic record.

Santa's Beard is cool.

The rest is a whopping mass of meh.

Don't you like 'The Man With All The Toys'?

[Sheriff John Stone]

The Christmas album contains some of Brian's best vocal work EVER. Because of the subject matter, that is sometimes overlooked.

Little Saint Nick (the single version) exhibits as much genius production as any surf & turf record. I still get a kick when it comes on the radio.

And I still think that Brian should've insisted on another take from Dennis when he flubbed his spoken word line on Auld Lang Syne...

[Aegir]

The originals are cool, but I absolutely detest the arrangements on the second side. Oh my god, they are so cheesy. What the hell where they thinking with Santa Claus is Comin' to Town?!

[carl r]

I love it, for what it is. Its a totally 1960s pop album aimed at the widest possible holiday audience, so it can lean towards cheese. It's a bit like the "demo" mode on a synthesizer, which I mean in a good a way, shows off the bands vocal capability. And isn't the groove in Man With All The Toys the prototype for Here Comes The Night? I'd give it a 4 for most of the time, 5 annually each December.

[sockittome]

I'm kinda neutral on this album.  The arrangements and singing is top notch, but the material is... well, just okay (yah, I know, BAH HUMBUG).  Sadly, I can only get myself to listen to this album in December.

[sockittome]

Oh, BTW I gave it a 2.  Only Smiley Smile deserves a 1 in my book.

[Jason]

Only Smiley Smile deserves a 1 in my book.

Wrong answer.

[sockittome]

Is a 1 too high?  Afterall, it's got GV and H&V.

[lance]

Not a big fan, though I like We Three Kings of Orient Are, but I have always thought that song had an awesome melody. Ill give it a two.

[Poprocks]

This seems like a good time to review this album!

Hmm, this album was hard to come to a firm number on.  I think I'll give it a 3.  I really, really like Christmas songs, I'm not gonna lie - so I'm not like one of those people that will give a Christmas album a low rating just because it's a Christmas album.

I *like* most of the songs here, but some of the performances are really dull.  Little Saint Nick was great as a single, but for some reason they put an odd version on here without the sleigh bells and glock... The rest of the first side is quite good, except for Merry Christmas Baby which I'm not a big fan of.

As for the second side, I really like their song choice, but the vocals are just too rigidly done, as if they're singing a song they've never heard before while reading the notes on a sheet of paper.  This works well for songs like We Three Kings and Auld Lang Syne where there are multipart harmonies; not so much for songs like Frosty and Blue Christmas which are more monophonic.  Also, Brian's voice really starts to grate on me on the second side, for some reason.  I don't know why, exactly, I usually like his voice - but couldn't he have given some leads to Carl, Mike or Al on the 2nd side?  And Denny's flub on Auld Lang Syne really doesn't do much to help the rushed feel of the album.

It just seems like not much care went in - I'm not saying they didn't spend a lot of time on it, I'm sure they did; but it does FEEL rushed to me.  I almost wish I could go back in time and say "do a good job on this album, because people will still be listening to it 40+ years from now!"  BUT with all its flaws, the product is somehow better than the sum of its parts.