Favorite Holiday Albums

First, we have the Partridge Family Christmas Card, released in 1971.  Like most of the Partridge Family songs, the lead vocals are sung by David Cassidy, who played Keith Partridge in the show. The album also features one of the few Partridge Family recordings featuring Shirley Jones as the lead singer ("The Christmas Song").

A Partridge Family Christmas Card was the best-selling Christmas album in the United states during the Christmas season of 1971. Most of the songs are standard holiday fare, but my favorite has to be the original song My Christmas Card To You which in my opinion is one of the best Partridge Family songs ever recorded.  Most of the songs are bubbly and fun, but their version of Frosty The Snowman has to be one of the most sad and somber versions I've ever heard....but its still a great album as a whole.  I have this on CD as well as vinyl.  

Next up is James Brown's Funky Christmas.  I picked up a copy of this on CD back in 1995.  The first few times I listened to this album, I couldn't decide if it was interesting or just plain weird, and to be honest, the first year I didn't play it very much. I like unusual Christmas records and I love James Brown, but this just didn't seem to cut it as Christmas music, even for me.  Over the years though, it has grown on me, and I find I listen to this album more than any of the other Christmas albums I own.  It is an excellent recording with some wonderfully original songs.  In my opinion, the best song on the album is Let's make this Christmas mean something this year, the message of the song is timeless and I love the background singers on this track. There are some fun and funky tracks as well as some beautiful soulful songs too. This is not your traditional Christmas fare, but they are certainly classics in their own right. Some of the more funky tracks are Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto and Hey America, which are very enjoyable songs, although not in the traditional holiday way.  One of the more soulful songs is Sweet Little Baby Boy, which is just lovely.  There are also some bluesy songs too, such as Merry Christmas Baby and Please Come Home For Christmas.  I was saddened to hear the Mr. Brown passed away on Christmas day in 2006.  I now play this album in his memory.