CCMusic.com

• Track Listing

Between 1961 and 1970, families across the United States delighted in an annual series of Christmas releases available exclusively through Goodyear stores. A whopping 900, 000 copies of the first volume of The Great Songs of Christmas were pressed-and proved so successful that, by December 1, 1961, Goodyear ordered all advertising to stop as the album had already sold out! The following year's order was for 1.5 million albums, and 2 million the year after that. These high-quality albums not only featured the era's top artists but frequently presented songs and versions unavailable anywhere else. Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records are proud to continue the rich tradition of The Great Songs of Christmas with an all-new volume in the classic spirit. The Great Songs of Christmas: Masterworks Edition brings together 18 lush selections primarily drawn from the original, long out-of-print series of LPs, featuring the most beloved carols of all time as performed by the greatest classical artists of the 20th century. These legends include Leonard Bernstein and The New York Philharmonic, Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, opera greats Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, and Anna Moffo, cellist-conductor Pablo Casals, and Erich Leinsdorf and The London Symphony Orchestra with The Roger Wagner Chorale. Half of the tracks are new to CD, and the rest can be fiendishly tough to find on out-of-print compilations. This volume of The Great Songs of Christmas has been freshly remastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, and features new, track-by-track liner notes by The Second Disc's Joe Marchese. The Great Songs of Christmas: Masterworks Edition promises to become a cherished part of your family's annual Christmas tradition... and a treasure trove for Christmas music collectors!