The Guaraldi LP for sure.
I have some others that bring great childhood memories that are also good in their own way.
These both from 1962:
Ray Conniff, We Wish You a Merry Christmas
So very schmaltzy. It's of course "music for squares," in a "Mad Men" suburbia style but a lot of fun.)
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Philly Orch w/ Eugene Ormandy, The Glorious Sounds of Christmas
A standard choral, orchestral set done really well, straight up, "no foolishness." Too good to be boring.
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Now we go back to 1959 with Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians for The Sounds of Christmas (seems there was little imagination for album titles back then).
Again, a "formal, adult" recording but there's huge variety here, everything from stuffy orchestral/choral like the Ormandy, to gospel to almost-Conniff like campy to swanky jazz. "Santa Claus Is coming to Town" here is the sexiest version of it you'll hear.
A little more than a year I ago I emailed the Coordinator at Penn State's Library, where Fred Waring had left many artifacts and recordings. The Sounds of Christmas was OOP but he graciously gave me an MP3 download for free, unfortunately crappy-sounding. I shared with him my better-sounding LP rip ... (got no response about that)
It was later part of a 2-LP and then 2-CD set called "Christmas Magic" also OOP. Apparently, 3 weeks ago Capitol/Universal
re-released it. (iTunes link)
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So now back to the '60s with Ferrante and Teicher, We Wish You a Merry Christmas
History wasn't kind to this kind of light "fluff" artistry but for Xmas it works just fine.
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If you like vocal jazz I shouldn't have to tell you about this, you need to own it already:
If you play vinyl seek out both the original mono and stereo versions, black label Verve.
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With a few others that group above formed the core of what I heard growing up for most Decembers.
Now for something completely different: From '91, Brave Combo, It's Christmas, Man!
Polka, waltzes, samba, rock, etc
There's a live recording that's similar, called Christmas Present.
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If you find this, it should be
green vinyl. Earlier versions weren't but sound the same: like an old TV speaker ...
There are others in standard rotation here but that should get anyone going.
