True Value's Happy Holidays: Album Nine

Oh boy...

 

A very generic collection of Christmas songs varying in classical, jazz, and a little country from the 60's/70's. Mediocre renditions of holiday "favorites" across the board, making it decent background music for perusing the aisles of a True Value in search of a last-minute gift for that handy person in your life. While getting through the slog of this compilation I  hopped on the phone and discovered that two of the tracks on this thing are by people who have appeared in a Tim Burton movie. Robert Goulet ("Silver Bells") was in Beetlejuice and John Davidson ("The First Noel") was in Edward Scissorhands. As my research continued while the needle scraped through the grooves I also learned that my least favorite track on this thing, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear," is by an anti-gay-rights activist, Anita Bryant. This discovery really spoiled the already bitter taste of this holiday album, knocking it down substantially. It's not really a case of one bad apple spoiling the bunch as there is really nothing that stood out throughout the entire runtime.

 

I picked this out because I loved the warmth of the cover, but was met with utter disappointment in trying to enjoy this very unconventional Holiday season. I really wasn't expecting to have a Scrooge review during this series, but with all the good holiday stuff out there this was a real waste of time. I also have True Value's Happy Holidays: Album Twelve that I really hope is better than this volume. I might throw that one on next year, while this album is rotting in a landfill.

 

Bah Humbug.

 

-Rating: 2.3/10

-Release: 1973

-Label: Columbia Special Records

-Genre: Classical/Jazz/Country

-Full-length/black vinyl

Cabin Corner Christmas Special Playlist