#73: Phil Spector - A Christmas Gift For You (1963)

I don't like Christmas albums. I don't like Christmas songs. Very rarely will an artist come across and record something that has a Christmas theme and I'll enjoy it - most recently it was Pomplamoose's 'Always in the Season'. Despite how good this album may be, I just don't like the songs. I love Christmas, it's my favorite holiday. The music itself is old, repeated, and carries little to no weight - it's very boring to me. It doesn't get me into the season, especially when I'm listening to this on the first day back to school in August.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
I don't know why this album is on the list of '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die' and I don't know if it's a cruel joke - but it doesn't make any sense. I'm starting to wonder how they picked any of these albums. Is it based off of historical significance? Cultural significance? Based upon sales? I just don't understand why this album was chosen. Phil Spector is an amazing producer, he got behind Billy Joel and countless others for a dozen years - I should love this just because his name's on it. It makes me question just how important a producer is. Maybe I over think the role to much. I'd love to say it's good, but it's not. It's awful and boring.

Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
I dislike this track a lot less than I dislike the other tracks and I think it's simply because I've never heard it before. However, it has a formula to it and that formula is a basic Christmas song. There's no instrumentation to it, the lyrics are awful, the melody is ridiculously predictable, and it's just very, very boring.

Silent Night
The last track started off and I said to myself, "Finally I won't hate one of these songs." If I had to choose a favorite Christmas song this would be it. Granted, the arrangement isn't anything special but it's a solid take (to start). However, that thought was quickly overturned by Phil Spector talking to the audience about the magic of Christmas. After that I checked out.

All in all, it's a Christmas album. It's nothing special, it's nothing great, and it's really nothing good. If you like Christmas songs, you'll probably like this album. If there's any part of you that doesn't want to hear this in August, you will not like it. My only recommendation would be to avoid it, unless it's Christmas time - but even then you may want to avoid it too.

Tomorrow's album: The Postal Service's Give Up.