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CD:
ELVIS SINGS THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF CHRISTMAS
Songs:
CD 1 - The Original Album
1)
O Come All Ye Faithful
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2)
The First Noel
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3)
On a Snowy Christmas Night
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4)
Winter Wonderland
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5)
The Wonderful World of Christmas
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6)
It Won’t Seem Like Christmas
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7)
I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day
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8)
If I Get Home on Christmas Day
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9)
Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees
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10)
Merry Christmas Baby
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11)
Silver Bells
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Bonus Song
12)
I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day (remake master)
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First Takes
13)
It Won’t Seem Like Christmas (takes 1-3)
»
14)
If I Get Home on Christmas Day (take 1)
»
15)
I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day (takes 1-3)
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16)
Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees (takes 1, 2)
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17)
Silver Bells (takes 1, 2)
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18)
I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day (remake, takes 1, 2)
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CD 2
1)
I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day (take 4)
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2)
If I Get Home on Christmas Day (take, 2, 3)
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3)
Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees (take 3)
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4)
I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day (remake - take 3)
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5)
It Won’t Seem Like Christmas (takes 4, 5)
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6)
O Come All Ye Faithful (take 2)
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7)
If I Get Home on Christmas Day (take 5)
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8) The Lord's Prayer
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9)
I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day (take, 5, 6)
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10)
Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees (take 4)
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11)
It Won’t Seem Like Christmas (take 6)
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12)
Merry Christmas Baby (take 1, unedited version)
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13)
I’ll Be Home on Christmas Day (takes 4-9)
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14)
If I Get Home on Christmas Day (take 7)
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15)
Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees (takes 5-8)
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16)
Winter Wonderland (takes 7, 8)
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Reference:
(Denmark)
BMG FTD
506020-975031
Date of release:
December 2011
Additional information:
Studio recordings and outtakes, recorded at
RCA's Studio B, in Nashville, on May 15, 16 and June 10, 1971. This is a
special collector edition housed in a 7" (17.5 cm) triple-fold-out cover.
Includes a 12 pages booklet.
It may be surprising that RCA had placed a new Christmas album an the top of
their priority list for the sessions Elvis was to undertake in March 1971.
With Elvis' new found success and credibility, starting with the
NBC TV special, the legendary
Memphis recordings, the return to live performances, and most recently the
brilliant and critically acclaimed THAT'S
THE WAY IT IS and ELVIS
COUNTRY albums, it seems the last thing Elvis needed was a Christmas
album.
But in reality, maybe the most surprising element was that RCA hadn't been
bombarding Elvis with such a request many years earlier. By early 1971 the
original 1957 Christmas album was very close to sales of two million copies
in the US alone, and a scaled down version released the previous year on the
budget-priced Camden label, was on to a promising start and would eventually
become Elvis' biggest selling album, with more than 10 million copies
certified by the RIAA.
As for credibility and success, Elvis had taken a dive between RCA's request
and the actual release of
ELVIS SINGS
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF CHRISTMAS (4 consecutive singles that didn't
make the top 30, and lukewarm reviews of the preceding album
LOVE LETTERS FROM ELVIS),
but when the Christmas album came out in October of that year, it proved RCA
right with US sales of more than three million copies over the next decades,
with several additional millions to all the tracks as they were re-released
on Christmas compilations one after die other.
In the early 1970s, Christmas albums weren't listed on Billboard's
pop album charts, but on its special Christmas album chart it peaked at # 2
in 1971, and topped the chart in both 1972 and 1973.
Playing Time:
65:57 / 65:40 |
