Track Listing

1. Little Drummer Boy
2. Medley: Jingle Bells/Sleigh Ride
3. Christmas Song
4. Medley: Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells
5. Medley: Frosty the Snow Man/Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
6. White Christmas [From "Holiday Inn"]
7. Carol for Another Christmas
8. Medley: Silent Night/O Holy Night/O Little Town of Bethlehem
9. Medley: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/Deck the Halls/Hark! The ...
10. Medley: We Three Kings of Orient Are/O Come, All Ye Faithful ...
11. Medley: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear/Away in a Manger/The First Noel

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60150 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Like his good friend Esquivel, Henry Mancini mixed some mean orchestral Christmas cocktails. But where Esquivel was possessed by wackiness and whimsy, Mancini played things fairly straight and still managed to create a sound that defined his career and an era. Sadly, the selections here are pedestrian, even by the well-trodden holiday boulevard standards. "White Christmas," "The Little Drummer Boy," and "The Christmas Song" all benefit nonetheless from Mancini's genius for timing and dynamics. Even the mundane "Frosty the Snowman" gets some new life breathed into him thanks to Mancini's arrangement, and "Carols for Another Christmas" is a good example of Mancini's hip restraint. Merry Mancini Christmas, while not the maestro at his best, still imparts some of that madcap, martini-era holiday spirit as only Mancini knew. --Steve Gdula

Customer Reviews

Mancini is Magical
I come from a very large family and since the mid-sixties when my parents bought it we'd play this album during the holidays. We played it until you could hardly hear some of the songs without the crackling and skipping the LP's were notorious for. By the time it was totally inaudible the LP wasn't being made any longer. We were all crushed because our Christmas mainstay album was gone. (Particularly because we lost both parents some years ago within 2 months of each other and we always listened as a family to this album.) When the CD came out we were overjoyed to say the least. I ALWAYS cry as do all of us in my family when "Carol for Another Christmas" plays because it holds such dear memories of my parents listening to us massacre that song on our instruments EVERY SINGLE CHRISTMAS!!! But they always swore we played beautifully.

A Classic
Tasteful, traditional orchestral Christmas music. More importantly, "Carol for Another Christmas" may be the most beautiful Christmas composition of the 20th Century.

A Little Restraint & Touch of Jazz Makes Classy Christmas CD
You notice the Christmas songs first. Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, blared from mall sound systems and car radios (and hopefully, churches), heard over TV specials and commercials. Regardless of when stores dress for the holidays, the seasonal music signals us to prepare and cheers us while we do. The songs are so beloved and familiar even to casual listeners that any singer or instrumentalist need only keep them anchored to the season's sentiments to render them successfully. In other words, remember what the songs mean and don't get cute.

"A Merry Mancini Christmas" is neither the best Henry Mancini nor traditional Christmas album, but is a tasteful addition for collectors of either style. The legendary composer and arranger plays it straight on the Christmas hymns, delivering tasteful, expansive medleys featuring the beloved "O Holy Night," "O Come All Ye Faithful," and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (which falls beneath Ray Conniff's version).

Despite vocals straight from traditional easy listening (Anita Kerr, Living Voices, Ray Charles Singers), Mancini is more playful on the holiday songs. He smoothes and quickens the tempo of "Little Drummer Boy" takes time wandering through "Winter Wonderland," and adds some jazzy horns to "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer."

Those wanting their Christmas music stringier and schmaltzier are directed to Mantovani and Jackie Gleason's Christmas albums. Their orchestras deliver holiday renditions as over-the-top as a January blizzard. Here, however, a little restraint and a touch of jazz makes a Henry Mancini "Christmas" a brief, merry, and recommended one.