Track Listing

1. Christmas Medley: Jingle Bells/Santa Claus Is Coming to ...
2. Sleigh Ride
3. Christmas Song
4. Glow Worm [Christmas Arrangement]
5. Christmas Feeling
6. It Happened in Sun Valley
7. Christmastime Is Here [From A Charlie Brown Christmas]
8. Good King Wenceslas
9. What Child Is This? [Instrumental] - Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
10. Silver Bells
11. Christmas Was Made for Children
12. Christmas Waltz
13. Medley: Just Look Around/Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
14. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Instrumental - Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
15. Medley: Happy Holiday/Let's Start the New Year Right/What Are You ...
16. White Christmas

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96826 in Music
• Released on: 1992-09-21
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
Mel Torme is so famous for writing "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)," it's surprising that he never recorded a full Christmas album before 1992's Christmas Songs. Besides that standard, Torme's own compositions here include the heartfelt "The Christmas Feeling" and "Christmas Was Made for Children." He also sings Johnny Mercer's Christmas lyrics for "Glow Worm" as well as more traditional fare. Backed by both orchestra and big band, Torme is alternately swinging and sentimental on this instant classic. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

As good as a Christmas recording gets!
Mel's recent passing has moved me to review the album, even though it's the beginning of summer. If it can be said that any artist was born to sing Christmas tunes, Mel was he. It's impossible to not get into "the Spirit" when listening to this record (I'm almost getting the feeling just thinking about this great collection). This record offers something for everyone, from traditional Christmas hymns and carols to jazzier numbers like "Glow Worm" and "Christmas in Sun Valley." Mel's unique voice and style are, not surprisingly, perfectly suited to all the songs, easily taking the listener through the entire range of holiday emotions. Even better, though, Mel conveys a sense of personal fun and enjoyment from performing these songs - what else would you expect from Mr. Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire, though! If you're looking to add one more record to your Christmas collection, this one should be strongly considered.

On the short list of "must have" CD's
"The Christmas Song" is one of my favorite holiday songs of all time. Since Mel Torme co-wrote it (with Robert Wells), I wanted the CD with Mel singing it. In case you don't know this song, it goes:

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Johnny Mercer wrote two verses of holiday lyrics to "Glow Worm". Mel added three more verses, and sings them on this CD. You might notice an extra verse on "The Christmas Waltz". This song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. Sammy Cahn wrote the additional verse as a gift to Mel. I particularly liked "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", an instrumental played by the brass of the Cincinnatti Sinfonietta. The CD is generally very upbeat, starting out with a lively medley that gets my toe tapping. "Good King Wenceslas" is truly fabulous, done with a jazz beat and style that sounds supremely natural, almost as if the song writer intended it this way!

This CD has some light jazzy selections, but some others, such as "What Child Is This?", are done in a more traditional way. This very first Christmas CD by Mel was recorded in 1992. I found the audio quality to be very acceptable. The CD length is 60 minutes. I put this on my short list of "must have" Christmas music CD's.

One of the Better Ones
First, I need to say that this is an excellent, if very slightly uneven, Christmas CD. The few issues that I have with it probably won't bother most listeners. Being the nostalgic sort that I am, I would have preferred a recording from early in Mel's career instead of one recorded when he was almost 70. This can't be helped, of course, because he simply didn't make any holiday records until this one. And, with a voice still as silky smooth as this, it hardly matters.

I've never been much of a fan of medleys, and the one that occupies the first track on this CD is no exception. It starts promisingly enough with "Jingle Bells", but it begins to derail after that. It's just too over the top for my taste. I suppose if every song on the CD had the same "feel", some would complain about a certain "sameness" throughout the disc. But when I go to choose from my nearly 200 Christmas CDs, I like to pick one that fits a particular mood. Most of this CD is perfect for a relaxing evening with the lights turned down low, but the first medley left me wanting to shout "Dude, take a valium! Just sing the song, please."

Thankfully, Mel settles in rather nicely after that. Even his scat singing on "Sleigh Ride" is tempered and relaxed. His version of "Good King Wenceslas" is a little bit cheesy for my taste, but I suppose that's just Mel. The rest of the CD is quite lovely and makes you feel as though Mel and his backing band are crooning just for you in your dimly-lit, holiday-decorated living room.

The last medley (the second-to-last track) features about 30 seconds each of "Happy Holidays" and "Let's Start the New Year Right", reserving the rest for a more-or-less complete rendition of "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" The latter is my favorite of the three (and one of my favorites, period), so I'm glad it didn't receive short shrift like the others. But again, why bother with medleys in the first place? Why not save the other songs for complete renditions on future recordings?

But, enough with the nitpicking. Overall, this is an outstanding CD, and if I program out the 1st and 8th tracks, I still get 52 minutes of wonderful holiday music, and that's more than you get from most. Sadly, Mel is no longer with us, but this listener is thankful that he finally got around to recording that elusive Christmas album. It's a treasure.