Track Listing

1. Little Drummer Boy
2. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
3. Deck the Halls
4. White Christmas
5. Jingle Bells
6. Merry Christmas
7. Christmas Is the Season
8. O Little Town of Bethlehem
9. Silver Bells
10. Winter Wonderland
11. Silent Night
12. Gesu Bambino [*]
13. Ave Maria [*]
14. Christmas Medley #1: Hark the Herald Angels Sing/The First Nöel/O Come - Gordon MacRae, Jo Stafford
15. Christmas Medley #2: Joy to the World/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Gordon MacRae, Jo Stafford
16. Toys for Tots [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #156007 in Music
• Released on: 2005-10-04
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Jo Stafford's 1964 LP The Joyful Season lends an interesting girl-group sound to a set of traditional favorites. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that it's all Stafford, multitracked, but the arrangements themselves are pretty conventional. There are two rare tunes, "Merry Christmas" and "Christmas Is the Season," written by Stafford's husband and musical director, Paul Weston, and the young team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (four years before "The Windmills of Your Mind"). Also of interest are previously unreleased duet tracks with frequent collaborator Gordon MacRae. Recommended for fans of Stafford or MacRae, or anyone looking for a traditional Christmas album with just a little something different. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Silky & Mellow
Stafford used a multi-track techique when recording this (hence the second part of the title: The Voices of Jo Stafford) and it's lovely. The CD doesn't have much info about the album so I'll fill in the blanks-recorded in 1964 with Jack Marshall leading the orchestra. Bonus tracks include "Gesu Bambino" (1949), "Ave Maria" previously unreleased (1948?), and two Christmas Medleys with Gordon MacRae (1949) originally released under the title "Songs of Christmas" in December 1949, all from original Capitol recordings. Stafford is in great voice (as usual) and this is a beautiful collection of songs. Stafford's "sound" is different here than on her earlier Christmas recordings but it's just as good. If you're a fan of Jo Stafford and only have her earlier holiday songs (collected on Winter Weather) don't hesitate to add this one to your collection.

The Voices of Jo Stafford = Heavenly Music!
What can I say about this album that the previous reviewer hasn't? "The Joyful Season" is pure Heaven! Jo sings like a choir of angels and makes these traditional holiday favorites fresh and exciting again!

Surprisingly, this album conjures images of a simpler Christmas 30+ years ago (memories I'm too young to have!) along the lines of a holiday cocktail party or house warming where the entire extended family/block of families comes together to celebrate dressed in their Sunday best. That being said, there's a certain level of retro-kitsch found on "The Joyful Season" with its 1960's jazz guitar/Wurlitzer organ accompaniment, drastic/dramatic stereo separation, and dreamy reverb. Any fan of the Ultra-Lounge series, especially "Christmas Cocktails, Pts. 1 & 2," would simply adore this album and should definitely pick up a copy.

The bonus tracks with Gordon MacRae are also great inclusions. Doesn't he have a gorgeous voice?!

"The Joyful Season" is one of my absolute favorite Christmas albums of this past (2005) holiday season and it will continue to reign for many seasons to come!

Beautiful voices, beautiful songs
This is one of the two Jo Stafford Christmas collections that are available on CD, the other being "Happy Holidays - I Love The Winter Weather," which contains some very good earlier recordings. Both CDs are well worth purchasing. As on the earlier disc, the song selection and performances here are excellent all around.

Jo has a beautiful voice, and as the title of this album says, you get multiple, overdubbed voices from her, so it's more of a good thing. If I had to compare this album to someone else's music (not that Jo needs to be compared to anyone else for a recommendation), I'd say that this is what Les Paul and Mary Ford might have done if they had recorded an entire album of holiday favorites. (I wish they had -- their amazing "Christmas Song" single shows what they could have done with holiday standards.) There's a lot of well-played guitar here (albeit not quite as great as Les), and the multi-tracked voices are similar to what Les did with Mary's voice, although Jo and Mary obviously have different timbres.

In short, this album is well worth it if you like a jazzy or lounge sound with your Christmas cocktail.