Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Christmas Orchestra And Chorus Gem
Comment: This compilation from LAWRENCE WELK, HIS ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS, is a christmas gem of christmas music. It is without any doubt, one of the best christmas cd's ever released. This release, 22 MERRY CHRISTMAS FAVORITES FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOUR HOUSE, finds itself in my cd player very often over the christmas months of november and december. Christmas wouldn't be the same without it.
The songs all sound as if they were recorded in the same session rather than scattered years. It sounds as if it was a single recorded christmas album from perhaps 1960 or so. I didn't even know it was a compilation until after I read that it was. That's how much I thought it was it's own early 1960's record. This is a plus because all the songs mix into each other really well.
You will get some fabulous orchestra music, some wonderful chorus singing, and some superb solo or duet singing. In fact, it's one of the great christmas releases where every song is really dynamite. I'm pretty certain you won't be skipping any songs to get to the next great one and you'll play it straight through time after time. And with that in mind, this cd would be a perfect cd to play as background christmas music for when you have company (like family and friends) over during the christmas season (and also just for your own listening enjoyment over the holidays).
Very powerful chorus singing is found in such songs as MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOUR HOUSE and the timeless WHITE CHRISTMAS. A beautiful orchestra sound is heard in O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM and SILENT NIGHT among others. Great solo singing is heard in THANKS FOR CHRISTMAS and CHRISTMAS COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR. A superb duet is found in SILVER BELLS. And a very powerful and beautiful orchestra and chorus is heard in the songs HARK THE HEARALD ANGELS SING (my all-time favorite version), DECK THE HALLS (also my all-time favorite version), CAROL OF THE BELLS (first or second all-time favorite version), AWAY IN A MANGER, and several others.
In many of the religious songs (the only exception being CAROL OF THE BELLS), the chorus doesn't sing words but rather become a type of instrument of the orchestra (kinda humming along) but this style is used in a very unique way in some of the songs and it is ever so beautiful.
This cd really has a style all it's own so it will be pleasant and fresh from other christmas cd's, but at the same time, still being at least around as great (if not greater) and in the general 'easy listening christmas' style (or category) of other great orchestra and chorus christmas albums by the LIVING STRINGS AND LIVING VOICES - WHITE CHRISTMAS (1968), PERCY FAITH AND HIS ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS - CHRISTMAS IS (1966) and HENRY MANCINI AND HIS ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS - A MERRY MANCINI CHRISTMAS (1966).
This cd is a most reccomended cd that has many timeless favorites with fresh original approaches to many of them unlike versions you have probably heard before and also several new songs you may not have heard (such as the very upbeat and amazing RING THOSE CHRISTMAS BELLS) which makes this cd a very unique and most beautiful christmas offering that I'm certain will become one of your favorites if not your favorite christmas cd.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best Christmas CD
Comment: I bought the 4 record set over 35 years ago and have played this 'wunnerful' music each year as we decorate our Christmas tree. I made cassette copies when my daughter moved away------even to England; she has kept up the tradition even to this day. Our concern was the longevity of the cassetts, so I searched the internet to find possible CD's. I was SO thrilled to find this and another CD available and immediately order her and me a set. Now we are assured of ALWAYS being able to enjoy Lawrence Welk's Christmas music forever. Thank you for making this available.
Customer Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING, BEAUTIFUL AND INSPIRING!
Comment: This is a premier Christmas CD!! It is absolutely inspiring with Lawrence Welk orchestrations and vocals that are so moving that I defy "Scrooge" to not like them. This is a true Christmas offering. As to the reviewer to said this was a "fraud", I'm sorry to say, she is sadly mistaken. She must have been listening to something else. This is pure "Lawrence Welk from the vintage years!!
We have Ralna English singing "What Child is This", Tanya Welk-Roberts singing "Do You Hear What I Hear", Clay Hart and Steve Smith (from the 1960s Blender's group both with beautiful voices, Norma Zimmer and Jimmy Roberts singing "Silver Bells" and to my delight and surprise, Sandi and Salli singing "I Wanna Do More than Whistle", a nice bouncy happy tune!! THe rest are pure standards with beautiful orchestrations.
This is the perfect Christmas CD and I will play it for many seasons to come. This is Christmas Music the way it was meant to be!! I also have Lawrence Welk's "Christmas Memories" which is equally fine as well which includes more cuts and work by more Lawrence Welk artists such as JoAnn Castle and Joe Feeney.
Trust me, any Lawrence Welk fan will not be disappointed with this!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Dandy
Comment: The person who gave this CD 1 star is mistaken. This CD is perfectly legitimate Lawrence Welk, with all of the recordings coming from the 4-record set put out by Reader's Digest in 1969/1970, with the exception of "Christmas in Los Angeles". That's Norma Zimmer and Jimmy Roberts on "Silver Bells", Ralna English on "What Child is This", and so on. When I first got this CD, my principal regret was that it didn't include Jo Ann Castle's fabulous honky-tonk piano version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Happily, that cut is included in the newly (re-?) released "Christmas Memories". Buy this CD, buy that CD, and buy "Jingle Bells", which includes a few more of the songs from the box LP set plus some different (though perfectly legitimate) versions of others, such as the Lennon Sisters' recording of "Merry Christmas from Our House to Your House". Don't bother with the 10-song CD "Merry Christmas from Our House to Your House", as it doesn't contain any songs/versions that aren't already covered on the other three. Sadly, there are still some songs from the box LP set that are conspicuously absent on any CD, and we can only hope that those will be included in a future release, or that the box LP set itself will be released in its entirety on CD. Some of the missing classics: "Twas the Night Before Christmas", "Christmas Dreaming", "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", "High on a Housetop", "Ho Ho Ho", "Here Comes Santa Claus", and "Let's Have an Old Fashioned Christmas" among others. Still, though I don't pretend to know how Ranwood went about selecting songs for these compilations (even "Jingle Bells" doesn't exactly match the LP - from the 50s? - by the same title), if you like Lawrence Welk (and I dare say even if you DON'T like his non-holiday stuff), you simply can't go wrong here. Light a fire, fix yourself a glass of eggnog, and listen to this wonderful CD as you watch the snow falling outside your window. Merry Christmas.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Treasured Memory
Comment: I don't know what the first reviewer was expecting, but this is indeed Lawrence Welk and his ochestra and singers. My parents had the album set from which these were taken and they sound just as good now as they did when I was a child.
For anyone who likes the old time Christmas songs, this CD is a must.
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