The Magic of Christmas (Nat King Cole album)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
The Magic of Christmas
File:Natmagic.jpg
Studio album by Nat King Cole
Released 1960
Recorded 5–7 July 1960 at Capitol Studios, Hollywood
Genre Vocal jazz
Christmas music
Length 31 minutes
Label Capitol
Producer Lee Gillette
Nat King Cole chronology
Wild Is Love
(1960)Wild Is Love1960		 The Magic of Christmas
(1960)		 The Nat King Cole Story
(1961)The Nat King Cole Story1961
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[1]

The Magic of Christmas is a 1960 album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Ralph Carmichael.[2]

This was Cole's only full album of Christmas songs, although he had recorded several holiday singles earlier in his career. One of these, 1946's "The Christmas Song", was re-recorded for the 1961 album The Nat King Cole Story, and in 1963 The Magic of Christmas was re-issued with that recording added to the track list in place of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", and the album given new cover art and retitled The Christmas Song.[3]

It is the best-selling Christmas album released in the 1960s, and was certified by the RIAA for shipments of 6 million copies in the US.[4] The 1963 version reached #1 on Billboard's Christmas Albums chart and remained for two weeks.

Track listing

Side One
  1. "Deck the Halls" (Traditional)
  2. "Adeste Fideles (O, Come All Ye Faithful)" (John Francis Wade)
  3. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" (Traditional)
  4. "O Tannenbaum" (Traditional)
  5. "O, Little Town of Bethlehem" (Phillip Brooks, Lewis Redner)
  6. "I Saw Three Ships" (Traditional)
  7. "O Holy Night" (Adolphe Adam, John Sullivan Dwight)
Side Two
  1. "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" (Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Wesley)
  2. "A Cradle in Bethlehem" (Alfred Bryan, Larry Stock)
  3. "Away in a Manger" (Traditional)
  4. "Joy to the World" (Lowell Mason, Isaac Watts)
  5. "The First Noël" (William B. Sandys)
  6. "Caroling, Caroling" (Alfred Burt, Wilha Hutson)
  7. "Silent Night" (Franz Gruber, Josef Mohr)


  • As mentioned, the album was reissued in 1963 as The Christmas Song, with the title track added as the leadoff to Side 1 and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" omitted.
  • An alternate, all-English performance of "O, Come All Ye Faithful" was recorded during the album sessions, and first released in 1990 as part of the Cole, Christmas, & Kids compilation CD.

Personnel

Performance

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ The Magic of Christmas at AllMusic
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=The_Magic_of_Christmas_(Nat_King_Cole_album)&oldid=3872456"