Perry Como - Greatest Christmas Songs (1999)

Reason for Listening:
#64 on the Billboard 200 (Week of 20221231).
Last Week: 44 | Peak: 44 | Weeks on Chart: 6

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Released 19990820.
21 songs. 60:04. Greatest Christmas Songs (1999)
Wikipedia (No article at the time of this post)
Discogs

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Notes:
--20230103--
First listen.
Whoa. I love the bells on this track. This version sounds so merry ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas")
--20230106--
Continued listening.

3: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"; "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" (1954 Version);
2: "White Christmas" (1959 Version); "Do You Hear What I Hear"; "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (with The Fontane Sisters and Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra); "Winter Wonderland" (1959 Version); "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"; "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (with Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra) (1953 Version); "Ave Maria";
1: "Christmas Bells"; "Frosty the Snowman"; "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)"; "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (1959 Version); "O Holy Night" (1968 Version); "The Twelve Days of Christmas";
0: "Christ Is Born"; "Silver Bells"; "There is No CHristmas Like a Home Christmas"; "Some Children See Him"; "Love is A Christmas Rose"; "The Little Drummer Boy";

Summary:
It's hard not to enjoy tracks sung by Perry Como (more generally, it's hard not to enjoy the broader intimate vocal style which was popular in the 1950s*). Overall, the album consists mainly of classic holiday songs (at least relative to today's music), but the nature of the genre makes it so that one doesn't always notice when one track ends and another begins. It's a particular kind of listening experience.

Overall Rating: 4.0/5
Favorite Song: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

*Apparently the "intimate singing style" was first started by Bing Crosby. The Wikipedia article for Crosby lists some artists influenced by the style: "Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Dick Haymes, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon."

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