Christmas Is…Johnny Mathis, Who Knew?
By
Kristin Battestella
I’m
not sure what rock you’ve been living under if you haven’t heard any Johnny
Mathis Christmas music lately, but the unusual Christmas Is… compilation perfectly fills any gap in your Mathis merriment.
With
such a generic title, it’s actually tough to find information regarding the
eponymous Christmas Is…, a slightly seventies
dated but fitting opener setting the mood for the sentimental, soft sounds here.
Carried over from Johnny’s perennial 1958
Merry Christmas album, the unfortunately infrequently heard It Came Upon A Midnight Clear adds a no
less stirring lullaby reverence. At the opposite end of the seasonal spectrum, Jingle Bells – borrowed from the 1986 Christmas
Eve with Johnny Mathis – delivers
some jazzy, ad libbing background singing and layered lyrical fun. It’s a pleasant
ditty, but as the most rocking tune on Christmas
Is… it’s oddly placed between two somber carols. Ave Maria, the longest track at four and a half minutes, hails from
Mathis’ lone 1958 religious album Good
Night, Dear Lord. Some of the notes aren’t as big as listeners might
expect, but Johnny lingers on the Latin and harkens a smooth, medieval
feeling.
Today,
you know there would be a dang twitter, tumbler, youtube channel, facebook page,
star shaped pretzels, McDonald’s toys, and every other tie-in imaginable to go
along with a single like When You Wish
Upon a Star. This Disney delight arrives
on Christmas Is… from the 1964 The Wonderful World of Make Believe Mathis
album, and though at first it may seem like an odd choice for a holiday release,
this quiet charmer fits in perfectly with the childish glee of the December toy
shenanigans. The more mature Christmas
Day repeats from Give Me Your Love
for Christmas but Johnny brings on the innocent, reflective melancholy and
sappy seasonal memories, quivering over the bittersweetness. Borrowing again
from his Merry Christmas session, The
First Noel provides more traditional Old World feelings for Christmas Is… with Johnny’s longwinded,
digging deep reverence. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason to the
track selection or the set order here, but the equal helpings of spiritual and
secular still fit together thanks to Johnny’s classy vocals and suave
arrangements.
Christmas Is… continues the Reason for the Season theme with Mathis and Gladys Knight’s
1980 duet When a Child is Born. This
is a no less respectful song in its story of a peace bringing babe, yet Christ nor
Christmas are never actually mentioned in the lyrics. Thanks to the great gospel
vocals, however, listeners can still go for this carol per se either way– full
of inspirational meaning or as an open global message. God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman,
originally from the 1963 Sounds of Christmas along with the
titular finale track, takes the ancient veneration further by using less
orchestration to accompany the big, extended octaves. The Sounds of Christmas concludes Christmas Is… with more fun, festive, fitting Yule images to match
its romantic pop topper. Ooo, how Johnny!
This
is, of course, a somewhat recent budget CD release – complete with a totally tacky
Photoshop cover – but come on, as if that first Merry Christmas album design with the fake snow and ski gear didn’t
set the kitschy holiday bar! Overall, Christmas
Is… is probably an uneven set with no method to the ten track order or its
inclusion criteria for this short 34 minutes. Why aren’t these tunes in
chronological order or paired like spiritual with like holiday pop? Why were
elusive seasonal singles packaged with so many album repeats when there are certainly
more December rarities? Fortunately, since Mathis is such a maestro of merry,
these are all solid sounds for any holiday playlist regardless of any faulty
packaging. The odd gems here not so easily found on other Mathis holiday
editions or in today’s digital stores make Christmas
Is… worth the impulse buy or CD pursuit.
No comments:
Post a Comment