There is something different about Phil Spector’s take on Christmas music. Most obvious about A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector is not simply that is good; it is fantastic. Nothing about it is clichéd - these versions of often overly cheery or saccharine Christmas ditties are all rendered with passionate vocals and Spector’s Wall of Sound production. This is not Christmas music or pop music; it is Phil Spector music. The album’s uniqueness is shown immediately: Darlene Love sings the first track, a finger-snapping White Christmas, with palpable soul and conviction, qualities usually unheard in other renditions of the song.

Spector’s vision to “bring something new and different to the music of Christmas,” as he says in an album-closing recitation, works phenomenally. The unique singers have a lot to do with this, but Spector helps bring out their greatest energy and enthusiasm. In another producer’s hands, the Ronettes’ Ronnie Bennett’s thick New York accent could have made I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman and Sleigh Ride even more kitschy. However, Spector’s energetic Wall of Sound uses strings, horns, piano, bells, handclaps, ebullient harmonies, thunderous drums, and more to create an epic sound that meshes with Bennett’s singing.

What most tracks here have in common is their elevation of insipid tunes. While some songs are stronger than others, the album works as a whole. Spector talking over a Silent Night instrumental even works as an appropriate end to the album.

Hearing these songs on “oldies” radio stations makes them sound like dated period pieces, but anything this unique would in a different context. The most famous track here is Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), a Spector original in which Darlene Love, as critic Dave Marsh notes, nearly overpowers the Wall of Sound. However, the most surprising track might be the Crystals’ sympathetic, heartfelt reading of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (!). I once played part of this version for my grandmother. Ever scornful of holiday music, she admitted, “It doesn’t make me want to puke.”

I cannot think of a greater compliment to give this album. Even calling it “the greatest holiday album ever made” does not come close.

Release date: 01/01/63
Label: ABCKO

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