Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis


Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis is the fourth Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 23, 1986, by Columbia Records. This was Mathis's fourth holiday-themed LP and focused exclusively on secular material.
The album spent a week on Billboard magazine's Christmas Albums chart in the issue dated December 12, 1992, and two weeks on its Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in December 1994.
The recording of "Jingle Bells" on this release is subtitled "" on the front and back covers of the album jacket. The track opens with background vocalists singing, "Let's take a sleigh ride, a merry sleigh ride," and the subtitle is inserted into each refrain of the chorus. Although no credit for additional lyrics is cited, the credit for the arranger of this rendition, Ray Ellis, is listed with the songwriter's name on the LP label.
The album's opener, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", was featured in the 1992 holiday release Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and included on its original soundtrack album. In the issue of Billboard dated November 28, 2009, the list of the "Top 10 Holiday Songs " places the Mathis recording at number 10.

Reception

People magazine's reviewer, Ralph Novak, describes Mathis's singing on the album as "characteristically smooth, yet never very engaged", and feels that the arrangements "tend to big stringy orchestrations that are too much for intimacy and not passionate enough for majesty."

Track listing

All tracks recorded in July 1986. Personnel information taken from the liner notes for the original album:
  1. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" – 2:14
  2. * Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
  3. * John Arrias – recording engineer
  4. * Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
  5. * Jules Chaikin – contractor
  6. "Toyland" from Babes in Toyland – 3:41
  7. * Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
  8. * John Arrias – recording engineer
  9. * Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
  10. * Joe Soldo – contractor
  11. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" – 2:45
  12. * Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
  13. * John Arrias – recording engineer
  14. * Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
  15. * Jules Chaikin – contractor
  16. "Jingle Bells" – 2:54
  17. * Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
  18. * Daren Klein – recording engineer
  19. * Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
  20. * Marion Klein – contractor
  21. Medley – 5:09
a. "Christmas Is for Everyone"
b. "Where Can I Find Christmas?" from The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas
  1. * Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
  2. * Daren Klein – recording engineer
  3. * Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
  4. * Marion Klein – contractor
  5. * International Children's Choir – backing vocals
  6. * The kids from St. Michael's School, North Hollywood – backing vocals
  7. Medley from Santa Claus: The Movie – 4:03
a. "Every Christmas Eve"
b. "Giving "
  1. * Henry Mancini – arranger, conductor
  2. * Henry Mancini Orchestra & Chorus – performers
  3. *Mick Guzauski – recording engineer
  4. * Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
  5. * Marion Klein – contractor
  6. "The Christmas Waltz" – 2:36
  7. * Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
  8. * John Arrias – recording engineer
  9. * Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
  10. * Joe Soldo – contractor
  11. "We Need a Little Christmas" from Mame – 1:54
  12. * Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
  13. * John Arrias – recording engineer
  14. * Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
  15. * Joe Soldo – contractor
  16. Medley – 3:44
a. "Caroling, Caroling"
b. "Happy Holiday" from Holiday Inn
  1. * Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
  2. * John Arrias – recording engineer
  3. * Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
  4. * Jules Chaikin – contractor
  5. "It's Christmas Time Again" – 4:28
  6. * Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
  7. * John Arrias – recording engineer
  8. * Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
  9. * Jules Chaikin – contractor

Song information

"Jingle Bells" is the oldest of the songs that Mathis covers here and was published under the name "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in 1857. "Toyland" originated in the 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, and "Happy Holiday" was first performed in the 1942 film Holiday Inn. Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters reached number 19 on Billboard magazine's Records Most Played by Disc Jockeys chart and number 23 on its list of the Best-Selling Pop Singles of the week in 1951 with the first recording of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas". Peggy Lee's rendition of "It's Christmas Time Again" was released in 1953, and "Caroling, Caroling" first appeared on the 1954 LP The Christmas Mood by The Columbia Choir.
"The Christmas Waltz" was written for Frank Sinatra and debuted as the flipside to his 1954 cover of "White Christmas". "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" was written for The Andy Williams Show and first appeared on The Andy Williams Christmas Album in 1963. "We Need a Little Christmas" was first performed in the 1966 Broadway musical Mame. "Where Can I Find Christmas?" comes from the 1973 TV special The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas, and the medley of "Every Christmas Eve" and "Giving " was part of the soundtrack of the 1985 film Santa Claus: The Movie.

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album: