Sounds of Christmas

This article is about the album by Johnny Mathis. For the album by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, see Sound of Christmas.
Sounds of Christmas
Studio album by
Johnny Mathis
ReleasedOctober 4, 1963[1]
RecordedJuly 12, 16, 17, 25, 1963
GenreChristmas
Length38:19
LabelMercury Records
ProducerDon Costa
Johnny Mathis chronology
Johnny
(1963) 		Sounds of Christmas
(1963) 		Romantically
(1963)
Christmas with Johnny Mathis
1971 reissue cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Review
Billboardpositive[2]

Sounds of Christmas is the second holiday-themed album by vocalist Johnny Mathis and the first of his 11 studio projects for Mercury Records. His first yuletide effort, 1958's Merry Christmas, relied heavily on popular holiday carols and standards, but this 1963 release also included two new songs (the title track and "Have Reindeer, Will Travel") as well as covers of some lesser-known recordings by Andy Williams ("Christmas Is a Feeling in Your Heart") and Bing Crosby ("A Marshmallow World" and "The Secret of Christmas").

This album also differs from the 1958 LP in terms of how Billboard magazine gauged its success. Merry Christmas reached number three on the pop album chart that eventually became known as the Billboard 200.[3] In 1963, however, the magazine began publishing special weekly Christmas Albums sales charts,[4] where Sounds of Christmas spent two weeks at number two during that holiday season.[5] It appeared on the magazine’s seasonal LP chart each year from 1964 to 1968 as well.[5]

Two songs from the album, "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Have Reindeer, Will Travel", were released that year as a single, and the former spent its one week on the Billboard's Christmas Singles chart at number 21 in December 1963 and had another one-week showing there at number 11 in December 1964.[6]

In 1971, Columbia Records reissued the album on its budget Harmony imprint as Christmas with Johnny Mathis, with different cover art and the two songs from the 1963 single omitted. This incarnation of the album was later reissued on compact disc. The complete album was issued on CD with its original title, art, and track list by Legacy Recordings in November 2014 as part of the box set The Complete Global Albums Collection. The 2015 Mathis compilation The Complete Christmas Collection 1958–2010, a 3-CD set on the Real Gone Music label, also includes the entirety of the Sounds of Christmas album in its track list.

  1. ^ (2014) The Complete Global Albums Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88843091432.
  2. ^ "Album Reviews". Billboard. 1963-10-05. p. 28.
  3. ^ Whitburn 2010, p. 504.
  4. ^ Whitburn 2004, p. 106.
  5. ^ a b Whitburn 2004, p. 167.
  6. ^ Whitburn 2004, p. 48.