Many classic rock acts have released or reissued Christmas albums this year. e’ve assembled some choice picks and older holiday favorites. The releases are arranged alphabetically; no rankings here because they’re all worthy. Happy shopping!
Herb Alpert—The Christmas Wish (Herb Alpert Presents)
The musician’s 2017 holiday album—and first in almost 50 years—features a 10-piece rhythm section and 45-piece orchestra on “Santa Baby” and “Merry Christmas, Darling.” Available here.
Jimmy Buffett—Christmas Island (MCA/UMe)
His holiday favorites made its vinyl debut in 2023 with such seasonal classics as “Up on the House Top” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” as well as two Buffett originals. Available here.
Carpenters—Christmas Once More (A&M/UMe)
The 2024 set, features 16 timeless holiday classics curated by Richard Carpenter, newly remixed and remastered. Available here.
Cheap Trick—Christmas Christmas (Big Machine)
Includes three CT recordings plus classics from the Kinks (“Father Christmas”), Harry Nilsson (“Remember Christmas”) and Chuck Berry (“Run Rudolph Run”), and more.
Cher—Christmas (Warner)
The 2023 release was her first-ever Christmas album and includes performances with Stevie Wonder, Darlene Love and Cyndi Lauper. Available here.
Eric Clapton—Happy Xmas (Bushbranch/Surfdog)
The collection of 14 songs includes covers of many holiday standards including “Merry Christmas Baby” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
The Cowsills—A Christmas Offering From the Cowsills
The 2023 digital-only release can be ordered here.
John Denver & The Muppets—A Christmas Together (Windstar)
The 1979 pairing features such standards as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Little Saint Nick” and the lead track, “Twelve Days of Christmas.” Available here.
Vince Guaraldi Trio—A Charlie Brown Christmas (Craft)
Audiophile vinyl reissue of the holiday classic with tracks like the instantly recognizable “Linus and Lucy,” and yuletide favorite “Christmas Time Is Here.” Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
The Jethro Tull Christmas Album—Fresh Snow at Christmas
The band’s 2003 title has been expanded and remixed for 2024 as a limited deluxe 4-CD + Blu-ray book-set collection. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
The Monkees—Christmas Party (Rhino)
Their first holiday album, featuring vocals by Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, also includes the late Davy Jones’ voice, taken from vintage recordings, on two songs. Available here.
Elvis Presley—Christmas With Elvis and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RCA/Legacy Recordings)
This 2017 collaboration includes such Presley holiday favorites as “Merry Christmas Baby,” “Blue Christmas” and “Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me).” Available here.
Linda Ronstadt—A Merry Little Christmas (Iconic Artists)
The 2000 album made its vinyl debut in 2023. Available here.
Diana Ross—Wonderful Christmas Time (Ross Records/UMe)
The 20-track collection of many standards includes five where she’s accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra. Available here.
Mitch Ryder—Christmas (Take a Ride) (Cleopatra)
The Motor City rocker released his first holiday album in 2018 with fresh takes on such classics as “Blue Christmas” and “Jingle Bell Rock.”
Brian Setzer Orchestra—Christmas Rocks! Live (Surfdog)
A concert film on Blu-ray from the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara, Calif., features the star’s arrangements of such holiday classics as “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” as well as Stray Cats favorites “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town.” Available here.
William Shatner—Shatner Claus (Cleopatra)
The actor assembled a great cast of classic rock stars including Todd Rundgren, Ian Anderson, Rick Wakeman, Billy Gibbons and more on what’s sure to become a camp classic. Available here.
Frank Sinatra—Ultimate Christmas (Capitol)
20 classics (“White Christmas,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”) span 1954 to 1991, with arrangements by Nelson Riddle, Don Costa and Gordon Jenkins, among others.
Various Artists—A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector (Philles)
The holiday favorite features the producer’s “Wall of Sound” treatment on performances by Darlene Love, the Ronettes, the Crystals and more. Available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
If we’ve missed some of your favorites, scores of others are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
4 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationWhat about the Moody Blues album “December”? I’s a great album with some very good songs on it!
Find the stereo version of Phil Spector’s Christmas Gift. Phil may have loved mono, but he did a terrific job with stereo, too.
Check out the last track, Silent Night, with spoken word by Phil. And the billion-dollar band (listed on the back).
The only thing that killed this album was bad timing. It was released on November 22, 1963.
The Fab 4 released 2 albums of Christmas songs that were played in the style of The Beatles. Each song is given a treatment that is both faithful to the original and The Beatles. For example “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” is played ala “I Saw Her Standing There”. Great Christmas fun!
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