The album you are referring to Bob, "Christmas Melodies," is a compilation album of Mr. Faith's first and third Christmas albums: "Music of Christmas" and "Christmas Is." It was originally released on LP in 1984, and then later on CD in 1990.

Unfortunately, and quite sadly -- for that matter -- quite shockingly, this compilation does not include any songs from Mr. Faith's second Christmas album, "Hallelujah" (later re-released in 1965 as "Music Of Christmas Vol. 2"). It is only a compilation of Mr. Faith's first and third Christmas albums -- an abject blunder that was made by the powers at be at Columbia Records. That same year in 1984, when Columbia issued the Ray Conniff compilation, they took songs from all three of his Christmas albums. However, for some reason, they failed to do the same thing for Percy Faith -- utterly ridiculous.

However, Sony, which now owns Columbia Records, redeemed themselves somewhat in 1993 when they did indeed finally release a true compilation of all three of Mr. Faith's Christmas albums. However, the album, which was entitled "Joy To The World," is dreadfully short -- a mere 10 songs -- but what a 10! It features 8 songs from the great first two albums (4 from 1954's "Music of Christmas" and 4 from 1958's "Hallelujah"), and 2 songs from his last, 1966's "Christmas Is."

This compilation, along with "Christmas Melodies," is now out of print. However, you can buy used copies on Amazon from one of their private marketplace sellers:

http://www.amazon.com/Joy-World-Percy-Faith-Orchestra/dp/B000002YDY/sr=1-1/qid=1159072337/ref=sr_1_1/002-1781781-8308061?ie=UTF8&s=music

By the way, the above link is indeed for the 1993 compilation, "Joy To The World," I alluded to above -- Amazon incorrectly shows the release year as 1995.

One other note: This compilation, "Joy To The World," is the only other CD to ever include songs from Mr. Faith's second Christmas album. The other CD was the actual re-release of the second album, which Sony released in 1997 (under its 1965 reissue name of "Music of Christmas Vol. 2"). Unfortunately, they took it out of print after only a few short years. This is an extremely hard CD to come by today, and you will have to spend an enormous amount of money to get it. The only copy I know of that is currently available is on Amazon, again from one of their private marketplace sellers, the charge: $499.00! Take a look:

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Christmas-Vol-2/dp/B000002AL3/ref=sr_11_1/104-0228079-2407900?ie=UTF8

Michael,

Regarding your last two posts, especially the one that clocked in at 7:12 PM -- I can only imagine that you are not paying attention to the board -- I have already talked about this extensively:

Please read the following messages that I previously posted on 9/17/06 @ 2:35 AM and 9/18/06 @ 1:09 AM under the topic "Just Wondering."  

In fact, to make it easier -- here's a link directly to the topic: 

http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id=670172&CategoryID=459021&startcat=1&ThreadID=2633665

Christmas Music Guru, An unknown, to me, label released a Percy Faith album entitled "Christmas Celebration." Do you know what songs are included? The only album info that I can supply is:

Audio CD (March 14, 2006)
Label: Import
ASIN: B000F1HFEI
Mfg's Catalog#: 623546

Thanks again all knowing one.   Frank B. 

There are actually three other CD's with this same title besides the one in particular that Frank was inquiring about, but I specifically did not mention them in my post because he clearly was asking about the import that was released this year, and because I knew it would simply cause a lot of confusion. Besides, aren't my posts long enough already?

However, now that you felt the need to allude to this out-of-print CD from 1992 -- let's lay all the cards right on the table so that there is no confusion in the future about which CD is which with this dreadfully over-used title.

Here now are all four CD's, including the one that was in question:

The first CD from 1992 that Jerry alluded to in his post actually had a slightly different name from the CD that Frank was inquiring about. It was called "A Christmas Celebration." It was released in 1992 and is now out of print:

http://www.mystrands.com/album/21945 ("A Christmas Celebration" - 1992)

The second CD is Volume 2 of the above compilation. It was released in 1993 and is also out of print. It also contains music by Percy Faith:

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Celebration-Sony-Music/dp/B000F7T0KY/sr=1-2/qid=1160290843/ref=sr_1_2/104-4124475-3466316?ie=UTF8&s=music ("A Christmas Celebration Volume 2" - 1993)

The third CD is yet another compilation, and this one has the exact same title as the import that Frank was asking me about. What's more, to make matters even more confusing, this one is still in print. It was released in 2003 by Madacy Records, and yes -- you guessed it, also contains music by Percy Faith:

http://www.bestprices.com/cgi-bin/vlink/056775291327?source=GBase ("Christmas Celebration" - 2003)

Finally, the fourth CD is the precise one that Frank was inquiring about. It's an import that was released this year in 2006 and is a reissue made abroad of Percy Faith's "Music of Christmas" LP: 

http://chaos.com/product/christmas_celebration_715232_48824.html ("Christmas Celebration" - 2006)

Now, perhaps you can understand why some things are better off left unsaid.

By the way Jerry, I noticed that you created your own website where you list the Yule Log songs from the former "current" broadcast using the missing information that I gave you last year (Joe and I at least appreciate you linking it back to our site I might add).

However, I must point out that 10 of the CD's (5 reissues and 5 compilations) from which you indicate songs from the Yule Log can be obtained, are now out of print.

The reissues that are out of print are:

Andre Kostelanetz - "Joy To The World: Music For Christmas"

Al Hirt - "The Sound Of Christmas"

The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra - "The Music Of Christmas"

Lena Horne - "Merry From Lena"

Robert Shaw - "Christmas With The Robert Shaw Chorale"

(The above Robert Shaw title was for the 2-CD release of all three of his holiday LP's - including the album that the songs on the Yule Log are from which was originally entitled "Christmas Hymns And Carols, Volume 1)

The compilations that are out of print are:

The Living Strings - "The Most Beautiful Sounds Of Christmas"

Mantovani - "Christmas Joy"

Ed Ames  - "The Sounds Of Christmas"

Percy Faith - "A Christmas Celebration"

David Rose - "Holiday Legends: Happy Holiday"

(The above compilation with the David Rose track still appears on some sites as available, but EMI Special Markets here in New York has confirmed for me that it was indeed deleted from their catalog two years ago)

Reply to : Christmas Music Guru

Thanks much for your eloquent elucidation. I especially like the style of 101 Strings, (and as an aside, not to mention The Hollyridge Strings.) Thanks again,   Frank B.

Reply to : Summit Yule Log Fan

Thanks much for your comment. I ordered (from half.ebay, etc.) a few of the stated albums of the website http://www.angelfire.com/nj/roche1972/yule_log.html , but I didn't realize that you were the author of that website.  I've also recommended your webpage to others. Thanks again.   Frank B.

Re: There's also a CD entitled, "A Christmas Celebration" which was released in 1992 by Columbia/Legacy (Sony). I have a copy of it. It's a various artists compilation which contains 5 songs by Percy Faith from his "Hallejulah" album ("Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella", "I Saw Three Ships", "We Three Kings Of Orient Are", "Angels From The Realms Of Glory", and "Carol Of The Bells"). The CD also contains 4 songs from Andre Kostelanetz plus 2 songs from the Philadelphia Brass Ensemble, 3 songs from the Canadian Brass,1 song from Liona Boyd and 1 song from Richard Clayderman. This CD compilation is now out of print.

*(Message edited by the Yule Log.com Message Board moderator on 10/08/06 to combine two reply posts from the same member, also double-post was deleted)

**Please use the link below to review my post regarding double posting:

http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id=670172&CategoryID=467549&startcat=1&ThreadID=2651417

Chip, I did add a link for Joe's site to my web page.  If you scroll down to the bottom of my web page at http://www.angelfire.com/nj/roche1972/yule_log.html, you will find a photo link that will take you to Joe's site.

Please review my post again; you have not read it correctly.

I said parenthetically, quote:

"Joe and I at least appreciate you linking it back to our site I might add."

I'm sorry, Chip.  I misunderstood your post.  I just went back to my website and had added a special thanks to you and to Joe for filling me in with some of the information that I needed to complete my list.  I also added 2001 to 2005 to indicate that the list on my website was only for those years of broadcasts and not for the upcoming 2006 broadcast.

Thanks buddy, I appreciate it.

The song "Judy" (an instrumental) was recorded and released by Percy Faith in 1964 on the album "More Themes For Young Lovers."

This LP is available on a Collectables Records CD as a 2-fer paired with the 1965 album "Latin Themes For Young Lovers."

http://www.amazon.com/More-Themes-Young-Lovers-Latin/dp/B000060OXU

Only later, in 1967, did Mr. Faith re-record it and release it as "Christmas Is," with a female chorus singing the lyrics written by Spence Maxwell. It was released on the self-titled LP "Christmas Is."

Percy Faith completely re-recorded "Music Of Christmas" in stereo in 1959; same exact songs and in the exact same order as the original 1954 mono recording. There are very subtle differences between the 2 albums. It is remarkable how consistent he was -- especially because there was a 5-year difference between the recordings.

The original mono recording sported this famous cover:

 Columbia CL 588

When Columbia released the newly recorded stereo version of this album in 1959 with the updated cover artwork (now also legendary in its own right -- as seen below), they used to show a little picture of the original cover on the lower right-hand corner of the back cover, and it said the following: "In its original edition with this well-known cover, this collection sold over 250,000 copies." This was only on the back cover for the first few years of the new covers existence before it was eventually removed. This album has never been out of print since its original mono release in 1954.

 Columbia CL1381/CS 8176

Percy Faith's "Music Of Christmas" and his second Christmas album, "Hallelujah," are the greatest Christmas albums ever recorded.

I've posted this before about Percy Faith, and I'd like to post it again here for all those who have not seen it, or are new to the board:

Percy Faith, who is the undisputed King of the Yule Log by virtue of his 10 songs that appear on the original classic 3-hour presentation, always led the way at the beginning, and closed the program at the end with his rendition of "Joy To The World."

His statistics on the Yule Log are impressive: 

*He is the only artist to have a song reprised in the show ("Joy To The World" -- always the first and last song).

*He is the only artist who has songs represented from 3 different albums.

*He is the only artist who has music represented in all 6 of the 30-minute tracks that made up the original 3-hour broadcast: In 4 of the tracks he had 2 songs, and in 2 of the tracks he had 1 song.

In my entire collection, there are only two albums that I do not have the audacity to rate on my scale of 1-10, as they are beyond my ability to apply such an arbitrary number due to the sheer perfection that was achieved in their majesty and reverence of arranging, conducting and performance. They are: "Music of Christmas," originally released in 1954 in mono, then re-recorded and re-released in 1959 in stereo; and "Hallelujah," originally released in 1958, then later reissued in 1965 as "Music of Christmas Vol. 2." To rate these two albums in my opinion, would be like putting a price on the Mona Lisa -- which of course, is priceless. Mr. Faith's third Christmas album was "Christmas Is" from 1966, and I rate this album at 8 on my scale of 1-10.

Here's some new info about "Music Of Christmas".  It was recently re-released outside the United States, under the title "Christmas Celebration" on November 21st.  The track listing is escatly the same that we are accustomed to, and has new artwork, with a photo of Mr. Faith while conducting:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PERCY-FAITH-12-Christmas-Celebration-CD-NEW_W0QQitemZ230048858315QQcmdZViewItem

Amazon.com also has it listed, with a different release date of December 7th.  Perhaps it is being released in a different country on that date, or Barnes & Noble and CDuniverse have incorrect info.

http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Celebration-Percy-Orchestra-Faith/dp/B000F1HFEI/sr=1-1/qid=1165133718/ref=sr_1_1/104-9455554-3613544?ie=UTF8&s=music

Perhaps there is the tiniest glimmer of hope that it might mean that "Hallelujah"/"Music of Christmas Volume 2" might see re-release internationally soon.  Chip, I know that you and I discussed Volume 2 on here at the end of October, but perhaps the reasons that prevent it from being available in the U.S. won't exist outside the U.S.

Ed
RazzleberryDressing

Razz,

Frank Byrne (AKA bwhynow) already asked about this Percy Faith CD in his post on this same thread that was dated 10/01/06 at 2:01 PM. In my reply post dated 10/01/06 at 10:22 PM, I mentioned to Frank that this CD was just a reissue made abroad of Percy Faith's "Music Of Christmas" LP, only with a different title and cover. 

However, I have since learned that it actually might possibly be a copy of the original mono version of this album that was recorded 1954. In case you didn't know, Mr. Faith completely re-recorded this album in stereo in 1959. In fact, I just spoke about this in my previous post, also on this same thread, dated 11/26/06 at 3:55 AM. It was in response to a question from Jon-G about the difference between the mono and stereo versions of this LP. 

This record label abroad, Christmas Legends, has a notorious track record for releasing these deleted mono versions: Last year they also released Mantovani's original 1953 mono recording of "Christmas Carols," an album Monty re-recorded in stereo in 1958. Both of these original mono versions have been out of print since they were replaced by the stereo versions in the 1950's, and they are both inferior to the stereo versions artistically and especially, technologically.

As soon as I determine what version of "Music Of Christmas" was used for this import, I'll post it on the board. In the mean time the push goes on for Columbia/Sony to re-master the currently available 1959 stereo version, which is the version the great majority of people today are familiar with. They did a decidedly poor job when they reissued this legendary album on CD in 1990, and why they haven't sought to digitally re-master it, especially when they've since re-mastered so many other Columbia Christmas albums, is beyond me.

As for "Hallelujah" (AKA "Music Of Christmas Vol. 2"), it still remains a mystery, and may I say a tragedy, that this album continues to remain out of print. Alan Bunting, who has written the liner notes for many of the Percy Faith reissues that have been released in the last few years by Taragon and Collectables Records, told me a few days ago that he also made the pitch to Collectables to release Mr. Faith's Christmas albums, perhaps as a boxed set. But Collectables Records executive, Mike Stefanic, pretty much told him the same thing he told me last year when I myself made the pitch to them, that they felt it was too seasonal an item for them to sell enough copies to justify doing it.  

Let's hope someday soon they'll have a change of heart.            

---

Razz,Frank Byrne (AKA bwhynow) already asked about this Percy FaithCD in his poston this same thread that was dated 10/01/06 at 2:01 PM. In myreply post dated 10/01/06 at 10:22 PM, I mentioned to Frank that this CD was just a reissue made abroad of Percy Faith's "Music Of Christmas" LP, only with a different title and cover.However, I have sincelearned that it actually mightpossiblybe a copy of the originalmonoversion of this album that was recorded1954. In case you didn't know, Mr. Faith completely re-recorded this album in stereo in 1959. In fact, I just spoke about this in my previous post, also on this same thread,dated 11/26/06 at 3:55 AM. It was in response to a question from Jon-G about thedifference between the mono and stereo versions of this LP.This rec

---

Yes, Collectables Records is indeed selling Percy Faith's "Music Of Christmas" CD -- but this is not a Collectables produced product. This is the same Columbia/Sony reissue that everybody is selling. Collectables rarely carries anything but CD reissues they produce themselves for their own label, but since they've practically released Mr. Faith's entire library of regular music, they decided to carry both "Music Of Christmas" and "Christmas Is." They are both are Columbia/Sony produced products and not digitally re-mastered.

Again, let me reiterate: The hope is that down the line Collectables themselves will obtain the rights to these albums, along with "Hallelujah," and will digitally re-master them, and then possibly issue them as a box set. Collectables has already obtained the rights to better than 90% of the albums in the Percy Faith music library -- a total of 65 albums. All 65 have been beautifully re-mastered and reissued with their original artwork -- mostly as double album CDs. Hopefully they will someday do the same for his Christmas music albums as well. 

Here's a link to the Percy Faith reissues on Collectables Records:     

http://www.oldies.com/artist-products/Percy-Faith/format_audio-cds.html

As a follow-up to my post of 12/03/06 @ 3:05 PM: I received word yesterday from Alan Bunting that the Christmas Legends import of "Music Of Christmas" is indeed the original 1954 mono version of this album. He said the quality wasn't too bad either, especially for the price. So, if anybody is interested in hearing how the original version of this album sounded, I suggest you check it out.

Thanks Susan, it's nice to be back.

It sounds like the anomaly you alluded to was limited to reissues that were released through the Columbia Record Club. It's an oddity to say the least, I dare say.

As far as "Hallelujah" is concerned: It was recorded in Stereo and released by Columbia Records in 1958 (catalog # CS-8033). Columbia also released a Mono version of this album as well (catalog CL-1187). Then in 1965 the album was reissued as "Music Of Christmas Vol. 2" (catalog #CS-9205 for Stereo and CL-2405 for Mono).

Later in the 1970s both albums (despite the fact that they are the exact same recording) were re-released simultaneously on the brown Columbia label: "Hallelujah" as LE-10350 and "Music Of Christmas Vol. 2" as LE-10088. In addition, for a brief period of time, "Hallelujah" was also reissued on the CSP (Columbia Special Products) label as well (catalog #C-10985), which is the copy that you have.

No, not basically identical -- they are in no uncertain terms, exactly identical.

Unlike Percy Faith's first Christmas album, "Music Of Christmas," which was originally recorded in Mono in 1954, then re-recorded in Stereo in 1959, for "Hallelujah" (AKA "Music Of Christmas Vol. 2") there was only one recording session, which took place in May of 1958 and was in true Stereo. Hence, no need for a second recording session.

The Columbia catalog numbers for the Mono versions of "Hallelujah" and "Music Of Christmas Vol. 2" that I gave in my previous post are Mono versions of the 1958 Stereo recording. It was common practice for the record companies to offer both versions to the public for a time, as many people still did not have stereophonic equipment. Generally, the stereo copies ran a dollar more.  

 It is a mystery to Allan Bunting (http://homepages.tesco.net/~alan.bunting/), Bill Halvorsen (http://www.percyfaithpages.org/) and myself as to why in the early 1970s Columbia simultaneously re-released Percy Faith's second Christmas album under both its original title of "Hallelujah", as well as the 1965 repackaged title of "Music Of Christmas Vol. 2." I've discussed this with them in the past and we speculate it was probably for marketing reasons, as some folks knew the LP by its original name, and others by the reissue name. Whatever the reasons, it definitely gave the illusion that these were two different albums, but they categorically were not.