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,^[1] by Columbia Records. This was Mathis's fourth holiday-themed LP and focused exclusively on secular material.

Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis
Studio album by Johnny Mathis
Released	September 23, 1986[1]
Recorded	July 1986[2]
Studio	One on One Studios, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Conway Studios, Hollywood, California, Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California [3]
Genre	Vocal holiday[4]
Length	33:28
Label	Columbia
Producer	Denny Diante[3]
Johnny Mathis chronology
16 Most Requested Songs (1986) Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis (1986) The Hollywood Musicals (1986)
Alternate cover

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
People	negative[5]

The album spent a week on Billboard magazine's Christmas Albums chart in the issue dated December 12, 1992,^[6] (no such chart was published in 1986)^[7] and two weeks on its Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in December 1994.^[6]

The recording of "Jingle Bells" on this release is subtitled "(Let's Take a Sleigh Ride)" on the front and back covers of the album jacket.^[3] (The CD booklet does not include song titles on the cover.) 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.^[3]

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^[8] and included on its original soundtrack album.^[9] In the issue of Billboard dated November 28, 2009, the list of the "Top 10 Holiday Songs (Since 2001)" places the Mathis recording at number 10.^[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."^[5]

Track listing

All tracks recorded in July 1986.^[2] Personnel information taken from the liner notes for the original album:^[3]

1. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (Meredith Willson) – 2:14
   • Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
   • John Arrias – recording engineer
   • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
   • Jules Chaikin – contractor
2. "Toyland" from Babes in Toyland (Glen MacDonough, Victor Herbert) – 3:41
   • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
   • John Arrias – recording engineer
   • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
   • Joe Soldo – contractor
3. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Edward Pola, George Wyle) – 2:45
   • Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
   • John Arrias – recording engineer
   • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
   • Jules Chaikin – contractor
4. "Jingle Bells" (James Pierpont) – 2:54
   • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
   • Daren Klein – recording engineer
   • Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
   • Marion Klein – contractor
5. Medley – 5:09
   a. "Christmas Is for Everyone" (Richard Loring, Dorothy Wayne)
   b. "Where Can I Find Christmas?" from The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas (Doug Goodwin)
   • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
   • Daren Klein – recording engineer
   • Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
   • Marion Klein – contractor
   • International Children's Choir (Irene Bayless, director) – backing vocals
   • The kids from St. Michael's School, North Hollywood – backing vocals
6. Medley from Santa Claus: The Movie – 4:03
   a. "Every Christmas Eve" (Leslie Bricusse, Henry Mancini)
   b. "Giving (Santa's Theme)" (Bricusse, Mancini)
   • Henry Mancini – arranger, conductor
   • Henry Mancini Orchestra & Chorus – performers
   • Mick Guzauski – recording engineer
   • Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
   • Marion Klein – contractor
7. "The Christmas Waltz" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) – 2:36
   • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
   • John Arrias – recording engineer
   • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
   • Joe Soldo – contractor
8. "We Need a Little Christmas" from Mame (Jerry Herman) – 1:54
   • Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
   • John Arrias – recording engineer
   • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
   • Joe Soldo – contractor
9. Medley – 3:44
   a. "Caroling, Caroling" (Alfred Burt, Wilha Hutson)
   b. "Happy Holiday" from Holiday Inn (Irving Berlin)
   • Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
   • John Arrias – recording engineer
   • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
   • Jules Chaikin – contractor
10. "It's Christmas Time Again" (Sonny Burke, John Elliot, James K. Harwood) – 4:28
    • Jeremy Lubbock – arranger, conductor
    • John Arrias – recording engineer
    • Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
    • 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.^[11] "Toyland" originated in the 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland,^[12] and "Happy Holiday" was first performed in the 1942 film Holiday Inn.^[13] 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".^[14] Peggy Lee's rendition of "It's Christmas Time Again" was released in 1953,^[15] and "Caroling, Caroling" first appeared on the 1954 LP The Christmas Mood by The Columbia Choir.^[16]

"The Christmas Waltz" was written for Frank Sinatra^[17] and debuted as the flipside to his 1954 cover of "White Christmas".^[18] "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" was written for The Andy Williams Show^[19] and first appeared on The Andy Williams Christmas Album in 1963.^[20] "We Need a Little Christmas" was first performed in the 1966 Broadway musical Mame.^[21] "Where Can I Find Christmas?" comes from the 1973 TV special The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas,^[3] and the medley of "Every Christmas Eve" and "Giving (Santa's Theme)" was part of the soundtrack of the 1985 film Santa Claus: The Movie.^[22]

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album:^[3]

Johnny Mathis – vocals Denny Diante – producer Richard Loring – musical consultant Monica Mancini – vocal contractor John Arrias – mixing engineer Chris Bellman – mastering engineer Jo-Anne McGettrick – production coordinator Nancy Donald – art direction Tony Lane – art direction Peter Greco – lettering David Vance – photographer 24 Collection – wardrobe

Jeff Bennett (One on One Studios) – assistant engineer Greg Dennen (One on One Studios) – assistant engineer Michael Dubois (One on One Studios) – assistant engineer Daren Klein (Conway Studios) – assistant engineer Richard McKernan (Conway Studios) – assistant engineer Joe Schiff (Ocean Way) – assistant engineer Toby Wright (One on One Studios) – assistant engineer Jessie Peck – Conway Studios assistant Joe Gastwirt (Digital Magnetics Studio) – compact disc preparation Mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, California Mixed at Conway Studios, Hollywood, California