Published on Dec 25, 2013 Released October, 1974, Christmas Present marked Andy Williams 3rd venture with Christmas for Columbia Records. (Doing 8 Christmas albums total before passing in 2012.) He will forever be missed, but what a legacy he left behind. So much more than just being Mr. Moon River. Although it is not as well known as his 2 prior classic Christmas records in the 1960s, Christmas Present, reflecting its early 1970s-arrangement style, is still a CLASSIC of its time, particularly for featuring Andys unique heartbreaking rendition of the often-covered, I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day. Oddly, THIS version of Andys song has never appeared on YouTube; which is why we decided to upload it in pristine REMASTERED form! As the original 1990 CD re-release of the album had been out-of-print for over 2 decades until 2013, when the Real Gone Music records label, remastered the album & combined it with Williams 2 previous Columbia Christmas LPs, calling it Andy Williams: The Complete Christmas Recordings. Allegedly, Williams sang some of the albums tracks on his annual Christmas Show in December of 1974, for NBC, which have yet to surface since. Wikipedia says of the song: A Christmas carol based on the 1863 poem Christmas Bells by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who tells of the narrators despair upon hearing Christmas bells, that hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men. Concluding with the bells carrying renewed hope for peace among mankind. youtu.be/RtOIx58riXc
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 17:57:18 +0000