Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis

{{Infobox album

| name = Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis

| type = album

| cover = Mathis-Eve.jpg

| alt =

| released = September 23, 1986(2014) The Classic Christmas Album by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Columbia Records 88843091032.

| recorded = July 1986(2017) The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment 88985 36892 2.

| venue =

| studio = One on One Studios,
North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California,
Conway Studios,
Hollywood, California,
Ocean Way Recording,
Hollywood, California (1986) Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records FC 40447.

| genre = {{hlist|Vocal|holiday{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/christmas-eve-with-johnny-mathis-mw0000190940|title=Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis - Johnny Mathis|work=allmusic.com|publisher=All Media Network, LLC|accessdate=28 February 2014}}}}

| length = 33:28

| label = Columbia

| producer = Denny Diante

| prev_title = 16 Most Requested Songs

| prev_year = 1986

| next_title = The Hollywood Musicals

| next_year = 1986

| misc = {{Extra album cover

| header = Alternate cover

| type = studio

| cover =

| border =

| alt =

| caption =

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = Allmusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}

| rev2 = People

| rev2Score = negative{{cite news| title=Picks and Pans Review: Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis| date= December 8, 1986 | work=People}}}}

Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis is the fourth Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 23, 1986, by Columbia Records. This was Mathis's fourth holiday-themed LP and focused exclusively on secular material.

The album spent a week on Billboard magazine's Christmas Albums chart in the issue dated December 12, 1992,{{Harvnb|Whitburn|2004|p=167}}. (no such chart was published in 1986){{Harvnb|Whitburn|2004|p=106}}. and two weeks on its Top Pop Catalog Albums chart in December 1994.

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. (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.

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{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104431/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd |title= Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - Soundtracks|work=imdb.com|accessdate=28 February 2014}} and included on its original soundtrack album.(1992) Home Alone 2: Lost in New York by various artists [CD booklet]. New York: Fox Records 07822 11000-2 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.{{cite news|title=Holiday Cheer|date=2009-11-28|work=Billboard|page=38}}

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."

Track listing

All tracks recorded in July 1986. Personnel information taken from the liner notes for the original album:

"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
"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
"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
"Jingle Bells" (James Pierpont) – 2:54
* Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
* Daren Klein – recording engineer
* Erno Neufeld – concertmaster
* Marion Klein – contractor
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
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
"The Christmas Waltz" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) – 2:36
* Ray Ellis – arranger, conductor
* John Arrias – recording engineer
* Gerald Vinci – concertmaster
* Joe Soldo – contractor
"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
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
"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.{{cite web|url=http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/jinglebellssong.htm|title=The Story of Jingle Bells|publisher=American Music Preservation.com|accessdate= 1 March 2014}} "Toyland" originated in the 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland,{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/production-songs.php?ShowNo=1770&ProdNo=5764 |title=Babes in Toyland |work=ibdb.com |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=1 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324185022/http://www.ibdb.com/production-songs.php?ShowNo=1770&ProdNo=5764 |archivedate=24 March 2014 }} and "Happy Holiday" was first performed in the 1942 film Holiday Inn.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034862/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd|title= Holiday Inn (1942) - Soundtracks|work=imdb.com|accessdate=1 March 2014}} 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".{{Harvnb|Whitburn|1994|p=35}}. Peggy Lee's rendition of "It's Christmas Time Again" was released in 1953,(1953) "It's Christmas Time Again/Ring Those Christmas Bells" by Peggy Lee [7-inch single]. New York: Decca Records 9-28939. and "Caroling, Caroling" first appeared on the 1954 LP The Christmas Mood by The Columbia Choir.(1954) The Christmas Mood by The Columbia Choir [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records CL 6336

"The Christmas Waltz" was written for Frank Sinatra{{Harvnb|Cahn|1974|p=138}}. and debuted as the flipside to his 1954 cover of "White Christmas".(1954) "White Christmas/The Christmas Waltz" by Frank Sinatra [78 RPM disc label]. Los Angeles: Capitol Records CL 14174. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" was written for The Andy Williams ShowWilliams, Andy. Interviewed by Karen Herman. Archive of American Television, A Program of the Television Academy Foundation. emmytvlegends.org, 19 September 2005. Retrieved 2 March 2014. and first appeared on The Andy Williams Christmas Album in 1963.(1963) The Andy Williams Christmas Album by Andy Williams [album label]. New York: Columbia Records CS 8887. "We Need a Little Christmas" was first performed in the 1966 Broadway musical Mame.{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/production-songs.php?ShowNo=5770&ProdNo=3142 |title=Mame |work=ibdb.com |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=2 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140324184932/http://www.ibdb.com/production-songs.php?ShowNo=5770&ProdNo=3142 |archivedate=24 March 2014 }} "Where Can I Find Christmas?" comes from the 1973 TV special The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas, 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.(1985) Santa Claus: The Movie – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by various artists [album jacket]. Los Angeles: EMI America Records SJ-17177