Tony Cummings digs through mounds of yuletide recordings to find the gems among the dross

1972
JOHNNY CASH -
"King Of Love"
From the album 'The Johnny Cash Family
Christmas', Columbia
The Man In Black had one of the
most distinctive and expressive voices in popular music and although
some of his Christmas recordings didn't make the best of it, this
song, from Harold Reid, is a memorable depiction of what happened in
that Bethlehem stable. Johnny brings out all its pathos.

1973
LARRY NORMAN -
"Christmas Time"
From the album 'So Long Ago The Garden', Solid
Rock
With its classic opening line "Santa Claus is
comin' and the kids are gettin' greedy" and its rollicking rock rhythm
interspersed with the sound of cash tills, this is a gem of a track
from the Father of Christian rock. Its denunciation of the
commercialized Christmas still rings true.

1974
ELLIS AND LYNCH -
"Simple Christmas Song"
From the album 'There's A Time There's A
Moment', Ra-O
Ellis and Lynch were two couples, Ron and
Nancy Ellis and Michael and Collene Lynch, and this wistful song
emanating from the Catholic Folk Mass movement is a delightful piece
of early Jesus music.

1975
SISTER LUCILLE
POPE & THE PEARLY GATES - "Merry Christmas"
From the single
"Merry Christmas", Nashboro
Atlanta's Lucille Pope and
her male compatriots made a series of blistering old school gospel
recordings in the '70s and '80s and this yuletide track shows that the
righteous sister is up there, in terms of vocal talent, with the big
gospel names.

1976
RANDY STONEHILL -
"Christmas Song For All Year 'Round"
From the album 'Welcome To
Paradise', Solid Rock
Randy's creative and spiritual
association with Larry Norman brought forth some timeless Jesus music
and this witty and poignant song, with its undulating acoustic rock
groove, is a million miles from the Christian muzak to which we are so
often subjected.

1977
CHOIR OF KING'S
COLLEGE - "Christmas Oratorio"
From the album 'Bach: Christmas
Oratorio', HMV
It's not without reason that academia's
renowned choir has a worldwide reputation and giving them Johann
Sebastian Bach's sublime "Christmas Oratorio" and taking advantage of
the splendours of the King's College acoustics makes this is a
timeless celebration of the wonders of the incarnation.

1978
STEWART & KYLE
- "When Love Came Down"
From the album 'Isn't It Strange',
Grapevine
Alistair Stewart and Chris Kyle from Northern
Ireland were, for a season, the UK Church's answer to Simon &
Garfunkel. Though never quite reaching the popularity of the earlier
Malcolm & Alwyn they made some charming music. The obscure track
from a long deleted album is an acoustic gem.

1979
ROBERT RIGBY -
"Under The Star"
From the album 'Rock Star', Fusion
In 1979 Robert Rigby and Stan Hewitt wrote a British rock musical
based on the story of Christ's birth. It duly received a big budget
recording released on a mainstream label and it's this credible
pastiche of funky Southern rock that still sounds good today.

1980
THE IMPERIALS -
"Child Of Love"
From the album 'Christmas With The Imperials',
Word
By 1980 The Imperials were moving away from their
Southern gospel roots to a more youth orientated pop sound. By that
time they had on board an exceptional lead singer, Russ Taff, and it's
his gritty vocals which make this track a standout.

1981
ADRIAN SNELL with
NORMAN BARRATT - "The Warning/Kill All The Children/Return"
From
the album 'The Virgin', Marshalls
It would be hard to
think of a song further from the usual Christmas sentimentality than
this searing medley from Britain's best selling writer of Christian
rock operas. But the team of Adrian Snell (music), Phil Thomson
(lyrics), Jon Miller (production) and rock gospel's late great Norman
Barratt (vocals) produced a memorable piece of musical drama though
one is unlikely to hear "Kill All The Children" sung by too many
carollers.

1982
SHEILA WALSH -
"Star Song"
From the single "Star Song", DJM
Scotland's Sheila Walsh started off singing new wave-tinged electro
pop but then linked up with pop maestro Cliff Richard and his then
keyboard-playing songwriting compatriot Craig Pruess brought her an
excellent Christmas song and a stab at the pop charts.

1983
AMY GRANT - "Love
Has Come"
From the album 'A Christmas Album', Myrrh
The first of several hugely successful Christmas albums for CCM's
first superstar, 'A Christmas Album' came a year after her
groundbreaking 'Age To Age'. It's not in the same class though this
charming song, penned by Amy, Shane Keister and Michael W Smith, is
still worth a listen today.

1984
CONTINENTAL
SINGERS with SCOTT WESLEY BROWN - "Jesus Is Born"
From the album
'O Come All Ye Faithful: An International Christmas With The
Continental Singers', Christian Artists
Cam Floria's
endless succession of youth choirs did sterling work in musical
evangelism though their recordings were dully unadventurous MOR. A
rare exception was the 'O Come All Ye Faithful' album and with a
soulful contribution from guest vocalist Brown and an effective
African flavour, this is an unexpected pleasure.

1985
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
- "The Twelve Days Of Christmas"
From the album 'Merry
Christmas', Philips
Few sounds in music are as
other-worldly as a boys choir in full flight and this Austrian
aggregation deserve their reputation as being the finest of their ilk.
Supported by the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra, those pure, incandescent
voices are a thing of true beauty.
Christmas is one of my many, if not top time of the year. Everyone has their own compiled favorite Christmas songs that they continue year after year.
While Tony's list includes some of my favorites, to include UK's Sheila Walsh 1983 ccm hit "Star Song" & top cross over artist Amy Grant, "Home For Chrismas" from 1992, & Jars of Clay "Drummer Boy". There are so so many I never tire, like the Beach Boys from 1964, Carpenters "Merry Christmas Darling", Nat King Cole "The Christmas Song", Evie "C'mon Ring Those Bells". I cannot forget the Jet's 1986 and the 70's classic from the Partridge Family "My Christmas Card To You", the whole album is great.
Thanks Tony for bringing back some great memories.
GOD Bless! -Don