The Christmas Album Expanded Edition

With the phenomenal success of her 1970 single Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson was launched into the ranks of country and pop superstardom. The Grammy Award-winning singer s string of No. 1 hits made her a chart fixture in the 1970s, and, indeed, one of the most successful artists of all time. Among her most beloved recordings is 1971 s The Christmas Album, which arrived on Columbia Records while Lynn was still riding high from the worldwide success of Rose Garden. Christmas Album, produced in Nashville by her then-husband Glenn Sutton, featured Music City s A-team of musicians on a festive collection of both familiar and original yuletide tunes. In addition to her spirited revivals of Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bell Rock and Rockin Around the Christmas Tree, Lynn introduced Ding-a-Ling the Christmas Bell and Mr. Mistletoe, and in a classic three-hanky country weeper, insisted, Don t Wish Me Merry Christmas. The Christmas Album placed high on the Billboard Christmas chart in the year of its release, becoming a Yuletide perennial for her legions of fans. However, the album has only seen a limited CD release that came and went, and fetches three-figure sums. Now, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records have come to the rescue with the first-ever expanded CD reissue of this Christmas classic. This new edition of The Christmas Album includes the original album as well as four super-rare bonus tracks, all of which make their debut on CD: the mono mixes of Ding-a-Ling the Christmas Bell, Frosty the Snowman,: and Don t Wish Me Merry Christmas (complete with spoken word intros/outros) that appeared on the special Christmas Seals promotional singles Lynn recorded in 1971 and 1972 as the charity s ambassador. It s all been beautifully remastered by Vic Anesini at Sony s Battery Studios, and Joe Marchese has written the liner notes placing the album in context of Lynn s groundbreaking career. Lynn Anderson was just 67 years old when she passed away earlier this year, but her original Christmas Album stands as a happy and spirited tribute to her enduring legacy.