1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 39. Phil Spector (Various) - A Christmas Gift For You (1963)

Are we going to overlook what a nasty piece of work Phil Spector was? This, the only specifically Christmas album in the whole list (I think), is chock full of classics. The only original is Darlene Love’s Christmas (Please Come Home), the rest are the so-familiar Wall of Jingle Bells mixes of classics like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and others, a mix of tracks by Love, The Ronettes, The Crystals, and Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans (who gets Santa Claus is Coming to Town and the lesser-known Bells of St Mary’s). 

We all know these Spector wall-of-sound jingling bells R&B Christmas classics, and they’re all good fun even out of season. Just a shame that the man behind them was a domestic abuser and murderer. Merry Christmas! 

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