Every Christmas in my family growing up meant Bing Crosby's Christmas album. As I got older, it became Mariah Carey. Then I got my first place and discovered the joy of putting on Korn's "Jingle Balls", a nu-metal take on "Jingle Bells", just to upset everyone. It's a tradition in my house now, and now my kids hate it too.
Which got me thinking about Christmas album covers. A Christmas record can be as sincere, as silly or as strange as it likes, and the sleeves tend to follow. So here are twelve, one for each day of Christmas, running from 1957 to 2022. You'll know some. A few you've probably never seen. None of them is Bing, Mariah or Korn, which is probably for the best.
Day 1: Elvis' Christmas Album (1957)
RCA Victor went all out on the packaging for Elvis' Christmas Album. The original came as a red gatefold with a booklet of photos attached, taken from Jailhouse Rock, Elvis's third film. Collectors still argue about the gold "gift" sticker that turns up on some copies, with some saying it was original packaging and others blaming retailers.
Day 2: Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas (1960)
A gold and orange unicorn holding a flower is an odd image for an album of swinging jazz standards, which is why I love it. The painting is by Gene Grant, with art direction credited to Merle Shore. Verve liked it enough to bring it back, on a gold background, for a 2024 deluxe edition.
Day 3: A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963)
It came out on 22 November 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated, which is a rough day to launch anything festive. The original cover is a group shot of the Philles Records roster in Christmas gear. When it was reissued on Apple in 1972, Spector put himself on the front instead: a heavily bearded Santa wearing a "Back to Mono" button, designed by John Kosh. The original cover came back on later reissues.
Day 4: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Charles Schulz drew the cover, and his signature sits beside the tree the Peanuts kids dance around. It's one of the best-selling jazz records ever. The original 1965 sleeve isn't the one many people have seen, because later reissues used different artwork, though some modern pressings have restored it.
Day 5: Christmas Eve with Colonel Sanders (late 1960s)
KFC put out several Christmas albums, pressed by RCA, and this sleeve is the strangest. The Colonel sits in a carved chair beside a mantel hung with stockings, Santa hat on, eyes shut, apparently asleep. The corner calls it a "Special Collector's Edition". A second one, Christmas with Colonel Sanders, swaps the nap for a wide grin and a wrapped present. Both are stacked with star names, including Chet Atkins, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, and Henry Mancini.
Day 6: Christmas in the Stars (1980)
Ralph McQuarrie, the concept artist who shaped how Star Wars looked, painted the cover, and the same artwork was used for Lucasfilm's 1980 holiday card. It's a Star Wars Christmas record, and the single was "What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)". I'm not making that up.
Day 7: A Very Special Christmas (1987)
Keith Haring designed the cover, the inner sleeve and the label for this benefit record, produced by Jimmy Iovine for A&M in aid of the Special Olympics. The series has since raised more than $100 million. Hip-hop gets a look in too, with Run-D.M.C.'s "Christmas in Hollis".
Day 8: Christmas on Death Row (1996)
Santa in a black hood, strapped into an electric chair in front of a decorated tree and fireplace. It was Death Row's only Christmas release, made as a charity project, and it arrived less than three months after Tupac Shakur's death. Snoop's "Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto" borrows its title from a James Brown song on his 1968 album A Soulful Christmas.
Day 9: Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics (1999)
Mr. Hankey, the singing poo from South Park, relaxing by the fire. Look closely at the front and you won't find the words "South Park" anywhere. It came out about a week before the episode of the same name aired, and reached number 33 on Billboard's Christmas albums chart that year.
Craig
Day 10: Songs for Christmas, Sufjan Stevens (2006)
Stevens recorded a Christmas EP every year from 2001 to 2010 as a gift for friends and family. This box set collects the first five years, 42 songs across five EPs. The original packaging came with illustrations by Stevens and Stephen Halker, a family portrait painting by Jacques Bredy, plus stickers, a poster and a comic strip. Asthmatic Kitty later put the set out on vinyl.
Day 11: Christmas in the Heart, Bob Dylan (2009)
It looks like a Victorian Christmas card: a sleigh racing through snow, taken from an antique print. Coco Shinomiya handled the package design, and the back cover is a painting of the Magi by Edwin Fotheringham. Dylan produced it himself under the name Jack Frost, and the royalties went to hunger charities.
Day 12: Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule, Louis Armstrong (2022)
Louis Armstrong never released a Christmas album while he was alive. In 2022, Verve gathered his scattered holiday recordings, built around six 1950s Decca singles, into one record and put him on the front in Santa clothes with his trumpet. It includes a duet with Ella Fitzgerald, which takes us back to day two, and closes with what turned out to be his last recording, from February 1971: a reading of "The Night Before Christmas".
That's the twelve. Put them on this Christmas and gather the family around. Now, if you'll excuse me, "Jingle Balls" isn't going to play itself.
Merry Christmas!
