White Christmas CD

On January 1, 2005, all commercial recordings made during 1954 passed out of copyright and into the public domain in Europe, where copyright protection extends only 50 years. Among those recordings was the "soundtrack" album for the movie musical White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, originally released by Decca Records, and the British budget reissue label Prism Leisure has lost little time in releasing its own unlicensed version of the album. The word "soundtrack" is rendered within quotation marks for two reasons. First, even as late as 1954, Decca's soundtracks tended to consist of separate studio recordings of the songs from a film, not the actual performances heard in the movie, and that was true of White Christmas. Second, there were cast substitutions from screen to phonograph; co-star Rosemary Clooney, who recorded for a rival record label, was replaced by Decca artist Peggy Lee, and Trudy Stevens, another Decca contract singer, subbed for the movie's non-singer Vera Ellen (who had already been replaced vocally in the movie by someone else). So, among the four principals, only two, Crosby and Kaye, were even replicating their songs. All of those songs had been written by Irving Berlin, some newly composed and others, like the title tune, pulled from his catalog. The highlights among the ten tracks were Crosby's solo rendition of "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep" (which he had shared with Clooney in the movie) and Lee's versions of "Love You Didn't Do Right by Me" and "Sisters." (On the latter, she performed a duet with herself through the magic of overdubbing, although the credits here mistakenly list Stevens as joining her.) Prism Leisure is to be commended for more than doubling the length of the original album with extra tracks (also drawn from the ever-increasing public domain, of course). There are 12 added songs, most of them associated with other Crosby movie musicals including Holiday Inn, Road to Morocco, Going My Way, and The Bells of St. Mary's, on which he is joined by such partners as Fred Astaire, the Andrews Sisters, and Bob Hope. Thus, the disc becomes something of a best-of of Crosby movie songs from the period 1942-1954. ~ William Ruhlmann

Joy to the World: White Christmas is a Reader's Digest-branded compilation that features a vocal group singing holiday chestnuts like "Jingle Bell Rock," "Winter Wonderland," and "I'll Be Coming Home for Christmas." The vocalists are accompanied by harps, doodle-doo basslines, and light jazz percussion -- this is a set straight out of Lawrence Welk's memory banks. But that's OK. It's cheery and painless, the musical equivalent of hot chocolate, fireplaces, and homemade sweaters. ~ Johnny Loftus