The holidays wouldn’t be the same without the King, so this season
RCA Records and Legacy Recordings decided to spice things up with
Christmas With Elvis And The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, uniting
some of Elvis Presley’s holiday classics with orchestral accompaniment
recorded at Abbey Road studios in London. These new arrangements have been
added to songs from Elvis’ Christmas Album (1957)
and Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas (1971).
Following in the footsteps 2015’s If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley
With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and 2016’s The
Wonder Of You: Elvis Presley With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
Christmas With Elvis And The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra comes
in two configurations: a 13-track version and a deluxe version with four
bonus tracks. Coming 60 years after Elvis’ Christmas Album, the disc finds
holiday classics like “White Christmas,” “Here Comes Santa
Claus,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” “Silver
Bells” and “Silent Night” delivered with style and grandeur.
To hear “Blue Christmas” with the harmonies and an orchestral
underlining simply redefines the ownership Presley took of the song when
he first recorded it in 1957. “Santa Claus Is Back In Town”
and “Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me),” written for Elvis’
Christmas Album, are equally engaging. And if you’re not moved
by “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” then you might as well move to
another universe. At the end of the day, I think we can all agree that everyone’s
holiday needs a shot of Elvis to make it go down that much smoother.
~ Shawn Perry
