RCA s wildly successful Living Stereo series spawned a number of ensembles with Living in their titles; the two that folks remember these days are The Living Strings and The Living Voices. Both groups were the brainchild of RCA s trailblazing female producer Ethel Gabriel, who assembled some of the finest studio musicians, arrangers and vocalists for lush, beautifully recorded albums aimed at a middle America eager to give their newly acquired stereo systems a spin. In particular, the two holiday albums featured on this twofer that she released with The Living Voices remain treasured among Christmas music aficionados for their ornate orchestration, innovative arrangements, and, most of all, sweeping stereo sound. The first, 1962 s Sing Christmas Music, had actually come out on the Living Stereo imprint in 1959 as Christmas Surprises from The Ralph Hunter Choir; choir director Hunter garnered two Grammy nominations that year for his album The Wild Wild West. Among the surprises was the introduction of orchestra of toys including the Hunter family s electric train and transformer to Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, and an intriguing rendition of The Indian Christmas Carol, which is credited as being the first North American Christmas song dating back to 1643! The second album, 1965 s The Little Drummer Boy, featured the legendary Anita Kerr Singers and production by Anita Kerr herself; the program varies from recent Broadway fare ( Be a Santa from Subways Are for Sleeping; Pine Cones and Holly Berries from Here s Love) to warhorses like Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas to modern classics like Blue Christmas and the title tune. The Little Drummer Boy makes its first domestic CD appearance on this Real Gone reissue, while Sing Christmas Music has never been on CD anywhere; Joe Marchese pens the liner notes. A pair of easy listening Christmas classics!
