One of the Best Christmas Albums Ever was Released on the Worst Day Possible
‘A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector’ was doomed from the start
For the past three Decembers, I have written about the song I consider the Greatest Christmas Song Ever: the Darlene Love classic, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” I was several hundred words into yet another edition of that holiday writing tradition when I realized that by focusing on just the one tune, I was depriving you of the Greatest Christmas Album Ever (not to be confused with Born to Run, The Greatest Album Ever, full stop). That superb holiday album is A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (it was originally released as A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records; if you have one of those on vinyl, it’s worth around $500).
You may not have ever heard of the album, but you’ve undoubtedly heard several of the songs, beginning with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” though younger listeners may know it better for the Mariah Carey or Michael Bublé versions and ’80s kids for the excellent cover by U2 that appeared on the A Very Special Christmas album. None of those can hold a candle to Darlene Love’s original, which Rolling Stone ranked as one of the best Christmas rock songs of all time. Check it out below.
