Wonderland of Christmas by Andre Kostelanetz
November 27th, 2006
Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra
Wonderland of Christmas
Columbia Special Products C 10976
1972
SIDE ONE:
01-1 Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer/Jingle Bells 2:28
02-1 Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town/Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas 1:56
03-1 The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) 2:58
04-1 Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! 1:50
05-1 It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas 1:57
06-1 The First Noel/It Came Upon The Midnight Clear/Oh Come. All Ye Faithful 2:29
SIDE TWO:
07-2 Winter Wonderland/I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus 2:09
08-2 White Christmas 3:02
09-2 Silver Bells/Shake Me I Rattle (Squeeze Me I Cry) 2:22
10-2 Christmas Chopsticks 2:28
11-2 Sleigh Ride 2:27
12-2 Joy To The World/Silent Night Holy Night/Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Holly 2:52
LINER NOTES:
The most joyous sounds of the year are those that we hear at Christmas. Here is Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra with a lustrous garland of favorite songs and carols, old and new, to help you celebrate in festive fashion this Holiday of holidays. Under the inspired leadership of Maestro Kostelanetz, the orchestra makes these twenty selections glow as radiantly as the spirit of the season itself.
A stirring Yuletide tribute, STEREO WONDERLAND OF CHRISTMAS mingles mirth and reverance–in the stunning Andre Kostelanetz manner.
THOUGHTS FROM THE KING:
This is probably one of the first records that I ripped from vinyl several years ago. So why has it been sitting on my stack, unreleased to the FaLaLaLaLa hordes? I don’t know. But it is one of the records for which I receive semi-regular requests. So here it is….
Now, here’s what our friends over at Space Age Pop say about Andre Kostelanetz:
Andre Kostelanetz. Only Mantovani comes close in defining easy listening music. Percy Faith, Ray Conniff–even Liberace–are names one naturally associates with easy listening, but they were entertainers, creators, who liked to spice things up, to toss in a surprise now and again. But Kostelanetz’s goal was a pristinely perfect and consistent product, with no rough edges, no striking sounds, nothing to deter from a seamlessly smooth musical experience.
Well, I think something happened to Andre before making this record. Like maybe he spent too many hours locked in a room with the complete recorded works of Juan Garcia Esquivel. There’s no way you can listen to this version of Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! and believe otherwise…. Oh sure, some of the tunes are standard Percy Faith/Mantovani fare–White Christmas and the medley of sacred songs that ends side one–but many of the arrangements are brilliant pastiches of frenetic brass, string glissandi and fiesty percussion. For some of the tunes you’ll swear ol’ Kostlanetz arranged the second page after having lost the first and then only later put them together.
As I listened more closely to this record in preparing it for the site, I began to get a much stronger appreciation for its genius. It expertly melds Kostelanetz’s trademark sweet and lush string sound with some of the adventurousness of someone like Esquivel. But it doesn’t feel like he’s ripping off Esquivel because the bits of madness fit so well with the rest of what he’s doing. It all works.
Anyway, my apologies for making you wait so long for this wonderful little gem. Enjoy….
King,
You pretty much rock the free world for sharing this. Great quality on the mp3 encodes, too!
You’ve brought a lot of joy to hearts this season.
you crazy, everything you share is great. i’ll wait for anything from the king! cheers!
I just finished "Wonderland of Christmas".The album and recording are great!The "Stereo" character is pronounced. My speakers are about fifteen feet apart and distinct instrument sounds are heard from each location. I feel like I’m Christmas shoping with my parents at Sears, or the Broadway…begging to go look at the toy department… Thanks!
This has always been one of my favorite Christmas albums. Great arrangements throughout. I grew up listening to my Dad’s copy of the album (that I now own) and is not the one shown in the cover image. His copy looks to be the 2nd reissue of this album on a Columbia Limited Edition release. (I also own a copy of the original issue of this album). I’d never seen the Columbia Special Products reissue of this album before. I’d love to see this album released on CD. (It looks like several selections made it to the Sony Special Products "Christmas Concert" CD [out of print] but it’s not the complete album). If it was popular enough to be reissued twice in its vinyl lifetime, it deserves a complete issue on CD! (Maybe Collectables will issue it as they have with other Andre Kostelanetz albums).
BTW, the proper title of this album is just "Wonderland of Christmas", part of a series of Kostelanetz albums from the ’60s with the phrase " Wonderland of " in the title. As you can see from the album sleeve, if you move the cover image up, the "STEREO" part of the title (along with the "Stereo 360 sound") would disappear and get folded under the back cover slick, leaving the title "Wonderland of Christmas"and the mono catalog number at the top of the front cover, and the phrase "Guaranteed High Fidelity" at the bottom. (This is usually how later cover slicks were laid out so separate covers did not have to be made for mono and stereo recordings).
Duly noted, jinglero. What threw me was that "Stereo" is in the same color and point size as the title.
You have brought back some deep and wonderful childhood memories for me. My mother would play this record and many others every morning during the holidays as we ate our breakfast…and then sometimes in the evening. Having these songs on my iPod keeps these memories ever so fresh. My dear mom has been gone for 15 years so it means everything to keep her memory alive in my heart. These songs are perfect! You’re AWESOME for sharing this! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
This classic and legendary LP by Mr. Kostelanetz was originally released by Columbia Records in 1963: catalog #CL-2068 (mono), and #CS-8868 (stereo).
Also, in addition to the 1972 Columbia Special Products reissue that you alluded to in your post (catalog #C-10976), there was also a later reissue on the Columbia "Re-released By Popular Demand" label: catalog #LE-10086.
For many years here in New York, Macy’s traditionally used Mr. Kostelanetz’s version of "Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town" from this album for the Thanksgiving Day Parade as the musical backdrop when Santa Claus made his way into Herald Square. Unfortunately however, it’s another one of those great Christmas traditions that has now gone to pot.
The Columbia Legacy rerelease of this album -(all of which display the “Re-Released By Popular Demand” disclaimer for the Legacy series ), hence the LE prefix, listed by Christmas Music Guru, is the one I referred to in my original post.
[FYI,For the detail minded who happen to find these without their album covers, the original label {CL-2068/CS-8868} is red with 2 CBS logos at 3 and 9 o'clock and the word STEREO in white at 6 o'clock bookended by the words stereo 360 also in white with 2 small white arrows. The CSP reissue {C-10976} most likely is a red label with a thin black band around the outer edge with the CBS logos in the same spots as the original release. Finally, the Legacy reissue {LE-10086} is on a chocolate brown label with a big fat "C" at the 12 o'clock position (It kind of looks like a white record with a line halfway through it to turn it into a "C"). This is the only label from CBS records proper I have seen that wasn't red in some fashion].
The prefix “LE” could also stand for “Limited Edition” not necessarily Legacy.