Track Listing:

1.  White Christmas (Irving Berlin) - Darlene Love 2:52 2.  Frosty the Snowman (Steve Nelson and Walter Rollins) - The Ronettes 2:16 3.  The Bells of St. Mary's (A. Emmett Adams and Douglas Furber) - Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans 2:54 4.  Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie) - The Crystals 3:24 5.  Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson and Mitchell Parish) - The Ronettes 3:00 6.  Marshmallow World (Carl Sigman and Peter DeRose) - Darlene Love 2:23 7.  I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Tommy Connors) - The Ronettes 2:37 8.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Johnny Marks) - The Crystals 2:30 9.  Winter Wonderland (Felix Bernard and Dick Smith) - Darlene Love 2:25 10. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (Leon Jessel) - The Crystals 2:55 11. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry and Phil Spector) - Darlene Love 2:45 12. Here Comes Santa Claus (Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman) - Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans 2:03 13. Silent Night (Josef Mohr and Franz X. Gruber) - Phil Spector and Artists 2:08

Notes:

A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector is an album of Christmas songs, produced by Phil Spector, and originally released as Philles 4005 in 1963. Spector treated a series of mostly secular Christmas standards to his trademark "Wall of Sound" treatment, and the selections feature the vocal performances of Spector's regular artists during this period. It is one of only twelve long-playing records released on the Philles label, peaking at #13 on the Top Pop Albums chart. The album was reissued by Apple Records in 1972, with different cover art and retitled Phil Spector's Christmas Album; this version went to #6.

However, the album was a relative failure at the time — it was unfortunately released on 22 November 1963, the same day as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Radio stations throughout the US did not play tracks from holiday albums during the period of mourning. In subsequent years, the album grew in popularity, considered now to be a holiday classic. Several of its tracks became iconic Christmas songs for generations, such as the original (and flop) single "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," and the well-known "Ring-a-ling-a-ling Ding-dong-ding" background vocals in The Ronettes' "Sleigh Ride." The arrangement of Bruce Springsteen's version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is based in part on the Crystals' version of the song.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 142 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album has been released several times on different labels: the original release on Philles and the 1972 reissue on Apple were followed by additional reissues on Warner-Spector (1974 - the first version to feature a stereo mix of the songs), Pavillion (1981), Passport (1984), and Rhino (1987). The first CD issue came in 1989, a remastered release on ABKCO which restored the original title, artwork, and mono mix. The album also appeared as the fourth disc of ABKCO's 1991 Spector box set, Back to Mono, and as the second disc of the 2006 U.K.-only ABKCO compilation The Phil Spector Collection. As of 2007 both the Back to Mono box and the standalone CD version of A Christmas Gift for You had been taken out of print by ABKCO; there are no current plans for a further U.S. reissue.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, well-known as a fan of both the Ronettes and Spector, has cited this album as his favorite Christmas album of all time. 

Details:

 

Producer: Phil Spector

Engineer: Larry Levine

Gold Star Studios Philles 4005

Released 1963

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