The Ultimate Merry Christmas (2-CD Set)

I didn't think it could get any better. Real Gone Music went the extra mile and issued everything on the Expanded Edition of the album, which was only available digitally, added more bonus tracks and issued the result on CD. It doesn't get more complete than this. You get the original Mono mix (my personal favorite), the original Stereo mix, a 2017 remix which is quite nice along with loads of bonus tracks. The bonus tracks include selections from Flo and Mary as well. If you're a Supremes fan, a Diana Ross fan, a fan of this album or just looking for grade A Christmas music, look no further.

This new edition of the Supremes' Merry Christmas album is great. I hadn't heard the mono version before and I greatly enjoyed the new mix of the album with some of the different takes on the songs. I also greatly enjoyed the new duets with Florence and Mary.The packaging and design are also excellent, fitting in the with the other Supremes expanded editions I have on my shelf.The booklet has is very colorful with lots of photos of the group. I also greatly enjoyed the new essay and track-by-track liner notes. Thanks Real Gone, Second Disc and Motown!

Disc 1: Original Mono and Stereo LP's. 'White Christmas' is a nice song with Diana's vocals as well as Florence and Mary on background vocals; nice piano, guitar, drums and strings; 'Silver Bells' is another nice song with Diana's vocals, strings, drums and piano (I didn't hear Flo and Mary on background vocals); 'Born of Mary' is yet another nice song with nice vocals by the trio, strings, drums and wind instruments; 'Children's Christmas Song' is a cute song with 'cute' vocals by Diana, her baby brother Chico and Berry Gordy's kids (once again, I didn't hear Flo or Mary's vocals); nice bells and drums; 'The Little Drummer Boy' is 'okay' and I didn't care for the vocals by Diana and Mary (Flo's vocals were 'okay'); 'okay' drums and strings; 'My Christmas Tree' is a song I didn't like and Diana's vocals were annoying! Flo and Mary's vocals were 'okay' as well as the guitars, drums and piano; 'Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer' is another song I didn't like with terrible vocals by Diana! Flo's vocals were 'okay' as well as Mary's; 'okay' drums, strings and bells; 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' is a good song with good vocals by the trio, good guitars and drums; 'My Favorite Things' is a nice song with nice vocals by the trio, nice drums, horns and strings; 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Me' is a nice song with nice vocals by Diana, Flo and Mary as well as nice guitars and tambourines; 'Little Bright Star' is another nice song with nice vocals by the trio, nice guitars and drums; 'Joy To The World' is a very nice song with nice vocals by the trio as well as nice orchestra; 'Season's Greetings' was nice with the trio wishing their fans happy holidays (the Stereo LP Version sounded much better than the Mono Version). Disc 2 'The New 2017 Album Mix'. 'White Christmas' (Alternate Vocal) is nice; 'Silver Bells' (Alternate Mix, with additional verse) is also nice; 'Born of Mary' (Alternate Mix) is very nice; 'Children's Christmas Song' (Alternate Vocal) is nice with Diana's vocals as well as the children's vocals; 'The Little Drummer Boy' (Alternate Vocal) is annoying! 'My Christmas Tree' (Alternate Vocal) is 'okay'; 'Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer' (Alternate Mix) is another annoying song! 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' (Alternate Mix) is a good song; 'My Favorite Things' (Alternate Mix) is nice; 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Me' (Stereo Mix of Mono Vocal) is another nice song; 'Little Bright Star' (Alternate Mix) is nice; 'Joy To The World' (Alternate Vocal) is another nice song. Bonus Tracks: 'The Christmas Song' ('Merry Christmas to You') is 'okay' with 'okay' vocals from Diana and nice strings; 'Just a Lonely Christmas' is a lovely song with nice vocals by the trio, nice drums, xylophone and strings; 'The First Noel' is a song I didn't like with Diana's horrible vocals! Nice vocals by Flo and Mary and 'okay' orchestra; 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' is another song I didn't like with the trio's vocals ruining it! The orchestra was 'okay'; 'Silent Night' is a very beautiful song with Florence on lead vocals! Her vocals were lovely and it's a crying shame that Florence Ballard never became the lead singer in The Supremes! I was crying while Flo sang the song and Flo had a lot of control of her voice! 'O Holy Night' is another song featuring the beautiful Florence Ballard on lead vocals and her vocals were lovely! I loved the piano and strings; 'Just a Lonely Christmas' (Alternate Vocal) is a nice song with nice vocals by Diana; 'The First Noel' (Alternate Vocal) is 'okay' with Diana's spoken word and singing were 'okay'; 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' (Alternate Vocal) is 'okay' with Diana's vocals dominating the song; 'The Christmas Song' ('Merry Christmas to You') (Duet Version) is actually nice! Mary Wilson's vocals were nice even though she wasn't the greatest singer in the group! 'Silent Night' (Duet Version) is lovely with Flo and Diana's vocals (personally I prefer Flo's vocals); 'It Won't Be Long 'til Christmas' is a nice song with nice vocals by the trio and nice orchestra; 'My Favorite Things' (Live) is 'okay' and it sounded as though the trio were 'drowning' each other out! REST IN POWER to Ms. Florence Glenda Ballard Chapman (June 30, 1943-February 22, 1976): 'You maybe gone, but you will never, ever be, forgotten.'

One of the all-time best selling holiday albums has always been a fun listening for all ages (teens to millennials to mom & dad). It's amazing The Supremes only recorded one holiday album considering the multi-annual success of "Merry Christmas". Time revealed that the hard working and prolific Diana recorded this with The Andantes. Hard to say where Flo and Mary were considering the group was very much intact in 1965. Perhaps because Diana was known for staying in the studio, it happened by circumstance. Still Flo and Mary reaped the royalties and Flo and Diana even surface in a duet of "Silent Nignt" on a later reissue and here. Mary and Diana is also heard duetting for the first time.The Top 10 holiday singles "Twinkle Little Me" and "The Children's Song" still sounds delightful.The showcase remains "My Favorite Things" heard for the first time in a live version as well. With Diana's excellent "A Very Special Season" and the international smash "Christmas in Vienna", and "Merry Christmas", now "The Ultimate Christmas", I'm lucky to get around to listening to these in December.

The second disc alone makes this worth the buy! To hear the different mixes a lot of the overstated background vocals stripped. A real GEM. I love the original released version, but to hear the alternate mixes are a special treat!!And you can hear the differences!!! The unreleased solos are also gems. Great mixes on Silent Night, Oh Holy Night, and the Christmas Song! You wont be disappointed!

This is a very good Christmas album-actually double Christmas album-by Diana Ross and The Supremes., We have White Christmas which is my favorite Christmas song right along their double sided hits Twinkle Twinkle Little Me and The Childrens Christmas Song. Silver Bells Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer Santa Claus Is Coming To Town The Christmas Song My Favorite Things among others are classics.The rest of the album is good too. Mary Wilson duets with Diana Ross on one of the songs and Florance Ballard takes the lead instead of Diana Ross on a couple of them.. On yet another one Florance Ballard duets with Diana Ross. This is as I said a very good double Christmas album by Diana Ross and The Supremes with a grand total of 50 songs on it. Actually its got their one Christmas album on it in both the mono and stereo versions along with some alternatives from that album as well as some other songs but thats not a bad thing really . You should get it. Merry Christmas.

I would have given it 5 stars, but i am not sure that it was really worth this price, as a few of the tracks are not as good as the rest, plus CD1 contains the original album in mono and then again in stereo, and with nine of these tracks, there is no musical difference. But I wanted it. But tracks 8, 10 & 11 on the mono seem to give a Phil Spector-ish production sound, but not on the stereo takes. Although this CD set is on the US Real Gone Music label, it is an official release, with this label licensing these tracks from Motown. CD2 contains all the bonus tracks, some of which are completely previously unreleased, but all of which are alternate takes or mixes, and the rest of which originally appeared as previously unreleased tracks on the single CD reissue of this album on Motown itself as bonus tracks there, but have been duplicated here, those tracks being a mixture of previously unreleased songs by them, plus more alternate takes. The sound quality is better here, sharper and crisper. One track Little Bright Star has an identical tune to a non-Christmas song that Tammi Terrell recorded for Motown, I Can't Go On Without You. I was not at all blown away with their versions of Silent Night, O Holy Night & Christmas Song. But I thought the rest ranged from very good to brilliant. This should have become a classic Christmas album. These tracks are from 1965.

Supremes at christmas is a must for the fan of the best of the best, I have never been a fan of Xmas songs by the Supremes but you will find this two cd set more than worth while, every little track will have you whitening for a white Xmas and a big family get together on this special time of year, the Supremes are a class act and will never have anyone come close to being better than them, it's a joy to listen to and to sing along with, the fan will love the double album and if you love great songs and love Xmas this CD is for you.

I adore this CD and a BIG thank you to Amazon for getting this to me before Christmas. I understand the distributors have now sold out so if still available on Amazon, get it now!

You'll need no other Supremes Christmas CD if you have this one. Ultimate in every way and beautifully packaged. 10/10.

Adventskalender, Stollen und Lebkuchen liegen schon überall in den Geschäften aus, da kommt meine Rezension von 'The Ultimate Merry Christmas', der Expanded Edition des Weihnachts-Klassikers der Supremes von 1965, bestimmt nicht zu früh :-)Es gab in den Sechzigerjahren kein Platten-Label, das von seinen populärsten Stars im Weihnachtsgeschäft nicht wenigstens eine Compilation mit dem gängigen Programm an beliebten Weihnachtsliedern auf dem Markt hatte. Viele sind längst vergessen, aber diese hier von den Supremes ist wirklich Kult geworden: 600.000mal ging sie in USA damals über den Ladentisch, und weltweit sind im Lauf der Jahrzehnte wohl über 3 Millionen Exemplare verkauft worden. Immer noch wird sie in großen US-Department Stores rauf und runter gedudelt, und auch bei Advents-Cocktails ist sie neben Altstars wie Bing Crosby , Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis oder June Christie als passende Klang-Kulisse anscheinend wieder ziemlich angesagt.Der Grund für den Dauer-Erfolg liegt wohl in der Song-Auswahl und den zeitlosen Arrangements, die sich irgendwo zwischen ungeniertem Kitsch, 60's-Pop und elegantem Cocktail-Jazz bewegen. Neben Standard-Nummern des Repertoires wie 'Joy To The World' oder 'White Christimas' findet man auch weniger bekannte Titel wie 'My Christmas Tree', den ersten Song des legendären Adult Contemporary-Komponisten Jim Webb ('Up, Up and Away'), der überhaupt auf Platte erschienen ist. Und noch einiges mehr, was den Supremes von Motown-Hauskomponisten auf den Leib geschrieben wurde - oder besser gesagt: ihrer Lead-Sängerin Diana Ross, die angeblich einen Großteil des Albums nicht mit den Supremes, sondern mit den Session-Sängerinnen 'The Andantes' aufgenommen hat. Ihre Partnerinnen Mary Wilson und Florence Ballard durften dafür ein paar Solo-Parts ('Silent Night', 'Christmas Song') übernehmen, die es allerdings nicht auf die Original-LP schafften und erst nach Jahrzehnten aus den Archiven ausgegraben wurden. Die Aufnahmen mit Ballard wurden zum ersten Mal 1987 auf der Rarities-Compilation 'The Never-Before-Released Masters' veröffentlicht, das Duett mit Ross und Wilson war bisher überhaupt noch nicht auf CD zu finden.Universal hatte vor ein paar Jahren den Mono- und Stereo-Fassungen der Original-LP, für die zum Teil unterschiedliche Vocal Takes verwendet wurden, ein neues Mastering verpasst und mit einer Reihe von bisher unveröffentlichten Bonus-Nummern zu einer 'Expanded Edition' zusammengestellt, die aber nur als Download zur Verfügung stand.Das Re-issue Label Real Gone Music sicherte sich anscheinend die Rechte für die Veröffentlichung als physisches 2-CD-Set und konnte dieses dank der Unterstützung durch Harry Weinger, Andy Skurow und George Solomon, dem Produzenten-Team des Expanded-Editions-Projekts mit den Supremes, nochmals erweitern. Ich habe die Trackliste der Download-Version von Universal nicht im Kopf, aber mit Sicherheit war 'Christmas Song', möglicherweise auch weitere Titel darin nicht gelistet. Demzufolge ist mit dem vorliegenden CD-Set sozusagen nochmals eine 'Expanded Edition' der 'Expanded Edition' nachgelegt worden. Übrigens existiert vom 'Christmas Song' angeblich noch eine Solo-Version von Mary Wilson, die hier komischerweise nicht berücksichtigt wurde - die bekommen wir dann vermutlich auf der nächsten 'Expanded Expanded Edition' zu hören...Zum Klang: hervorragend, ausführliche Track-Infos gibt es auch, alles ist wirklich liebevoll aufgemacht und durchaus auf dem gewohnten Niveau der bisherigen Folgen der Expanded Editions! Aber wer schon den Download von Universal hat und nicht wirklich ein Hardcore-Fan der Supremes ist, wird sich vermutlich schwertun, für ein paar extra Titel nochmal die Börse zu zücken.Andererseits: Was soll das schlechte Leben - ist doch schließlich bald Weihnachten ;-)