A Partridge Family Christmas Card Vinyl

Today, it’s a charity shop find that I couldn’t resist. I have no idea whether it will be any good, but I am playing it and writing the blog at the same time so you will know what my thoughts are as I have them! The Partridge Family were TV stars on both sides of the Atlantic and David Cassidy was Donny Osmond’s chief rival in the heartthrob stakes! Every episode featured a song and the single I Think I Love You was well known enough to be namechecked in Four Weddings and a Funeral by Hugh Grant! So, their Christmas album with Cassidy and Shirley Jones taking on vocal duties must have seemed like a sure fire winner. The original albums contained an actual Christmas card from the Partridge Family with facsimile signatures, but sadly my version doesn’t have that piece of kitsch memorabilia. Oh well, I think I will cope without it. In the meantime, here’s the real time review of this quintessentially 70s Christmas album.

Side 1

The first track is the only original track on this side. It’s called My Christmas Card to You. It really is so 70s it’s incredible! I don’t know if anyone else remembers the songs in the programme, but calling it easy listening somewhat oversells a track that I found completely forgettable. David Cassidy’s version of White Christmas is actually a lot better because he could really sing. The vocals are good, although they are occasionally buried beneath a musical accompaniment that really overdoes it after the first verse. I think it would have been more effective as a straight solo track. Still, Cassidy’s voice just about rescues it. Santa Claus is Coming to Town is another very 70s mix, but it actually works in this case. Once again, Cassidy is on fine form, but the music and the backing vocals complement his performance and you end up with a bouncy, fun version of this Christmas staple. Blue Christmas doesn’t try for an Elvis copy, very wisely. Instead it reverts to the country version of the original sung by Ernest Tubb, and it really works in a side that gets stronger as it goes on. Jingle Bells has to appear on a Christmas album somewhere, it’s the law! This one swings along really nicely in the verses although the chorus doesn’t really work with the backing vocals intruding on the song rather than complementing it. It’s a different version and it definitely gets your toes tapping even if it doesn’t completely convince. The final track, The Christmas Song features a long overdue lead vocal from Shirley Jones which is superb and as smooth as hot chocolate. This is a touch of class to end this side on a high note.

Side 2

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree can scarcely have had a less rocking version than this one! I almost had to check it was at the right speed to start with. This reminds me of the variety shows of the 70s when easy listening versions of uptempo songs were very popular, and it works as well as it did on those – not very! Still Side 1 started badly and improved so what’s next? Well, it’s Shirley Jones duetting with Cassidy on Winter Wonderland. It’s not a bad version despite another mix that has me asking ‘Could it BE any more 70s?’! Both the singers were extremely good in their own right and here their voices blend very well indeed. If you wondered what Frosty the Snowman would sound like on a John Lewis advert, well the answer is on here. You really have to hear it to believe it, but yet again Cassidy’s voice makes a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. This is the one you really have to listen to, so the link is below. Trust me, it is a John Lewis advert in the making!

On the home stretch now with Sleigh Ride. When Leroy Anderson wrote it, I can’t imagine he imagined this, but if you want to have an alternative to the classical version or The Ronettes version, well this is definitely it. The vocals are the nearest to a family sound on the album, but it needs more oomph! The final track is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and here the arrangement and the vocals match perfectly giving Jones a lovely backing for her clear as a bell vocals. It reintroduces the melancholy of the original very effectively and provides a very nice end to this album.

Final Thoughts

This is definitely a curates egg of an album with a few clear misses, but it really would be good as the backing track to present wrapping and you can find it on YouTube or Spotify. Indulge your kitsch side at Christmas and let The Partridge Family transport you back to the 70s with everything that entails.