With a ring-a-ling-a-long-a ding-dong-ding and a revving of saxophones, the finest Christmas album ever achieves the impossible: melting the frostiest of hearts with festive tunes that won't find you scrambling for the remote.
Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift For You is a remarkable release, chiefly because it is both a niche-market holiday album and a great pop record.
First released on November 22, 1963 - the day of President John F.
Kennedy's assassination - it captures Spector's stable of charting acts at their peak.
Far from presenting as a bargain bin knock-off, the album offers up plenty of defining performances and musical treats for those who can't resist the shimmering, supercharged atmosphere of Spector's Wall of Sound production.
The Ronettes, Darlene Love, the Crystals and Bob B.
Sox and the Blue Jeans tackle a string of mainly secular favourites with the same gusto and style as they did their pop hits.
Love, who had voiced such early Spector hits as the Crystals' He's A Rebel, soars soulfully through White Christmas, Marshmallow World, Winter Wonderland and single Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).
The Ronettes, who had taken Be My Baby to No 2 on the US charts, apply their thrilling harmonies to Frosty The Snowman, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and album highlight Sleigh Ride.
The Crystals deliver the definitive and oft-copied arrangement of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and two other tracks, and the Blue Jeans apply their velvety vocals to The Bells Of St Mary's and Here Comes Santa Claus.
The final word is left to Spector himself.
As the syrupy strings and angels chorus play out Silent Night in the background, he coos with skin-crawling sincerity about how grateful he is for the opportunity to relate his feelings about Christmas through the music he loves.
What a guy.
I wonder if that was the year Santa left him a pistol in his Christmas stocking?
