Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys

After the success of 1976 when the Beach Boys had their highest charting album of the decade (15 Big Ones), 1977 proved to be a difficult year. What started out as a solo album for Brian Wilson was redone as a band album titled The Beach Boys Love You and released in April. It met only moderate success and led to a fallout between the band and their record company Reprise. The next project, Adult/Child, was rejected by Reprise.

The Beach Boys, now with Warner Bros. Records, then began work on a holiday album, which would seem like a win-win for everyone. Holiday albums are perennial sellers, and the band’s previous Christmas album, which was released in 1964, is considered a classic.

The band collected some previously recorded holiday tunes and recorded new tracks at the Maharishi International University in Iowa in late 1977. But Warner Bros. rejected Merry Christmas from The Beach Boys. I’m not really clear as to why it was rejected. But here’s an attempt to recreate it.

SIDE A

1. Christmas Time Is Here Again

2. Child of Winter (Christmas Song)

3. Winter Symphony

4. (I Saw Santa) Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

5. Santa's Got an Airplane

6. Morning Christmas

SIDE B

1. Alone on Christmas Day

2. Melekalikimaka (Kona Christmas)

3. Santa's On His Way

4. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

5. Bells of Christmas

6. Xmas Carol Medley: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Some songs were remakes with different lyrics. “Christmas Time is Here Again” is a reworking of Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue.” “Santa’s Got an Airplane” and “Santa’s on His Way” are remakes of earlier Beach Boys' songs “Loop de Loop” and “H.E.L.P. is on Way” respectively. 

“Melekalikimaka (Kona Christmas)” and “Bells of Christmas” would be rerecorded later by the Beach Boys as “Kona Coast” and “Belles of Paris” with different lyrics. And Mike Love would rerecord “Alone on Christmas Day” as a solo holiday tune.

“Christmas Time is Here Again,” “Child of Winter (Christmas Song),” “Winter Symphony,” “(I Saw Santa) Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Santa's Got an Airplane,” “Morning Christmas,” “Melekalikimaka (Kona Christmas)” and “Bells of Christmas” can all be found on the Beach Boys 1998 album Ultimate Christmas (which sadly appears to be now out of print).

The other tracks are apparently not officially released yet so you'll have to search for bootlegs, which means that Ultimate Christmas really isn't that "ultimate."

Three other songs, "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," "Seasons in the Sun," and "Go and Get That Girl," were reportedly originally planned for this album. But none of these have anything to do with the holidays, so I've excluded them.

For a cover, I used artwork created by artist Ruth Perry titled "Sailing Away with Santa: A Tropical Christmas" and added titles.