Barbra Streisand entered London's Olympic Sound Studios in June 1966 while reprising her role of Fanny Brice in the West End premiere of Funny Girl to begin work on what would become her very first Christmas album.  Four songs arranged by Ray Ellis and produced by Ettore Strata were cut at the session including "Silent Night" and the Gounod setting of "Ave Maria."  A mere two weeks following her July 14 final performance, she was onstage back in the U.S. for the first of four summer concert dates, audaciously performing "Silent Night" in Newport, Rhode Island - to the surprise and delight of the audience.  In October, "Silent Night" and "Gounod's Ave Maria" (sung in Latin!) would be released on a Columbia single, whetting appetites for a full album.  On October 4, Streisand's 1967 A Christmas Album will return to vinyl from Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings in a slightly expanded edition.  On the same date, her 2001 album Christmas Memories will make its premiere in the format.  Both titles have been newly remastered by Paul Blakemore from 24-bit files created by Streisand associate Jochem van der Saag.

With an eye to a fall release for the full Christmas LP, Streisand returned to the studio in September 1967 - this time in Hollywood (where she was shooting the film version of Funny Girl) with producer Jack Gold and arranger-conductor Marty Paich.  The Gold/Paich sessions would primarily yield renditions of secular classics...the Streisand way.  These included her radical reinvention of "Jingle Bells" (knowingly retitled "Jingle Bells?") and "White Christmas" complete with its original, rarely-recorded verse.  Gold, a studio veteran who also enjoyed a long association with Johnny Mathis, later remembered, "[Barbra] didn't want to do ["White Christmas"] because it was too closely associated with Bing Crosby. I remembered that it had a special verse, an introduction that Irving Berlin wrote about being stranded in Beverly Hills on Christmas Eve, with the sunshine and palm trees."  With that addition, Streisand was ready to make the song her own.  She performed similar magic on Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things," Mel Torme and Bob Wells' "The Christmas Song," and Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."  Lan O'Kun, a favorite writer of the young Streisand, supplied "The Best Gift."

To promote the fall 1967 release, Columbia issued five picture-sleeve singles, comprising ten of the LP's eleven songs.  All of the sleeves were adorned with the now-famous cover photo by the Horn/Griner studio taken on June 16, 1967 as the singer rehearsed for her Central Park concert (preserved, in part, on the Happening in Central Park album and television special).  The album was sequenced in the style of many Christmas albums of the day - secular songs on one side, religious songs on the other - but that was about all that was ordinary about it.  The extraordinary A Christmas Album topped the Billboard Holiday chart and became a perennial best-seller, reaching Gold status in 1976 and Platinum a decade later.  It's currently 5x Platinum - and counting.  The upcoming reissue adds one bonus track, the English-language version of "Gounod's Ave Maria," recorded with Stratta and Ellis but unreleased until 2005 on CD.  This marks its first appearance on a Streisand album.

Barbra returned to the yuletide milieu in 2001 for Christmas Memories.  Recorded between July and September of that year with co-executive producer Jay Landers and production contributions from David Foster and William Ross, Christmas Memories would take its place along its predecessor as an instant classic.  Primarily recorded live with a lush, 90-piece orchestra, the album emphasized lesser-known material over familiar favorites, with the wartime evergreen "I'll Be Home for Christmas," the Schubert setting of "Ave Maria," Foster and Linda Thompson's modern standard "Grown-Up Christmas List," and Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" its four most well-known songs.  Streisand continued her association and collaboration with Stephen Sondheim on "I Remember;" the composer-lyricist updated his haunting 1966 ballad from the television special Evening Primrose with a new, holiday-themed verse.  Singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway, also a veteran of Streisand albums, contributed "Christmas Lullaby."  Barbra had first heard Ervin Drake and Jimmy Shirl's "One God" on Johnny Mathis' 1958 LP Good Night, Dear Lord.  All became highlights of a heartfelt and deeply personal - yet universal - Christmas album.  The LP was dedicated to Streisand's late friend Stephan Weiss for whom Streisand sang a specially-tailored version of Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford's "Closer."

The Grammy-nominated Christmas Memories, released just two months after September 11, 2001, served as a balm in the wake of tragedy.  It charted on both the Billboard 200 and the Holiday Album Chart. It has since been certified Platinum.  This release marks its debut on vinyl; note that the Target- and iTunes-exclusive bonus track "God Bless America" (a 1992 live recording) has not been included on this reissue.

Barnes & Noble will carry exclusive color pressings of both titles - white for A Christmas Album and red for Christmas Memories.  Look for both of these seasonal Streisand reissues on October 4 from Columbia/Legacy.  You'll find track listings and pre-order links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Barbra Streisand, A Christmas Album (Columbia CS 9557, 1967 - reissued Columbia/Legacy, 2024) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Barnes & Noble)

1. Jingle Bells?
2. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
3. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
4. White Christmas
5. My Favorite Things
6. The Best Gift
7. Sleep in Heavenly Peace (Silent Night)
8. Gounod's Ave Maria
9. O Little Town of Bethlehem
10. I Wonder as I Wander
11. The Lord's Prayer
12. Gounod's Ave Maria (English) (Bonus Track) (first released on Baby It's Cold Outside, Hear Music 09463-33942-2-3 LMM-644, 2005)

Barbra Streisand, Christmas Memories (Columbia CK 85920, 2001 - reissued Columbia/Legacy, 2024) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Barnes & Noble)

1. I'll Be Home for Christmas
2. A Christmas Love Song
3. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?
4. I Remember
5. Snowbound
6. It Must Have Been the Mistletoe
7. Christmas Lullaby
8. Christmas Mem'ries
9. Grown-Up Christmas List
10. Ave Maria (Schubert)
11. Closer
12. One God​