Christmas 1984

Performer: Mannheim Steamroller
Engineer: John Boyd
Producer: Chip Davis
Distributor: Fontana Distribution

Notes: Also available in the CHRISTMAS COLLECTION box set with CHRISTMAS EXTRAORDINARE, A FRESH AIRE CHRISTMAS and CHRISTMAS IN THE AIRE. Mannheim Steamroller: Ron Cooley (acoustic & 12-string guitars); Eric Hansen (lute, bass); Steve Shipps (violin); David Low (cello); Richard Lohmann, Richard Altenbach, Grace Granata, Wayne Anderson, Bill Ritchie, Michelle Brill, Michael Strauss, Roxanne Adams (strings); Mary Walter (harp); Willis Ann Ross (flute); Bobby Jenkins (oboe); David "High D" Kappy (French horn); Jackson Berkey (synthesizers, harpsichord, clavichord, toy piano, Fender Rhodes, vocals, camel bells); Chip Davis (drums, percussion, recorder, dulcimer, dulcian, crumhorn, camel bells, vocals). Additional personnel: Ron Dabbs (sound effects, camel bells). Christmas 1984 is the first holiday album the Mannheim Steamroller released, and it remains their definitive work. Chip Davis never strayed from the clean, airy instrumental style that he exhibits here (and earlier perfected on his Fresh Aire albums), but it is here where it all sounded fresh. It's also where he had his best selection of songs, tackling a variety of classic carols like "Deck the Halls," "We Three Kings," "Good King Wenceslas," "Wassail, Wassail," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and "I Saw Three Ships." Some listeners never found the Mannheim formula that engaging, but anyone who his been captured by one of their holiday records should investigate Christmas 1984, which is where it all began. ~ Rodney Batdorf

Mannheim Steamroller is the creation of former jingle composer Chip Davis, a Midwestern musician who first achieved success as the co-writer of the 1975 pop hit "Convoy." Davis used his royalties from that song to set up his own studio and launch the Steamroller, a project that fused instrumental pop with classical and jazz influences and a rock beat. Mannheim Steamroller's albums became wildly successful and set the stage for much of the "adult contemporary" and new age instrumental music of subsequent decades. Davis achieved perhaps his greatest popularity with a series of Christmas albums that have become perennial staples of the holiday season.

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