June 27, 1968 (live version of "Blue Christmas", on some re-releases); May 15–17, 1971 and June 10, 1971 (main sessions); May 24, 1971; June 21–22, 1971; July 26, 1971 (various overdub sessions)
Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas is the fifteenth studio album and second christmas album by American singer Elvis Presley, released by RCA Records in October, 1971. It was Presley's first collection of new Christmas recordings since Elvis' Christmas Album (1957). Two songs from the album, "Merry Christmas Baby" and "O Come All Ye Faithful", were issued as a single in November, 1971. The album topped the Christmas LP's chart that year and would have charted high on the Billboard Top LPs chart, but from 1963 to 1973, holiday albums were not allowed to chart. Though lacking the commercial appeal of Elvis' Christmas Album from 1957, it gradually became a perennial favorite. In 1976, the album was reissued in the mid-priced RCA Pure Gold series with a new catalog number (ANL1-1936). The LP was certified Gold on November 4, 1977, Platinum on December 1, 1977, 2× Platinum on May 20, 1988, and 3× Platinum on July 15, 1999, by the RIAA.[6]
Five of the original songs on the album were published by Elvis Presley's publishing company, Elvis Presley Music, consisting of "Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees", "I'll Be Home on Christmas Day", "If I Get Home on Christmas Day", "On a Snowy Christmas Night", and "It Won't Seem Like Christmas (Without You)". Elvis also arranged two of the traditional Christmas songs, "Come, All Ye Faithful" and "The First Noel". He is accompanied on most of the songs by The Imperials Quartet.
RCA reissued the album on compact disc in 1988. The CD release includes an extended version of "Merry Christmas Baby" and a bonus live track, "Blue Christmas", which was recorded on June 27, 1968, and had been previously released on the 1968 album, Elvis.
In 2017, a two-CD special edition of the album was released on Follow That Dream Records, with a significant number of unreleased takes and unedited versions of the songs that made up the original LP.
In 2021, RCA released Elvis Back in Nashville, a collection of recordings from the spring of 1971. These were the songs that made up various albums including Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas. The four-LP version of this release consists of the raw unedited versions of the songs that would eventually be released after various overdubbing. Of the 21 Christmas related tracks included in the package, the first 11 are presented in the same order as the 1971 release. The remaining tracks are unreleased takes and rehearsals. "Merry Christmas Baby" is presented in its entirety (over 8 minutes) with some short discussion by Elvis prior to the start of the song.
In 2023, RCA re-released the original LP on vinyl, with the track list the same as the original. The cover art for this LP is the same as the 1971 release; however, the rear cover art was altered to reflect then-current updated releases from Elvis' RCA catalog.
Al Pachucki – basic track(s) recording engineer (tracks A1–B5), overdubs recording engineer (organ on A1, background vocals on A2–A3, A5–A6, B2–B3, B5, guitar on B4, bell & percussion on B5)
