On This Christmas Night is a compilation Christmas album that was released in the fall of 1979. It was originally on MCA Records' Songbird label. Musician Chris Christian was involved with the production and songwriting, and it featured all original holiday songs.
Artists participating on this project are Amy Grant, David Meece, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Dan Peek, Reba Rambo, The Boones, B.W. Stevenson and B.J. Thomas. Thomas performs on two tracks, "God Bless the Children" and the title track. Grant recorded her first Christmas song "Santa's Reindeer Ride," which would pave the way for future holiday albums that Grant would release throughout the years.
The history of On This Christmas Night's reissues is a bit complex because of the extra tracks that were either added, swapped or dropped:
*- in the original 1979 release, it also included Christian comedian Mike Warnke with the album's final track "A Christmas Song."
*-the album was reissued in 1986 on Home Sweet Home Records, in which Christian owned the album rights. The original tracks by Rambo, Peek and Warnke were replaced by Christian with Charlene Duncan, known professionally as Charlene with "Christmas All Year 'Round," Steve Archer with "White Christmas" and "Gloria" by White Heart. "Christmas All Year 'Round" was originally recorded in 1983 and first appeared in the various artists holiday album
Contemporary Christmas Classics, while White Heart's "Gloria" previously appeared in the 1985 Home Sweet Home Records release A Home Sweet Home Christmas.
*-it was reissued again in 1992 on CD by Liberty Records under the name On a Christmas Night, but with one song update: Christian swapped tracks with "Thinking of You This Christmas" (from his 1988 Christmas album of the same name) replacing "Christmas All Year 'Round" that was on the 1986 reissue.
*-it was reissued for a fourth time in 1996 by LaserLight Digital with the same track listing as the 1992 reissue but with one song update: the White Heart track "Gloria" that was on the 1986 reissue was replaced by "Silent Night" by recording artist Marilyn McCoo.
Then in 2006, the album was reissued under its original name and was distributed by Universal Music as part of the 20th Century Masters: The Christmas Collection CD series. The first nine tracks are from the original 1979 release with Rambo and Peek included, but for reasons unknown, Warnke's track is not included. The other three bonus tracks are from Christian, Archer and White Heart. For Christian, it is the third time that a track is swapped with "Christmas With Children" replacing "Thinking of You This Christmas" that was on the 1992 reissue.
A television special of the same name aired in syndication the same year as the original 1979 album was released featuring the same recording artists who took part on the original audio recording, except for Debby Boone who at the time left The Boones for a solo recording career and Warnke, as they gather at a mountain lodge in Colorado to make music together and learn the true meaning of Christmas.
Track listing on the 2006 reissue
1. On This Christmas Night (B.J. Thomas) (Chris Christian) -2:51
2. The Whole World is Colored With Love (Reba Rambo) (Chris Christian) -3:49
3. Born a Child in Bethlehem (Tennessee Ernie Ford) (Bob Farrell, Brown
Bannister) -3:55
4. Santa's Reindeer Ride (Amy Grant) (Chris Christian, Reba Rambo) -1:40
5. A Special Wish (B.W. Stevenson) (B.W. Stevenson) -2:51
6. God Bless the Children (B.J. Thomas) (Chris Christian, Shannon Smith) -3:11
7. Gift of Love (The Boones) (Chris Christian, Shannon Smith) -2:28
8. Almost Christmastime (David Meece) (David Meece) -2:22
9. The Star (Dan Peek) (Dan Peek) -3:43
Bonus tracks
10. Christmas With Children (Chris Christian) (Chris Christian) -4:11
11. White Christmas (Steve Archer) (Irving Berlin) -3:14
12. Gloria (White Heart) (Billy Smiley, Mark Gersmehl) -2:57
Production credits
Chris Christian -producer (tracks 1, 2, 5 -7, 10 -13)
Brown Bannister -producer (tracks 3, 4 and 8)
Dan Peek -producer (track 9)
Watch the television special On This Christmas Night here:
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