Elvis Presley
It's Christmas Time

The album "It's Christmas Time" is a follow-up reissue of Elvis' third studio album and first Christmas album "Elvis' Christmas Album".

In 1971 the original Elvis' Christmas Album went out of print, but continued interest in the album prompted RCA to reissue a revised and truncated version on its budget label RCA Camden in November 1970 (CD version only released under the Australian Rainbow label). This reissue replaced the four gospel tracks from the Peace in the Valley EP with the 1966 holiday single "If Every Day Was Like Christmas", along with the 1970 non-seasonal B-side "Mama Liked the Roses", issued as the flip to Elvis's top ten single "The Wonder of You". With ten tracks and a shorter running time, it fit the standard for RCA's budget Camden label issues at the time.

During the mid-1970s, RCA leased the rights to some of its Camden recordings to the budget reissue label Pickwick Records. Pickwick reissued the 10-track Camden Christmas album in 1975. Before and during the holiday season after Elvis' death in August 1977, the Pickwick LP was advertised and sold on television via mail order to enormous sales, later certified by the RIAA as selling in excess of ten million copies. Demand for Elvis' recordings increased greatly after his death, and RCA promptly reclaimed the reissue rights to its Camden line from Pickwick. The Christmas Album was reissued in the 1980s on LP and compact disc as an RCA Special Products release on the RCA Camden label and on CD in Canada in the RCA Camden Classics series. This reissue, with its Pickwick cover art but carrying RCA logos, was in print throughout the 1990s; the track listing remained unchanged from the original 1970 RCA Camden release.

The Camden album was reissued again but with the new title "It's Christmas Time" on CD. By the second decade of the 21st Century, It's Christmas Time had become the second biggest selling album in the series, earning a 4× Platinum certification on March 8, 2018.

In the January 5, 2019 issue of Billboard, It's Christmas Time appeared for the first time inside the top 40 albums of the Billboard 200 chart, placing at number 25.  (wikipedia )


See also the Greenhill Music CD The Christmas Songs