We Wish You A Merry Christmas was Ray's most popular Christmas album. It continued to appear in Billboard's Christmas charts for years after its initial release and was RIAA certified Gold and Platinum.

All over the world, copycat artists tried to cash in on Ray's success. From Europe to South America you could find albums with titles such as "Sounds Like Ray Conniff" that tried to imitate the Conniff style or simply used Ray's name to help sell albums.

The CDs that appear on the left are the most blatant attempt to steal Ray's work: an attempt to re-record Ray's most popular Christmas arrangements. Each CD contains the same recordings with minor differences in the mixing.

One thing that becomes obvious is that Ray's arrangements alone are insufficient to create the Conniff sound; you need Ray at the helm. As longtime singer-contractor Jay Meyer has stated, "He was tough." Of course, it didn't hurt that Columbia was contractually obligated to provide Ray with only the best singers for those studio sessions.

Personally, I like to listen to these recordings. They are a reminder of just how good Ray was and how bad his imitators were. These wouldn't have made Billboard Top 40!

Here are short mp3 samples (about 500K each) of each of the tracks from these albums. Broadband access is recommended:

1. Medley: Jolly Old St. Nicholas / The Little Drummer Boy
2. Medley: O Holy Night / We Three Kings Of Orient Are / Deck The Hall With Boughs Of Holly
3. Ring Christmas Bells
4. Medley: Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! / Count Your Blessings (Instead Of Sheep) / We Wish You A Merry Christmas
5. The Twelve Days Of Christmas
6. Medley: The First Noel / Hark! The Herald Angels Sing / O Come, All Ye Faithful / We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Many thanks to Manfred for his contributions to this page!