It's the surprise grand-daddy of the PF albums.
A Partridge Family Christmas Card was a last minute decision to get something out in time for Christmas. But what happened was pure, holiday magic that lives up to this very day.
It's the only PF album that features three different lead vocals--David Cassidy, Shirley Jones, and the background singers (commonly referred to in the business as the Ron Hicklin Singers, or The Wrecking Crew singers.)
The arrangers worked together like never before, trading off songs to work on them at the same time, in a scrambling attempt to meet a ferocious deadline. And it worked.
Songwriter Tony Romeo ("I Think I Love You") had become a favorite of David Cassidy's, knowing instinctively what to write for him, and he wrote the lead song for which the album theme was designed. "My Christmas Card to You" became one of David's all-time favorite PF songs, even re-recording it later in life. To add magic to the music, Romeo was born on Christmas day.
The album was released during the holidays of 1971, and it sold gold, sitting at No. 1 on the Christmas charts before the record even shipped. During December that year, all four PF albums were on the Hot 100 Billboard charts, and Bell Records reported over 200,000 PF albums had sold in one day alone. The PF was at its peak.
Hear Shirley sing "The Christmas Song," while David sings the most innovative version of "Frosty the Snowman" ever released. Hear the rest of the family singers take lead on "Sleigh Ride." The only duet between Shirley and David ever released also appears here with "Winter Wonderland." It's an album that should be played on all radio stations every year and remembered as a Christmas standard.
"I'm looking out my window, at the softly falling snow..." Sing it, everyone! Sing it!