Holly and Ivy

Background

In an interview with Clarence Waldron from Jet, Cole said the idea of recording a Christmas album started after a telephone call from producer and longtime friend Michael Masser, with whom Cole had worked on the songs "Someone That I Used to Love" from the 1980 album Don't Look Back and "Miss You Like Crazy". Cole described the telephone call from Masser as unexpected; Masser told her, "I've got this beautiful Christmas song I wrote just for you". When they met, Messer played "No More Blue Christmas"; after the session they both agreed to record a Christmas album. Cole described the decision to form a Christmas album as leaving her "running around in April, looking for Christmas songs". Cole expressed hope that the album would remind her fans about "the true spirit of the holiday season". She wanted it to communicate that Christmas is "a time for families to reflect and not just wait until the holidays to be a family". Cole's twin sister Timolin Cole said, "Christmas Eve has always been a magical time with Natalie" when she could connect with family over holiday traditions.

One of the main inspirations of the record came from her father's Christmas album The Magic of Christmas (1960). Cole called the album one of "the nicest, warmest Christmas albums that I've heard". She described the original version of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" as "a darling sweet song" that has yet to be imitated by other original Christmas songs. In an interview with NPR, Cole said in the beginning of her career, "the last thing [she] wanted to do was sing [her] dad's music" and that "it took 15 years into [her] career before [she] felt comfortable and confident enough to even attempt at singing my father's music". The album includes three cover version of her father's songs; "Caroling, Caroling", "The First Noel", and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" done in tribute to him. Waldron said the album was "keeping the holiday spirit in the family". Cole would later re-record "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" as a posthumous duet with her father on her 1999 Christmas album The Magic of Christmas. The song also appears on Cole's 2008 Christmas album (Caroling, Caroling: Christmas with Natalie Cole) and her 1995 collaborative Christmas live album with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras (A Celebration of Christmas).

Composition

Holly & Ivy is a Christmas album influenced by R&B and gospel elements. Cole said she wanted to explore other genres, saying, "she just likes to expand a little, every now and then" and staying true to her soulful roots. She described the album as "a non traditional album" and said, "Though we do 'Silent Night', 'Merry Christmas Baby', and a wonderful gospel version of 'Joy to the World', (featuring L.A.'s Friendly Baptist Church choir) we move around a lot". In its biography of Cole, Billboard identified the album and the following album Stardust as "continu[ing] Cole's exploration of American pop standards".

The album's opening track is "Jingle Bells," a classic Christmas song that is reinvented with a "jazzy, sassy" sound. The second and third tracks are covers of Nat King Cole's "Caroling, Caroling" and "The First Noel" respectively. The fourth song is "No More Blue Christmas'"; Billboard called the song "a soulful, torch-like burner". "Christmas Medley" contains excerpts from "Jingle Bell Rock", "Winter Wonderland", "Little Drummer Boy", and "I'll Be Home for Christmas". A writer from Billboard picked out "a pure blues 'Merry Christmas Baby' " as a highlight of the album.

Waldron described Cole's interpretation of the seventh track, "Joy to the World", as "tak[ing] listeners to church on her gospel flavored rendition", while a writer from Billboard called it "rollicking". The eighth and ninth tracks are covers of Vera Lynn's "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" and Ida Zecco's "A Song for Christmas" respectively. The tenth track is a cover of "Silent Night". "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" is the third and final cover of Nat King Cole on the album; David Browne of Entertainment Weekly described the decision to cover "The Christmas Song" with no vocals from her father benefited the song, which he said worked better "alone, not as a duet with the dead". The album concludes with the title track "Holly and Ivy", which Waldron called a "touching Christmas ballad" and described Cole's vocal performance as belonging to "one of the sweetest songbirds".

Release and promotion

Holly & Ivy was first released by Elektra and the Warner Music Group on cassette and CD in the United States and Canada on October 25, 1994. It would later be made available as a digital download in both countries in 2010, sixteen years after its original release. Cole promoted the record by headlining a special edition of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series Great Performances, titled "Natalie Cole's Untraditional Traditional Christmas"; the program was directed by Patricia Birch and was filmed at the State University of New York Performing Arts Center in Purchase, New York. Cole wore subdued clothing for her performances to match the album's "untraditional" quality. It featured special appearances by the New York Restoration Choir and Sesame Street character Elmo. The show premiered on WNET on December 7, 1994, and was later was released on a VHS home video cassette that was distributed by Warner Music Vision. KCET-TV aired the program along with two other Christmas specials, "Perry Como's Irish Christmas" and "A Christmas Special With Luciano Pavarotti". It was Cole's first television special.

The Christmas special served as the album's primary promotional medium. "No More Blue Christmas'" was released as the lead single from the album. Cole promoted the single with a performance on her Christmas special. The program received a lukewarm reception from critics. Chris Willman from the Los Angeles Times said the program's title was misleading because "it's hard to find anything the slightest bit untraditional about [it]". Willman commended the 1960s influence reminiscent of her father's Christmas songs and said the special was "a good-enough live video counterpart" to the album with an obvious inclusion of 'The Christmas Song' ". John J. O'Conner of The New York Times gave it a negative review, saying, "a couple of new songs are forgettable" and describing Cole's performance as "sweetly, and somewhat lifelessly", and the production as unable to leave a lasting impression on the viewers. O'Connor also said Cole's rendition of "The Christmas Song" was the highlight of the show and, "Ms. Cole once again dips in the repertory of her incomparable father". He compared the program to "Perry Como's Irish Christmas" and said both had "the same lulling level". Following Cole's death on December 31, 2015, PBS released a statement saying "we are grateful to have been able to capture [Cole's] extraordinary artistry for generations to come" through her Great Performances solo specials including her Christmas special.

Critical response

Holly & Ivy received positive reviews from music critics, with frequent comparisons made with Cole's father's album The Magic of Christmas. AllMusic's Robert Taylor gave the album three stars out of five, and said Cole's album "does not have the same 'classic' quality of her dad's 'The Christmas Album' ". Describing it as a "fine outing"; he further praised Cole's choice of holiday classics and lesser known songs such as "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" and "No More Blue Christmas". David Browne of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "B" rating, commending the possible influence from her appearance on Frank Sinatra's Duets and her ability to make "the usual yuletide tunes brassy and bustling; when she and the musicians swagger through 'Winter Wonderland', it's like Christmas Eve at the Copa"; Browne also wrote about Cole's decision to stay away from traditionally Christmas images and sounds, instead "opt[ing] for a simple black evening dress on the cover" in comparison to Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas, which was released the same year. He said Cole's voice stays "warm and toasty" even when the material is lowered "from overly gushy arrangements". Billboard's review, which was edited by Paul Verna, Marilyn A. Gillen, and Peter Cronin, described the album as the "rarest of Christmas albums: an elegant set with appeal that could outlast the season". Holly & Ivy was called "a top favorite among music lovers this season" by Waldron.

Commercial performance

Holly & Ivy became a moderate commercial success in the United States, peaking on the Billboard 200 at number 36 and on Billboard's R&B Albums chart at number 20. It also peaked at number 25 on Billboard's Catalog Albums chart on January 6, 1996. Holly & Ivy also peaked on the U.S. Top Holiday Albums at number 6, on February 27, 2013, roughly nineteen years after its release, becoming Cole's only Christmas album to appear on that chart. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 500,000 copies.

Credits and personnel

The following credits are adapted from AllMusic:

Managerial

Performance credits

Visuals and imagery

Instruments

Production and composition

Release history

The follow release history was adapted from Amazon and AllMusic.