''Christmas Island'' is

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

's first

Christmas album Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

and is his twenty-first studio album overall. It features covers of popular

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

songs in Buffett's musical stylings as well as two tracks which Buffett wrote for the album. "

Twas the Night Before Christmas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...

" is a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

. It was his last release with MCA Records.

Critical reception

Reviews tend to be mixed for the album. In a positive review, a reviewer states that " 'Christmas Island''will have you on your feet all through the holidays." Rob O'Connor states that "this may not be the traditional Christmas fare of chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but for those who enjoy ocean breezes and 'wasting away' to this most successful beach bum, Christmas Island is exactly what the cruise director ordered." Thom Owens presents a more negative view of the album, describing Buffett as being "relaxed and entertaining" even though, "few of his new Christmas songs are remarkable and his rearrangements of classic carols are rather forced." However, several tracks remain very popular around the

season. "Ho Ho Ho & A Bottle Of Rum" was the track chosen to be played live for promoting the album when first released, and seems to remain the most popular off the album. Although no

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

were released, "

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed th ...

", "

Mele Kalikimaka "" () is a Hawaiian-themed Christmas song written in 1949 by R. Alex Anderson. The song takes its title from the Hawaiian phrase , meaning "Merry Christmas". One of the earliest recordings of this song was by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sis ...

", "Ho Ho Ho & a Bottle of Rum", "Merry Christmas, Alabama (Never Far from Home)" and the title track get considerable amount of

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

during the season.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

Adapted from AllMusic. Vocals and musicians *Jimmy Buffett – all vocals, guitar *Melanie Prestidge - background vocals *Claudia Cummings – background vocals *Tina Gullickson – background vocals *Peter Mayer – background vocals *

Nadirah Shakoor Nadirah Shakoor is an American singer, songwriter and recording artist. She is best known for her work as featured female vocalist in Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, in the hip hop group Arrested Development and for her solo albums. She has ...

– background vocals *

Robert Greenidge Robert Greenidge (born 28 April 1950 in Success Village, Laventille, Trinidad) is a steelpan player. He is a member of popular music singer Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band and the instrumental group Club Trini. Greenidge has also collaborated ...

–

Steelpan The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

, percussion *Roger Guth –

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Ralph McDonald – Percussion * Jim Mayer – Bass,

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

*Peter Mayer – Guitar,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

*Tom Mitchell –

Saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

*Greg "Fingers" Taylor –

Harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

Michael Utley Michael Edward Utley is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer for Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. He is the musical director of the band. Born in Blytheville in Mississippi County, Arkansas, he graduated from the Univer ...

–

Keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Production and design *Alvin Booth – photography *Jimmy Buffett – arranger *Milton Dean – photography * Rob Eaton –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, mixing *Joe Hayden – second engineer *Abi Hodes – photography *Ted Jensen – mastering *

Russ Kunkel Russell Kunkel (born September 27, 1948) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Da ...

– producer *Joe Lizzi – second engineer *John Lovell – horn arrangements *Tom Mitchell – horn arrangements *Jean Pagliuso – photography *Michael Ramos – production coordination *Sunshine Smith – coordination *Michael Utley – arrangements, producer, string arrangements *Brad Wilson – photography

References

{{Authority control Jimmy Buffett albums 1996 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Albums produced by Michael Utley Albums produced by Russ Kunkel Country Christmas albums MCA Records albums Pop rock Christmas albums