From rare to accessible. In 2007 and 2019, we reviewed very rare early CDs of the Elvis Presley compilation Merry Christmas (go here and here). This holiday season, we consider a much more common Elvis holiday album, simply titled Elvis’ Christmas Album. Originally released in 1957, Elvis’ Christmas Album offers 12 classics, including “White Christmas”, “Here Comes Santa Claus”, and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. On four of the 12 songs, Elvis is joined by The Jordanaires.

RCA originally released Elvis’ Christmas Album on CD in the mid-’80s under U.S. catalog number PCD1-5486. As with many U.S. RCA CDs, the first copies of this Elvis album were pressed in Japan by Denon. The disc has the typical early U.S. RCA CD label design — a royal blue outer ring, royal blue text, a white RCA logo, and no paint coating.

The Elvis disc has “Made in Japan” printed at 3 o’clock, and the inserts were printed in the U.S. A barcode appears on the back insert. The matrix code is stamped in the unique Denon dot-matrix font and is “PCD-15486 1A5 5X”.

Unlike Merry Christmas, Elvis’ Christmas Album has remained in print on CD for many years. Numerous U.S. pressings of Elvis’ Christmas Album followed the original Japanese pressing. However, the Japanese pressing of Elvis’ Christmas Album shown here is relatively easy to find, especially online.

Shown below is the cover and back insert for Elvis’ Christmas Album, along with the Japanese pressing.

Happy Holidays!

The cover for Elvis’ Christmas Album (RCA, catalog number PCD1-5486). This is the standard cover artwork for this album. Note the RCA CD logo in the bottom right corner.

The back insert for Elvis’ Christmas Album (RCA, catalog number PCD1-5486). The tracks are listed on either side of Elvis. Note “Printed in U.S.A.” in the bottom right corner.

The Japanese Denon pressing of Elvis’ Christmas Album (RCA, catalog number PCD1-5486). “Made in Japan” is printed at 3 o’clock, and the matrix code is “PCD-15486 1A5 5X”.