An elaborate production, Christmas Time is Here Again! was developed around the concept of several groups auditioning for a BBC radio show. The title song serves as a refrain throughout the record. The Beatles portray a multitude of characters, including game show contestants, aspiring musicians ("Plenty of Jam Jars," by the Ravellers), and actors in a radio drama. At the end John reads a poem, "When Christmas Time Is Over."
The 1967 recording is my favorite of all the Christmas fan club messages. For one thing, "Christmas Time Is Here Again!" is a catchy tune! It's the band at a crossroad. They would soon begin to fragment and disintegrate, but at the end of '67, they could still pretend it was fun (probably some of it still was). I hear a lot of Monty Python ("wait for it" for example) in this recording, which must be reflective of the Goon Show influence on both The Beatles and Python, since Python didn't yet exist.
Information and album cover picture from the Wikipedia entry for The Beatles' Christmas Album
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