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Friends for Christmas is a collaborative Christmas album by John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John. It was recorded at Playback Recording Studio in Santa Barbara, California, produced by Farnham's long-time music director Chong Lim, and released through Sony Music Australia on 11 November 2016 on CD and digital download. The album features well-known traditional holiday standards, by mostly American composers. It was re-released in 2017 with three additional tracks. Friends for Christmas was the final studio album released during Olivia Newton-John's lifetime.

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Friends for Christmas
Studio album by John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John
Released	11 November 2016
Recorded	Playback Recording Studio. Santa Barbara, California, 2016
Genre	Pop, Christmas
Label	Universal Records
Producer	Chong Lim
John Farnham chronology
Two Strong Hearts Live (2015) Friends for Christmas (2016)
Olivia Newton-John chronology
Liv On (2016) Friends for Christmas (2016) Hopelessly Devoted: The Hits (2018)

Synopsis

Friends for Christmas is Farnham's first Christmas album in 46 years; when billed as "Johnny" he released the album Christmas Is Johnny Farnham in 1970. It is Newton-John's fourth, the most recent being This Christmas (2012) recorded with her Grease co-star, John Travolta. Farnham and Newton-John promoted the album in Australia in November.[1]

Artists' press statements

Farnham said: "I have always loved working with Olivia. To record a Christmas album seemed like the right, almost inevitable thing to do. I hope everyone enjoys listening to it as much as we loved recording it together." Newton-John said: "It was such a joy singing these beautiful holiday songs with my favourite singer and good mate John Farnham. The holidays are about family and friends and having this chance to sing these classics with John was pure fun from beginning to end!"[2]

John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John have performed together in concert numerous times, and have released two ARIA number-one albums: Highlights from The Main Event in 1998,[3] from The Main Event Tour, also featuring Anthony Warlow and more recently Two Strong Hearts Live in 2015.[4]

Critical reception

Cameron Adams and Mikey Cahill from news.com.au gave the album three-and-a-half stars out of five and said: "In a sea of corporate Christmas albums, this has a welcome quality missing from most: authenticity. First, they’re actual friends and Farnsey insisted on them recording together, eye-to-eye." They added: "Everything here is turned into a duet (and) producer Chong Lim hasn’t done much except capture the voices and add choirs and orchestration to make it as lush as you’d expect."[5]

Samantha Jonscher from The Music gave the album two-and-a-half out of five, writing: "If you are the music programmer for David Jones this Christmas season then this is the Yuletide album for you. The Broadway smiles one imagines plastered across their faces may not be contagious, but the "cheer" will certainly be heard over even the most frantic Christmas eve shopper's pounding, desperate heartbeat."[6]

Track listing

1. "Let It Snow" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) – 2:35
2. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (Meredith Willson) – 2:49
3. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane) – 4:10
4. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (John Frederick Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 2:40
5. "The Christmas Song" (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells) – 3:27
6. "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith) – 2:54
7. "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (Frank Loesser) – 3:18
8. "Silent Night" (Joseph Mohr, Franz Xaver Gruber) – 3:11
9. "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin) – 3:34
10. "Little Drummer Boy" (Katherine Kennicott Davis) – 4:33
11. "Silver Bells" (Jay Livingston, Ray Evans) – 2:58
12. "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" – 2:35
13. "The First Noel" (Deluxe edition only) – 5:01
14. "Here Comes Santa Claus" (Deluxe edition only) – 3:08
15. "One Little Christmas Tree" (Deluxe edition only) – 3:19

Charts

Friends for Christmas debuted a number 3 and reached number 1 in its fifth week of charting on 19 December 2016. It became the tenth No. 1 album for Farnham and the fifth for Newton-John.[7] The album returned to the Australian Top 10 in December 2017 and again in 2018.[8]

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[14]	2× Platinum	140,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Edition	Format	Catalogue
Australia	11 November 2016[15]	Sony Music Australia	Standard edition	CD, digital download	88985387172
	17 November 2017[16]		Deluxe edition		88985498012

See also

• List of number-one albums of 2016 (Australia)

References

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