Friends for Christmas
Studio album by
John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John
Released11 November 2016
Recorded2016
StudioPlayback Recording Studio, Santa Barbara, California
Length38:50
LabelUniversal
ProducerChong 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)

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.

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]

Farnham and [Newton-John performed together in concert numerous times, and released two ARIA number-one albums: Highlights from The Main Event in 1998,[3] from The Main Event Tour, also featuring Anthony Warlow and 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]

Chart performance

Friends for Christmas debuted at number 3 on the Australian Albums Chart and reached number 1 in its fifth week of charting on 19 December 2016.[7] It became the tenth chart topper for Farnham and the fifth for Newton-John.[8] The album came in sixth on the 2016 year-end albums chart, and 22nd on the 2017 year-end chart published by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[9][10] Also in 2017, Friends for Christmas was certified double platinum in Australia.[11] The album returned to the Australian top 10 in December 2017 and again in 2018.[7]

Track listing

All tracks produced by Chong Lim.

2017 Deluxe edition – bonus tracks[12]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."The First Noel"Traditional5:01
14."Here Comes Santa Claus"
3:08
15."One Little Christmas Tree"
3:19

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Friends for Christmas
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[11] 2× Platinum 140,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release history for Friends for Christmas
Region Date Label Edition Format Catalogue Ref(s)
Australia 11 November 2016 Sony Music Australia Standard edition
  • CD
  • digital download
 88985387172 [14]
17 November 2017 Deluxe edition 88985498012 [12]
1 December 2023 Standard edition
  • LP
 19658861521 [15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John are on song with new Christmas album". news.com.au. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John are Friends for Christmas". auspOp. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "John Farnham / Olivia Newton-John / Anthony Warlow - Highlights from the Main Event (Album)". Australian charts. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John – Highlights from Two Strong Hearts Live (Album)". Australian charts. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  5. ↑ "Latest Xmas Album Reviews: John Farnham & Olivia Newton John, She & Him, Neil Diamond, R. Kelly, Kylie Minogue". news.com.au. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  6. ↑ "Album Reviews – John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John – Friends For Christmas". The Music. 28 November 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 "Australiancharts.com – John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John – Friends for Christmas". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  8. ↑ "Australian Charts: FONJie Has The No 1 ARIA Album". Noise11. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  9. 1 2 "ARIA Top 100 Albums 2016". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  10. 1 2 "ARIA End of Year Albums 2017". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  11. 1 2 "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2017 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Friends For Christmas (Deluxe Edition)". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  13. 1 2 "2019 ARIA End of Decade Albums Chart". January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  14. ↑ "Friends For Christmas". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  15. ↑ "Friends For Christmas (Red Vinyl)". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
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