Richie Unterberger

In fact, only one Fresh Air actually charted, reaching number 49 in 1970.

As usual, music writer Richie Unterberger puts it best from his liner notes on the unreleased Quicksilver Messenger Service double CD set.

He says part of what set Quicksilver apart from their peers was that they were not so much singer-songwriters as they were virtuoso players and creative interpreters and stylists, although they did pen some sturdy folk rock tunes.

Their strengths lay in the ziplock tightness of their playing and arrangements, their ability to whip up a psychedelic brew from a diverse pool of sources encompassing folk, blues, improvisational jazz, and even Spanish and classical guitar, and their inventive rearrangements of unexpected, even left-field, blues, R&B, folk, and jazz classics.

Uh, "Christmas" was praised by critics.

Uh, Richie Unterberger of AllMusic called it an excellent song.

Rolling Stone's Mac Randolph said it was one of several, quote, "prime Pete Townshend songs on the album." A review in Life by Albert Goodman considered it beautiful, and highlighted the song's croaking chorus.

James Perone said it was perhaps one of the best sleeper tracks in this collection.