Statistics
We looked inside some of the posts by bigboxochristmas and here's what we found interesting.
Average Info
Notes Per Post
0
Likes Per Post
0
Reblog Per Post
0
Reply Per Post
0
Time Between Posts
2 months
Number of Posts By Type
Text
17
Last Seen Tumblr Blogs
Fun Fact
Celebrities use Tumblr as well.
Text
A Child's Christmas in Wales
(Marvin Lichtner 1963)
youtube
This film has nothing to do with my annual holiday music collections but I'm putting it here anyway because it took me more than 40 years to find it and I think it deserves to be more widely known. And besides, it's Christmasy, gol dang it, and that's what this blog is all about.
Marvin Lichtner was a photographer (who later worked with the Beatles). In the early 1960s he traveled to a town in Wales and, using locals as models, shot a series of staged black and white stills which he used to create this film, which he made to illustrate Dylan Thomas's recording of his autobiographical prose-poem, 'A Child's Christmas in Wales'.
The film aired at Christmastime on various PBS stations during the '60s for several years and then it vanished, possibly due to copyright issues with the Dylan Thomas recording. I remember watching it on TV back then, and later, while I was in college in the 70s, I saw it again as part of a film studies course and was completely charmed by it. Several years later I remembered it and set out to see if I could find a copy, but it’s never been commercially released, which is a shame because it’s an absolutely delightful little film.
Apparently only a few copies of the film remain, mostly in university library film departments, and until very recently the film had never been digitized. Over the years I’ve contacted PBS and some of its subsidiaries (they all said they no longer had a copy), the Library of Congress (nope) and several of the above-mentioned university film librarians, all of whom told me they had no immediate plans to digitize the film (but I could watch it there if I was a student or faculty member). One film-rental company had a copy but didn’t rent to individuals. I even tried finding the director but he had passed away.
But some kind soul posted a copy to archive.org during the last year or so, and I recently downloaded it, did a little clean-up (someone with A.I. skills needs to do a better job) and posted it to YouTube. It’s not in great shape but at least it’s finally available to the public after all these years and well worth 25 minutes of your time.
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2024, Pt. 2: Christmas Jam 4
1. The Sleigh - The Sportsmen 02:41
2. Good King Wenceslaus - Manfredo Fest 04:02
3. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Fareed Haque 05:22
4. Winter Wonderland - Shirley Horn 04:05
5. Drummer Boy - Jacques Lesure 05:46
6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
- Les Brown and His Band of Renown 02:33
7. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Earl Rose 03:46
8. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Jacob Fischer 05:10
9. Silver Bells - John Basile 03:35
10. Wrap Yourself In A Christmas Package
- Randy Greer & The Ignasi Terraza Trio 02:25
11. Ding Dong Merrily On High - The Roy Budd Trio 02:47
12. Christmas Blues - Holly Cole 02:51
13. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Don Patterson 03:07
14. March Of The Toys - Hal Mooney & His Orchestra 03:28
15. Up On the Housetop - David Ian 03:11
16. Auld Lang Syne - John Basile 02:33
17. Jingle Bells - The Firehouse Five Plus Two 02:48
------------------
Yet another all-jazz collection to accompany the main event posted below. I must admit that I’m not familiar with most of the names in this year’s Christmas Jam collection; I just plow through albums and compilations listening for tunes that seem to fit my admittedly somewhat vague criterion without concerning myself too much with the names of the artists. Still, there are definitely a few recognizable names here, e.g. Shirley Horn, Les Brown and His Band of Renown and the somewhat lesser-known Holly Cole.
Highlights include:
The Sportsmen, who started off as a barbershop quartet, appearing many times on the Jack Benny program (both radio and TV) between 1938 and 1961, as well as on the soundtrack of several Looney Tunes cartoons, most notably, “What’s Opera, Doc?”. They also appear on one of my earlier compilations performing a song called “Reindeer Rock” and here perform a frenetic version of “The Sleigh”, a popular Russian folk song (also known as “The Russian Sleigh Song”). The song has been covered by many artists, most notably Woody Woodpecker.
Jazz guitarist Fareed Haque does a virtuoso acoustic take on “You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” with bass accompaniment.
Les Brown and His Band of Renown swing out with their 1952 recording of “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”.
Barcelona-based Randy Greer & The Ignasi Terraza Trio bring a nice touch of bluesy funk to “Wrap Yourself In A Christmas Package”
The Roy Budd Trio share a highly caffeinated, knuckle-busting take on “Ding Dong Merrily On High”.
The Firehouse Five Plus Two (not to be confused with The Firehouse Five Plus Too, which was Ray Stevens doing chicken clucks to the tune of “In the Mood”) was a Dixieland jazz band, popular in the 1950s, consisting of members of the Walt Disney animation department. And here they pretty much set fire to “Jingle Bells”.
Cover art swiped from the internet.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2024, Part One: Klaatu Barada Saint Nickto
(The Christmas Day the Earth Stood Still)
Jingle Bells - Esquivel
Christmas Is Here Again - Sackcloth2joy
Jingle Bell Rockabilly - Strange Manor
Mama, Give Me What You Gave Santa Claus - Josephine Premice
Christmas Dreaming (A Little Early This Year) - Laufey
Grandfather Kringle - Ronnie Ronalde
Deck the Halls - Sophie Michalitsianos
Coffee (Arabian Dance) - Stephen Bennett
The Christmas Song - Lawrence Welk & His Champagne Music
Back Door Santa - B.B. King
Tanze Mit Mir Um Den Weihnachtsbaum - Heino & Sarah Jane Scott
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Aliqua
Sweet Bells - Kate Rusby
(I Wanna Go) Surfin' with Santa - The Hollyberries
Ain't That a-Rocking - Odetta
Greensleeves (What Child is This) - The Galliard Brass Ensemble
All I Want Is Mary For Christmas - The Lonesome River Band
Feliz Navidad - Pete Escovedo, Ray Obiedo
Love for Christmas - Carole King
Christmas Carols: The First Noel, God Rest You Merry Gentlemen -The Collegiate Choir (1924)
Santa Will Find You - Mindy Smith
New Year Song - Nick Paone and the Gang -------------------------
Time once again to delve into the multi-dimensional reality of holiday music in all its eclectic and peculiar splendor. This year’s highlights include:
Esquivel, the creator of ‘Space Age Bachelor Pad Music’, whom we haven’t heard from in a few years. It’s always good to be reminded of what the future of music sounded like back in the late 50s and early 60s. His charming spoken interlude in this bizarre take on “Jingle Bells” went on a bit long so I confess that I made a small edit.
I just discovered the wonderful Icelandic singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Laufey this year. She has an Ella Fitzgerald-like contralto voice and sings in a somewhat similar style; listening to her is like being bathed in warm honey (if that’s your idea of a good time). Her contribution, “Christmas Dreaming (A Little Early This Year),” was originally recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1947.
As I’ve said many times before, Christmas and yodeling go together like…um, something and something else. And it’s been a couple of years since we had a yodeling yuletide song, so here’s “Grandfather Kringle” performed by one Ronnie Ronalde.
And speaking of going together, how about Lawrence Welk and B. B. King? Made for each other, right? Lawrence and his Champagne Music provide an insanely jaunty take on “The Christmas Song”, while B.B. puts his own stamp on the raunchy old Clarence Carter tune from 1968, “Back Door Santa”.
Something about Kate Rusby’s holiday recordings always seems to hit the sweet spot for me: her Christmas songs are always beautifully written, performed, arranged and produced. They’re melodic and heartfelt without being clichéd, which is why I’ve included her work on so many of these compilations in recent years. This year’s contribution, “Sweet Bells,” is a perfect example.
Percussionist Pete Escovedo played in Carlos Santana’s band and is the father of Sheila E. (best known for her stint in Prince’s band). Jazz guitarist Ray Obiedo has played on dozens of albums by folks like Herbie Hancock, George Duke and others, as well as releasing several albums under his own name. Their latin-jazz take on “Feliz Navidad” definitely swings.
Carole King needs no introduction. “Love for Christmas” is from her 2011 album, A Christmas Carole.
Literally a hundred years ago, on October 31st, 1924, a vocal group known as the Collegiate Choir, along with an orchestra, recorded a medley of Christmas carols, including “The First Noel” and “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” (There was a third song, “Christians, Awake!”, in the medley but I cut it as it’s not very well known these days). It still amazes me that the recording engineers of the time were able to get anything resembling a balanced sound with the entire huge ensemble gathered around a single recording “horn”. See the video below for how it was done back then:
youtube
And sending us off into the New Year in a properly delirious fashion is Nick Faone and the Gang, with the A-side of their only known recording, the exceedingly goofy “New Year Song” from 1950.
Many thanks as always to Ernie at https://ernienotbert.blogspot.com/ and B-Man of Radio Vickers for their bottomless cornucopia of holiday music shares.
The cover art is, of course, jolly old Gort from the 1951 classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still. DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2023, Part Two: Christmas Jam 3
1. Overture for Shorty - Shorty Rogers 04:00
2. I'm Spending Christmas With The Old Folks
- Sydney Lipton & His Grosvenor House Dance Orchestra 02:10
3. Frosty The Snowman - Beegie Adair 03:18
4. Little Drummer Boy - Jeff Linsky 03:55
5. Santa's on His Way - The Town Pipers 01:53
6. Have Yourself a Merry Little Xmas - B3 Kings 04:24
7. Mister Santa - Steffi Denk & Flexible Friends 02:41
8. All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth - Urbie Green 02:48
9. Deck the Halls - Betty Glamann 01:49
10. Cool Yule - Kurt Elling 03:26
11. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Jimmy Bruno 02:09
12. Jolly Old St. Nick - Beth Lederman 03:26
13. Jingle Bells Boogie Woogie
- Will Bradley and His Boogie Woogie Boys 02:39
14. Silver Bells - Tony Bennett 03:13
15. White Christmas - Jacob Collier 00:59
16. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Emma Smith 02:31
17. Last Christmas - Betty's Bounce 04:39
18. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - The Jim Cullum Jazz Band 02:15
19. Merry Christmas In Eight Foreign Languages
- Family And Friends 01:37
-----------------------------
I had just enough time to throw together a new volume of Christmas Jam as a bonus for this year. As I’ve written here before, there are always far too many great holiday jazz tracks to include in my usual Christmas compilations so every so often I try to do an extra all-jazz collection as well.
Highlights:
Shorty Rogers was a trumpet and flugelhorn player who was also in great demand as an arranger. (He did a fair amount of work with the Monkees, among many other artists.) Here he plays on “Overture for Shorty”, a track from his 1960 album, The Swingin’ Nutcracker.
I haven’t been able to find out much about the Town Pipers (not to be confused with the Doodletown Pipers), but they were a jazz vocal group who apparently only released one album, Christmas Greetings, in 1959. I’m also not familiar with this song, “Santa’s On His Way”, so it may have been composed by or for them.
There aren’t many musicians who can say they’ve played with John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Spike Jones, but harpist Betty Glamann did all that and more, in addition to leading her own group. This version of “Deck the Halls” is from her 1959 album Christmas Fantasy.
And speaking of Coltrane, in 2009 singer Kurt Elling released Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman, a tribute to the 1963 recording John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. However, this version of “Cool Yule”, originally made famous by Louis Armstrong, is from his 2016 album, The Beautiful Day: Kurt Elling Sings Christmas.
Will Bradley was an American trombonist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s, best remembered for the original hit version of “Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar”. He and his band, The Boogie Woogie Boys, tear things up here with “Jingle Bells Boogie Woogie”.
The harpejji is an electric stringed musical instrument that was developed in 2007 and has been described as a cross between a piano and a guitar or as a cross between an accordion and a pedal steel guitar.
The great Jacob Collier makes use of it to play a version of “White Christmas”. You can see a video of the performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5T-9RPW4pg
Betty's Bounce is a trio performing acoustic American and gypsy jazz in the spirit of guitarist Django Reinhardt. Here they offer a gently swinging arrangement of Wham’s “Last Christmas” from their 2018 album Luminous.
And finally, for no particular reason, a track called “Merry Christmas In Eight Foreign Languages” just in case you find yourself in one of these countries at Yuletide.
Cover art swiped from the internet.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2023, Part One: Cleese Navidad!
1. Deck the Halls with Rubber - Jeff St. Pierre & Phillip Antoniades
2. Angels We Have Heard On High - The Decibels
3. Feels Like Christmas - Maiah Wynn
4. Monsieur la Neige - Castel et Casti
5. Go Tell It on the Mountain - Kelley Hunt
6. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Joel Paterson
7. Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa - Stevie Wonder
8. What Christmas Means to Me - Overboard
9. Roaring Fire - Emily Aldridge
10. Happy Christmas - Washington & Clarke
11. Hang Your Balls On The Christmas Tree - Kay Martin & Her Bodyguards
12. Rusby Shepherds - Kate Rusby
13. Nothin' For Christmas - Eartha Kitt
14. Sleigh Ride - The Soulful Strings
15. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - Gabrielle Aplin
16. Christmas Time is Here Again - The Weeklings
17. I Know Santa's Been Here - Michelle Wright
18. Fum, Fum, Fum - Hollywood Trombones
19. The Three Wise Stooges - Michael Saxson
20. Pimp My Sleigh - Houseman
21. Joy To The World - David Ian
22. It's One Day Closer To Christmas - Sammy Watkins
23. Auld Lang Syne - Husky Team
24. Let No Walls Divide - Doris Day
25. The Night Before Christmas (Excerpt) - John Cleese
-------------------------
This year’s collection is more or less bookended by a pair of soundalike versions of famous popular songs. I can pretty much guarantee that you’ve never heard “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” or “Auld Lang Syne” arranged like this.
Other highlights:
Joel Paterson, an interestingly retro guitar stylist who wears his Les Paul and Chet Atkins influences on his sleeve. He’s done a couple of Beatles cover albums and a couple of Christmas albums as well. His take on “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is appropriately jaunty.
I was literally in the process of finalizing the mix for this year’s compilation when a new holiday album from Kate Rusby (Light Years, her seventh) appeared, so I had to stop everything and find a track to include. I first discovered her lovely works, always impeccably arranged, produced and performed, a few years back and have made use of her recordings, both serious and silly, a number of times in these collections.
When Eartha Kitt had a huge success with the slinky “Santa Baby” in 1953, the powers that be at her label decided, as label execs tend to do, that what she needed was a follow-up that sounded just like it. So in 1955 she recorded a version of the then-popular novelty song “Nuttin’ for Christmas”, retitled as “Nothin’ for Christmas”, with the lyrics completely re-written to sound saucy in the manner of “Santa Baby”: instead of the refrain, “Cause I ain’t been nothin’ but bad”, for example, “Cause I didn’t want to be bad” was substituted, with Eartha lyrically turning down offers of various “gifts” from would-be seducers. The song also makes use of almost the exact same arrangement as “Santa Baby”, right down to the “Boom, boom-boom, ba-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom” background chorus. I don’t know whether it sold well or not, but it’s a lot of fun.
The Soulful Strings were what Mantovani and other purveyors of easy-listening might have sounded like had they worked for Motown or Stax: heavy strings, of course, but with soul-jazz funk as the engine. This version of “Sleigh Ride” is way cool.
I often like to include one or more Beatles-related tracks in these compilations, and this year having seen the release of one more (and allegedly final) Beatles song, “Now and Then”, it seems only right to share the Weeklings’ version of “Christmas Time is Here Again”, originally from the Beatles’ 1967 fan club Christmas message of the same name. This song has been covered by a number of artists (including Ringo Starr) despite the fact that it consists of nothing more than a chorus without any verses, and the Weeklings do a great job of padding it out with musical quotes from “Flying” and “Baby, You’re a Rich Man”. This is preceded by a lovely, wistful arrangement of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” by a singer named Gabrielle Aplin.
And what holiday season is complete without a visit from the Three Wise Stooges, who can always be counted on to keep the crash in the créche.
The arrangement of “Let No Walls Divide”, recorded by Doris Day in 1961, is more than a little bombastic, not to say completely over the top, but the song’s sentiment is a nice way to close out this year’s collection…
Except, of course, for the coda: given the title of this compilation, it seemed absolutely necessary to include an excerpt from the mighty John Cleese’s unique interpretation of “The Night Before Christmas” (You can hear the whole thing at the link below).
Many thanks again to Ernie at https://ernienotbert.blogspot.com/ and B-Man of Radio Vickers for their bountiful holiday music shares.
The cover art was swiped and modified from a publicity shot for a personal appearance of some kind by Mr. Cleese.
-------------------------
“The Night Before Christmas” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-uNQ2oQACk
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2022, Part One: Escape from Pottersville!
01 A Word About Winter - Ogden Nash
02 It Really Is (A Wonderful Life) - Mindy Smith
03 Viva La Navidad - José Feliciano
04 Feliz Navidad - The Fab Four
05 Ebenezer Scrooge - Eddy Howard and His Orchestra
06 Sleigh Ride - The Tru Tones
07 Christmas Kisses - The Bookends
08 Noche de Paz - Hanne Tveter
09 The Holiday's On! - Joyce Cooling
10 Santa Got Busted By The Border Patrol - Kevin Fowler
11 Lonesome Christmas - Little Milton
12 Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Al Anderson
13 Turn On Your Christmas Tree - Duke Tumatoe
14 This Time Of Year - Brook Benton
15 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Christmas Grass
16 I've Got The Christmas Spirit - Don Cornell
17 I Can Tell It's Christmas - Ryanhood
18 Whatchu Want for Christmas - G. Love & Special Sauce
19 O Holy Night - David Benoit
20 A Howdy Doody Christmas - The Fontane Sisters & Howdy Doody
21 Jingle Bells - Denver & the Mile High Orchestra
22 Joy Be with You All - Donya Metzger
23 The Skater's Yodel - Elton Britt
-------------------------------
This year marks the 40th anniversary of my first holiday music collection so it seems appropriate to have another twofer this time around: this one, which is my usual hodge-podge of genres and eras, and Christmas Jam 2, below, another of my all-jazz compilations. A big shout-out to Ernie Haynes over at http://ernienotbert.blogspot.com/ for his prodigious feats of holiday music excavation over the years - especially this year, when he’s posted Christmas tunes pretty much non-stop. I’ve swiped many a track from his shares during the last decade or so and quite a few of them have made into this year’s compilation.
Highlights include: “A Word About Winter�� written and read by the master of comic verse Ogden Nash; José Feliciano, more than fifty years after recording “Feliz Navidad”, returning with a real barn-burner of a holiday track, “Viva La Navidad” (which is followed here by “Feliz Navidad’ itself, as interpreted by Beatles-tribute band the Fab Four in the style of “And I Love Her”); a lovely arrangement of “Silent Night” (“Noche de Paz”) sung by Norwegian vocalist Hanne Tveter; the cautionary tale, “Santa Got Busted by the Border Patrol” by Kevin Fowler; G. Love & Special Sauce bringing the funk on “Whatchu Want for Christmas”; a high-octane big band “Jingle Bells” from Denver & the Mile High Orchestra and the gorgeous and heartfelt a cappella harmonies of “Joy Be with You All” by Donya Metzger.
I’d forgotten what an annoying voice Howdy Doody had: listen to how he turns the word “toys” into a two-syllable “taw-weeze” during the semi-excruciating “A Howdy Doody Christmas”. And hey, what’s Christmas without a little yodeling, I always say. (I’ve never actually said that.) So chasing us off into the new year is Elton Britt with “The Skater’s Yodel”, because who doesn’t yodel while they’re skating? Very impressive high note at 1:45, held for a teeth-gritting sixteen seconds.
The cover art is, of course, a still-frame taken from the alternate-universe segment of It’s a Wonderful Life. DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2022, Part Two: Christmas Jam 2
1 No Better Time - Jeremy Davenport 03:26
2 Christmas is Coming - Los Gatos 02:42
3 Holiday TIme in New Orleans - The Dukes of Dixieland 04:01
4 This Christmas - Tamara Usatova 02:56
5 Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies - Lester Lanin Orchestra 02:34
6 O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Jack Jezzro 02:43
7 Cool Yule - The U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note 02:45
8 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Shoji Suzuki & His Rhythm Aces 02:50
9 The Little Drummer Boy - Tomek 05:50
10 Winter Wonderland - Jacob Collier 02:40
11 Jingle Bells - Leo Watson 02:18
12 Some Children See Him - Brian Culbertson [feat. Michelle Culbertson) 02:13
13 We Three Kings - Cuba L.A 04:21
14 The Holiday Season - John Sheridan's Dream Band [feat. Rebecca Kilgore] 03:31
15 Frosty The Snowman - Mike Jones 02:18
16 Silent Night! Holy Night! - Chris McDonald Orchestra 03:57
17 The Christmas Song - Larry Coryell 02:53
18 Merry Xmas Everybody - Tony Christie 03:01
19 What Are You Doing New Year's Eve - Beegie Adair 04:13
20 Auld Lang Syne - Roy Kral & The Jackie Cain Sextet 02:50
------------------------------
Some musical genres are more prolific than others when it comes to holiday tunes and one of them, thankfully, is jazz. I always include a few jazz tracks on my annual compilations but every few years, when the backlog of good stuff starts becoming excessive, I put together a bonus Christmas jazz collection, as I’ve been doing since I first began making these in 1982.
This year’s highlights include: New Orleans trumpeter Jeremy Davis reminding us that there’s “No Better Time” than holiday time to be kind to others; Os Gatos putting a latin spin on Vince Guaraldi’s classic “Christmas is Coming”; The U.S. Air Force Airmen of Note with a big band/sister-act arrangement (note the opening musical quote from “The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy”) of Louis Armstrong’s “Cool Yule”; Shoji Suzuki, “The Benny Goodman of Japan”, and his Rhythm Aces performing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”; the great Jacob Collier with a lovely and for him unusually restrained arrangement of “Winter Wonderland”; I’d never heard of Leo Watson before stumbling across this demented take on “Jingle Bells” but I think it’s safe to say he was a big fan of Fats Waller, who recorded a similar scat/vocalese version of the song some years earlier. And who wouldn’t want to hear a big-band arrangement of Slade’s perennial holiday rocker, “Merry Xmas Everybody”?
The cover art is just another random photo of Christmas jam swiped from the internet. DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Welcome
I made my first holiday music compilation in 1982: a mixtape called Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, which I gave out to a few friends and family members. Others followed sporadically over the next decade or so and eventually they became an annual holiday project. And as the technology evolved from records and cassettes to CDs and then to audio files, and as the sharing technology evolved from hand and postal delivery to the internet, I began collecting Christmas music obsessively and sharing my compilations more widely.
2022 was the 40th anniversary of my first compilation and in honor of the occasion I created this page and uploaded that collection here, along with every single one of the ones that followed. The earliest mixes were mastered on cassettes, of course, and since I no longer have a functioning cassette deck I’ve had to re-create them, which is probably a good thing as the original sources were often scratchy vinyl and lo-fi cassettes. Some of the later mixes were mastered on DATs and eventually transferred to CD, so I didn’t bother to re-do those, even though in some cases the source materials were those same types of records and tapes. And once computer recording software and CD burners arrived in the 1990’s I did my best to find the highest-quality source materials available.
These days the winnowing process begins in early November, if not earlier, as I wade through literally hundreds of albums, singles, and other people’s compilations in search of tracks with the requisite magic. I try to find music that the listener will want to hear more than once, regardless of genre, be it pop, rock, r&b, jazz, blues, reggae, singer-songwriter, world, comedy or the completely unclassifiable, with selections ranging in eras from the dawn of the recording age to the present. I hope you’ll find something you like here. And if you’re a fan of similarly eclectic Halloween collections, please visit my other blog: https://spooksvillecitylimits.tumblr.com/
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2021: Strictly from Yulesville, Daddy-O
1. The Now Sound of Christmas / Deck the Halls
2. Deck the Halls - The Glad Singers
3. My Favorite Time of Year - L.A. Exes
4. I Don't Want Anything for Christmas - The Gregory Brothers
5. These Ornaments - Craig Werth
6. Christmas Cookies - George Strait
7. Headin' for the Christmas Ball - Georgie Auld Orch. with Bill Darnell
8. What If Santa Claus Is Just 20 Ferrets in a Red Suit - Goddammit Jeremiah
9. Christmas Ferret - The Amoeba People
10. Carol And The Kings - Alison Brown Quartet & Joe Craven
11. Santa Claus for President - Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye
12. Papa Noël - Joy Setton & The International School of Geneva
13. Christmas Time - Animal Liberation Orchestra
14. Christmas Rush - Vincent Lopez
15. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) - Paul McCartney
16. We Wish You a Merry Christmas / Jolly Old St. Nicholas - The Butties
17. A Willie Nice Christmas - Kacey Musgraves & Willie Nelson
18. Santa's Laughing Song - Santa Claus and His Helpers
19. Here We Come A-Wassailing - Kate Rusby
20. PSA - Bullwinkle J. Moose
21. Auld Lang Syne - Naval Academy Drum and Bugle Corps
22. Night Came Early - Lady Maisery
23. Pass The Fruitcake - Claudia Russell & Bruce Kapla
24. Disclaimer - Joel Graham
----------------------------------------
You know it’s going to be a special year when you find, not one, but two holiday songs about ferrets. I mean, what could possibly be more festive? The group known as Godammit Jeremiah asks the vital question, “What if Santa Claus is Just 20 Ferrets in a Red Suit?” while the Amoeba People suggest that a “Christmas Ferret” is exactly what you deserve.
I’m also fond of the threat-level perkiness of the Glad Singers as they grin their way through “Deck the Halls”, and the computer-voice-generated version of the same song which follows. I also especially like singer-songwriter Craig Werth’s nostalgic ode to family Christmas tree decorations, “These Ornaments”. And if the Lovin’ Spoonful had stayed together and become a little jazzier they might have sounded like the Animal Liberation Orchestra: their lead singer sounds astonishingly like John Sebastian and their songwriting has that same warmth, melodicism and friendliness, as demonstrated here with “Christmas Time”.
Other highlights include: country music icon George Strait’s tribute to “Christmas Cookies”; a bluegrass/jazz mashup of “We Three Kings” and “Carol of the Bells” called “Carol and the Kings”; a 1947 campaign song, “Santa Claus for President”, by Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye and famous vegetarian Paul McCartney substituting “holly” for “turkey” in his jazzy rendition of “The Christmas Song”, followed by Beatles tribute-band the Butties revamping “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” (with a detour into “Up on the Rooftop”) to become the “Sgt. Pepper Reprise” and “A Day in the Life”.
Also: Kacey Musgraves and Willie Nelson hoping that “we all stay higher than the angel on the Christmas tree” as part of their collaboration, “A Willie Nice Christmas”; some overworked singer trying to musically ho-ho-ho his way through “Santa’s Laughing Song” from 1953; Bullwinkle J. Moose with an important holiday message; the lovely holiday story, “Night Came Early”, by Lady Maisery, much in the spirit of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”; and Claudia Russell & Bruce Kaplan’s tongue-in-cheek ode to the eternal persistence of a certain holiday treat, “Pass the Fruitcake”.
The cover art was filched from the January, 1960 issue of MAD magazine (and the genius of Wally Wood) in their “hip” version of “The Night Before Christmas”.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2020 - Citizen Cane
1. Christmas Bells - John Gorka (Words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) 2. You'd Better Watch Out - John Curtis 3. Merry Christmas! - Blind Boys Of Alabama & Taj Mahal 4. Cowboy Santa Claus - Prairie Ramblers 5. Sleigh Ride - Dave Stryker 6. Santa Caught a Cold on Christmas Eve - Dick & Richard 7. Greensleeves - Mason Williams 8. The Christmas Song - Jacob Collier 9. Winter Wonderland - Eddie Layton 10. Star Carol - Simon & Garfunkel 11. Frosty the Snowman - Loose Ties 12. Deck The Halls (Fa La La La La) - Little Jimmy Thomas 13. Zydeco Christmas - C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band 14. Xmas On The Moon - Gulag Picture Radio & WXRT 15. Space Age Santa Claus - Patty Marie Jay 16. Ding Dong Merrily On High - Kaare Norge 17. March Of The Flowers - Jose Melis, His Piano And Orchestra 18. Ave Maria - Leslie Odom, Jr. 19. You Can See Old Santa Claus (When You Find Him In Your Heart) - Gene Autry 20. Mister Santa - Ernie Haase & Signature Sound 21. I'll Be Home For Christmas -The Pilgrim Travelers 22. Auld Lang Syne - B.B. King
----------------------------------------
Between politics and the pandemic (not to mention the overlap between the two) and the divisions between people becoming more and more bitter and seemingly insurmountable, 2020 was not a great year for most people. So it seemed right to begin this year’s collection with John Gorka’s setting of the Civil War poem, “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, hoping for peace in a time of deepest estrangement:
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."
After that things become festive again with the New Orleans-flavored “Merry Christmas” by the wonderful Blind Boys of Alabama with Taj Mahal, and I do love old-time western Christmas songs like “Cowboy Santa Claus” by the Prairie Ramblers and “You Can See Old Santa Claus (When You Find Him In Your Heart)” by Gene Autry. I also love Hammond-driven jazz, such as guitarist Dave Stryker’s “Sleigh Ride”. And I consider Jacob Collier to be a once-in-a-generation musical genius; that’s him singing all the parts and playing all the instruments on “The Christmas Song”.
Other highlights include: Mason Williams’ re-working of his big hit, “Classical Gas” into an arrangement of “Greensleeves”; the insanely perky organ stylings of one Eddie Layton on “Winter Wonderland; Simon & Garfunkel’s sweetly harmonized version of “Star Carol”, which for many years was only available on an out-of-print various-artist collection called A Very Merry Christmas, which was produced in 1968 by Columbia Records for a chain of department stores known as W. T. Grants.
Also: the cheerful bluegrass take on “Frosty the Snowman” by Loose Ties; the over-the-top funk of “Deck The Halls (Fa La La La La)” by Little Jimmy Thomas; the party-hardy “Zydeco Christmas” by C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band; a lovely, semi-classical arrangement of “Ding Dong Merrily on High” by Danish guitarist Kaare Norge and a perennial favorite of mine, the Pilgrim Travelers’ gospel take on “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”.
And of course the one and only B.B. King, easing us out of the year with his joyful and swinging “Auld Lang Syne”.
The Game of Thrones-inspired cover art was found online.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2019: Ornamental Breakdown
1 It's Christmas Time All Over The World - USAF 2 Christmas Today - Furnace and the Fundamentals 3 Christmas Is Coming - The Jose 'Juicy' Gonzales Trio 4 Christmas Is A-Coming - Leadbelly 5 All The Bells - The Bandana Splits 6 O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Peter Buffet & The New World Ensemble 7 Hippo for Christmas - Kate Rusby 8 Jing Jing-a-Ling - Honey & The Bees 9 We Three Kings - Julian Wolfreys 10 March Of The Toys - Jerry Murad's Electronic Harmonicats 11 Birthday Cake For Jesus - Shinyribs 12 Happy Xmas (War is Over) - Neri Per Caso 13 Ringo Deer - Gary Ferrier 14 Someday At Christmas - Stevie Wonder & Andra Day 15 The Winter Song (Look Out the Window) - Tex Williams 16 Lonesome Christmas - Joe Bonamassa 17 Merry Christmas - Twiggi & Sadiki 18 Frosty The Snowman - Tetra String Quartet 19 Christmas in Heaven - Charles Brown 20 I'll Be Home For Christmas - Flipped Fedoras 21 The New Hallelujah - Ralph Carmichael & Clark Gassman 22 One More Year with You - Keb' Mo' 23 Stars - Priscilla Herdman,Anne Hills,Cindy Mangsen & Steve Gillette
------------------------------------------
Ya gotta love anyone who can turn the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” into a Christmas song, as was done here by Furnace and the Fundamentals. I’m also especially fond of British singer-songwriter Kate Rusby’s update of the old novelty hit, “ I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” (retitled “Hippo for Christmas”) and the haunting acoustic arrangement of “We Three Kings” by Julian Wolfreys.
Other highlights include: Leadbelly’s joyful “Christmas is A-Coming”, the perfect follow-up to the exhilarating take on the Vince Guaraldi classic, “Christmas is Coming”, by the Jose “Juicy” Gonzales Trio; the gorgeous vocal arrangement of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” by Peter Buffet and the New World Ensemble; the Motown-ish “Jing Jing-a-Ling” by Honey and the Bees from 1969; and of course everyone wants to hear holiday music played by a harmonica choir, in this case “March of the Toys” by Jerry Murad’s Electronic Harmonicats.
There’s always room for yet another silly Beatles-themed holiday song - “Ringo Deer” by Gary Ferrier. Also: Stevie Wonder’s update of “Someday at Christmas” with grammy-nominated singer Andra Day; guitar god Joe Bonamassa channeling Albert King on “Lonesome Christmas”; the playful arrangement of “Frosty the Snowman” by the Tetra String Quartet; the neo-swing Flipped Fedoras bringing the boogie to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”; the warm and cozy “One More Year with You” by Keb’ Mo’ and the deeply moving “Stars”, sung by Priscilla Herdman, Anne Hills, Cindy Mangsen & Steve Gillette, from a 1994 collection, On a Winter’s Night, curated by Christine Lavin.
I’m not positive but I believe the cover art was adapted from an R. Crumb illustration. Either that or someone imitating his style - I don’t really remember.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2018, Part Two: Christmas Jam
1. Sleigh Ride - Herb Geller 2. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Mary J. Blige 3. Jingle Bells - Nat King Cole Trio 4. Greensleeves - Kami Lyle 5. Santa Claus is Comin' to Town - Chris O'Connor 6. All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue - Over the Rhine 7. White Christmas - Jesse Fischer 8. Deck the Halls - Max Abrams 9. This Christmas - Dane Scozzari and The Human Race 10. O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Kris Allen 11. Ding Dong Merrily On High - Lowana Wallace 12. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - The 442s and Peter Martin 13. Frosty the Snowman - The Harry Bells 14. River - Karen Abreu 15. Winter Wonderland - Ramsey Lewis 16. Seasin's Greetinks - Popeye the Sailor Man (1933) 17. All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
-----------------------------------
Jazz is always a part of these compilations but there’s so much good material in this genre that every few years I devote an entire separate collection to it. As always I’ve drawn on a variety of styles and eras, from the straight ahead bop of Herb Geller’s “Sleigh Ride” to the old-school scatting of the Nat King Cole Trio’s “Jingle Bells” to the big-band funkiness of Chris O’Connor’s “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” to the late-night melancholy of Over the Rhine’s “All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue” to the wacky near-salsa of the Harry Bells’ “Frosty the Snowman” to the rocking neo-swing of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s “All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)”. I think this is a really fun collection.
The cover art was found online as is.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2018, Part One: Undeniable Presents
1. I Believe In Christmas - Yvonne Lyon 2. The Jingle Bell Polka - The Modernaires 3. What Christmas Means To Me - Dane Scozzari and The Human Race 4. Christmas Time Is Here - Willy Porter 5. Silent Night - Kc Daugirdas 6. What's That Sound - JD McPherson 7. Christmas Choo-Choo - Jimmie Davis 8. Dancing Snowflake - Elliot Lawrence 9. Children Go Where I Send Thee - The Sarah Mac Band 10. Reindeer Rock - The Sportsmen 11. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Donovan Raitt 12. Text Me Merry Christmas - Kristen Bell & Straight No Chaser 13. Away In A Manger - NRBQ 14. A Christmas Lullaby - Nerina Pallot 15. Don't Give Me No Goose For Christmas, Grandma - The Korn Kobblers 16. Mr. Pickwick's Christmas (excerpt) - Charles Laughton (1944) 17. The Quantock Carol - Ange Hardy 18. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Samson Wrote 19. O Holy Night - Simon Mulligan
-------------------------------------
Another twofer this year. Hey, what’s Christmas without a little polka music, I always say. Well, no, actually I don’t, but in any case, who could resist “The Jingle Bell Polka” from 1947, especially following the sweet sincerity of “I Believe in Christmas” which opens this set?
Other highlights include: a really nice jazz arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s “What Christmas Means to Me” by Dane Scozzari and The Human Race and a gorgeous and creative a cappella arrangement of “Silent Night” by composer and choral director Kc Daugirdas.
I’ve mentioned before how surprisingly many songs there are that associate Christmas with trains, and here we have another one, a driving country/rockabilly number called “Christmas Choo-Choo” by Jimmie Davis from 1953. Also: a bluesy, funky “Children Go Where I Send Thee” by the Sarah Mac Band; the contemporary and very funny “Text Me Merry Christmas” by Kristen Bell with a cappella greats Straight No Chaser and the beautiful, moving “A Christmas Lullaby” by British singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot.
Like Spike Jones & His City Slickers and the Hoosier Hotshots, the Korn Kobblers were a music/comedy band, mostly active during the 1940’s, here presenting us with “Don’t Give Me No Goose for Christmas, Grandma”. I love this excerpt from “Mr. Pickwick’s Christmas” by Charles Dickens, read by the incomparable Charles Laughton; and I guarantee that Samson Wrote’s version of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is the only one you will ever need.
The cover art was found online and then titled.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2017: Claustrophobia
1. Holy Crap, It's Christmas - Sloover 2. Let’s Ditch Christmas - Jeremy Messersmith 3. Winter Wonderland - The Esso Trinidad Steel Band 4. (Havin' A) Christmas Party - The Blues Disciples 5. The Only Thing I Want For Christmas (1939) - Eddie Cantor & The Mitchell Choir 6. The Christmas Song (excerpt) - Laura Nyro 7. Batman and Robin Meet Santa - Adam West, Burt Ward & Andy Devine (1966) 8. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - The Four Seasons 9. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Tokyo’s Coolest Combo 10. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Herman Apple 11. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Matilda 12. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - King Brillo 13. The First Noel - Cyrus Chestnut 14. Activity Songs for Christmas - Ruth White 15. A Christmas Twist - Si Cranstoun 16. Have You Seen the Baby - The Providence High School Chamber Singers & The Winston-Salem State University Choir 17. O Come, All Ye Faithful - Gladys Knight 18. One of You (In Every Size) - Marty Robbins 19. Sleigh Ride - John Pizzarelli 20. Christmas Will Really Be Christmas - Lou Rawls 21. Deck the Halls - The King's Singers 22. Auld Lang Syne - NRBQ 23. Happy New Year, Baby - The Johnny Otis Orchestra with Lem Tally & Cathy Cooper 24. Bright Morning Star - Steeleye Span 25. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Roy Smeck
-------------------------------------
This collection begins with a track that summarizes the way many people feel in December, “Holy Crap, It’s Christmas”, which is followed by a similarly popular sentiment, “Let’s Ditch Christmas This Year”, which expresses the desire to skip out on the whole business and go somewhere tropical. And the logical follow-up would have to be a Trinidadian version of “Winter Wonderland” played on steel drums.
Other highlights include: the house-rocking “(Havin’ a) Christmas Party” by the Blues Disciples and Batman and Robin having a 1966 encounter with Santa Claus (the raspy-voiced Andy Devine, probably best remembered either as Jingles, the sidekick in the 1950’s Adventures of Wild Bill Hickock or as the host of the children’s show Andy’s Gang during that same period).
I know many will disagree but for me the falsetto-led music of the Four Seasons sounds pretty silly these days, so it was fun to pair their version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” with the jazz-funk version by Tokyo’s Coolest Combo. Also: the second-goofiest creator of lounge music after Esquivel would have to be Montreal’s Herman Apple, as amply demonstrated by the version of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” included here; yet another reggae version of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over); a wonderful gospel arrangement of “Have You Seen the Baby” performed by a combined high school and college choir; Lou Rawls’ hopeful “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas” (“When people can live with each other / When peace on Earth has come to stay / I said, Christmas will really be Christmas / With the whole world in a better way.); the world-class King’s Singers with an extremely silly arrangement of “Deck the Halls; NRBQ turning themselves into a bell choir for a live version of “Auld Lang Syne”; and, bringing us full circle back to the opening tropical theme, lap-steel great Roy Smeck and His Island Quartet with “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”.
And hey, what’s Christmas without a holiday twist record? British singer Si Cranstoun brings the jubilation with “A Christmas Twist”.
The cover art was another found graphic, colorized and with titles added.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2016: Tinsel-litus
1. Maybe This Christmas - Ron Sexsmith 2. Hey, Mr Snowman - Kim Wilde 3. Here Comes Santa In A Red Canoe - The Surfers 4. Christmas for You and Me - Ellie Holcomb 5. Ding! Dong! Merrily On High - Harry Allen 6. Oh, Mary and the Baby, Sweet Lamb - Elizabeth Mitchell 7. Santa Claus, Do You Ever Get The Blues - Roomful Of Blues 8. Guillaume, Prends Ton Tambourin - Bruno Mursic 9. I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas - Sugarland 10. Snowfall - NRBQ 11. Trim Your Tree - Jimmy Butler 12. It's Christmas - Jimmy Wakely 13. Bradfield - Kate Rusby 14. Do You Hear What I Hear (Featuring Take 6)-Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band 15. Christmas Lullaby - The Gregory Brothers 16. Angels We Have Heard on High - Christafari 17. Snowflake, Snowflake - Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans 18. Jingle Bell Jamboree - Keb' Mo' 19. Mr. Santa - Kenny Vance and the Planotones 20. Winter Wonderland - Jennifer Kimball 21. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - The Evans Quartet 22. May Every Day Be Christmas - Irma Thomas and The Preservation Hall jazz Band 23. Silent Night {1914 Recording) - Felix Arndt
------------------------------------
Ron Sexsmith’s “Maybe This Christmas” is one of the best and most heartfelt holiday songs to come along in the last decade or so and certainly one of the most appropriate: melancholy about the present but hopeful for the future.
“Maybe this Christmas will mean something more
Maybe this year love will appear
Deeper than ever before.
And maybe forgiveness will ask us to call
Someone we love, someone we've lost
For reasons we can’t quite recall
Maybe this Christmas.
Maybe there’ll be an open door.
Maybe the star that shone before
Will shine once more.
And maybe this Christmas will find us at last
In heavenly peace, grateful at least
For the love we've been shown in the past.
Maybe this Christmas, maybe this Christmas.”
By way of contrast we also have the cheerfully goofy “Here Comes Santa in a Red Canoe” from a 1959 album called Christmas in Hawaii by the Surfers. I also really like “Christmas for You and Me” by Ellie Holcomb - she has a really special voice: warm, slightly husky and with a small amount of sibilance on her S’s. This jazzy little song about the joys of a family Christmas falls just right on the ears.
Other highlights include: the high-powered swing of Harry Allen’s “Ding Dong Merrily on High”; “Pat-a-Pan”, sung in French and retitled “Guillame, Prends ton Tambourin”; the uptempo country/bluegrass of Sugarland on “I’m Gettin’ Nothin’ for Christmas”; and NRBQ’s dreamy live take on “Snowfall”; a return visit from Jimmy Butler’s raunchy “Trim Your Tree”, always a favorite of mine.
Kate Rusby isn’t well-known here in the U.S. but she’s a wonderful British singer and songwriter and has made several beautifully produced Christmas albums - I love the heralding horn arrangement on “Bradfield”, included here. Also: the brilliant jazz harmonies of Take 6 blending with the stellar arrangements of Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band on “Do You Hear What I Hear”; the comforting “Christmas Lullaby” by the Gregory Brothers; the scientific explanation of how snowflakes are formed, set to music by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans; the warm wishes of “May Every Day Be Christmas” by Irma Thomas with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; and the nostalgic sweetness of a 1913 recording of “Silent Night” played on a celeste.
The cover art was found online and the title added.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2015: Santa's Gonna Make It Right
1. I'll Be Home for Christmas - Judy Collins 2. Sleigh Ride - C3PO & R2D2 3. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - The Bluebeaters 4. Santa Claus is Coming to Town - The Blenders 5. Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella - The Crofts Family 6. Ring De Christmas Bells - The De Paur Chorus 7. O Tannenbaum - Barbara Dennerlein 8. Let It Snow/The Last Christmas Medley You'll Ever Need to Hear - Riders in the Sky 9. Twinkle (Little Christmas Lights) - J.D. McPherson 10. Deck the Halls - The Jammin' Jazz Ensemble 11. I Want You for Christmas - Betty Boop (Mae Questal) 12. Carol of the Bells - The Klezmonauts 13. Mary Had a Baby - Bruce Cockburn 14. Jingle Bell Boogie - Jody Levins and His Boys 15. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - The Eddie Higgins Trio 16. Santa Claus Is Gonna Make It Right - Shawn Amos 17. Christmas No Uta - Shinohara Emi 18. Yabba-Dabba Yuletide - The Brian Setzer Orchestra 19. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - NRBQ 20. We Wish You a Merry Christmas - unknown choir 21. Don't Take Down the Mistletoe - Misty River
--------------------------------
2015 was, of course, the year of the great Star Wars revival with the release of The Force Awakens, the first new film in the franchise since 2005. So naturally I had to bring back C3PO and R2D2 to reprise “Sleigh Ride” from The Star Wars Christmas Album. (I also inadvertently repeated Jody Levins’ “Jingle Bell Boogie” from a couple of years back, forgetting that I’d already used it. Oh well, great track anyway.)
Other highlights include: a very nice ska/bluebeat take on “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”; a beautifully harmonized acoustic “Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella”; an a cappella calypso choir singing “Ring De Christmas Bells” from a 1956 album by the De Paur Chorus; a gently swinging “O Tannenbaum” by German jazz organist Barbara Dennerlein; some New Orleans-style funk on “Twinkle (Little Christmas Lights)”; Betty Boop (voiced by Mae Questal, who was also the voice of Olive Oyl in the Popeye cartoons) singing “I Want You for Christmas”; a lovely and soulful klezmer arrangement of “Carol of the Bells” and the title track, a major slab of funk called “Santa Claus is Gonna Make It Right”. I always get a kick out of foreign-language versions of holiday standards, and “Christmas No Uta (The Christmas Song)” sung by Shinohara Emi, is quite charming; and who could possibly dislike a holiday song set to a big-band arrangement of the theme from The Flintstones, as the Brian Setzer Orchestra has done here?
The cover art was found online and the title was added.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes
Text
Yuletidings 2014: Fifty Kilowatt Tree
1. What Child is This - David Grisman 2. Fifty Kilowatt Tree - The Bobs 3. Les Anges Dans Nos Compagnes - Bruce Cockburn 4. Santa's Coming (aka Santa Claus is Coming to Town) - Bootsy Collins 5. No Christmas for Me - Zee Avi 6. Winter Wonderland - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass 7. Last Month of the Year - The Blind Boys of Alabama 8. Old Timey Christmas - Ambrose Haley and His Ozark Ramblers 9. Christmas Comes But Once a Year - Charles Brown 10. Here Comes Santa - Winston Francis 11. Jolly Old St. Nicholas - NRBQ 12. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - Pentatonix 13. Arabian Dance - Tim Sparks 14. Dance of the Reed Flutes (She Loves You) - Prague Philharmonic 15. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Ringo Starr 16. The Little Drummer Boy (Sun King) - The Fab Four 17. Santa Train - Patty Loveless 18. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Ellis Marsalis 19. Jingle Bells - Danny Kaye 20. White Christmas - Sheryl Crow 21. Joy to the World - Aretha Franklin 22. If I Had My Selfish Way - Love Axe 23. Happy New Year to You - The Qualities (w/Sun Ra)
---------------------------------------
The good news is that the internet and recording software have made it possible for anyone to share their original music with the world. The bad news is that the internet and recording software have made it possible for anyone to share their original music with the world. The amount of homemade music that’s uploaded to sites like YouTube, Spotify, BandCamp, CD Baby, Tiktok, SoundCloud, etc., during any given 24-hour period might very well surpass an entire year’s worth of releases from the days when record labels and the music industry were the sole gatekeepers and if you didn’t hear it on the radio it didn’t exist.
This is, as I said, good news and bad news. It means that musically creative folks who are just getting started, or who don’t want a professional career in music, can get their music out there. But it also means that the ratio of the really worthwhile to the mediocre or worse has shrunk exponentially.
This is true for holiday music as well: it takes a great deal of patience to dig through so much stuff, but with persistence you can unearth a few gems. 2014 was the first year I included material from BandCamp. Just one track: the wistful and charming, “If I Had My Selfish Way” by an artist calling himself Love Axe.
Other highlights include “No Christmas for Me” by Zee Avi, a Burmese singer-songwriter. In 2007 she posted this song on YouTube and within a few days had received over 3,000 emails and several offers from record companies, and I can understand why. It’s sweet, heartfelt, beautifully sung and tells a sad story with a happy ending. Also: the title song, “50 Kilowatt Tree”, by my favorite a cappella group, the Bobs (“There’s a star in the East but it’s only me / with my 50 kilowatt tree”); the majorly funky “Last Month of the Year” by the Blind Boys of Alabama; NRBQ’s lightly rocking “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”; country singer Patty Loveless’ bluegrass-flavored’ “Santa Train” (There are a surprising number of songs having to do with Christmas and trains, I’ve noticed, going all the way back to the 1930’s.); the swinging “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Ellis Marsalis, Jr. (father of Wynton and Branford); Sheryl Crow turning “White Christmas” into a jazzy, Van Morrison-ish shuffle; Aretha Franklin putting the joy into “Joy to the World” as only she could do, and the somewhat odd doo-wop of “Happy New Year to You” by the Qualities, who were produced by interplanetary jazz great Sun Ra, who also co-wrote the song.
I also put together a Nutcracker Suite medley which morphs into a Beatles medley of sorts. It starts with a cappella darlings Pentatonix performing a virtuoso arrangement of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”. This is followed by Tim Sparks’ masterful take on the “Arabian Dance”, arranged for solo guitar. I’ve been a fan since his days with swing and vocal-jazz revivalists Rio Nido in the 1970’s. What sounds like “Dance of the Reed Flutes” is in fact an orchestral arrangement of the Beatles’ “She Loves You”, performed by the Prague Philharmonic from their Beatlecracker Suite album. This in turn leads to Ringo Starr rocking out on “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” from I Wanna Be Santa Claus, followed by Beatles tribute band the Fab Four performing “The Little Drummer Boy” in the style of “Sun King” from Abbey Road. I think it’s a lot of fun.
The cover art was created especially for this compilation by a graphic-designer friend of mine.
DOWNLOAD
0 notes