#talkin’ christmas!

[krispyweiss]

Rewind: The Blind Boys of Alabama & Taj Mahal - Talkin' Christmas! (2014)

With Taj Mahal adding earthy tones to the Blind Boys of Alabama’s celestial vocals, the amalgamated group was Talkin’ (and singin’) Christmas! in 2014.

Mahal is more than a background presence on this uplifting, down-and-funky celebration of yule. In addition to playing guitar, banjo, ukulele and harmonica, Mahal sings and gets co-writing credits on the new tracks including “What Can I Do?,” which melds the seasonal with the year-’round, much like the title track which declares Christmas power to be the power of love.

The party begins with the pounding snare and walking bassline of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and the Blind Boys demanding to know:

Do you see what I see?

The Blind Boys of Alabama are a gospel band at heart. But they understand Christmas has been secularized. And with Mahal’s help, they fashioned a holiday LP that celebrates both sides of the holiday; summed up particularly well on “There’s a Reason We Call it Christmas.”

But mostly, listeners are treated to fully religious numbers like round-robin vocalizing of “Silent Night” and the barbershop blues of “No Room at the Inn.”

In the end, Talkin' Christmas! is only for two weeks of the last month of the year. But it’s also one of those holiday albums that works for everyone, be they Grinch or Who.

Grade card: The Blind Boys of Alabama & Taj Mahal - Talkin' Christmas! - B

12/24/22

[ellies-enrichment]

goodnight

[four-bastard-bustle]

We NEEEEEEEEED a groundhog day type eddisode i want to see one of those boys in a timeloop slowly lose their shit

[floweypilled]

the christmas joy is being awakened in me

[chongoblog]

Four Days

[misterbaritone]

My favorite trope in Christmas related media is Santa proving he’s real by telling someone, be they child or adult, about some hyper specific thing they wanted when they were a kid

[bastard-sweet]

The point of A Christmas Carol was not to teach morals by example; it was to teach morals directly. Ebenezer Scrooge was specifically made to be a reader insert. The lessons of A Xmas Carol can mostly be divided into 'you don't want to be this guy (he's suffering)' and 'you don't want to be this guy (he's evil, like ultimately, Biblically, very un-Xtian)', afforded by the third category of Basically Everything In The Book 'you don't want to be this guy anymore (he's deeply relatable to the upper-class Victorians the book is targeted at)'. The fact that he doesn't spend money on himself is not a sign that he needs to care for himself more; it's to show that he's so greedy to the point that it is useless, to show that valuing money this much is bad and senseless. The fact that he were to die if he didn't change for the better is an example of Cosmic punishment. Maybe the story does have a hint of teaching Scrooge to take care of himself, but that's only for the same reason that Scrooge is given a 'workaholic billionaire' backstory. The rich like(d) to see themselves as hard-working, and were the target audience, and Dickens didn't want to insult his target audience while trying to teach them basic human decency. So he also took the opportunity to slot that into the 'you don't want to be this guy (he's suffering)' method of teaching.

[heartofaspen]

MY RECORD PLAYER BROKE PERMANENTLY........

[fuckin-sick-bih]

talk about best Christmas ever, person I just started dating? (I think we're dating?) is sick on Christmas ❤️💔 I'm in Let Me Take Care Of You mode and yeah idk if we're there yet so I'm shoving all those feelings back in the box rn

[anonwithanaccount]

merry christmas folks is everyone excited for the sins of flesh update next year?

[s-c-l-n]

will byers gave his monologue and and ocean away george michael got a divine message

[columboscreens]

[theandrosaur]

so we're allowed to ask for art here?

Yes, I'm having three weeks of final exams and I like to doodle whats in my askbox to relax when I come home.

[strykingback]

I know I hate double posting but as a reminder. Forde's Christmas Celebration has been extended to Saturday to better connect with some peoples schedules and such not to mention giving people a chance to join in on a certain day.