C/D: Christmas music

Side one:
Run-DMC, Christmas in Hollis
Donny Hathaway, This Christmas
Nat King Cole, The Christmas Song
The New Christy Minstrels, Tell It On the Mountain
The Wailers, Sound the Trumpets
Elvis, Blue Christmas
The Pogues, Fairytale of New York
Bruce Springsteen, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Otis Redding, Merry Christmas, Baby
(exerpt) Pete Seeger, The First Noel
Low, Just Like Christmas
Joan Baez, Coventry Carol/Good King Winceslas
Vince Guaraldi, Christmas Time Is Here
Atmosphere, If I Was Santa Claus
Eek-A-Mouse, The Night Before Christmas
Tracy Chapman, O Holy Night
James Brown, Hey, America
Jose Feliciano, Felix Navidad
(experts) Bob Rivers, Osama Got Run Over By a Reindeer/The Mistletoe Disco Band, Winter Wonderland/Leon Redbone, There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Side two:
The Ramones, Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)
Band Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas?
Charles Brown, Please Come Home For Christmas
Elvis, Here Comes Santa Claus
Vince Guaraldi, O Tannenbaum
Nat King Cole, O Little Town of Bethlahem
Joe Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas [good, but wish I had the Judy Garland version]
Clarence Carter, Backdoor Santa
Dark City Sisters, Jabulani Nonke
Low, Little Drummer Boy
Freddy Mc Gregor, Irie Christmas
Otis Redding, White Christmas
Elvis, Silent Night
The Sensations, Every Day Is a Holiday
TLC, Sleigh Ride
Trailer Trash, Welcome Here
Solomon Burke, Presents For Christmas
William Bell, Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday
(excerpt) Jackson 5, Up On the House Top

"Fuck Christmas" by Fear
"No Christmas" by the Wedding Present
"Step Into Christmas" (Elton John cover) by the Wedding Present
"Frosty the Snowman" by the Cocteau Twins
"There Ain't No Sanity Clause" by the Damned

By the way, in case anyone's shopping, or would like to talk about albums instead of songs, here are the records and CDs I took my songs from. The first ten double as my current favorite Christmas collections of all time:

Nat King Cole, The Christmas Song
Joan Baez, Noel
Elvis, The Complete 50's Masters
The New Christy Minstrels, Merry Christmas!
Vince Guaraldi Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas
The Original Soul Christmas
Low, Christmas
Slow Jams Christmas, Volume 1
Trailer Trash, Hell, It's X-Mas
Pete Seeger, Traditional Christmas Carols
James Brown, Santa's Got a Brand New Bag
Reggae Christmas from Studio One
Band Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas?
A Very Special Christmas
A Very Special Christmas Live From Washington, D.C.
MTV TRL Christmas
The Pogues, If I Should Fall From the Grace of God
Ramones Anthology: Hey Ho Let's Go!
Dark City Sisters and Flying Jazz Queens
A Reggae Christmas
'Tis the Sampler
Duke Reid's Treasure Chest: Treasure Isle
Atmosphere, Lucy Ford: The Atmosphere Ep's
A Motown Christmas Volume 2
Christmas at Rao's
Leon Redbone, Christmas Island
Christmas Disco
Bob Rivers, White Trash Christmas

I love all Christmas music, even the "bad" stuff. Only thing I can't tolerate is Kenny G and, yes, Mannheim Steamroller. Bad instrumentals, forget it. But all the other crap is great.

Ned's right, too. As are most of you. (Someone must've mentioned Wham's "Last Christmas" up in there, yes?)

"Miss Donahue died on December 9, 1996 after a year-long battle with
lung cancer. She was 40. If you are ever in the Cleveland area and
would like to visit her grave site, she is buried in Holy Cross
Cemetery, Section 13, Lot 782."

Christmas 'portable' CD80 GO!

1. Vince Guaraldi Trio - O Tannenbaum

2. Bing Crosby - White Christmas

3. Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song

4. Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

5. Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock

6. Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

7. Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad

8. The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping

9. John Denver & The Muppets - Stille Nacht (Silent Night)

10. Burl Ives - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

11. Gene Autry - Here Comes Santa Claus

12. Burl Ives - Holly Jolly Christmas

13. Dean Martin - Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

14. Earth Kitt - Santa Baby

15. Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

16. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York

17. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

18. Belle & Sebastian - O Come O Come Emmanuel

19. Bing Crosby & David Bowie - Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy

20. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things

21. Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker Suite Opus 71a: Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy

22. Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Time is Here

ze xmas is rockin my world right now y'know

"Christmas is Now Drawing Near" on Coil's "Winter Solstice" EP and the cover of "Old Toy Trains" that Sonic Boom posted on his website a couple of years ago are both lovely.

Oh. I should've checked to see if the MP3 was even still posted. It's not. Sorry. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Check out "Frohes Fest" by Unheilig. German carols in the style of Laibach or Rammstein, done totally straight and beautifully produced. If that sounds good, you need to download it now! "Kling, Glockchen, Klingelingeling!"

the best Christmas song =

Tom Waits, "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"

Check out "Frohes Fest" by Unheilig. German carols in the style of Laibach or Rammstein, done totally straight and beautifully produced. If that sounds good, you need to download it now! "Kling, Glockchen, Klingelingeling!"

-- Soukesian, Monday, December 24, 2007 9:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

thanx 4 the tip

My Christmas present to yall is this song
Red Red Meat - Welcome Christmas

Also, I like the Yes singer's version of "The Holly and the Ivy" the best. (Jon Anderson)

HMHB own this thread.

I've started listening to Christmas music. Have you? What are the Christmas releases you're looking forward to this year?

Concord has reissued Christmas with Sinatra and Friends and Ray Charles: The Spirit Of Christmas.

A Fine Frenzy (who?) "will be releasing the six-song EP Oh Blue Christmas, available exclusively at Target, Target.com and the Target area on iTunes."

What else?

Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan is a gorgeous collection of Christmas songs.

Playlist
Sufjan Stevens - Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time!
Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
Paul McCartney- Wonderful Christmas Time
Mariah Carey- All I Want for Christmas Is You
Slade - Merry Xmas Everyboy
Sufjan Stevens - Put the Lights on the Tree
Elton John - Step Into Christmas
John Lennon - Happy Xmas (War is Over)
The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song
Ron Sexsmith - Maybe This Christma
The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
Chris Rea - Driving Home for Christmas
Shakin Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry

Eels - Christmas is Going to the Dogs
Dean Martin - Let it Snow! x3
Sufjan Stevens - Amazing Grace
Bright Eyes - Away in a Manger
Mike Oldfield -In Dulee Jubilo
Bob Dylan - Little Drummer Boy
Diana Krall -Winter Wonderland
Frank Sinatra - The First Noel
Sufjan Stevens - O Come O Come Emmanuel
Bright Eyes - Blue Christmas
Frank Sinatra - Hard! The Herald Angles Sing
Sufjan Stevens - The First Noel
Mud - Lonely This Christmas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbMYyU3lPi8

jeez leave it till December YOU'RE RUINING IT FOR EVERYONE.

No mention of Kurtis Blow yet?

Thread bumped because it was a long car ride home with half the radio stations now switched over to full-time Christmas music.

None of which played "Christmas Rappin"

Josh L, mediafire your playlist pretty please with Xmas sugar on top.

Last couple Christmases, selections from Amahl and the Night Visitors was really doing it for me.

Could somebody maybe share with me the Sonic Boom "Old Toy Trains" cover and the ZE Records comp?

Wait, nevermind, I found the Sonic Boom track (which was released as Dean & Britta f/ Sonic Boom, apparently).

You haven't lived until you've heard Cher and Rosie O'Donnell's "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" with Rosie's vocals autotuned or whatever that thing was on Cher's voice in "Believe":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhNs42nhkhA

It's either Vince Guaraldi, Slade, the new Dylan for lols, or nuthin

Annual plug for my big playlist of classic (not classical) but underloved Christmas songs: https://open.spotify.com/user/seandalai/playlist/1c1STHtL9vh4ZDHgvwYNoc

Rostam has a pretty nice version of 'Fairytale of New York' on Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/album/2mMLPgz8Z83RQ4aDSDHxdN
Love to know who is singing with him.

here's this year's rotation. Starting to realize I have a lot of xmas music!

Beatles - Christmas singles
Vince Guaraldi - Charlie Brown Christmas
V/A - Ultra Lounge: Christmas Cocktails
Enya - Christmas EP
V/A - Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records
Carpenters - Christmas Portrait
Carpenters - An Old Fashioned Christmas
V/A - Christmas with the Rat Pack
Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite (Karajan, Berlin)
Lawrence Welk - Jingle Bells
Lawrence Welk - Merry Christmas
Jackie Gleason Orchestra - Merry Christmas
Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters - A Merry Christmas With
Beach Boys - Christmas Album
Elvis Presley - various Christmas songs
and several random xmas singles (Wham, Queen, Prince, James Brown, Mariah Carey, etc)

god I can't wait until I don't have to write anything else and can start listening to my Christmas music

girls aloud vs xmas : mini-lp : perfection.

oh, as i have said before.
sorry.

Only very recently realized how many wonderful Xmas classics came from the Phil Spector album. Dude's a total POS but boy could he make some music.

They've been playing the I Heart Radio Christmas channel at work this week, and I swear it's just a 2 hour mix looped over and over. I mostly can't hear it at my desk, only when I'm walking around, but I'm sure I've heard Bobby Helms "Jingle Bell Rock" and Darlene Love "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" at least 3 times each day.

This is the worst Christmas song I've heard in a long while. I heard it in a store and almost had to drop everything and get out of there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KSzYapIhhI

This, on the other hand, is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JpKiqublLQ

I wish “a Minor Threat Christmas” was a thing

skronk Christmas in an Albert Ayler style: https://marswilliams.bandcamp.com/album/mars-williams-presents-an-ayler-xmas-vol-2

yeah, was blasting out 16 minute xmas medley off that this morning - very good.

Probably not a popular opinion around here, but I picked up Diana Krall’s Christmas Songs in a charity shop, and maybe I’m just a sucker for a contralto voice but I’ve listened to it daily for the last couple weeks.

A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector
The New Possibility by John Fahey
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade
Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC

Bleak AF.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQgsiSth0Rk

Probably not a popular opinion around here, but I picked up Diana Krall’s /Christmas Songs/ in a charity shop, and maybe I’m just a sucker for a contralto voice but I’ve listened to it daily for the last couple weeks.

Seems like I've heard a couple different covers of William Bell's "Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday" on Holiday Muzaks so far this year, and I am so here for it getting added to the Great Xmas Songbook.

At a crafts & arts store: an album of acappella + beatboxing songs, featuring a rendition of Cohen's Hallelujah.

highly recommend Amanda Shires’ ‘For Christmas’ album

mostly original songs ~about~ Christmas that are really good & vibey - and produced without the usual christmassy instruments but still gives a christmas feel
warm sound, gorgeous piano in a big room
and a couple xmas standards

anyway i love it

also Aimee Mann’s ‘Another Drifter In The Snow’ had been a yearly favorite for many years now

Didn't know the Aimee Mann one so listened to it this morning and it is indeed very nice so thanks for that

I still prefer Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong though which has something of the same vibe

Alela Diane made a really nice one this year-https://open.spotify.com/album/0f65HaoVulkki85T2gTGeJ

My winter/Xmas playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1m444tcGkY42aZ2y8Fadmm

(Hood, mum, Stina Nordenstam etc)

My poll of 50 of my yearly favorites is still active for another few days:
Holiday Playlist Favorites!

In a moment of extreme geekiness, I made a playlist that (originally) contained every song mentioned in a Twitter thread in which BBC Radio 3's Elizabeth Alker had asked about people's favourite Xmas/seasonal music. I had the idea that I'd bung everything on Spotify and delete anything I didn't want to hear again ... but, as with many of these things, I ran out of enthusiasm. Here's what's left:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/16lHO2Lh2D6tbFPE1k5IFC

I intended to immerse myself in Christmas music this year, but have failed so far. The Christmas songs that I like have a tendency to clash against one another, like so many mismatched, tacky ornaments. How do I fit the Ramones next to Neil Diamond next to Alexander O'Neal? I've been struggling through trying to build a playlist for years. I can never seem to make it a listenable journey. How many versions of Have Yourself a Merry Little do I have to sit through before I find the right one? The right one is a Mountain Goats version that JD sang for the Onion AV Club 12 years ago that barely exists online anymore and is definitely not on Spotify - what kind of pale substitute is fucking Frank Sinatra, anyway?

Just call me Scrooge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zELoHtKDp5I

One of my favorite modern Christmas songs is Why Can't It Be Christmastime All Year by Rosie Thomas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYtR-a356Mg

there are some great jamaican christmas music mixes around, but I couldn’t find one that was kind of focused on a vintage ‘60s rocksteady sound. so i made this one. threw some ska and mento in for good measure ;)

https://www.mixcloud.com/abschied/christmas-in-jamaica/

Two new-to-me Christmas delicious chestnuts I’ve been gifted this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYaB3q_h0ZE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orAVtA7mris

Also it has come to my attention that I love descant

What a spectacular compositional device. I wish they existed outside of carols and hymns, just a beautiful concept

mr veg got me the 1995 Luther Vandross christmas album <3

Lawrence is an unlikely source of Christmas songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAD0Q2h6lkU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbF5cDppz-4

Indeed

Prince's Another Lonely Christmas sounding like a sex jam instead of a carol is A+

fyi we are 75 minutes into jon solomon's 35th annual 25-hour christmas marathon on WPRB princeton: https://marathon.christmas

i worked in retail for much too long, so this is literally the only xmas music i now listen to

Holiday Rarities: Bing still chasing that White Christmas lightning, ditto Ella, Dinah, Louis Prima, Jo Stafford, June Christy, Julie London, Lambert Henricks & Ross (Jl and LHR my faves so far). Some of this is Seasonal, not strictly Xmas, which helps, as does lack of familiarity.
https://indianapublicmedia.org/afterglow/holiday-rarities.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gy6WyZQBtI

The WPRB marathon is the best! I submitted my Mortal Khristmas track last year and he played it <3

(this track)
https://soundcloud.com/found-river/lords-of-yuletide-reindeer-syndrome-mortal-khristmas

nice!

Strolled candy cane lane 2nite listening to Duke Pearson's classic xmas album on Blue Note, Merry Ole Soul.

Every year, the night before Christmas, at peak manic-children sugar rush, I terrorize the family with "Santa's Coming Over" by Low.

2 EPs/mini-albums that I formed attachments to over consecutive pandemic xmases that was way of propition to their real but slight merits - last year I was played them both constantly as chill out music in between the EPs/albums/mixes/whatever from bree runway, raye and shygirl (all nov 2020 and all still miraculous pieces of work, among the best UK pop of the millennium) so I definitely overrated them by association but they're still among the more bearable xmas music I've heard (towards the R&B side of "Traditional")now I have covid again so I'm bringing it all back

tinashe's comfort & joy EP - it's fine, often good, the arrangement I'm not sure the trap beat always works but I'll take it over sleigh bells and she sounds great as usual

kadhja bonet's california holiday EP - this is a very nice continuous vibe and in the right set and setting it would be a cool moodsetter. it gets a little wispy towards the end but it never sounds unpleasant even when she's covering my least favourite xmas hit (cutting the sleigh bells and making the synth calm down a little make a world of difference)

in conclusion these EPs are fine and even good a lot of the time but you don't need them

Last year's best new-to-me Christmas song discovery was "Maybe Next Christmas" by Ron Sexsmith, one of those artists I've long heard good things about but never really checked out, something I need to do if "Next Christmas" is indicative of his work, as that's a great song. This year I heard Tyler Shaw's cover of it on the radio, and see Tracey Thorn and a few others have covered it too. Are there any Christmas songs from the 21st century that are undisputed holiday standards yet? This may become amongst the first.

Guru Guru, "Dagobert Duck's 100th Birthday"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMWWbDIcfR0

(Dagobert Duck is the German name for Scrooge McDuck - though Scrooge is actually mentioned in the lyric)

I had never heard "December" before, it hasn't been covered much. I'm also not really familiar with Kay Starr and I'm now kinda fascinated with her voice, so win/win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCOHYBPl12k

Threw my hat into the ring a bit with a (very biased) list of albums and an introductory essay that basically goes "Look there IS no such thing as a definitive list of albums."

https://theshfl.com/collection/Christmas-Albums

Every year I add one Christmas cd to my collection, usually purchased sometime in the summer at a thrift store for a dollar. This year it’s The Carpenters Christmas Collection (expanded edition!) which I had never heard in its entirety. Karen’s voice is the aural equivalent of THC gummies.

this year i'm having fun going through the four volumes (eight CDs) of Document Records' "Blues, Blues Christmas" compilations

https://www.discogs.com/release/5419369-Various-Blues-Blues-Christmas-1925-1955-In-The-Blues-Jazz-Boogie-Woogie-And-Gospel-Spirit

Annual Christmas mix from me, this one covers 1955 to 1961

https://centuriesofsound.com/2024/12/20/at-the-christmas-party-hop-christmas-records-1955-1961/

0:00:00 Daphne Oram - Winters Journey (Intro) (1956)
0:00:20 Marlene Paula & The Billy Van Planck Orchestra - I Wanna Spend Christmas With Elvis (1956)
0:02:32 Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas (1957)
0:05:01 George Jones - New Baby For Christmas (1957)
0:07:31 Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (1958)
0:09:57 Lenny Dee - Mister Santa (1961)
0:12:04 Ella Fitzgerald - Frosty the Snow Man (1960)
0:14:37 Adam Faith - Lonely Pup (In A Christmas Shop) (1960)
0:16:51 Ed 'Kookie' Byrnes - Yulesville (1959)
0:19:12 Stan Freberg - Nuttin' For Christmas (1955)
0:21:32 Tom Lehrer - A Christmas Carol (1959)
0:24:06 Perry Como - Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1959)
0:27:31 Leroy Anderson & His Orchestra - O Come, O Come Emmanuel (1955)
0:29:14 The Louvin Brothers - It's Christmas Time (1960)
0:32:31 Vera Ward Hall - No Room At The Inn (1959)
0:34:59 Mitch Miller - Coventry Carol (1958)
0:38:25 Nat King Cole - Away in a Manger (1960)
0:40:16 John Klein - Gesu Bambino (1959)
0:44:23 Johnny Mathis - It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (1958)
0:48:04 Arthur Lynds Bigelow - Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (1956)
0:48:55 Vera Ward Hall - No Room At The Inn (1959)
0:49:49 Chet Atkins - O Come, All Ye Faithful (1961)
0:52:03 Ewan Maccoll - Christmas Rhyme (1957)
0:52:23 Sacred Harp Singers - Sherburne (1959)
0:54:25 The Three Suns - Carol of the Bells (1955)
0:55:47 Stan Kenton - O Tannenbaum (1961)
0:57:41 Percy Faith & His Orchestra - I Wonder As I Wander (1958)
0:59:52 Laurence Welk - I'll Be Home For Christmas (1961)
1:01:58 F Navatta, F Mingole - Tu Scendi Dalle Stelle (1955)
1:04:26 Frankie Ervin & The Johnny Moore's Three Blazers - Christmas Eve Baby (1955)
1:07:06 The Ramsey Lewis Trio - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (1961)
1:09:24 Putipu Band Of Capri - New Year's Day Tarentella (1955)
1:11:45 Duke Ellington - Sugar Rum Cherry (1960)
1:16:01 The Ramsey Lewis Trio - Christmas Blues (1961)
1:18:59 Emile Ford And The Checkmates - White Christmas (1960)
1:21:15 Father Christmas & Players - Conclusion Of Symondsbury Mummer's Play (1958)

At No 4 is Tom Grennan with a new song, It Can’t Be Christmas, part of Amazon’s push to dominate the Christmas charts. In recent years the retailer has commissioned Christmas songs which it hosts exclusively on its Amazon Music service. With many listeners telling Alexa devices to “play Christmas songs”, Amazon’s own tracks are prioritised on its playlists, ensuring a rise up the charts. - The Guardian.

wow if I ever needed another reason to boycott amazon and alexa. fuck off.