A Very Special Christmas

chicken & collard greens

alison moyet, with run-dmc a close second.

I so wanna vote "Christmas in Hollis" but I love the Pointer Sisters a little bit more.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGAGAGGHGHHHH GOD NO

"Back Door Santa"

That's not a lap your avg 6yo would be sitting on.

Another vote for Hollis Crew.

"Christmas in Hollis". I love this song so much, not least because my mother would put this on repeat and it's the only one I didn't get tired of. The video for the U2 song was really funny at the time, b/c U2 had been so serious but here they having fun! It blew my serious 12 year old or whatever mind. "Santa Baby" still kinda awful but after all these years I have a soft spot for it.

oh my god, an ill reindeer

"Christmas in Hollis" takes it, but I always liked U2's track also. The rest I don't ever need to hear again.

I feel like every modern cover of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a cover of The Pointer Sisters' version.

Christmas in Hollis is based on another Back Door Santa by Clarence Carter.

the cover's better than anything on the album.

hollis, how is this even a poll?

xmas in hollis vs. merry xmas baby--going with springsteen since everyone seems to be going w rundmc

Eurythmics by a landslide. I kind of love "Winter Wonderland" and the synthy arrangement made a perfect mood for it.

I feel like every modern cover of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a cover of The Pointer Sisters' version.

Pointer Sisters were ripping off Bruce Springsteen though, weren't they?

why is this one so badass and the others VSC collections so lamezors

The later albums were more intersting, because they contained a larger number of originals.

hollis, how is this even a poll?

― i'm whine btw (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 30 November 2008 19:11 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^this

"Christmas in Hollis," easy, but Madonna's "I Saw Mommy..." is one of her more charming vocals (and better than "I'm Breathless"), and OTM on the arrangement of the Eurythmics number.

*"Santa Baby," rather.

The "Santa Baby" one is a ripoff of the way Eartha Kitt performed it though. Generally a bit too many obvious ripoffs on this one. As I said, the later ones are way better.

I feel like every modern cover of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a cover of The Pointer Sisters' version.

Pointer Sisters were ripping off Bruce Springsteen though, weren't they?

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, November 30, 2008 5:42 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

Oh, shit, Geir scores!

I forgot that Fire was written by Springsteen until you mentioned this too.

Eurythmics by a landslide...

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, November 30, 2008 5:41 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

The "Santa Baby" one is a ripoff of the way Eartha Kitt performed it though...

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, November 30, 2008 6:00 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Oh well...

omg i cannot stand that eurythmics song

I feel like every modern cover of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a cover of The Pointer Sisters' version.

Their version was a cover of the Jackson 5 version:

actually I'm probably wrong, there's probably an earlier version of that "SAAAAAAAN-ta Claus" variation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_Is_Coming_to_Town

lol @ list

What? No one has mentioned that the Stevie Nicks' "Silent Night" here is the worst thing she ever did ... which is saying something indeed.

Props to The Pretenders too for a very beautiful "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".

I could have voted for anything except the Seger, Bryan Adams, or Bon Jovi. Went with the Coventry Carol.

Great album, though I never had any use for the ultra-serious stuff: Sting, Moyet (which might be more goth and therefore better than I've always thought -- I promise to check this December), sadly Nicks, and even more sadly Seger. (They should have included his "Santa's Got A Brand New Bag" instead -- one of the best rock Xmas songs ever.) Kinda like the U2, strangely enough.

Run DMC will deservedly win by a mile, but I'm gonna go with Mellencamp, because somebody should.

Had no idea they replaced Bon Jovi's "Back Door Santa." That sucks. (The replacement, not the song, which I like I lot.)

(Actually, one thing I just realized is that the boys sure seem to be having a lot more fun than the girls on this album in general. Could really take or leave the Eurythmics, Pretenders, and Whitney, though they're all at least competent or better. And weirdly, U2 figure out that they can have fun by pretending to be girls -- namely, Darlene Love.)

(Oops, actually, that old Seger song is called "Sock It To Me Santa." "Santa's got a brand new bag" is merely its chorus. Still awesome, though.)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Listening to this again two mornings ago, the uber-serious woman-sung stuff (Moyet, Whitney, Stevie, Eurythmics -- especially Whitney, who grew up in church after all) sounded a lot better than I'd thought when it came out and implied above. (Bon Jovi's "Back Door Santa," sadly, sounded worse -- could have afforded to be less metal, oddly enoough.)

The main problem about this album was Jimmy Iovine. His "rock" styled production just didn't fit in, and the best entries are mostly produced by other people than him.

Also way too few originals. The later CDs in the series had way more originals, which made them way better.

7. "Gabriel's Message" - Sting 0
11. "The Little Drummer Boy - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band 0

^^ these are both dope

I would never argue against "Hollis" but the Eurythmics, Whitney and Pretenders renditions are all my go-to renditions of those tracks. Thank my parents for buying this in '87.

"Do You Hear What I Hear?" - Whitney Houston

this was playing at CVS earlier today and so help me God it is still the most obnoxious fucking thing I've ever heard

As for the poll, I'm not a U2 guy but I've never minded their contribution to this

the correct song won in a landslide though

I don't get hating Whitney's version unless you already think the song itself sucks (in which case, okay).