C/D: Christmas music

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

Has anybody ever heard the Rotary Connection Christmas album? I picked it up for a buck over the weekend, but haven't listened to it. (Just not in the mood yet.)

Lou Rawls

http://felt.planetaclix.pt/Related/images/denimaster.jpg

Low's Christmas album, right this second. It's starting to achieve Guaraldi stature for me after a decade's worth of playing it.

Recently got the 2-on-1 John Fahey's k-klassik Xmas alb's. the 1968 solo & the 1975 (mostly) duo's with Richard Ruskin. Waaaaay cool yule tunes.

Ingo Star Cruiser's cover of Low's Just Like Christmas, more ramshackle and even christmassy than the original.

Just made this, anyone want a copy?

01 The Dandy Warhols - Little Drummer Boy
02 Cristina - Things Fall Apart
03 Cocteau Twins - Frosty The Snowman
04 Low - Just Like Christmas
05 Dean & Britta with Sonic Boom - Old Toy Trains
06 The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York
07 Saint Etienne - I Was Born on Christmas Day
08 XTC - Countdown to Christmas Party Time
09 TLC - Sleigh Ride
10 The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
11 Run DMC - Christmas in Hollis
12 Sonics - Santa Clause
13 The Raveonettes - Come On Santa
14 Six By Seven - I Believe In Father Christmas
15 Teenage Fanclub - Christmas Eve
16 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
17 Fear - Fuck Christmas
18 The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
19 The Vandals - Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies.
20 Lisi - My Silent Night
21 Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'
22 Alan Vega - No More Christmas Blue
23 Prince - Another Lonely Christmas

Um, yes! You know where to find me.

Yes please. Does anyone have the playlist for the one spencer chow did a few years back, I still have all the tunes but not the order.

*ssssshhhh!!! http://www.sendspace.com/file/10legh *

'Last Christmas' has been owning me pretty hard

No love for the Carpenters' Christmas Portrait? Maybe it's just because I grew up on it, but it's the warmest and homey-est feeling Christmas album I know of. If, y'know, that's your thing.

Usually can't stand Bob Dylan, but video and song here is pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVs6X9yIM_k

yes the new Dylan Xmas in the Heart is astounding and an instant holiday classic.

just remembered, Type O Negative - Red Water (Christmas Mourning)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9kKA698_WE

I'm looking for good recommendations for any Christmas or holiday music that falls under the category of noise, metal, experimental, or hiphop..

I just heard King Diamond's "No Presents For Christmas" for the first time which is some major LMAO action..

And I heard a few tracks off 2 Live Crew's xmas album a few days ago which sounds surprisingly awesome.

Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin" is the be all and end all of Christmas hip-hop imo.

Oops, already said that on this thread less than a month ago.

this, douglas leedy's electronic christmas, is moogtastic.

http://christmasyuleblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/douglas-leedy-very-merry-electric.html

loscil's take on xmas ...

http://loscil.ca/blog/?p=146

I still stand by my Xmas comp...

http://www.quartzcity.net/wp-content/uploads/blogpicts/christmas_cookie_crumbs.jpg

CD 1:
XTC – “Psychedelic Christmas”
The cast of Twin Peaks – “The Twelve Days Of Christmas”
Patsy Raye – “Beatnik’s Wish”
The Ravers – “Punk Rock Christmas”
Tuscadero – “Holidays R Hell”
Dead Moon – “Christmas Rush”
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – “Big Yule Log Boogie”
Shitbirds – “Christmas Is A Comin’ (May God Bless You)”
The Chills – “Christmas Chimes”
The Wombles – “Wombling Merry Christmas”
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – “Fat Christmas”
Sparks – “Thank God It’s Not Christmas”
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band – “There’s No Lights On the Christmas Tree Mother, They’re Burning Big Louie Tonight”
Mystery Science Theater 3000 – “(Let’s Have) A Patrick Swayze Christmas”
John Baker – “Christmas Commercial”
Man Or Astroman? – “Frosty The Snowman”
The Moog Machine – “O Holy Night”
August Darnell – “Christmas On Riverside Drive”
Hypnobeat – “Jingle Club”
The Raveonettes – “The Christmas Song”
The Walkmen – “Christmas Party”
Martin Mull – “Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope”
Patty Duke and Norman Vincent Peale – “You Can Keep Christmas”
Half Man Half Biscuit – “All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit”

CD2
Six Million Dollar Man – “Christmas Lights”
The Flaming Lips – “Christmas At The Zoo”
Madness – “Inanity Over Christmas”
Mark Mothersbaugh – “Rudolph The Space Deer”
The Go Go’s – “I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek”
Fountains Of Wayne – “I Want An Alien For Christmas”
Patty Marie Jay – “Space Age Santa Claus”
Pink Floyd – “Merry Xmas Song”
The Dickies – “Silent Night”
Grandaddy – “Alan Parsons In A Winter Wonderland”
Katie’s Kitchen – “Cooking A Delicious Holiday Ring Mold”
James Brown – “Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto”
Saint Etienne – “I Don’t Intend To Spend Christmas Without You”
Giant Sand – “Thank You Dreaded Black Ice, Thank You”
Thin White Rope – “Christmas Skies”
Calexico – “Gift X-change”
Martin Mull – “Santafly”
Bad News – “Cashing In On Christmas”
unknown – “Rocking Disco Santa”
Steve Martin & Paul Simon – “Silver Bells”
Sally Kellerman – “O Little Town Of Bethlehem”
Spectrum – “Santa Claus”
Assistant Manager of the Haybridge – “Merry Christmas”

A compilation of Saint Etienne's Xmas releases was supposed to happen, wasn't it?

my private christmas song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcfuPyjlxQk

Just posted elsewhere, fwiw:

Best Thing I Heard Today: Brenda Lee doing Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

And has anybody heard this? It's in our rotation and is surprisingly, non-ironically good. Though some of it is dumb.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Q4R71N1NL._SS500_.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEvGKUXW0iI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlJYPZ0UwC0

I'm an oldie but still find Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" the best xmas song ever

so glad this became a standard

Such weird drumming on the bridge parts

hi everyone

the temptation's version of rudolph the red-nosed reindeer is unfuckwithable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aECuU_RN6Aw

Plenty of good stuff on this thread, but this my favourite. Amazed it's not more widely known.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDXZsydJU2c

The second best thing Jordy did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT_c9GrZQk8

That Jordy song is ace!
I've spent the last month listening to Christmas songs non-stop in order to compile my seasonal mix CDs. Each year it gets harder to find great songs I haven't used before, but it's lots of fun.

This was last year's edition:

Rev. J.M. Gates - Did You Spend Christmas Day In Jail?
Curtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'
Bessie Smith - At The Christmas Ball
King Stitt - Christmas Tree
Can - Silent Night
Marvin Gaye - Purple Snowflakes
Unknown Artist - God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
Low - Just Like Christmas
The Maytals - Happy Christmas (The Christmas Song)
The Beach Boys - Melekalikimaka
Lord Executor - Christmas Is A Joyful Day
Ventures - Jingle Bell Rock
Rufus Thomas - I'll Be Your Santa, Baby
James Brown - Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto
Belle & Sebastian - The Twelve Days Of Christmas
The Free Design - Close Your Mouth It's Christmas
Kingston Trio - We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Shirley Collins & Davy Graham - The Cherry Tree Carol
Cocteau Twins - Frosty The Snowman
Asobi Seksu - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
AKIM & The Teddy Vann Production Company - Santa Claus is a Black Man
Jean-Pierre Massiera - Bonne Année 1969
Wooden Shjips - Auld Lang Syne

My mix this year ...

Jacobstowe Wassail - Waterson:Carthy
God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman - Aimee Mann
Feliz Navidad - Sea Of Bees
Little Drummer Boy - Pink Martini
Holy Night - Thomas Denver Johnsson
Hey Santa! - Hannah Peel And Tunng
The Wassail Song - The Boy Least Likely To
Melodias Navidenas - Tony De La Rosa
Christmas Song - Joy Zipper
There's Trouble Brewing - Jack Scott
Ain't No Chimneys In The Project - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Carta Santa Claus - Linda Escobar
Last Christmas - Le Sport, Montt Mardié & Mr Suitcase
Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry
All I Want For Christmas - The Genuine Fakes
I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You - Saint Etienne
Boogaloo Santa Claus - J.D. McDonald
That'll Be Christmas - Thea Gilmore
Christmas All Summer Long - Deer Tick
Anorak Christmas - Sally Shapiro
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town - The Jackson 5
I Wish It Was Christmas Today - Julian Casablancas
Run Away With Me - Jens Lekman
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - The Temptations
Oh What A Christmas - El Perro Del Mar
My New Year's Resolutions - Mae West
Good King Wencelas - John Fahey
New Year's Greetings from … - Quiet Riot

Would love to find a way to make the Dio/Iommi version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen work in the mix, but I know it would cause everyone who gets the CD to take it off the minute that song came on ...

This is the Christmas album I want to buy:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Hearwhatwehear.jpg

I'm listening to the "A Glasgow Wassail" compilation on Sonic Oyster Records and wondering whether anyone would appreciate some festives Richard Youngs/Heather Leigh (Murray) drones...

(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.

One of the problems that arises from not owning a television is that I'm detached from pop culture. On the one hand my mind is free to look outward, to face the stars and contemplate our destiny, to deal with the horrible possibility that even if there is a God, there's no guarantee that it intended for us to have immortal souls, but on the other hand the rats sneak up and bamboozle me. The rats sneak up and bamboozle me.

That's why you have to watch the rats. They'll sneak up and bamboozle you. You have to keep an eye on the rats, otherwise they'll sneak up and bamboozle you. From their point of view we are bewildered old men. Background characters in their world. Human props for their videos.

See, I keep noticing a song. An old-fashioned boogie piano song. "Something something / for ever and ever". It's "Step Into Christmas" by Elton John. I have no recollection of this song from before a week or so ago, but over the last month I've encountered it several times in public spaces. As if the media has conspired to push it. To push it real good. To make it a new Christmas standard.

But of course there's a reason. There's a reason. There's a new video for the song starring Cara Delevingne, who still exists. I'm not sure why the media has decided to do this. Because it's the tenth anniversary of the year when Cara Delevigne was all over the place? Her face plastered on every street corner. You know, my enduring memory of 2014-2015 is seeing posters for Mockingjay all over the place. I barely remember anything else. I can't remember anything else about 2014-2015. I realise that Jennifer Lawrence is a different person. She isn't Cara Delevingne. They're different people. I'm not sure where I was going with this.

Perhaps someone in charge of the media has been going through old charts, trying to find a hidden undiscovered gem, and perhaps they avoided "Step Into Christmas" because it was in theory a huge hit single, but now the time is right for it to rise again and enter the pantheon. Or perhaps Elton John's agent has been drumming up some business because Elton John needs some money, I don't know.

Have posted this on the ISAN thread but I'm guessing that would be overlooked by many. This certainly fits the bill:

https://isan.bandcamp.com/album/winter-chimes