Holiday Music

[Mauve Shirt]

Haters gonna hate, but I LOVE the music I hear at Christmas time. I have a couple of albums that I look forward to listening to every year, and the Friday after Thanksgiving I just play them all day. Does anyone else have that holiday album without which the season isn't the same?

If so, link it! Here are some of my faves

A Waverly Consort Christmas (http://youtu.be/SrZnZ6MZtVA), delightful choral music from the Renaissance period that is always the first played of the year.

Wir Warten Auf's Christkind (http://youtu.be/_yxVcHuLU9Y), at least some of the songs, by Die Roten Rosen. I picked this up in a German bargain bin in the mid 90s and have enjoyed it annually ever since.

Brian Setzer Orchestra (http://youtu.be/qDlhpKqMV3Y?list=PL2H0HVz3HIGEV-ExBIP3ZDy4ajDy8wEie) Boogie Woogie Christmas is some lovely big band tunes to which I dance while decking the halls.

Vince Guaraldi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fh133ZO1AE) is a must-listen, as the composer of the Peanuts music.

Postmodern Jukebox (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F47GKeoRo_s) released a Christmas album this year that I really really like, if you are into vintage-style music I would recommend it.


As you might imagine, there comes a point in the holiday season when my lust for cheer cannot be sated by even my most beloved of albums. So do post some music! :smallbiggrin:

[DJ Yung Crunk]

The hate for Christmas music is misguided. Typically it's an "image" thing, you know. Being very openly into the holiday just isn't hip anymore. I don't really get the thinking, though. I personally love Christmas music even though I'm not terribly fond of the holiday. But, anyway, here are a few albums to maybe stuff in some stockings on the 25th.

A Christmas Gift For You (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV8x7H3DD8Y) by Phil Spector (1963) - I think this was the moment Christmas music achieved its destiny. It took the legendary pop producer Phil Spector and his merry band of performers to take a group of conservative worship songs and children's tunes and make them sound powerful, original, earnest and sexy. It was the first notable synthesis of pop sounds with these Christmas standards. Spector's production really legitimised the genre for myself and a lot of other people.

Sings Christmas Carols (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoNFqG816-8) by Mark Kozelek (2014) - Given Mark Kozelek's mumbly vocals and perpetually downbeat presence this one's a bit more niche than a lot of others. It's definitely not something you throw on at a Christmas party. This one is a bit more intimate and personal. Hypnagogic Christmas carols for the wayward pilgrim. It's not for everyone, of course, but Kozelek's vocals are endearing no matter what he says. And the minimal, meditative nature of the music gives these songs are a curious new modern perspective.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gmiSPMHrWQ) by Vince Guaraldi (1965) - As OP already listed this one I won't go into any excessive detail. Suffice it to say, everything you've heard about this album is true. It is some of cool jazz's more accessible and atmospheric works. Guaraldi's musicianship may not be as showy or technical as many of his contemporaries, but he's as expressive as any of them and in an admirably understated context.

Merry Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY) by Mariah Carey (1994) - Okay, fine. It's unbelievably cornball, and if you're not already on board with Mariah Carey her bombastic melisma can get suffocating at times. I don't care. **** all y'all. "All I Want For Christmas" is on this album. Case closed. Have you heard that song? That's, like, the perfect Christmas song. It's so good it almost makes me appreciate the holiday.

[Mauve Shirt]

Ooo, I actually really like the Mark Kozelek stuff.

And "All I Want For Christmas" is a classic, no judgement from me. :smallbiggrin:

[TheThan]

Mannheim (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evxxpqcQKF0) Steamroller (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhVxTRO24_A) is made (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXpkTj5gjDM[/url) of awesome (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6-LMGMuPiY)

edit

Just thought of some others:

Christmas with the Canadian brass (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpn3eCpPCc8)
Trans-Siberian orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFPr0jHu9tQ)

Some one-off songs

white Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJSUT8Inl14) by bing Crosby
Let it snow (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN7LW0Y00kE) Dean Martin
I’ll be home for Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYLjEItqsWQ) by Frank Sinatra
Rockin’ around the Christmas tree (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnIqLlBwzrc) Brenda Lee
Jingle bell Rock (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itcMLwMEeMQ) Bobby Helms
we three kings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnIFTtW1pko) the Christmas camels (a claymation Christmas)

[DJ Yung Crunk]

Ooo, I actually really like the Mark Kozelek stuff.

You should get his album he did with Sun Kil Moon this year, "Benji". It's pretty good. Oh! And from last year he did a trilogy of albums. "Like Rats", "Perils from the Sea" and a self-titled with Desertshore, they're all pretty good. And I forgot Sun Kil Moon did a thing in 2012, too, so you'll want to get that. Obviously you'll then want his early Red House Painters stuff. It's pretty good.

You know what? Just get every record he's ever done.

[BWR]

Thys yool (http://www.allmusic.com/album/thys-yool-a-medieval-christmas-mw0000281296) has been a favorite since my family picked it up back in the day cassette tapes were still viable.
And the season just isn't the same without Bing Crosby.

[JoshL]

The hate for Christmas music is misguided. Typically it's an "image" thing, you know. Being very openly into the holiday just isn't hip anymore. I don't really get the thinking, though. I personally love Christmas music even though I'm not terribly fond of the holiday. But, anyway, here are a few albums to maybe stuff in some stockings on the 25th.

Or, just, yanno, not being Christian. I'm not against the holiday; I'd never take it from anyone else, but I don't want it for myself. That said, there are a couple tunes that I dig

Erasure - Bells of Love (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5qPBHntL8M)
"I don't believe in your religion
I only know what I can see
So many sad, so many lonely
It's only love that sets us free"

Michael Penn and Aimee Mann - Christmastime (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSkr6fr01M0)
But really, it's just the two of them singing together. They could be singing about the grass growing and I'd love it just as much.

Low's Just Like Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IippcraBPKA) isn't a bad tune. Not the best by Low, but for Christmas tunes, a nice middle ground

Loreena McKennitt - In Praise of Christmas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SFwhoimYcA)
Actually has pre-christian roots, but either way, Loreena McKennitt is awesome and you should have all of her albums anyway.

The Pogues - Fairytale of New York (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8)
Hard to go wrong with the Pogues, but this one hits a few different buttons for me.

Okay, and so Bad Religion's Christmas album was ironic (look at the band name), but their version of Hark The Herald Angels Sing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc4AdrA7QdE) is pretty awesome. Something to be said for a punk band known for their vocal harmonies.

[DJ Yung Crunk]

Or, just, yanno, not being Christian.

I dunno. It's not like they're all explicitly Christian. I mean Frosty the Snowman has nothing. He just comes to life through a miracle, spreads a message of good will and leaves, promising to one day return. If you can see something Christian in that, you're stretching it.

[JoshL]

I dunno. It's not like they're all explicitly Christian. I mean Frosty the Snowman has nothing. He just comes to life through a miracle, spreads a message of good will and leaves, promising to one day return. If you can see something Christian in that, you're stretching it.

You realize that's EXACTLY the Jesus metaphor, right? (which, by the way, from his words, Jesus was really AGAINST that sort of thing, and anything more would be against the forum guidelines)

[Marillion]

Seconding the recommendation of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I bought The Lost Christmas Eve on an impulse about 12 years ago, and it remains one of my favorite albums of all time, let alone holiday music. Seeing them perform that album live was probably one of the most magical nights of my life.

Also, Tim Minchin is an Aussie comedian/songwriter, and though he's a very good musician, most of his songs are very anti-religion and such. However, White Wine in the Sun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q) is a very soft, subdued, sentimental song about how much he loves Christmas.

[DJ Yung Crunk]

You realize that's EXACTLY the Jesus metaphor, right?

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/483/894/463.jpg

[Oneris]

Cthulhu Carols (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tTHn2tHhcI&list=PL17D29AB71C276286). Carolers HATE it.

[Aerolith]

I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGLGJV01C0Q&channel=DavidLeStrange) So catchy and silly.

Looking for other good, yet obscure Christmas songs.

[JoshL]

word, Yung Crunk. hard to tell who was serious with this stuff. Anyway.

Aerolith, if you're looking for an obscure one, I'd recommend this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7sa1eFGUuI). It's a cover of a Martin Mull song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeAnk8-RTpQ). Worth a listen or two.

[Gnome Alone]

I love this time of year, and Christmas too, because it's finally cold outside for once, and I like me some good will to men and so forth, but maaaaan do I hate most Christmas music. Even taking into account Sturgeon's Law, it just seems like bad Xmas songs are especially bad. Every time I go into a store blaring that stuff I think to myself that the employees should get hazard pay for having to listen to it constantly.

That said, the good stuff is pretty spiffy. I always liked Silent Night (now there's a song they never play in retail stores), and I never heard it as a kid but I discovered Good King Wenceslaus a few years ago and that one is awesome. I get all shiver-y and/or tear up when I hear it.
I occasionally busk, and I like to play that one around this time of year. The only other holiday song I like enough to play is The Many and The Few (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CjBubriBs0) by Woody Guthrie. It tells the story behind Hannukah, and us awesome.

[Aerolith]

Aerolith, if you're looking for an obscure one, I'd recommend this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7sa1eFGUuI). It's a cover of a Martin Mull song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeAnk8-RTpQ). Worth a listen or two.

Ooh, thank you. The Sonic Youth one sounds like an acquired taste. Not used to the guitar sounding so distorted like that. Better to widen the horizon, though. :smallsmile: