Thursday, November 26, 2020

Christmas Music -- A MindSpace Discussion

 NEW STANDARDS -- CHRISTMAS SONGS OF THE 1970S TO TODAY 


CHRISTMAS PLAYLISTS 

Follow me on Spotify! 

Christmas Traditional 1 

Christmas Pop 1

Christmas Hip 1

Christmas Traditional 2 

Christmas Pop 2 

Christmas Hip 2

Christmas Traditional 3 

Christmas Pop 3 

Christmas Hip 3  

Christmas Traditional 4

Christmas Hip 4

Elvis Presley/Frank Sinatra's Jolly Christmas Album


THE ESSENTIAL CHRISTMAS ALBUM LIBRARY 


Herb Alpert -- Christmas Album (1968)

Bing Crosby -- Merry Christmas aka White Christmas (many editions) 

Bing Crosby -- Sings Christmas Songs 

Ella Fitzgerald -- Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas (Just the first 12 songs, please; skip the rest) 

Vince Guaraldi -- A Charlie Brown Christmas

Emmylou Harris -- Light Of The Stable

Mahalia Jackson -- Silent Night: Songs For Christmas 

The Living Sisters -- Harmony Is Real: Songs For A Happy Holiday

Los Lobos -- Llegó Navidad 

Aimee Mann -- One More Drifter In The Snow

Wynton Marsalis -- Crescent City Christmas Card

Johnny Mathis -- Merry Christmas 

Liam Neeson -- The Polar Express (narrator) (out of print)

Willie Nelson -- Pretty Paper 

Odetta -- Christmas Spirituals (1960) or Christmas Spirituals (1987) (sometimes but not always repackaged as Beautiful Star 


Elvis Presley -- Elvis' Christmas Album side one **** (side two is mostly not Christmas!) pair it with Sinatra side one from Jolly 


Lou Rawls -- Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! (1967) pulled from compilation and sequenced properly





Frank Sinatra -- A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra (1957) *** (first side ****, second **) pair it with Elvis side one


Sufjan Stevens -- Songs For Christmas Vol 1-5 and Silver & Gold Vol. 6-10 




Marion Williams -- O Holy Night  (not on Spotify but you can buy the CD)




VARIOUS ARTISTS, SOUNDTRACKS, COMPILATIONS 

A Big Band Christmas (Columbia, 1988) 


Hipster's Holiday (Rhino, 1989) (album not on Spotify, partial playlist)

I'll Be Home For Christmas: Songs That Won The War (does it exist?) 

The Original Soul Christmas (Atlantic, 1968) *** 1/2 

Where Will You Be Christmas Day (Dust To Digital, 2004) (partial playlist; album not on Spotify)




A MINDSPACE ROUNDTABLE ON CHRISTMAS MUSIC 


Great Songs/Standards  Since 1970 


Jose Feliciano -- "Feliz Navidad" (Nov 1970)

Donny Hathaway -- "This Christmas" (Dec, 1970) 

Joni Mitchell -- "River" (June 1971) 

The Pretenders -- "2000 Miles" (single from Learning To Crawl, for o.d. James Honeyman Scott) 

Ron Sexsmith -- "Maybe This Christmas" 

Wham -- "Last Christmas" 

Stevie Wonder -- "Someday at Christmas" (1967)



Great Records Since 1970


Band Aid -- "Do They Know It's Christmas" 

The Bangles -- "Hazy Shade of Winter" (cover of 1966 S&G) (Less Than Zero) 

Barenaked Ladies -- "Deck The Stills" 

Mariah Carey -- "All I Want For Christmas Is You" 

Bing Crosby and David Bowie -- "Peace on Earth/The Little Drummer Boy" (1977 special)

Everything But The Girl -- "Come On Home" 

Aled Jones -- "Walking In The Air" from 1982's The Snowman TV special Raymond Briggs 

The Kinks -- "Father Christmas" 

John Lennon & Yoko Ono -- "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" 

The Pogues w Kristy MacColl -- "Fairytale Of New York" 

Queen -- "Thank God It's Christmas" 

Chris Rea -- "Driving Home For Christmas" (1988, Top 40 since 2008) 

Run-D.M.C. -- "Christmas In Hollis" 

Bruce Springsteen -- "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" 

U2 -- "New Year's Day" 

Kate Bush -- "December Will Be Magic Again" and "Home For Christmas" 


Most Emotional 

Band Aid -- "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (Bono) 

Darlene Love -- "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" On Letterman/The View 

John & Yoko -- "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" 


Terrible Records By Great Artists 

Elton John -- "Step Into Christmas" 

Paul McCartney -- "Wonderful Christmastime" 


Under-appreciated 

Extreme -- "Christmas Time Again" 

Stevie Wonder -- "One Little Christmas Tree"  



Greatest Christmas Songwriter?

Johnny Marks -- Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, A Holly Jolly Christmas, Silver and Gold, I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day AND Run Rudolph Run for Chuck Berry! Plus all the songs on the Rankin-Bass TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  Like "We're A Couple Of Misfits"




2 comments:

Denise and Joe said...

Check out The Shins - Wonderful Christmastime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IBqwAKv8b8

Michael Giltz said...

Thx for playing! Can The Shins rescue that Paul McCartney song?? Do I LOOK like Zach Braff? I'll bet it's better than his version. I almost included Diana Ross's version in one of my mixes. So I'll give it a spin :)