SONG: The Little Drummer Boy
ARTIST: White Heart
ALBUM: Christmas (compilation)
RELEASED: 1988
AVAILABILITY: Amazon Marketplace (CD)
And now for something completely '80s. "The Little Drummer Boy" has always been a hard song for me to take seriously what with the rum-pa-pum-pums and all that, so I think ramping the cheese factor up to 11 is actually the best thing to do with it. It's so '80s it hurts... but it hurts so good. "Me and my DRUUUUUUUUUM!"
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Saturday, December 04, 2010
CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN Day 4: What Child Is This, Anyway? (Sufjan Stevens)
SONG: What Child Is This, Anyway?
ARTIST: Sufjan Stevens
ALBUM: Songs For Christmas, Vol. 2
RELEASED: 2002
AVAILABILITY: CD/MP3 (5-pack of EPs)
Sufjan originally recorded this (and the rest of his Christmas EPs) as a gift for his family & friends, which makes the production and overall quality pretty impressive. Despite the slightly irreverent title of this track, it's a very classy and haunting take on the traditional song, with the only major differences being an odd chord here and there. It takes on a trance-like, mystical feel. My favorite thing about it is probably the tone used on the guitar (or whatever instrument that is, you never know with him). For some reason, it reminds me of the music that comes out of the speakers of those various terrible electronic Christmas decorations I've seen over the years, like electromagnetic skating rinks and animatronic choir boy dolls. And if that's not haunting, I don't know what is.
And uh, it also reminds me of the cave music from Yoshi's Island.
ARTIST: Sufjan Stevens
ALBUM: Songs For Christmas, Vol. 2
RELEASED: 2002
AVAILABILITY: CD/MP3 (5-pack of EPs)
Sufjan originally recorded this (and the rest of his Christmas EPs) as a gift for his family & friends, which makes the production and overall quality pretty impressive. Despite the slightly irreverent title of this track, it's a very classy and haunting take on the traditional song, with the only major differences being an odd chord here and there. It takes on a trance-like, mystical feel. My favorite thing about it is probably the tone used on the guitar (or whatever instrument that is, you never know with him). For some reason, it reminds me of the music that comes out of the speakers of those various terrible electronic Christmas decorations I've seen over the years, like electromagnetic skating rinks and animatronic choir boy dolls. And if that's not haunting, I don't know what is.
And uh, it also reminds me of the cave music from Yoshi's Island.
Friday, December 03, 2010
CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN Day 3: O Holy Night (Rebecca St. James)
SONG: O Holy Night
ARTIST: Rebecca St. James
ALBUM: Christmas
RELEASED: 1997
AVAILABILITY: Amazon CD | MP3
It takes guts to tamper so heavily with one of the most beloved Christmas songs of all time, but in this case it definitely pays off. Not that there's anything wrong with the original, but after so many straightforward covers, a little change couldn't hurt. Rebecca's version manages to retain everything that's good about the original song despite being in a different time signature and having several different chords.
ARTIST: Rebecca St. James
ALBUM: Christmas
RELEASED: 1997
AVAILABILITY: Amazon CD | MP3
It takes guts to tamper so heavily with one of the most beloved Christmas songs of all time, but in this case it definitely pays off. Not that there's anything wrong with the original, but after so many straightforward covers, a little change couldn't hurt. Rebecca's version manages to retain everything that's good about the original song despite being in a different time signature and having several different chords.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN Day 2: Christmas Time (Is Here Again) - The Beatles
SONG: Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
ARTIST: The Beatles
ALBUM: Free As A Bird single, limited edition vinyls, bootlegs
RELEASED: 1967
AVAILABILITY: Uh... low.
As if The Beatles didn't already do everything there is to do as a band, they also recorded about an EP's worth of Christmas material. By "material" I mean some quirky radio drama stuff and a couple of musical bits. This here is their only full-fledged "Christmas song", though, but it's a good one. If a tad repetitive.
Below, you will find a full-length, but lower-quality, recording. The above edit is the B-side to the "Free As A Bird" single. (Note that this long version seems to be from a slightly sped-up vinyl.)
ARTIST: The Beatles
ALBUM: Free As A Bird single, limited edition vinyls, bootlegs
RELEASED: 1967
AVAILABILITY: Uh... low.
As if The Beatles didn't already do everything there is to do as a band, they also recorded about an EP's worth of Christmas material. By "material" I mean some quirky radio drama stuff and a couple of musical bits. This here is their only full-fledged "Christmas song", though, but it's a good one. If a tad repetitive.
Below, you will find a full-length, but lower-quality, recording. The above edit is the B-side to the "Free As A Bird" single. (Note that this long version seems to be from a slightly sped-up vinyl.)
CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN Day 1: Gloria (Michael W. Smith)
Hey guys, I feel like posting a bunch of Christmas music! On Wednesday, December 1st, I hastily decided to find a Christmas song on YouTube and post it on Facebook before going to work. Then I figured I could make this a regular thing. So I've rounded up 25 Christmas songs "of interest" and I'm gonna post them and talk about them a little. Sound good? Okay! Sound legal? Partially! This is all gonna be Rule Of YouTube, folks.
Essentially I guess this is a "list" of Christmas songs. But don't think it means anything. There's no theme here. It's not THE BEST Christmas songs ever. And it's not necessarily "the most underrated Christmas songs". No. It's just 25 relatively non-redundant Christmas songs I feel like sharing, and I have a feeling everyone will find at least one thing they haven't heard before, or at least haven't heard in a while. They're in no particular order other than what I think makes some sort of musical sense.
#1 is not necessarily what I wanted to lead off with, since it's pretty climactic, especially in its original context. But I think I can work around it.
SONG:Gloria
ARTIST: Michael W. Smith
ALBUM: Christmas
RELEASED: 1989
AVAILABILITY: Amazon - regular CD, 2-pack, MP3
As I mentioned earlier, this song is the climax of Michael W. Smith's 1989 Christmas album, which is probably the finest Christmas album ever recorded. It's effective on its own, but it's even better when you've followed the whole orchestral suite, with the "Gloria" motif introduced in the first track and then paying off here, while also being combined with "Angels We Have Heard On High". And even though you can probably guess that it came out in the '80s, it really doesn't sound that dated.
At the risk of "spoilers", this isn't this album's last appearance on the list.
Stay tuned for Day 2, which will be a few minutes from now! And then Day 3, tomorrow.
Essentially I guess this is a "list" of Christmas songs. But don't think it means anything. There's no theme here. It's not THE BEST Christmas songs ever. And it's not necessarily "the most underrated Christmas songs". No. It's just 25 relatively non-redundant Christmas songs I feel like sharing, and I have a feeling everyone will find at least one thing they haven't heard before, or at least haven't heard in a while. They're in no particular order other than what I think makes some sort of musical sense.
#1 is not necessarily what I wanted to lead off with, since it's pretty climactic, especially in its original context. But I think I can work around it.
SONG:Gloria
ARTIST: Michael W. Smith
ALBUM: Christmas
RELEASED: 1989
AVAILABILITY: Amazon - regular CD, 2-pack, MP3
As I mentioned earlier, this song is the climax of Michael W. Smith's 1989 Christmas album, which is probably the finest Christmas album ever recorded. It's effective on its own, but it's even better when you've followed the whole orchestral suite, with the "Gloria" motif introduced in the first track and then paying off here, while also being combined with "Angels We Have Heard On High". And even though you can probably guess that it came out in the '80s, it really doesn't sound that dated.
At the risk of "spoilers", this isn't this album's last appearance on the list.
Stay tuned for Day 2, which will be a few minutes from now! And then Day 3, tomorrow.
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