I’m picky about my Christmas music. I’m also a fan of Pandora, the website that creates a customized online radio station for you based on your tastes, because it’s almost magical in its ability to introduce me to new music that I really do like. So, as my Christmas gift to you, here’s my customized Christmas music station from Pandora — Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Perry Como, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Burl Ives and, yes, even Spike Jones. None of that crap you hear on the radio this time of year.
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Pandora is fantastic. I had thought that its music classification was done by computers, but in fact it is all humans. It is getting to the point where there is so much free legal music out there that one would never need to buy any again.
What no Billy Idol or Hanson?
Sweet Lord.
I wholeheartedly recommend the James Brown Christmas CD. It’s actually a collection of Christmas-themed JB tracks from like 66 to 70. And it’s mostly original songs, oddly, so you end up with song titles like “Soul Power at Christmastime.” It’s basically just regular ol’ James Brown songs (i.e., totally amazing) except they’re about Christmas. My favorites would have to be “Merry Christmas I Love You” and “Please Come Home for Christmas,” both of which are so good I listen to them year-round.
Also of note is Low’s Christmas EP, which I believe is just called “Christmas,” and which is easily the best Low album. “Just Like Christmas” is the winner, although they also do a killer version of “Blue Christmas,” a great dreamy-shoegazer-drone version of “Little Drummer Boy” (which sort of ends up sounding like Flying Saucer Attack, weirdly enough) and a predictable-but-nice version of “Silent Night”
There’s also:
– the Squirrel Nut Zippers Xmas record
– John Fahey’s 2 Christmas records (available on one CD)
– “A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector”
– Soul Coughing’s version of “Suzy Snowflake” (apparently the rights to “What Do You Get a Wookie for Christmas When He Already Has a Comb” were unavailable…)
– the astounding version of “White Christmas” done by the Drifters, back when Clyde McPhatter was still their lead singer
– Beat Happening’s hilariously deadpan acapella song “Christmas”
– and my favorite christmas song of all time, an astoundingly great cover of “Christmas – Baby Please Come Home” by some forgotten mid-90’s indie-pop band called the Catskills
hmm… perhaps it’s time for me to compile the annual “DJ Hummingbird Feeder’s Secular X-Mas mix” once again…
I totally forgot about the Squirrel Nut Zippers Christmas CD. I have it somewhere. And really like it. Ditto for the Combustible Edison Christmas CD, which I think was actually a Christmas CD from Subpop, but CE covering “Christmas Time is Here” and “Sleigh Ride” is just awesome.
Fun fact: before they were in Combustible Edison, The Millionaire and Miss Lily Banquette were in a band named “Christmas.”
Two things:
1) Ray Charles: The Spirit of Christmas
If you have ever watched “Christmas Vacation”, Ray Charles’ “Spirit of Christmas” is the song that is playing while Clark is trapped in the attic and watching old home movies. I love that song and the rest of the songs on the album are all brilliantly done in a way that only Ray Charles could have made them. Very good stuff.
2) Not Christmas, but Frank
As a child my grandmother would make me listen to Frank Sinatra and I hated it. When I was just six years old I swore off Frank for the rest of my life.
But then, last night, listening to NPR on my way home, there was a review of a new box set called, “Sinatra: Vegas”. It includes a 1966 performance of Sinatra with the Count Basie Orchestra and the arrangements are done by Quincy Jones. Absolutely brilliant!
I went home and downloaded that CD and listened to it way too late into the night, on my way to work, and in the office. I can’t get enough.
The NPR reviewer remembered that his dad listened to Sinatra. As a child, he didn’t understand it, but now he gets it.
Me too!
I wonder if you have to just grow up a little to enjoy Sinatra?
Every year around this time, someone torrents two compilations called “Santa’s Boots” that have some great contemporary artists doing Christmas carols. I was just listening to some on my walk to work this morning. Here’s Santa’s Boots, vol. 1. If I find a link for the 2nd edition, I’ll add it.
Don’t forget SomaFM’s Xmas in Frisko stream. It’s terrible and wonderful and wonderfully terrible.
Get you Pandora Holiday on here…
http://pandorastations.crispynews.com/popular/holiday
See you there!
Well, my parents hate Sinatra, but I got really into Sinatra in High School, around the time I was really into IDM and Breakcore and Gabber and Noise. So maybe it went the other way around, on my part. Either way, I’m probably a statistical outlier, Sinatra-wise.