Christmas Music for 2015

 

It’s that time of year and I am completely strung out on caffeine and Christmas music, so much so that I giggled so hard to Bob Rivers’s “Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire” I almost had coffee go up my nose. Really, how many of us have stood in an endless line at some store, sweating because you’re still wearing a coat and your fingers have gone numb from holding dozens of bags, listening to that oh-so-familiar squeaky version of “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” and wished for a dreadful end to those chipmunks? Maybe something that includes some duct tape, a lighter and a slingshot.

Yes, I’m hopped up, overwrought and perhaps a little feverish. Maybe I’ve overdosed on just a little too much forced good cheer and all that. And, just about anybody who’s anybody (and a fair number of nobodies) in the music business has done a holiday music CD.

There are holiday CDs by Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, James Taylor, Elvis Presley, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Justin Bieber. Hell, there even Bob Dylan’s Christmas in the Heart. Oh, Bob, why? You know I love you, Bob, but you’re no Louis Armstrong and you singing “Do You Hear What I Hear?” or “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” evokes not a warm and fuzzy Christmas evening, but instead makes me wonder if they picked up some weird random guy from the bus station and backed him with a choir and full symphony.

Because this is the season of too much of a good thing there’s a whole array of Christmas music out there milling about. One can get their hot little hands on the newly released 2015 recording Punk Rock Christmas on the Cleopatra label or the 2010 release of Twisted Christmas by Twisted Sister or the 2-CD set of Metal Xmas with artists like Dave Grohl, Lemmy Kilmister and Alice Cooper.

 

 

The Razor & Tie label put out a 2007 collection called Monster Ballads Xmas, and I have to say I was a little weirded out by Faster Pussycat’s version of “Silent Night.” There’s Caribbean Christmas, Celtic Christmas, bluegrass Christmas and Christmas at Downton Abby for your listening pleasure. I’m guessing that the requisite Christmas recording for most musicians comes down to a sort of cheap and easy way for musicians to meet a contractual obligation and not the more evil version I have in my head of a musician going down to the crossroads and a Christmas CD being part of a deal with the devil.

The really spectacular turn of technology has made the notion of having to buy a whole recording, Christmas or not, a thing of the past. With digital music, selecting only those tracks you want has made a personalized playlist so easy you can go through an entire holiday party without being tortured by versions of “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas” or the ever pervy perennial “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

With that in mind, our holiday music lineup has new and old recordings, favorites and plummy classics with emphasis on particular tracks so you can pick and choose and mix and match to create your own music playlist for the season.

If you are looking for some religiously inspired music I’d check out any track from Gregorian Chant: The Definitive Collection by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos or individual tracks from Gregorian Chant by the Clevaux Benedictine Monks of the Abby of St. Maurice and St. Maur, Clevaux. With “Tu es pastor ovium,” “Lauda Sicon: Nunc dimittiis,” “Te Deum” and “Alma Redemptoris Mater” wonderfully sung by the monks, one really can’t go wrong with any track on these recordings for those looking for a peaceful, spiritual atmosphere.

Along that same vein is Gregorian Chant: Hymns and Vespers for the Feast of the Nativity by Choralschola der Wiener Hofburgkaelle and Hubert Dopf S.J. Again, any track off this recording is well worth a listen. Including in this recording is “Christe Redemptor Omnium – Hymnus Ad Vesperas Tempore Nativitatis Domini,” “Kyrie V – Kyrie Magnae Deus Potentiae, Vat. V/In Nativitate Domini Ad Missam In Die,” “Gloria V – In Nativitate Domini Ad Missam In Die” and “Hodie Scietis – Introitus/In Nativitate Domini Ad Missam In Vigilia.” Lovely, lovely.

 

 

This year the one to not be missed is the 2015 recording Chant for Peace. With the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, this recording also features Jewish vocalist Timna Brauer and the Elias Meiri Ensemble. With a mix of Christian and Jewish sacred music, this recording is stunning and powerful. Goodies on this one include “Traditional: Ani Tzame Psalm 122 (121) “Laetatus sum,” “Traditional: Missa pro Pace – Alleluia: Lauda, Jerusalem,” “Traditional: Kyrie fons bonitatis” and “Traditional: Halleluia” but you really can’t go wrong with any of the tracks of the recording.

 

 

Also new this year is Christmas Music through the Ages on the Saydisc label. Packed with tracks like “Christe Redemptor” by Prinknash & Stanbrook Abbeys, “Gabriel from Heven-King” by Richard Wistreich, “In Dulci Jubilo” by The Carnival Band and “O Magnum Mysterium” by St. Clement Danes Chorale listeners get some truly lovely vocals.

There’s Of Kings and Angels by the Mediaeval Baebes on the Queen of Sheeba label. With charmingly familiar tracks like “I Saw Three Ships,” “We Three Kings” and “The Holly and the Ivy,” Of Kings and Angels also includes “Gaudete,” “Veni Veni Emmanuel,” “In Dulci Jublio and a very nice version of “Corpus Christi Carol” to capture the authenticity of the original texts and musical arrangements.

 

 

If you are seeking more traditional popular Christmas music, you might want to check out this year’s Louis Armstrong Christmas Collection on the Somerset label. You certainly can’t go wrong with “Cool Yule” with The Commanders, “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” with Ella Fitzgerald, “Christmas Night in Harlem” or “White Christmas.” What Christmas collection would be without the master Louis Armstrong’s version of “White Christmas?”

Okay, now this next one is a deal. NOW Christmas is a two-CD set that has all the popular Christmas music you could want. It has Frank Sinatra’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song,” Dean Martin’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” Bobby Helms’s “Jingle Bell Rock” Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad,” insuring you get all your dose of Christmas standards out of the way. I do want to point out that the CD’s artwork is a travesty and that someone seriously needs a spanking or at least a lump of coal.

 

 

Jazzing up your Christmas is easy with this year’s A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas! by The Count Basie Orchestra. Marking the 80th anniversary of The Count Basie Orchestra, A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas! smooths out all the edges with “Jingle Bells,” “Let It Snow” with Ellis Marsalis, “Good “Swing” Wenceslas,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” with Carmen Bradford, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” with Ellis Marsalis and Plas Johnson and a snazzy version of “Silent Night.”

If blues is your holiday mood, you’ll want to check out Bullseye Blues Christmas with kick ass tracks like “X-mas Blues” by Preston Shannon, “Help the Poor” by Larry Davis with the Memphis Horns, “Happy Christmas Tears” by Little Jimmy King with the Memphis Horns, “Merry Christmas Baby/Please Come Home for Christmas” by Charles Brown and “Lonesome Christmas” by Lowell Fulson. There’s also Talkin’ Christmas! with The Blind Boys of Alabama and Taj Mahal in this blues/gospel mix.

 

 

Looking for a little Latin spice for your holiday, you might want to check out Tarjeta de Navidad III. Packed with the artists like Melina Leon, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Cheo Feliciano, Los Hispanos and Chucho Avellanet, one really can’t go wrong with any of the tracks on this recording. Gilberto Santa Rosa put out Una Navidad Con Gilberto with tracks like “Me Gustan las Navidades,” “El Ano Viejo” and “La Navidad Mas Larga” to salsa up your holidays.

There’s enough Celtic Christmas music you can wade through until your fingers get pruny, but let me recommend Noel Mcloughlin’s Christmas in Ireland with Ger O’Donnell. You might want to check out goodies like “The Holly and the Ivy,” “I Saw Three Ships,” “Oh Christmas Tree,” “In the Bleak Midwinter” and “The Coventry Carol.”

 

 

Caitriona O’Leary’s The Wexford Carols has some lovely tracks like “The Enniscorthy Christmas Carol” by Rosanne Cash, “Now to Conclude Our Christmas Mirth” by Rhiannon Giddens, “Jerusalem, Our Happy Home” by Tom Jones and “Tell Shepherds” and “An Angel This Night” by Ms. O’Leary.

Putumayo’s Celtic Christmas has a nice mix with The Albion Christmas Band’s Here We Come A-Wassailing,” Druidstone’s “Noel Nouvelet,” “Nollaig Bhan (White Christmas)” by Lasairfhiona Ni Chonaola and “Auld Lang Syne” by Dougie Maclean.

There’s also the lovely Winter, Fire & Snow by Orla Fallon. Ms. Fallon offers up “What Child Is This,” “Emmanuel,” “Oiche Chiuin (Silent Night)” and “Carolan’s Welcome.”

On a Cold Winter’s Day – Early Christmas Music and Carols from the British Isles by the Quadriga Consort is also a winner. Every track on this charmer is well worth a listen.

 

 

Filling your holiday season with folksy, country tunes is easy with Tony Elman’s Winter Creek and tracks like “O Po’ Little Jesus/Tell It On the Mountain,” “Christmas in Dixie,” “Behold That Star” and “It Came Upon Midnight Clear/Silent Night.” Or you might just want to check out the instrumental 30 Country Mountain Christmas Carols or try out the lovely track “The Christmas Song” from Charlie Daniels’s Joy to the World: A Bluegrass Christmas. The one that can’t be beat is Jerry Douglas’s Jerry Christmas. Mr Douglas offers up goodies like “The First Noel,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?,” “Oh Holy Night” and “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.”

The great thing about digital music is you can chose classics tracks from Celtic Woman, Mannheim Steamroller and Windham Hill without having to muddle through the tracks you’d rather not hear. There’s just so much Christmas music out there that you can rustle up a mix from Venetian Christmas, a perky selection from Polka Christmas Party or An Ukulele Christmas. And, hey, you can always go with Bob Dylan’s Christmas in the Heart.