This is the one I put on every year as I attempt to get into the Christmas spirit. This thing is just about perfect. The songs flow like water, always going in the right direction. “Skating” is a particular favorite - you can just imagine the snow falling as you listen to this. I know my love for this album is linked to the television special but who doesn’t like listening to this one.
tis the Season - Jackie Gleason
This is the soundtrack to Christmas Eve when everything’s done for the day and you can just enjoy the moment. I’m a huge fan of the Jackie Gleason Orchestra and the sound they developed. I know there’s some controversy about how much Gleason was involved, but the music is great regardless of who conducted it. Relaxing without being boring, this is a combination of Christmas standards and lesser known songs and is a winner all the way through. Unfortunately, according to Amazon this is out of print.
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector - Phil Spector
This is the classic. I heard most of these on the radio before I even knew about this album. Comprised mostly of standards, the performances and incredible, sounding classic but not dated. Another one that looks like it’s out of print which I don’t even get.
A Winter Romance - Dean Martin
Not really a true Christmas album, the album is a collection of winter-themed songs with some Christmas standards sprinkled throughout. In addition to “White Christmas” and “Winter Wonderland”, it’s got a great rendition of “June in January”. It’s one of the things I listen to when I get burned out on regular Christmas music, and really, can you go wrong with Dean Martin? Extra credit for the cover as Dean is hugging on a girl and giving another the eye. However, points off for including one of my most hated songs “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. It’s a bad song and too many renditions of it exist.
Christmas Eve and Other Stories - Trans Siberian Orchestra
Here’s the thing: I love big dumb arena rock and have a bunch of Savatage albums, so it only makes sense that I love this. You can list all the arguments against this about it being overblown and all but I just don’t care. I love listening to it and in a small way it puts me in the Christmas spirit. I think this was their first album and I think it’s their best and most consistent. The instrumental tracks really stand out, with new arrangements of Christmas standards and mutiple melodies weaving through the same same. I’m not saying everyone should go out and get it, but let’s say that if you think you’ll like it you probably will.
Kansas City has two radiostations * that begin playing non-stop Christmas music a week or two before Thanksgiving, and every year I listen to them in an attempt to get into the Christmas spirit. Every year I come to the same conclusion:
There’s a lot of crappy Christmas music out there
Both of these stations mainly focus on the crappy stuff
So just checking their online playlist, here’s what KUDL** has been playing the past hour or so:
- “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney. The Beatles are my favorite group, I love a lot of Paul’s solo stuff but this thing is just terrible. And it gets played a lot. I lump this together with that awful Elton John song. Neither of them is good, but because the songs are by big music names they get played a ton.
- “Just a Little Snow” by Jeffrey Osbourne. This is the stuff I hate the most. Boring, generic stuff and it seems that every time I turn on one of these stations a song like this is on.
- “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Michael Bolton. I honestly don’t have anything against Michael Bolton but this is a good song ruined by bland production.
- “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee. I’m not a huge fan of this song but at least it’s fun and has some energy behind it.
- “Sleigh Ride” by Air Supply. Again, it’s a bland version of a good song.
- “Let it Snow, Let it Snow” by Dean Martin. Occasionally a good song sneaks through their playlist. I would probably listen to the radio more often if I knew there was a chance that I would hear Dean Martin.
This sums up what’s wrong here. Christmas is supposed to be a happy time. We’re supposed to be excited and in a good mood. The problem is that the music they play is so middle-of-the-road that you might as well be listening to the generic crap they play through the rest of the year.
On top of that they have an incredible shallow list of songs that they’ll play. You keep hearing the same boring songs over and over, year after year. No one’s taking any chances. And it’s not like I expect them to play King Diamond’s “No Presents for Christmas” or “Merry Christmas Baby” from the Ramones. Just play something with a little energy.
I was talking with my wife about this yesterday and I came up with three songs that I have never heard on a Christmas station:
Billy Squier, “Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You”
“Jingle Bells” by the barking dogs
“Santa Claus and His Old Lady” by Cheech and Chong
(As an aside, I love the Douglas Firs re-enacting the Cheech and Chong recording. Before we had kids I used to do that with “Murder was the Case” whenever we had guests over.)
I will have to give Star 102 credit for one thing they do. Every evening Santa Claus comes on the air to take calls from children. It does this old man’s heart some good to hear kids genuinely excited to speak with Santa.
* To give you an idea of what these stations are like the rest of the year, one plays the Delilah show in the evenings and the other plays John Tesh. To quote my wife, any man who willingly listens to the Delilah show has some real problems.
** Do you get it? Their call letters spell out the word “Cuddle”.
The problem with a lot of instrumental guitar albums is that the songs start blending together and ends up being just a lot of wanking with the bass and drums plodding along in the background*. Brad Paisley has overcome this with Play, a mostly instrumental album (five of the sixteen songs are duets with other artists, although one is an oddball “duet” with Andy Griffith). These songs are spread out through the album and give it a nice flow with the instrumental tracks.
Each track has its own identity - “Huckleberry Jam” is a traditional country breakdown, “Turf’s Up” is a surf type instrumental, “Cliffs of Rock City” is an Eric Johnson-type song. Despite the different song types, Paisley’s guitar playing remains a constant and makes each song his.
I’m a mark for instrumental albums anyway, but this is one of most accessible ones I’ve ever heard. The different styles keep things from getting bogged down and boring. This is one of the better albums I’ve heard this year, and hopefully this will lead to similar projects by non-traditional guitar heroes.
* Of course, my music collection contains about 90% of what Yngwie Malmsteen has put out so guitar wanking isn’t always a terrible thing.
