Here is another excellent bit of Christmas music. So pleasant. This came out in 2023.
Showing posts with label Pop music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pop music. Show all posts
December by The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are the original prog rockers and so a Christmas album from them must be worth a listen. It is. With plenty of mellotron-like sounds and orchestras, the approach is a traditional but not very orthodox religious one (although When a child is born and What child is this?* towards the end are in that area as is their own version of Bach's Jesu Joy re-christened The quiet of Christmas morning). Half the tracks are originals penned by Hayward and Lodge (Don't need a reindeer is a stand out pop track and On this Christmas day a haunting pop ballad) with a judicious selection of covers - Happy Xmas (War Is Over), A Winter's Tale, When a Child is born, White Christmas. This is all very sincere and well done. Perhaps the track Yes, I believe which smuggles in a referene to "days of future passed" sums up the hopeful (but I would say naive or better misguided) attitude here. It begins
The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love
Still there when the innocence has gone
But we have each other we laugh and we cry
The cares of the world still carry on
Yes I believe in a better world
And like the rest of us I pray
For peace on this earth and a better lifeWith every beautiful day.
*My edition has this Greensleeves song but others seem to have them doing In the bleak midwinter. This latter track is in fact from 1992 for charity and not from the December sessions.
Jesus Christ - Christmas song by The Monkees
Originally done by Big Star this one is on the final Monkees album Christmas Party (2018)
The Dawn of Grace by Sixpence None The Richer
The Dawn of Grace is a Christmas album by alternative rock and indie pop band Sixpence None the Richer. It was released on October 14, 2008.
Produced by Steve Hindalong, it consists of eight traditional Christmas songs, including "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Silent Night", featuring guest vocalist Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay, and two original Sixpence Christmas tunes called "The Last Christmas" and "Christmas for Two".
The subtitle on the cover reads: A Collection of Original and Traditional Christmas Songs.
No singles were released from the album but two animated music videos were released for "Angels We Have Heard on High" (see below) and "Silent Night (https://youtu.be/N6ml_YbgJsQ).
The album reached No. 47 on the US Christian Album Chart. After spending four years apart, the band reunited for this album.
Track listing
"Angels We Have Heard on High" — 4:15
"The Last Christmas" (Matt Slocum, Steve Hindalong) — 3:12
"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" — 3:06
"Silent Night" (featuring Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay) — 4:28
"Riu Riu Chiu" — 3:06
"Carol of the Bells" — 2:24
"Christmas Island" (Lyle Moraine) — 2:33
"River" (Joni Mitchell) — 3:57
"Christmas for Two" (Leigh Nash, Kate York) — 3:09
"Some Children See Him" (Alfred Burt) — 4:14
10 Instances of the Jingle Bells Motif in Popular Music
2. Nat King Cole Christmas Song (end Guitar)
3. T Rex Xmas Riff (Throughout Piano)
4. Kate Rusby (While shepherds watch) Cranbrook (End Brass band)
5. Beatles Another Christmas Beatles Record 1964 (Beginning Kazoo)
6. Trans-Siberian Orchestra Siberian Sleighride (Beginning Guitar)
7. Bruce Springsteen Santa Claus is coming to town (End Piano)
8. Stan Freberg Green Christmas (End Medley Sung)
9. Tijuana Brass America (Beginning Trumpet)
10. Jingle Bell Rock Bobby Helms (Beginning Guitar)
(Also, Lonely this Christmas by Mud, towards the end and O Chrirtmas Tree, Blackmore's Night towards the end)
A Forgotten Christmas Song - By the Kinks
For some reason this Christmas song by the Kinks gets very little airplay.
I guess it's not sentimental enough,
10 Sad Christmas Songs
It struck my the other day what a sad streak there is in many Christmas songs. Having checked it out I realise this is in fact a whole genre within a genre. I am just listing ones I know personally. Some can be argued. I believe in Father Christmas, for example, is pretty bleak but ends up in a happy enough place.
1. Seven o'clock news/Silent Night Simon and Garfunkel
2. 2000 Miles Pretenders
3. Blue Christmas Elvis Presley
4. Lonely This Christmas Mud
5. Christmas Lights Coldplay
6. Stop the Cavalry Jonah Lewie
7. River Joni Mitchell
8. Last Christmas Wham!
9. Fairytale of New York The Pogues ft Kirsty MacColl
10. Pretty paper Roy Orbison
10 Novelty Christmas Songs
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music.
- Christmas in Blobbyland by Mr Blobby
- Frosty the Snowman by Gene Autry and later Jimmy Durante
- Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer by Elmo & Patsy
- Hokey Cokey by the Snowmen
- I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas by The Goodies (or Make a daft noise for Xmas)
- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by Jimmy Boyd and later The Jackson 5, etc.
- Lonely Pup (In a Christmas Shop) by Adam Faith
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Gene Autry and later by Spike Jones, etc
- Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt and later Kylie Minogue
- You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch by Jim Carrey
10 Things People want for Christmas ...
1. My two front teeth (Spike Jones and the City slickers)
2. You (Mariah Carey)
3. A Beatle (Dora Bryan)
4. A real good tan (Kenny Chesney)
5. My girl (New Edition)
6. My daddy (Buck Owens)
7 A hippopotamus (Gayla Peevey)
8. A banjo (David Myles, Santa never brings me ...)
9. Peace tonight, peace for all (Brian Wilson, What I really want ...)
10. A sable, a '54 convertible (light blue), a yacht, the deed to a platinum mine, a duplex and checks,
decorations bought at Tiffany and a ring. (Eartha Kitt, Santa baby)
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