After reading Harry and Neil's posts I thought of a few others that I like, but they didn't jump to my mind last night:
Amy Grant's "Emmanuel" and "Little Town." This looks like "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem," but it's not; "Emmanuel" is a different song, and "Little Town" is "Bethlehem" but set to a different melody. I really like both because they're something you don't hear anybody else do, and the other cool thing is that the two songs segue into each other --- segues are almost always cool.
I am kind of in a gray area with Trans Siberian Orchestra. I really like some of their stuff like "Wizards of Winter" and "Appalachian Snowfall," but other songs of theirs just seem overly bombastic and overblown -- which I guess is part of their appeal. I just heard their version of "Carol of the Bells" on the radio....yeah, as Rood would say, "not my cuppa."
The Vince Guaraldi tunes, definitely. Also I like Elton John's "Step Into Christmas." It's not a song I play much but I always enjoy it on the radio. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" is a fun listen.
I haven't heard David Foster's version of "Carol of the Bells" -- off to YouTube to check it out.
EDIT: Well that's probably the prettiest instrumental version of the song ever. I like it -- but it suffers from the same thing all instrumental versions of it do -- the melody is too repetitious for an instrumental, so I'll continue to prefer the vocal, choir-only versions.
Amy Grant's "Emmanuel" and "Little Town." This looks like "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem," but it's not; "Emmanuel" is a different song, and "Little Town" is "Bethlehem" but set to a different melody. I really like both because they're something you don't hear anybody else do, and the other cool thing is that the two songs segue into each other --- segues are almost always cool.
I am kind of in a gray area with Trans Siberian Orchestra. I really like some of their stuff like "Wizards of Winter" and "Appalachian Snowfall," but other songs of theirs just seem overly bombastic and overblown -- which I guess is part of their appeal. I just heard their version of "Carol of the Bells" on the radio....yeah, as Rood would say, "not my cuppa."
The Vince Guaraldi tunes, definitely. Also I like Elton John's "Step Into Christmas." It's not a song I play much but I always enjoy it on the radio. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" is a fun listen.
I haven't heard David Foster's version of "Carol of the Bells" -- off to YouTube to check it out.
EDIT: Well that's probably the prettiest instrumental version of the song ever. I like it -- but it suffers from the same thing all instrumental versions of it do -- the melody is too repetitious for an instrumental, so I'll continue to prefer the vocal, choir-only versions.
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