YOUR Favorite Holiday Albums (and New Picks)

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Rudy

¡Que siga la fiesta!
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In lieu of our long-departed "holidays" forum area, I felt I'd open up a new thread where we can list our favorite holiday albums, and discuss some of the newer ones that have come out in the past couple of years.

I'm still trying to dig up my ancient and much-updated list, and will post it here later this evening once I'm done with "work".

In the meantime, someone pour the egg nog and dish out the figgy pudding, and list some of YOUR favorites!
 
An excellent instrumental blues rendition of holiday tunes. I've had it for several years and still listen to it multiple times.

Mary Chapin Carpenter put out as Christmas CD last year that is excellent. The track 'Come Darkness, Come Light" is especially good.

And in memory of Mary Travers, the PPM Holiday Concert with the NY Choral Society I have always liked, and has been especially poignant to listen to this year.
 
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Christmas Album, of course.

Thank you, Herb, for giving us back the original cover art!
 
I tend to pull out the same ones year after year. I've added new albums to the collection from time to time, but they never seem to stick with me like the classics. Occasional individual songs are great though -- here are a few of my recent favorites:

"Winter Holidays" and "Christmas in California" by America (HOLIDAY HARMONY)

"Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" by Chicago (CHICAGO 25)

"The Best Christmas" by Christopher Cross (a single)

"Spirit of the Season" and "Believe" by Alan Silvestri and Josh Groban, respectively from the POLAR EXPRESS soundtrack (that album has a handful of great Christmas oldies on it too)

My favorite albums from the well-worn pile are:

TJB's CHRISTMAS ALBUM
Carpenters' CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT
Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops A CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL
The A&M collection SOMETHING FESTIVE
Mannheim Steamroller CHRISTMAS (all of their albums have some good songs but this has the most good ones) and A FRESH AIRE CHRISTMAS (their version of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" can't be beat)
 
Mike Blakesley said:
Mannheim Steamroller .. (their version of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" can't be beat)

Still gives me goosebumps every year!

It's enough of a treat with the opening Gregorian-chant-style singing, but then the modern section has such an interesting arrangement that it sends me over the top every time I hear it.

Definitely an indespensible record every year.

I've not come up with anything new that I'm listening to THIS Christmas, but some of last year's discoveries have made a rebound, like Amy Grant's HOME FOR CHRISTMAS album, that "Do You Hear What I Hear?" track by Vanessa Williams, and I really like that Gloria Estefan treatment of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow".

Harry
...from the A&M Corner Southern Command, online...
 
Has anyone heard Al Jarreau's new Xmas CD from last year? He had a single out in 1982 that is hard to find, but I lucked into a CD single promo version of it for 99 cents in a bin at the cash register at a local used record emporium.
 
So Harry, what's it like walking around in shorts, humming Christmas songs in the Florida sunshine? It's 7 below zero here right how.

Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! [brrrr]

Mike B.
From the A&M Corner North Pole Outpost (Montana Division)
 
7 Below?? We're hovering around 32 until this so-called storm passes. Wet, slushy stuff outside the window here. Lower 20s later in the week, with night temps in the teens. At least the snow is making the lights look neat outside!
 
Mike Blakesley said:
So Harry, what's it like walking around in shorts, humming Christmas songs in the Florida sunshine?

Delightful! We've had a lovely week so far, with highs in the 70's and '80's, and music in the '60's!


It's 7 below zero here right how.

Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! [brrrr]

Mike B.
From the A&M Corner North Pole Outpost (Montana Division)

Ho. Ho. Ho.

I'm enjoying looking at the "blizzard" on the TV. It makes me happy I'm here!

Harry
...from the warm and sunny A&M Corner Southern Command, online...
 
My challenge for this year: I only will have a limited amount of room on my Zune to put my holiday favorites. So, I have to pick strictly my favorites and make room for them temporarily. I'll list those here, of course, as my "official" holiday list. :wink:
 
My all - time favorite is the Manhattan Transfer Christmas CD from 1992 on Columbia, arranged and produced by the great Johnny Mandel. An exquiste, beautifully realized program, including the most stunning, jaw-dropping version of "Snowfall" you will EVER hear. A classic , to be sure.
 
It got down into the low 60s here in San Diego -- had to break out a sweater yesterday!

--Mr Bill
 
Carpenters: Christmas Portrait and An Old Fashioned Chritmas, Perry Como: All, Spike Jones: It's A Spike Jones Christmas, Elvis Presley: If Every Day Was Like Christmas, The Jackson 5 Christmas Album, Brenda Lee: Jingle Bell Rock, Gloria Estefan: Christmas Through Your Eyes
:bigsanta:
 
I have the same things I've had for years. I gave up buying new Christmas albums.


Herb Alpert & TJB - Christmas Album
Ella Fitzgerald - Wishes You A Swinging Christmas
VA - God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen
VA - Jingle Bell Jazz
Chicago - Whta's It Gonna Be, Santa?
VA - Something Festive
VA - Jazz To The World
VA - Big Band Christmas
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Star Carol
Bob Rivers - Twisted Christmas
Dr. Demento - Christmas Novelties

I did download Lani Hall's "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" on iTunes, as well as the Chipmunk's "Twas The Night Before Christmas".



Capt. Bacardi
 
What's different between Chicago XXV and the current CD? I think they added and/or replaced a couple of tunes...?
 
They added tracks and juggled the songs around too. Here are listings from the two albums.

CHICAGO 25:
1 The Little Drummer Boy - 4:04
2 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - 3:23
3 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - 4:03
4 The Christmas Song - 3:39
5 O Come All Ye Faithful - 4:46
6 Child's Prayer - 3:24
7 Feliz Navidad - 4:18
8 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - 3:56
9 Christmas Time Is Here - 3:48
10 Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - 3:29
11 What Child Is This? - 4:41
12 White Christmas - 2:29
13 Silent Night - 3:18
14 One Little Candle - 1:26


WHAT'S IT GONNA BE, SANTA?
1 Winter Wonderland - 4:19
2 Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - 3:28
3 Jolly Old St. Nicholas [#] - 3:35
4 The Little Drummer Boy - 4:05
5 This Christmas [#] - 4:03
6 Feliz Navidad - 4:15
7 Bethlehem [#] - 4:07
8 The Christmas Song - 3:36
9 O Come All Ye Faithful - 4:45
10 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer [#] - 3:44
11 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - 4:01
12 Sleigh Ride [#] - 3:55
13 Silent Night - 3:18
14 What Child Is This? - 4:38
15 Christmas Time Is Here - 3:46
16 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - 3:23
17 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - 3:56
18 Child's Prayer - 3:23
19 One Little Candle - 1:24
20 White Christmas - 2:28
 
No one sings "Jingle Bells" & "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" like Peggy Lee! Both are from her self-penned "Christmas Carousel" CD circa 1960, one of my holiday faves.
 
Isn't Peggy Lee's "Jingle Bells" the version with the lyrics "I like a sleighride" mixed in with it? If so, that's the one I had on a Capitol "Best of Christmas" 2-LP set from the 60s or 70s. I got the CD of that set, but I didn't like it as much as I used to...but there were standouts like the Peggy Lee track, Lou Rawls ("Have Yourself A Merry..."), and Dean Martin's slightly inebriated version of "Rudolph." :D
 
I picked up that album on CD a couple of years ago--I think I liked it because it was an older recording from the 60s. :laugh:

Seriously, I'd say almost all of the "new music" holiday CDs I've gotten in the past several years have not been good. Reissues of classics still sound better to me. Nowadays, it seems anyone who's popular can cut a Christmas album. Many of my recent ones were review copies of jazz albums. They were all nicely performed, but they just didn't involve me musically (and these were the likes of Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, etc.). They're nice to cherry pick a track or two for a compilation, but other than that, I can't sit through an entire serving anymore.

That could be why I like both of Brian Setzer's holiday albums: they have some energy, they are fun, the arrangements are catchy, and they've got a good, musical groove going. In fact, that's why I've seen his Xmas show two times: you come out of the theater feeling like you're in a full-bore holiday mood!

TJB's Xmas album, Carpenters, Vince Guaraldi's "Charlie Brown Xmas", etc. were (and still ARE) fun to listen to, after all these years and hundreds of plays. They get a yearly spin, at least once.
 
Mike Blakesley said:
Dean Martin's slightly inebriated version of "Rudolph."
Yeah...when he croons "Rudy the red-beaked reindeer" it always gets a smile out of me!

Hey, that's me! :D Although he slurs it like, "Ruuudy the red-beake rein-ear". :wink: I've got the CD in the stack right in front of me now.

I'm ripping only 39 of my Xmas CDs (and only a couple of the tracks from about half of them, since that's the only good thing on those discs).
 
A quick list of my favorites, in no particular order (and abbreviated as I'm under deadline):

Herb Alpert & TJB: Xmas Album
Various: Something Festive (A&M comp.)
Henry Mancini: A Merry Mancini Xmas
Brian Setzer Orch.: Boogie Woogie Xmas
Brian Setzer Orch.: Dig That Crazy Xmas
David Benoit: Xmastime
David Benoit: Remembering Xmas
Various: A GRP Xmas Collection
John Pizzarelli: Let's Share Xmas
Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Xmas
Various (feat. David Benoit): 40 Years: A Charlie Brown Xmas (tribute)
Manhattan Transfer: The Xmas Album
Various (Time-Life Rock 'n' Roll series): Jingle Bell Rock
Nat King Cole: The Xmas Song
Carpenters: Xmas Portrait (ONLY the original LP version, though)

Honorable mentions:

Peggy Lee: Xmas
Roomful of Blues: A Roomful of Xmas
Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Wishes You A Swingin' Xmas
Jimmy Smith: Xmas Cookin'
Diana Ross & Supremes: Merry Xmas
Chicago: XXV
Various: Dr. Demento (only for a few of the tracks)

...and "Rudy the red-beake rein-ear" (Dean Martin) :D
 
I seem to be playing only 7 Christmas CDs right now:
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Christmas Album
The various jazz artist disc A Very Special Christmas
and the three Capitol Lounge Christmas CDs (though the third one is not as good as the first two...)
And the Skafish Christmas album (straight piano jazz as opposed to the punk/new wave he's famous for).
Christmas On The Edge -- a collection of punk or "edgy" versions of Christmas songs (on my own burn I've added the Dickies' "Silent Night.")

But that's only in the car -- when I open my iTunes colelction while I'm in my garage/office I find myself listening to:
A Toolbox Christmas (all sounds by sampled tools)
my mp3-ized tracks from Something Festive
Both Chipmunks Christmas records
and the Jingle Cats (and the dog version) recordings -- yeah, I'm a sucker for sampled sounds being made into music...
And a number of Dr. Demento Christmas cuts...
--Mr Bill
 
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