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This video is just out today from Revive. A bit of fun, a bit of reverence. "The First Noel" appears on the new collection "The Essential Christmas". That little bit up front doesn't appear anywhere, so far as I can tell. Pity. It's fun. ARTIST SITE AMAZON
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It's Veterans Day Thursday which, next to Christmas, is probably the most important holiday on the American calendar. Originally known as Armistice Day, the holiday is intended to mark the end of World War I (which formally ended at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918). Please take a moment, this year, to reflect on the service of those who fight our wars--are fighting now--to protect our freedoms. Thank a veteran and remember the fallen. Every war that goes on for awhile will have its music. And, if there be music, there must be holiday music. "Christmas In The Trenches" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" are among the more obvious choices. But I hate being obvious. JULIE SANDERSON/CHRISTMAS 1864 (HOLIDAY FEAST: CREME DE LA CREME) Julie Sanderson is first up with our Civil War Christmas song. Julie wrote and recorded this song in 1997 for the Hungry For Music Holiday Feast series. It was later included on this 2-disc "Best of" Holiday Feast collection. The instrumentation on this track instantly transports me to the Civil War era, but the lyrics could apply to any conflict. No one's going home again this Christmas Though everyone's grown tired of this war. Nuff said. Visit Julie Sanderson's MySpace page to hear more from her. CHRISTMAS EVE AT THE FRONT (Not available on CD) Representing WWI we have an actual 78 from the era which, as best as I can determine, dates somewhere between 1914 and 1917. Sorry I can't be more precise. The purpose of this 78, and others like it, was to reassure those at home that their loved ones were in good spirits and doing well--to portray those in the trenches as those at home would like to imagine, rather than to allow the truth of the horrors of war to be known. Actors were hired to read the rather upbeat script. It's all just jolly good fun, this business of war. It was propaganda, pure and simple. World War II had plenty of songs. Classics like "I'll Be Home For Christmas" were directly related to the war. Frequently, though, the Christmas songs of the era alluded to the war, or reflected the sentiments, without actually referring to the conflict directly. This 2006 song from North Carolina's Kenny Roby has become a favorite of mine. Kenny Roby is known primarily as a specialist in Americana. Because this track is told from the perspective of a child, we once again have an idealized view of war. But this isn't a Rah-Rah piece, like our 78; this is just a slice of life, tinged with sadness and irony. Visit Kenny Roby's web site for more. The SOUL SEARCHERS/CHRISTMAS IN VIET NAM (Not available on CD) The Vietnam War certainly inspired more than its share of music, including holiday music. Most famously, John Lennon's "Happy Xmas" has become a seasonal standard over the years; it's been covered by everyone from REO Speedwagon to Sarah McLaughlin and beyond. But the war in Southeast Asia also gave us such classics as Johnny & Jon's "Christmas In Vietnam" and Marvin Gaye's "I Want To Come Home For Christmas." Most of the Vietnam Christmas records, though, remain lost in the sands of time on obscure vinyl 45s...like this one. Not to be confused with The Soul Stirrers, The Soul Searchers provided a soulful/gospel song about the holiday in a far off land with their 1967 lament "Christmas In Viet Nam". Sadly, there's not enough info on this record to determine who these Souls Searchers were. Soul Searchers is an all too common name in music--ranging from the early 60s Garage Rock band to the nostalgia act that currently uses the moniker. And, of course, there is the "Godfather of Go-Go", Chuck Brown. I'm guessing there's no connection to Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, but I don't know that for a fact. The song has its own little bit of controversy with some claiming it's a straight up rip-off of the Johnny & Jon song. Maybe, I'm nuts, but I don't hear that. They have many similarities, but I don't think it's a rip-off. Anyway, this record has yet to be released on CD. If you want to read more about Christmas music related to the Viet Nam war, check out the essay at Hip Christmas. Outside of a song about a dead skunk, Loudon Wainwright III has mostly made a living writing and recording topical songs, in the tradition of Woody Guthrie (among others). In 1989 or 1990, if I recall correctly, he was hired by NPR to contribute such compositions to a program based on the legendary "That Was The Week That Was" (which featured Tom Lehrer). On December 23, 1990, Loudon appeared on Vin Scelsa's New York radio program, Idiot's Delight, where he debuted one such song--"Christmas Morning". I know there were other Christmas songs that came out of the first Gulf war. But this is the one I remember. The song eventually found its way to 1999's "Social Studies". But, for several years there, I was one of the few among my Christmas music collecting friends who had the song on tape. Loudon's still at it, by the way. His latest is "Songs For The New Depression" and it's brilliant as ever. Stop by Loudon Wainwright's web site some time and let him know you still care. BRETT DENNEN/The HOLIDAYS ARE HERE (AND WE'RE STILL AT WAR) (CD Single, out of print) This song, which was originally a free download on Brett Dennen's web site in 2005, will stand, I think, as the definitive holiday song to come out of the second Iraq war. Like Viet Nam, the second Gulf War has been responsible for, probably, hundreds of songs, including dozens of Christmas tracks. Most have gone virtually unnoticed and will remain on the trash heap of time until and unless rescued by some musical historian. A few will get the occasional spin. But, thanks largely to the Internet, Bruce Dennen's song will live on, I believe. Even the title sums of the ever growing frustration of a public that, by and large, already realized they'd been duped less than a year into the fighting. The California Folk singer released this on a limited CD single in 2006. It was included on a label sampler a short time later. But, at this point, the easiest way to pick it up is as an iTunes download. I'm working on something that is looking to be impossible on this template, but I haven't given up just yet. So if it seems like I've been absent from the front page, here, that's why. In the meantime.....new band, new song. Straight from the UK, we bring you SpaceStation ft Hannah S. Soon to be available at your favorite download shoppe (11/22). This Is Christmas Time. Give it a listen and let us know what you think. This track swings! It cooks! It's hot! And, man, it's cool! Check the mad piano work from Pat Coil. And read our full review of Drew Davidsen's Christmas album, "We 3 Stringz" elsewhere on the site.
Here's the music video from 18 year old Rachel Holder for the Christmas single we mentioned earlier this week. You can buy the single through Amazon or on iTunes.
Check out the new video from The Balboas! "This Is Santa Claus (Bad Boy Mix)" is part of "Seasonal Favorites, Vol. 3", due out November 19 and now available for Pre-order through Double Crown Records. Read our full preview here.
I've often said that the next generation will never know the joy of two things from my childhood--pinball and the 45rpm single. But long after the industry declared vinyl dead, independent artists and labels kept the format alive and collectors continued to seek out and purchase these stacks o' wax. As the overall music buying population has contracted, the share of the remaining market that prefers vinyl has grown. As a result, we're seeing more Christmas vinyl released this year than at any time in recent memory. Singles, though, remain largely the province of the independent artist and label. They are generally limited in number and tend to come on colored vinyl. Amazingly, we do have one 45 this year that could fairly be called mainstream. Collectors Choice Music is releasing a CD collection of Bing Crosby Christmas music this year and "The Bing Crosby Christmas Sessions" contains many rare and previously unreleased tracks. But one unreleased track it doesn't contain is the B-side of the limited edition single on your left. The A-side of this red vinyl single features the ubiquitous Bing & Bowie duet, but the B-side is a duet between Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald on "White Christmas". The single has a scheduled release date of November 23 and is limited to 2000 copies. Also due November 23 is a split 45 (i.e. a different artist on each side) featuring roots artists Nathan Maxwell and The Original Bunny Gang on the A-side singing "Does It Feel Like Christmas?" The flip will feature North Pole United (actually former members of the Reggae/Soul band The Aggrolites) and "Christmas Spirit of 69". This one comes in both basic black vinyl and a festive red-and-white splatter version. Place your pre-order at SideOneDummy Records. One of the most anticipated holiday vinyl singles this year is from The Mynabirds. The Mynabirds were created by Laura Burhenn after DC Indie duo Georgie James was dissolved. The Mynabirds offer up what I'd call a grunge style with a sound they'd like to think approaches Neil Young meets Motown. The group released their debut album, "What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood", earlier this year and generated quite a bit of buzz. Judge for yourself. Visit the group's web site and pick up a couple of non-holiday tunes free of charge. The forthcoming single (12/7) features the anti-Xmas song “All I Want Is Truth (for Christmas)” backed with a cover of The Zombies’ “This Will Be Our Year”. It's available through Amazon and Interpunk. Shannon & The Clams offer up a sound that lies somewhere between 60s garage, 80s punk, and 90s grunge--all with modern indie sensibilities. Well, that's my take anyway. Whatever it is, I kinda like it. You can check out some tunes from the group at their web site. No time machine required. "Ruin Christmas" includes three songs from The Clams' long out of print 2008 CDR of Christmas songs; "Melekalikimaka", "All I Want For Christmas" and "Blue Christmas", plus the newly recorded "Fat Daddy". The 7" EP will be released on 11/30/10 on black vinyl (100 copies) and red vinyl (500 copies) and will not (they say) be reprinted. You can buy this one at 1-2-3-4 Go Records: Black vinyl Red vinyl Or through Interpunk Fortuna Pop is one of those Indie Pop labels (out of the UK) of long standing and, in better economic times, they even graced us with a couple of exquisite (if nearly impossible to find) holiday compilations. And so, OK, this single isn't a Christmas single in the strictest sense of the word. But it's got "December" in the title and it comes on bubblegum colored vinyl, and that's got to count for something. "December Boy" is the first single to be taken from The Loves' fourth and final album “…Love You”, and the first on which Jenna Love (The Loves' J-Lo) takes lead vocals. Recorded live at Soup Studios in London's glittering East End, it turns the chorus for "September Gurls" by Big Star into a Spector-esque girl group pop number, with help from Liz Hunt from The School and Emma Hall from Pocketbooks on backing vocals, as well as Rob Jones (AKA The Voluntary Butler Scheme) on organ. Real life violins also make an appearance. The flip-side, "Bubblegum", is equally upbeat, but with more of a 60s garage Nuggets feel. This one's available from Fortuna Pop direct (where you can even preview the A-side) for as long as it lasts. £3.00 is the price. £2.00 shipping to the US (free shipping within the UK). Whole thing works out to about $8.25. There will be lots of vinyl flowing (most of it limited) on "Back to Black Friday", or, as it's more descriptively known, "Record Store Day". Intended as an industry show of support for independent record stores, Record Store Day (held the day after Thanksgiving) features a slew of very limited edition vinyl releases--this year including yet another vinyl release of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Drummer Boy" (I think it might be the third one this year) and a faithful reproduction (in 180gm vinyl) of Frank Sinatra's immortal "Jolly Christmas" LP. In terms of holiday singles, "Back to Black Friday" will feature a supposedly previously unreleased holiday track from Sick Puppies, "That Time Of Year Again" backed with "Odd One". My personal complaint? If you're trying to help independent record stores, why are you allowing on-line outlets to offer these items on 11/21, 5 days before Record Store Day? Finally, for this piece, we have Dave Bazan. Dave's holiday singles are something of an Indie Rock tradition and this will be his 7th such release. The 45 features a Bazan original on the A-side, "Wish My Kids Were Here", and a reworking of Longfellow's "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" on the flip. Dave previously recorded the latter for his 2002 holiday single (his first), but decided it was time for an update. The 7" is limited to 1000 copies, 200 in orange vinyl, 400 in opaque red and 400 in opaque yellow. Make no mistake, they will sell out. Orders are being taken through Suicide Squeeze, now. So, if you're interested, best reserve your copy today.
The Christmas music season has its own calendar. Some might not be ready to hear their first song of the season, but the major Christmas album announcements are pretty much behind us already. There will still be a few album announcements in all likelihood, but, with the debut today of the holiday single from Train and the video for Mariah's "Oh Santa", Christmas singles season is officially underway. Christmas singles come in two formats these days--vinyl and digital; the CD single is essentially as dead as the cassette single. Ain't happenin'. Since I've neglected to put up a singles page on the site (so far), let's cover a few of the noteworthy singles (so far) of the 2010 holiday season. Beginning with Mariah Carey's "Oh Santa". The digital single for "Oh Santa" dropped almost a month ago and it currently stands at #1 on the Billboard Holiday Charts. The first time I heard it, I kind of hated it. It reminded me, in a bad way, of Toni Basil's "Mickey" ("thanks a lot, Stubby, I won't be able to get that one out of my head for a week, now"). But it has consistently grown on me and that bodes well for the long-term survival of Mariah's latest. It's definitely snappy and, as Tom Hanks says in That Thing You Do, "I like snappy!" Then there's Train's "Shake Up Christmas". To hear Train vocalist Pat Monihan tell it, writing a Christmas song specifically for use in the new seasonal Coca Cola ad campaign wasn't about commerce. Perish the thought. It was all about spreading love and joy. He's spreading something alright. Not for nothin', Pat, I'd have an easier time believing you if you were turning the proceeds over to charity. But since you're taking the money, I'm going to have to assume that it is about the money. It doesn't help your case, either, that the download for "Shake Up Christmas" is listed at $1.29 rather than the (still) standard 99 cents. The song, itself, sounds suspiciously like a Coca Cola jingle but otherwise nice enough...now. How many commercial viewings do you think that'll last? So a big Bah Humbug to Train. American treasure George Hamilton IV, God bless him, first hit the charts in 1956 with "A Rose And A Baby Ruth". Hamilton was a regular on the Country charts from 1960 to 1978, scoring his biggest hit in 1963 with "Abilene". The North Carolina native put out a Christmas single back in August. "I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas" is good enough to remind anyone who hears it what a star Hamilton was. The song has the easy listening Country sound of those halcyon days of the early 60s--most notably associated with Eddy Arnold. And Hamilton's voice on this one is still as strong and clear as it was all those years ago. The single actually comes from a 2004 album, "Songs of Faith And Inspiration" which also includes the song "Christmas In Heaven". A past hit maker of more recent vintage released her Christmas single a little over a week ago. Donna Lewis charmed the world with her Pop sensation "I Love You Always Forever" back in 1996. She's recorded and performed steadily ever since, even if a bit more removed from the spotlight. Her new Christmas single is a collaboration with Jazz guitar player Artie Tatum--a bossa nova version of "God Rest Ye". It's not up to the level of Donna's own "Christmas Lights" from the 1995 CD, "You Sleigh Me", in my opinion, but its alright. Bluegrass fans should enjoy the digital single from Cedar Hill, "Merry Christmas You All". Cedar Hill is no fly-by-night outfit. They've been patrolling the stages of the Ozarks for about 40 years now. Formed and led by mandolin player Frank Ray, a member of the National Old Time Country and Bluegrass Music Hall Of Fame, the band's recent album "Poverty Row" was a big hit in bluegrass circles. They have high hopes as well for their next album, "I've Got A Thing About Doors". There's been a general dearth of Country Christmas albums this year (among "name" artists, only Lady Antebellum and Mandy Barnett have made the scene so far), but there are and will be plenty of digital singles to represent the genre. Case in point, young Rachel Holder. The Tennessee darlin' is still in her teens, but she's grabbing for the brass ring. Of course that happens all the time in Country music, but Rachel's got the voice and the looks to go far, in my opinion. She reminds me of a young Tanya Tucker, vocally, and that's fairly high praise from me. And her Christmas song, "Christmas Eve"? It swings, it rocks, it Honky Tonks, it's a great Country Christmas record. Stop by Rachel's MySpace page and give that song a spin. If you like Country, I think you'll like "Christmas Eve". John Solly may like to make his sound seem revolutionary, by saying it's a cross between Steely Dan and The Beach Boys, but its really just 70s Adult Contemporary. Truth be told, though, there's nothing at all wrong with that and THIS happens to be very GOOD Adult Contemporary. Solly's Christmas song, "Hickory Run", was a new add at Amazon on November 1 and in my Amazon purchase cart by November 2. This track is smooth and easy, with a groove reminiscent of The Rascals' "Groovin", and would be right at home in a rotation with those old Robbie Dupree, America, and England Dan and John Ford Coley records. I'd play it at my station. Elsewhere on the site, we filled you in on Nadia Ackerman's digital single--another good one. And, among those already announced, we're looking forward to Hayes Carll's studio version of "Grateful For Christmas" (due November 9) and the pop-wonderful sounding "Carry Me Home (It's Christmas)" from the Yellow Snowflakes, with it's sunshiny Huey Lewis & The News sound (though we'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving for that one). Hard rockers, Cavo, have also promised a Christmas single for this year. And this year's "British Invasion" (Christmas singles in the UK tend to fly out in December) hasn't even begun. Clearly, we'll have to revisit this topic. But, next up, we'll take a gander at some of the vinyl singles that artists have announced this year. |
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