Solid State Records, which was kind of the Metal spin-off of Tooth & Nail, will be releasing their first ever Christmas compilation on November 24. The label is home to, among others, August Burns Red. And, given the success ABR enjoyed with their holiday full-length, "Sleddin' Hill", a collection like this was inevitable. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The more the merrier, I always say. I'm told that the album contains a good deal of newly recorded material (both original songs and fresh arrangements of the older carols...and "Jingle Bell Rock"). Clearly, the August Burns Red original "Flurries" was on "Sleddin' Hill". I think "Joy To The World" is new from ABR, though, and is being added to the digital re-release of "Sleddin' Hill" this year. "The King" from Wolves At The Gate was a 2012 single, IIRC. And "Silent Night" by Forevermore rings a bell, for some reason. Other than that, these tracks look new to me, but I'm not an expert on the genre. Amazon has the listings up for both CD and digital formats. Amusingly, the "reviews" on the CD listing are for John Darnell's New Age album of the same title; people ordering based on those reviews are in for one hell of a rude awakening.
1. "Joy To The World" - August Burns Red
2. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - Fit For A King
3. "O Come O Come Emmanuel" - For Today
4. "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" - Wolves At The Gate
5. "He Came With Love" - Memphis May Fire
6. "Jingle Bell Rock" - The Ongoing Concept
7. "Silent Night" - Forevermore
8. "The King" - Wolves At The Gate
9. "O Holy Night" - Becoming The Archetype
10. "Flurries" - August Burns Red
As long as we're talking about Rock music, here, I want to take the opportunity to give fair consideration to a record I haven't, yet. It's a bummer that some potentially cool Christmas comps are released with no publicity or promotion. They turn up on the release listings without track lists and titles vague enough to be both intriguing and off-putting. For someone in my position, I can either ignore it (usually my go to choice; its on them if they can't give me a reason to buy it) or buy it and hope for the best.
The album in question, here, is "An Alternative Christmas". That title's been used often so, even though the listing came early, there was no way to know it wasn't something I already had. Amazon didn't list the proper label (Crimson), so I couldn't google up the label. The cover art originally posted was too small to read. When full size cover art was posted, I could see that it included such bands as Belle & Sebastian, She & Him, Sufjan Stevens and Snow Patrol. OK. But still no track listing. I ordered it almost as an afterthought.
Well, it's a pretty good buy, actually. 2 CDs and such great recent stuff as The Futureheads' "Christmas Was Better In The 80s", Au Revoir Simone's "Christmas Time Is Here", Summer Camp's "Christmas Wrapping", and Tim Wheeler & Emmy The Great's "Christmas Day (I Wish I Was Surfing)". Heck, if they'd have put those names on the cover, I'd have bought it without a second thought.
Without doing more work than I care to, right now, I couldn't tell you if there's anything here that's making its first appearance on hard copy CD. But I can tell you that, acquiring copies of all this music, track by track, would require some effort. Good comps are the ones that save you that effort and space, not the ones that give you the same 15 or 20 songs every other comp gives you plus maybe one they don't. I mean, sure, you'd still want to have the full Tim Wheeler & Emmy The Great album. But hunting down a bunch of these singles--some vinyl, some digital, some CD--versus a single two-CD comp? Yeah, I'm going comp. So "An Alternative Christmas" is a well-done collection, if a complete marketing FAIL. Click the cover to purchase from Amazon. Track list below.
The album in question, here, is "An Alternative Christmas". That title's been used often so, even though the listing came early, there was no way to know it wasn't something I already had. Amazon didn't list the proper label (Crimson), so I couldn't google up the label. The cover art originally posted was too small to read. When full size cover art was posted, I could see that it included such bands as Belle & Sebastian, She & Him, Sufjan Stevens and Snow Patrol. OK. But still no track listing. I ordered it almost as an afterthought.
Well, it's a pretty good buy, actually. 2 CDs and such great recent stuff as The Futureheads' "Christmas Was Better In The 80s", Au Revoir Simone's "Christmas Time Is Here", Summer Camp's "Christmas Wrapping", and Tim Wheeler & Emmy The Great's "Christmas Day (I Wish I Was Surfing)". Heck, if they'd have put those names on the cover, I'd have bought it without a second thought.
Without doing more work than I care to, right now, I couldn't tell you if there's anything here that's making its first appearance on hard copy CD. But I can tell you that, acquiring copies of all this music, track by track, would require some effort. Good comps are the ones that save you that effort and space, not the ones that give you the same 15 or 20 songs every other comp gives you plus maybe one they don't. I mean, sure, you'd still want to have the full Tim Wheeler & Emmy The Great album. But hunting down a bunch of these singles--some vinyl, some digital, some CD--versus a single two-CD comp? Yeah, I'm going comp. So "An Alternative Christmas" is a well-done collection, if a complete marketing FAIL. Click the cover to purchase from Amazon. Track list below.
| DISC ONE: 1.When I Get Home for Christmas - Snow Patrol 2.Get Behind Me, Santa! - Sufjan Stevens 3.River - Travis 4.O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Belle and Sebastian 5.Songs for the Angels - Great Lake Swimmers 6.The Christmas Waltz - She & Him 7.Snowy - Josh Rouse 8.Time of the Season - Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan 9.Christmas Time Is Here - Au Revoir Simone 10.A Very Sorry Christmas - The New Mendicants 11.Spotlight On Christmas - Rufus Wainwright 12.Just Like Christmas - Low 13.Sante Fe - Drive-By Truckers 14.Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - The Polyphonic Spree 15.Feeling Like Christmas - Jacob Golden 16.The Power of Love - Feeder 17.Christmas Wrapping - Summer Camp | DISC TWO: 1.Christmas Was Better in the 80s - The Futureheads 2.I Won't Be Home for Christmas - Blink-182 3.Christmas Day (I Wish I Was Surfing) - Emmy the Great & Tim Wheeler 4.Christmas Celebration - Weezer 5.In This Home On Ice - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 6.Together We'll Ring in the New Year - Motion City Soundtrack 7.Your Christmas Whiskey - The Minus 5 8.That Was the Worst Christmas Ever - Sufjan Stevens 9.Slashed Wrists This Christmas - Gruff Rhys 10.The Friday Before Christmas - The Electric Soft Parade 11.Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - She & Him 12.I Will Cry at Christmas - Denim 13.Blue Christmas - Bright Eyes 14.Yule Shoot Your Eye Out - Fall Out Boy 15.Merry Christmas, I Don't Want to Fight Tonight - Asobi Seksu 16.No Xmas for John Quays - The Fall 17.Little Drummer Boy - Low |
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