Some more covers, tracks and news for y'all to start the week.
Took awhile, but we finally got the track list for "Santa's Got Mojo 2", Electro-Fi's follow-up to their hugely successful Blues collection from 2000. Street date for this one is Tuesday (October 16).
Be My Santa Clause - Shakura S'Aida
Let's Have A Christmas Party - Fathead
Bluesy Christmas - Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley
Lonesome Christmas - Finis Tasby & Enrico Crivellaro
Hot Cider Cinnamon - Harrison Kennedy
Christmas Blues - Paul Oscher
Hallelujah In the Mall - Julian Fauth
Fat Santa - Fruteland Jackson
Anticipation - Morgan Davis
Santa's Drunk - Fathead
Christmas Comes But Once A Year - Johnny Laws
Merry Christmas Baby - Mel Brown & the Homewreckers
Took awhile, but we finally got the track list for "Santa's Got Mojo 2", Electro-Fi's follow-up to their hugely successful Blues collection from 2000. Street date for this one is Tuesday (October 16).
Be My Santa Clause - Shakura S'Aida
Let's Have A Christmas Party - Fathead
Bluesy Christmas - Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley
Lonesome Christmas - Finis Tasby & Enrico Crivellaro
Hot Cider Cinnamon - Harrison Kennedy
Christmas Blues - Paul Oscher
Hallelujah In the Mall - Julian Fauth
Fat Santa - Fruteland Jackson
Anticipation - Morgan Davis
Santa's Drunk - Fathead
Christmas Comes But Once A Year - Johnny Laws
Merry Christmas Baby - Mel Brown & the Homewreckers
The Electro-Fi label is based in Canada and here's an exciting looking Jazz album from Canadian vocalist and Juno Award winner Diana Panton. I'd say Diana sings in the same style as Diana Krall, but Panton's got several YouTube videos if you're curious (none of the Christmas stuff, yet). Amazon's price is a bit on the high side. You may do better at Sunrise (an on-line Canadian retailer). Hopefully, there will be a corresponding domestic release. The Import will be available October 23.
1. Kissing by the Mistletoe
2. Baby it's Cold Outside
3. Christmas Kiss
4. Winter Weather
5. C'est Noel Cheri (m'ami)
6. Winter Wonderland
7. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
8. December
9. Snowbound
10. Winter Warm
11. The Christmas Waltz
12. Christmas Time is Here
13. Let it Snow!/C'est l'hiver
14. Images of Christmas
15. Douce nuit/Silent Night
1. Kissing by the Mistletoe
2. Baby it's Cold Outside
3. Christmas Kiss
4. Winter Weather
5. C'est Noel Cheri (m'ami)
6. Winter Wonderland
7. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
8. December
9. Snowbound
10. Winter Warm
11. The Christmas Waltz
12. Christmas Time is Here
13. Let it Snow!/C'est l'hiver
14. Images of Christmas
15. Douce nuit/Silent Night
The Sweetback Sisters are a Brooklyn band, but calling them Country really sells them way short. They can bring the Honky Tonk, sure, but they're equally adept at Rockabilly, Country Swing and Country Blues. You can call them retro, but they can sound 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and all those other numbers, too. Heck, sometimes they sound like BR549 crossed with the B52s. Every December, the Sweetback Sisters tour the east coast with their "Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular" and, this year, they happily recorded some of their most popular holiday arrangements so you can get all the hand-clappin' foot-stompin' Christmas smilin' joy of the Sweetback Sisters holiday show in your very own home. The album can be yours beginning November 27.
1. The Christmas Boogie
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
3. Walking In A Winter Wonderland
4. The Nine Days Of Christmas
5. Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
6. Silber Bells
7. Rocking Around The Christmas Tree
8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
10. The Twelve Days Of Christmas
11. Christmas Island
12. Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
13. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
14. Must Be Santa
15. Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney
1. The Christmas Boogie
2. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
3. Walking In A Winter Wonderland
4. The Nine Days Of Christmas
5. Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
6. Silber Bells
7. Rocking Around The Christmas Tree
8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
10. The Twelve Days Of Christmas
11. Christmas Island
12. Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
13. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
14. Must Be Santa
15. Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney
I'm not a big classical guy, but there are some artists that gain my ear and appreciation. Usually it's the smaller groups, the quartets and what nots. In this case, it's the duo of Valerie Milot and Antoine Bareil. They make such beautiful music together, with just her harp and his violin (and the occasional guest pieces). They might be known most, among the casual classical listener, for their Simon & Garfunkle tribute album, "Old Friends". Their version of "Scarborough Fair" is, pardon the pun, classic.
We had "Christmas Fantasies" posted on the list as the rerelease of a Christmas EP released in 2010, but, now that I've seen the tracklist, it's clear they've fattened this goose to full album size. Might still be a reissue for all I know, but I've only ever seen the 5-song EP before. Interestingly enough, "Scarborough Fair" was on that original EP. We've highlighted it and the other EP tracks in red. The "new" additions are in blue.
1. El Noi de la Mare
2. A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves
3. Stille Nacht
4. Saint-Louis (O Little Town of Bethlehem)
5. Nuit de Noël (Esquisse pour violon et harpe)
6. Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
7. Trois jours avant Noël
8. Veni, Veni Emmanuel
9. Variations sur « Mon Merle »
10. Variations sur Entre le boeuf et l’âne gris
11. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
12. Ave Maria
We had "Christmas Fantasies" posted on the list as the rerelease of a Christmas EP released in 2010, but, now that I've seen the tracklist, it's clear they've fattened this goose to full album size. Might still be a reissue for all I know, but I've only ever seen the 5-song EP before. Interestingly enough, "Scarborough Fair" was on that original EP. We've highlighted it and the other EP tracks in red. The "new" additions are in blue.
1. El Noi de la Mare
2. A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves
3. Stille Nacht
4. Saint-Louis (O Little Town of Bethlehem)
5. Nuit de Noël (Esquisse pour violon et harpe)
6. Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
7. Trois jours avant Noël
8. Veni, Veni Emmanuel
9. Variations sur « Mon Merle »
10. Variations sur Entre le boeuf et l’âne gris
11. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
12. Ave Maria
Roberta Flack's Christmas album, "The Christmas Album", was released in 1997. 15 years later, that set is getting a makeover. "Christmas Songs" is remixed, remastered, re-produced, repackaged and ready to drop on November 13. At the time of the original release, "Cherry Tree Carol" was slated to be included. It's a personal favorite of Flack's. But, for whatever reason, it didn't make the cut. So it is finally included on this new version of the album from Verese Sarabande, although it appears "As Long As There's Christmas" was dropped.
1. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
2. There’s Still My Joy
3. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
4. 25th Of Last December
5. Because This Child Was Born
6. When There’s Love
7. The Little Drummer Boy
8. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Bonus Track:
9. Cherry Tree Carol
1. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
2. There’s Still My Joy
3. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
4. 25th Of Last December
5. Because This Child Was Born
6. When There’s Love
7. The Little Drummer Boy
8. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Bonus Track:
9. Cherry Tree Carol
Technically, Gord Banford's "Christmas In Canada" was released last year. But it was only available to fan club members. The rest of us have to wait until October 30. I haven't been able to track down the full song list as yet, but we do have the cover art and a video (recorded in 2009) for one of the song's on the album, "Baseball Glove".
In other Import news, ABBA's Benny Andersson is putting out a new Christmas album, set to release on November 14. The album is "Tomten Har Åkt Hem", which means "Santa Claus Has Gone Home". Benny's worked for quite awhile with his "Orkester" and the traditional songs selected were picked because the songs and Benny Andersson's Orkester were perfectly suited for each other. The new songs--yes, there are new songs--feature lyrics from Bjorn Ulvaes. Benny and Bjorn, of course, wrote almost all of ABBA's songs together. We'll try to get the record up on our international page when we get the track list. If you're thinking of buying, you can pre-order through CDon or Bengans.
Also coming on the 14th of November is the tenth anniversary edition of "Jag kommer hem igen till jul" from Peter Joback. Joback is considered one of the best male vocalist's in Sweden and "Jag kommer hem igen till jul" was a very popular Christmas album. For it's tenth anniversary re-issue, Peter has recorded a new Christmas single, "Jul Nu Igen" ("Christmas Now Again") and 3 more bonus tracks. The other tracks include a duet with Sarah Dawn Finer that was included on a limited run 2008 Christmas release, with the other two tracks expected to come from the same 2008 set. This one is also available through Bengans.
Also coming on the 14th of November is the tenth anniversary edition of "Jag kommer hem igen till jul" from Peter Joback. Joback is considered one of the best male vocalist's in Sweden and "Jag kommer hem igen till jul" was a very popular Christmas album. For it's tenth anniversary re-issue, Peter has recorded a new Christmas single, "Jul Nu Igen" ("Christmas Now Again") and 3 more bonus tracks. The other tracks include a duet with Sarah Dawn Finer that was included on a limited run 2008 Christmas release, with the other two tracks expected to come from the same 2008 set. This one is also available through Bengans.
Two American Idol alums have announced plans to join Scotty McCreery in the annual Christmas gold rush. Kris Allen, AI's 8th season winner, just announced he's leaving RCA Records (sounds like a mutual parting of the ways) and, now that he's flying solo, he's recording "Christmas tunes" in his home studio.
Meanwhile, the artist dubbed "White Chocolate" for his booming emotive soulful voice (described as "a fat woman trapped in a big white man's body"), Adam Brock is finishing up a Christmas EP. Brock tweeted the news following the mixing session for "Carol Of The Bells". Unlike Allen, Brock was not among the finalists when he competed on the show earlier this year, but he definitely left an impression with his performance of Aretha Franklin's "Think".
Always remember, Idol hands are the devil's workshop.
From NBC's The Voice, Chris Mann's Wal-Mart exclusive is now out. In the end, he went with "Home For Christmas", rather than "White Christmas", for the EP's title, though the latter is still on the playlist. The 6 songs on Mann's Christmas EP are just the warmup for his full-length record, "Roads", due out October 30.
1.O Come All Ye Faithful
2.I'll Be Home For Christmas
3.O Holy Night
4.The First Noel
5.White Christmas
6.Ave Maria
And, finally, from yet another reality show, NBC's The Sing Off, Pentatonix is recording a Christmas album having just finished work on the arrangements last week (you know, you rarely stop to think how much work goes into charting arrangements for an a cappella album). Pentatonix has already graced us with "We Three Kings" from last year's "The Sing Off: Sounds Of The Season". Now we've told you about Pentatonix before, but I wanted to close with this because it's fun, even if it isn't a Christmas track (though you just know someone's going to do a Christmas parody of this song--probably this year and probably The Flashcats). Here is the Pentatonix cover of Psy's "Gangnam Style". Too cool for school, dude. It's available through iTunes.
Meanwhile, the artist dubbed "White Chocolate" for his booming emotive soulful voice (described as "a fat woman trapped in a big white man's body"), Adam Brock is finishing up a Christmas EP. Brock tweeted the news following the mixing session for "Carol Of The Bells". Unlike Allen, Brock was not among the finalists when he competed on the show earlier this year, but he definitely left an impression with his performance of Aretha Franklin's "Think".
Always remember, Idol hands are the devil's workshop.
From NBC's The Voice, Chris Mann's Wal-Mart exclusive is now out. In the end, he went with "Home For Christmas", rather than "White Christmas", for the EP's title, though the latter is still on the playlist. The 6 songs on Mann's Christmas EP are just the warmup for his full-length record, "Roads", due out October 30.
1.O Come All Ye Faithful
2.I'll Be Home For Christmas
3.O Holy Night
4.The First Noel
5.White Christmas
6.Ave Maria
And, finally, from yet another reality show, NBC's The Sing Off, Pentatonix is recording a Christmas album having just finished work on the arrangements last week (you know, you rarely stop to think how much work goes into charting arrangements for an a cappella album). Pentatonix has already graced us with "We Three Kings" from last year's "The Sing Off: Sounds Of The Season". Now we've told you about Pentatonix before, but I wanted to close with this because it's fun, even if it isn't a Christmas track (though you just know someone's going to do a Christmas parody of this song--probably this year and probably The Flashcats). Here is the Pentatonix cover of Psy's "Gangnam Style". Too cool for school, dude. It's available through iTunes.
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