70 year old Paul Anka is smack dab in the middle of his latest career (seems like he's had a half dozen or more), having released in recent years a pair of albums--"Classic Songs My Way" and "Rock Swings"--in which the crooner puts a decidedly Anka spin on mostly recent hits by other artists (such as Foreigner's "Waiting For A Girl Like You" and Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun"). And Mr. Anka has just put the finishing touches on a new Christmas album that's scheduled for release on November 1. Yes, Paul Anka has released a Christmas album before--"It's Christmas Everywhere" (reissued as "Christmas With Paul Anka")--but that was, in his own words, "53 years ago. It's time for an update."
I'll Be Home for Christmas
White Christmas
Away In A Manger
Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
What Child Is This
Walking In The Air
Believe
Ding Dong Merrily on High
The First Noel
These days, The Rovers spend most of their time touring and have decided to give it about another 4 years before retiring. That would bring the group to a nice round number (give or take) of 50 years of making music and merriment. So you might want to take in their concert if the Rovers play nearby--it could be your last chance. While we wait for the new Christmas album, there's always the group's classic out-of-print 1982 LP "It Was A Night Like This" and 1999's "Songs Of Christmas" CD...not to mention their version of "The Marvelous Toy" which dates all the way back to 1970.
The UK holiday release, which will likely only be available in America as an Import and/or digital download, is set for this December. "There is no Christmas next year, it's the apocalypse! So yes, this Christmas," says a smiling Emmy, who still isn't entirely sure how the album will be credited.
Though Emmy The Great is a relatively new artist on the scene, she has previously recorded a Christmas track; her version of John Prine's "Christmas In Prison" appears on the 2006 Import charity collection "It's Not Like Christmas".
Scott Weiland's Christmas album, "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year", has been pushed back again--this time from October 4 to October 25. Maybe Scott just digs that Halloween vibe.
To date, there's been no domestic release date given for Libera's "The Christmas Album". This was previously announced as a worldwide release, but perhaps the United States isn't included in the definition of "worldwide" anymore. For the time being, I'm going to leave the album color coded as though there will be an American release. "The Christmas Album" is scheduled for an early release in the Philippines, coinciding with the choir's tour there, and for a November 7th or 8th release most everywhere else. The Japanese version will include a bonus DVD and is being released under the title "Winter Songs". The Japanese version is also likely to have a different cover and there may be a track difference or two; Japanese releases are like that.
And it should be noted that the festive releases from Colbie Caillat and August Burns Red have, for the moment at least, disappeared from distribution schedules. This might mean a snag or delay that would push the albums back--possibly even to 2012--or it could just mean that the record companies want to control the information and make the announcements on their own terms and schedules. Neither situation would be at all uncommon. Our sources for both were the respective record labels so we'll continue to include them on the List until we hear something definitively different.