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A nice Christmas album...


blue2blue

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It's a little late for shopping, I suppose, but looking for a little seasonal music just now (my old friends are gasping) I re-discovered one of my favorite Christmas albums from when I was a kid, Harry Belafonte's Christmas. (Actually, I think it may be a repackaging of some of his earlier work with some later recordings.)

 

It's a little more on the religious side -- no jingle bells, no hall-decking, certainly no rock-n-roll Santa Claus... but it's really quite lovely. A good antidote to the treacly or over-jolly mall music we're usually subjected to.*

 

From "A Star in the East," done in a very slow, even reverential gospel style to his sweetly evocative "Scarlet Ribbons"... it's... really nice.

 

Happy holidays, all!

 

PS... feel free to post your own favorite holiday music... many of us may have it forgotten in our collections or those of us with subscriptions might want to track it down.

 

PPS... I spoke too soon on the "hall-decking" thing... they snuck a little snip of it in the Medley. It's all good! ;)

 

*(At first I tried the "Holiday Radio" options on MusicMatch... and have to admit I was pretty amused by Babyface's "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" -- hard not to offer your own ad libs and shout outs to the other reindeer. But the run of the stream was a bit like being stuck in the wrong elevator on Christmas Eve.)

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My favorite Christmas music is any SATB choral arrangement of traditional carols. They can be religious in nature (God Rest Ye, The Holly and the Ivy) or secular (Gloucestershire Wassail, Here We Come A-Wassailing). Generally, I don't care for syrupy pop arrangements of these tunes.

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The Luther Vandross Christmas album has 4 or 5 of the greatest performances of Christmas music I have ever heard; and I have a ton of Christmas music.

 

His "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Oh Come all Ye Faithful" are just magnificent.

 

The Charlie Brown Christmas CD by Vince Guaraldi is another one.

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All good selections here. I'm a sucker for old Ray Conniff stuff, too, as well as old movie Christmas songs (Silver Bells, White Christmas), Nat King Cole...

 

Luther Vandross' stuff always shimmers. And, yesterday's soundtrack selection of choice for our family dinner was the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

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I too love the old/traditional stuff, be it religious or secular. But, I also like some of the new/non-traditional. A case in point is a CD I purchased this year: The Alligator Records Christmas Collection. If you love the blues as much as I do this album will be a welcome addition to one's collection. It is comprised of original tunes by various artists from Tinsley Ellis to Katie Webster. The only song I didn't enjoy is one done by The Uppidy Blues Women about the depressing adventures of being a single mom at Christmas. I am sure strugglin', depressed single moms would like it, but it made me reach for the Prozac.

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Originally posted by d. gauss

well this one's nice 'cause ALL money goes to charity to help displaced musicians in new orleans. and even nicer 'cause i wrote 2 of the songs on it.
:)
check it out:


A King Family Christmas


cheers,


-d. gauss

 

 

 

I am listening to this album via CD Baby as I type. Great job and a great cause. I will order a copy tomorrow when the eagle flies. Thanks for the link.

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