Thanks to the compact disc, there seems to be no shortage of titles in just about any format to keep you in a Christmas holiday mood. With that in mind, I thought I might share a few of my favorites with you today. As my tastes in music run all over the map, I hope that one of those I enjoy will also be one of yours.
So here we go in no particular order…
From his days on radio to the annual Christmas specials on television, Bing Crosby was one person seemed to always have a song for the holidays. “White Christmas”, from the film “Holiday Inn” (1942), went on to sell over 350 million copies. The disc in my collection that best covers the subject is “The Christmas Songs” (on the Classic Jazz Vintage label released in 1990) with a series of radio broadcasts from 1942 to 1946. It’s a great look at the holidays during the most difficult of times.
Someone at Capitol Records gets my vote for the Ultra Lounge series of albums. What a great concept! Dig into the vaults and use tracks they already own and now a new generation of listeners enjoy them. Christmas gets it’s own treatment. “Christmas Cocktails Part Two” has the right mix for me. From Wayne Newton’s “Jingle Bell Rock” to Dean Martin’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” to Lou Rawl’s “Merry Christmas Baby”, this is a great throwback collection.
Speaking of throwbacks, you can’t get much more into that genre than The Squirrel Nut Zippers. And not to disappoint, their holiday offering of “Christmas Caravan” even features a cover image of two young boys watching a train run around under a Christmas Tree! Their version of “Sleigh Ride” is right up there!
Mannheim Steamroller may be the studio band that Chip Davis drags in for another album every year or does it just seem that way? But I’ve always enjoyed the second Christmas disc they put together, “Fresh Aire Christmas 1988”. Likely this is because they did many of the songs I sang in a choir at church a few years back — especially “Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming”.
Television Christmas specials favored animation as their tool of preference it seems. Out of the multitude of choices, I’ll pick two shows that spawned albums that I consider “Must-Haves”. Who can resist Boris Karloff telling us the tale of “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”? You can’t tell me that Tim Burton wasn’t inspired by this. (And yes, it’s too bad Ron Howard wasn’t.) And if you can say that you haven’t sang “da-who-door-ray” along with the Who’s, well… you’re only fooling yourself out there!
Of course, Vince Guaraldi’s music was as much a character in any Peanuts animated special as those drawn by Charles Schulz. Right from the start this was true. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” captures many of the holiday foibles but brings us back to what it really is all about.
Well, here’s hoping that this gets you in the mood to listen to a few favorites of your own and ready to charge out and greet the throngs infesting your local malls in search of the holiday treasures to share with one and all. Unless you were smart and shopped all year long…
Speaking of Grinches… Those folks at Target take the cake this year. So if you can’t drop a few coins in the bucket there for the Salvation Army, try this link and do so online. And the Red Cross can also put your loose change to good use as well. It shouldn’t hurt to help at this time of year, so do what you can. It does make a difference!