The Smiley Smile Message Board

I know we've discussed Ultimate Christmas (BB) a whole lot and What I really Want For Christmas...but what's everyone's fav seasonal album? I have a feeling we'll see a lot of Spector's Christmas albums listed. I myself really like the Carpenter's Christmas Portrait album. I also enjoy the Elf soundtrack.

I guess Spector did it best, but I like James Brown's three Xmas albums a lot too.

These are some of my favourites:

Sufjan Stevens - "Songs For Christmas"

The Supremes - "Merry Christmas"

Various artists - "Christmas In The City (Motown Holiday Classics)"

Booker T & The MG's - "In The Christmas Spirit"

Buck Owens - "Christmas With Buck Owens"

Dean Martin - "A Winter Romance"

Elvis Presley - "Elvis' Christmas Album"

The Ventures - "The Ventures' Christmas Album"

The Beatles - "Complete Christmas Collection 1963-1969"

Bright Eyes - "A Christmas Album"

My Morning Jacket - "Does Christmas Fiasco Style"

The Sonics, The Wailers & The Galaxies - "Merry Christmas"

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - "Season For Miracles"

Various artists - "Studio One Reggae Christmas (Irie Christmas In Jamaica)"

Low - "Christmas"

The Rat Pack - "Christmas With The Rat Pack"

wow, My Morning Jacket & Sufjan Steven's sounds good

(http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/r/rotaryconne_peace~~~~_101b.jpg)

Thanks for the topic, Punkinhead....

I always have to plug the oldies but goodies. I find them to be, not only the definitive versions of the songs, but also the most spiritual.

I don't have specific albums because they're mostly compilations, but the artists are:

Andy Williams
Mario Lanza
Perry Como
Roger Whittaker
Nat "King" Cole
Jack Jones (a very underrated singer)

I don't like xmas and usually like xmas music less. But there are some good ones. (btw, see 30music.com, which is streaming my xmas music at the moment...)

Spector's
Beach Boys' actually released xmas album (not the 70s sh*t)
Motown xmas
BW's xmas

The Sufjan set of xmas EPs has a few good moments, but like all Sufjan, is way, way, way, way too repetitive. SUFJAN: EDIT.

And the single Christmas in Hollis, by Run DMC, will always kick ass...

I like Elvis' first christmas-album very much. The second is good but not as strong, but it has a one or two glorious cuts imo.
Spector of course did a great one, too, everybody knows that.
Dean Martin's is wonderful too. "A marshmallow world" almost sounds like him going "wall-of-sound".
Don't have to talk about the BBs and BW's albums I guess

I listen to the BB's, Brian's, and Carnie's Christmas CDs.  It's also  hard to beat The Carpenter's Christmas Album.  I also like Johnny Cash's "The Christmas Spirit" and a couple by local artists Christopher Shaw and Bridget Ball, "Mountain Snow and Mistletoe" and "Mountain Snow and MistleTWO".

I really enjoy Christmas Caravan by the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

(http://skank.ru/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/squirrel-nut-zippers-christmas-caravan.jpg)

 anything from I remember from my childhood

- The Great old compilation titled ""Merry christmas" on Decca and later MCA records  by "Der bingle"....
 - The Original Johnny Mathis Christmas album.....
...."dickory dock"......
- A Christmas Gift for you from Phil Spector.....except for "Rudolph the rednosed reindeer"....never liked the crystals' version much.......
-and who does that famous instrumental version of sleigh ride?, it must be percy faith or henry mancini or one of those
guys.....always liked that one.....

since christmas is a time for sentimentality and nostlagia, I really like anything older with some hiss on it. It just
feels right. Slick Christmas music reminds me of being somewhere i don't want to be, like far away from home at a christmas party in a chalet, surrounded by heavily perfumed middle age folks in christmas sweaters......well, actually
I have a love/hate thing with the anne Murray x-mas album, which could def be called slick......I just grew up listening to it,
and therefore have a slight weakness to its "charms".......actually I havent heard it in years......I just wanted to get that out there, in case Im ever called on it.......I just don't hate it is all.......I do.......but I don't......,,,,I guess I have an ambivalence toward ms. Murray......that's what it is

In conjunction with the Oscar Peterson RIP thread...

While I haven't heard the entire album (maybe just 6-7 songs), Oscar has some nice Christmas music, neat jazzy instrumentals, good for just chilling out.

Two alltime favorite Christmas songs: "Merry Christmas Darling" by the Carpenters and Aselin Debison's "The Gift"...sounded good for a (then-)eleven year old.

Spector, Elvis, Beach Boys, Ventures, Ray Charles, and the click-track CD by Fats Domino. It's a guilty pleasure, but I can't help loving it.

I put my Christmas music on the computer a couple of years ago, so now I listen to Christmas music pretty much throughout the entire year. I don't sit and listen to an entire album's worth, just a cut or two. Recently I pulled out some Perry Como, Nat "King" Cole, and Frank Sinatra. It was a cold and rainy night, so what the heck...

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose.... :police:

Spector. Ultimate Xmas. They'd make an almost perfect double CD set. But it would only really be perfect after inclusion of a bonus single with:
Roy Wood and Wizzard: 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day', and:
Slade: 'Merry Christmas Everybody'.

I have spoken. My words should be inscribed on a stone tablet and carried down from Mt. Sinaï to the common people.

There's a great video on YouTube of Slade in their prime performing that holiday tune. If I knew how to link it I would. We're getting close to Christmas music time. The first cold day in September and it's Perry Como, Nat "King" Cole, and Andy Williams. It's the most wonderful time of the year...

What about The Roches' "We Three Kings" album - great vocals.

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector -- the ONLY Spector stuff I actually like

A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack -- what's really cool is that a lot of that stuff can be played year-round...

The Ventures' Christmas Album

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass -- Christmas Album -- for something REALLY freaky, listen to the beginning of "Sleigh Ride" and tell me if something sounds eerily familiar. :)

By the way VanDykeParks was involved in some Christmas stuff:
He arranged Natalie Cole's The Christmas Song on the Scrooged soundtrack (1988),
arranged the songs sung by Maryl Streep on The Night Before Christmas (1992)
and wrote, arranged and conducted the music to a story which was read by an actress whose name I forgot, anyway it was on a CD called The Treasure of Christmas Stories Vol. 1, released a couple of years ago.

I like many of the albums mentioned in this thread.

One of my faves that hasn't been mentioned?
Snowed In, by Hanson.  Okay, so the covers can't touch the originals, but it's a charming album.

What Christmas Means to Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa1hRNNOyGY&feature=related

Oh, and Hanson's cover of Little St. Nick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_sqD9aE5lY

Jane Siberry: 'Child'. It's a good double set, but with some tasteful pruning, it would've made a 1-album classic.

(http://www.randysrodeo.com/images/christmas/artists/fahey5.jpg)

Just picked up a new CD from Tony Bennett, " A Swingin' Christmas", featuring the Count Basie Orchestra. A nice little album to swing into the holidays. At age 82, Tony can still hit all the notes, and these big band arrangements really get you hopping.

Beach Boys Xmas Album (60s version, not Ultimate Xmas)
Barenaked Ladies-Barenaked For The Holidays
Phil Spector-A Christmas Gift for You
South Park-Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics Soundtrack

1.  Christmas with The Beach Boys – it includes Dennis’ gorgeous “Morning Christmas”

2.  Dean Martin’s Christmas Album

3.   Carnie & Wendy's - "Hey Santa!" is great

Sheriff...a new Tony B xmas lp?

I've got the old Snowfall on lp and disc...are you recommmending a new album?  TB is spun a LOT around this house at christmas!!

Other favs here:  BB of course, Vince G. and the Charlie Brown music, Spector, Bobby Helms,Brenda Lee,


and a Flashback Records comp that I highly recommend called White Christmas and other Doo Wop Christmas Classics featuring Drifters, Frankie Lymon,Orioles,Marcels, and Ray Charles....I promise you will not tire of this Christmas record...a very rewarding and repeatedly listenable comp that I bought cheaply at a box store a few years ago.  Checkthe discount bins or go online to get it.

One more...the Time/Life  disc "A Rockin Merry Christmas" with Darlene Love, Gary US Bonds, Moonglows, Hank Ballard and others.

The BB's MIU Christmas album is so much better than the 1964 one. The only song I don't like on MIU Christmas is the medley at the end with everyone in their families singing. Carnie, Wendy, Matt, Adam, Christian and Hayleigh are good singers now, but they were terrible as kids!

Aegir,

That is one dry sense of humor you have there!

Yeah, it's called "A Swingin' Christmas" featuring The Count Basie Big Band. It's a fun little album, got it at WalMart for about $14.00, well recorded (but louder than Tony's other CD's, I tried to mix a couple together), and very upbeat.

Tony, at age 82, sounds the same, but he seems more comfortable with the fast cuts than the ballads. I enjoy his phrasing and the big band arrangements. He does reach a poignant moment with the final cut, "O Christmas Tree". It's a really quiet, introspective reading of the song.

The negative aspect of the CD is that several of the songs were covered (in slightly different arrangements) on Tony's Snowfall album. On this CD, he reprises "I'll Be Home For Christmas", "My Favorite Things", "Winter Wonderland", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", and "I've Got My Love To keep Me Warm" Why did he do that? There are so many other holiday tunes out there....

My contribution to this topic this year is the same as last year's:

Can't think of anything new to add? Grinch. >:D

Considering it took almost 50 years worth of xmas music for me to name those four or so albums, I don't think we ought to be too surprised that I didn't find anything else of interest in the past 11.5 months. I mean, was I supposed to include Julian Koster's singing saw xmas album?

"Big Sur Christmas"? :o

Jeezus, man...

Mostly I just like certain Christmas songs by bands and artists so I go the mix cd route but I do like Brian Setzer's Boogie Woogie Christmas, Brian and Ann-Margret do a great version of Baby it's Cold Outside, Kate Bush's Christmas single December Will be Magic Again b/w Warm and Soothing and Chris Squire's recent Christmas album Chris Squire's Swiss Choir. Steve Hackett plays guitar on it.

If singles are named, I'm partial to "Father Christmas" by the Kinks.  And Keith Richards' version of "Run, Rudolph."

Anybody here familiar with Mario Lanza? If yes, have you ever heard his Christmas music?

Also, you know who could've done a cool Christmas album? Dennis Wilson.

That would be the ultimate Drunk and Depressed at Christmas LP

I've wanted to check out some John Fahey for ages now, always been hesitant about it because of his catalogue being so vast and reportedly diverse. So the very only Fahey I've ever really heard is his version of Hark The Herald Angels Sing, which I got to hear by chance two years ago on Christmas.