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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 13, 2021 13:59:49 GMT
Capitol Records just released a new Nat "King" Cole Christmas album, A Sentimental Christmas With Nat "King" Cole & Friends: Cole Classics Reimagined. This appears to be a very mixed bag. It's comprised of some Nat "King" Cole Christmas songs, some duets recorded similarly to "Unforgettable" with his daughter Natalie, and just some basic non-Christmas Nat "King" Cole songs. Here is a Christmas duet featuring Nat and the great Johnny Mathis:
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Post by B.E. on Nov 13, 2021 21:21:04 GMT
To my surprise, I was in the mood for some Christmas music today. I went with one of my favorites...you might ( ) have heard of it...Brian Wilson's What I Really Want For Christmas. Enjoyed every second of it. It has begun.
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Post by kds on Nov 15, 2021 2:02:29 GMT
Blackmore's Night's Winter Carols (2006) has become one of my favorite Christmas albums. Looks like its getting another deluxe reissue. It was first re-released in 2017 with extra studio tracks and live material. Now, the 2021 version looks like it adds another studio track or so, and last year's four song Christmas EP, and well as a new mix (yawn) of the song Christmas Eve.
As much as I hate buying albums I already own, I'm actually tempted to buy this to have all of their Christmas material in one package.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 15, 2021 11:49:08 GMT
Blackmore's Night's Winter Carols (2006) has become one of my favorite Christmas albums. Looks like its getting another deluxe reissue. It was first re-released in 2017 with extra studio tracks and live material. Now, the 2021 version looks like it adds another studio track or so, and last year's four song Christmas EP, and well as a new mix (yawn) of the song Christmas Eve. As much as I hate buying albums I already own, I'm actually tempted to buy this to have all of their Christmas material in one package. It blows me away that Ritchie Blackmore would record an album of Christmas (and I guess, winter/folk) songs. I mean, you have this "dark" guitarist for Deep Purple recording "Hark The Herald Angels Sing", "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas"! Was it his wife and singer of these Christmas songs, Candice Night, who influenced him? kds, you featured "Ma-O-Tzur" above; here is an excellent version of "Good King Wenceslas":
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Post by kds on Nov 15, 2021 13:15:27 GMT
Blackmore's Night's Winter Carols (2006) has become one of my favorite Christmas albums. Looks like its getting another deluxe reissue. It was first re-released in 2017 with extra studio tracks and live material. Now, the 2021 version looks like it adds another studio track or so, and last year's four song Christmas EP, and well as a new mix (yawn) of the song Christmas Eve. As much as I hate buying albums I already own, I'm actually tempted to buy this to have all of their Christmas material in one package. It blows me away that Ritchie Blackmore would record an album of Christmas (and I guess, winter/folk) songs. I mean, you have this "dark" guitarist for Deep Purple recording "Hark The Herald Angels Sing", "O Come All Ye Faithful" and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas"! Was it his wife and singer of these Christmas songs, Candice Night, who influenced him? kds, you featured "Ma-O-Tzur" above; here is an excellent version of "Good King Wenceslas":
I think Ritchie always had an appreciation for Renaissance music, and some of that comes out on occasion in his Deep Purple and Rainbow material. I think Candice probably played a part because he didn't make the decision to leave the world of hard rock behind until they were an item.
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Post by kds on Nov 19, 2021 13:48:15 GMT
So, our local "Lite" FM station apparently switched to Christmas music at some point yesterday.
I flipped around in the car, and the first thing I heard was The Eagles Please Come Home for Christmas. I turned the dial 20 seconds it. That's one that I used to love, but I'm definitely burned out on.
Then, I go to the grocery store, and hear the She and Him version of Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. I think Zooey "rocks" around the Christmas tree even less than the Boys did when singing about Rock and Roll Music.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 19, 2021 14:14:08 GMT
So, our local "Lite" FM station apparently switched to Christmas music at some point yesterday. I flipped around in the car, and the first thing I heard was The Eagles Please Come Home for Christmas. I turned the dial 20 seconds it. That's one that I used to love, but I'm definitely burned out on. Then, I go to the grocery store, and hear the She and Him version of Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. I think Zooey "rocks" around the Christmas tree even less than the Boys did when singing about Rock and Roll Music. I'm following this fairly new "Christmas music revival" on the radio with interest. Each year I'm hearing (about) more stations playing Christmas music the day after Halloween and 24/7 until Christmas. Some of the stations are playing it safe by sticking with the Christmas "hits". While there are enough of them (the hits) to please, yes, if you listen enough, the repetition is very noticeable. I like the stations that go one song deeper. For example, the local FM radio where I live will play "Little Saint Nick" AND "Frosty The Snowman". And then there's the ones that go even deeper than that. At Walmart the other night I heard "2000 Miles" by The Pretenders. I like that "I don't care, I'm going to play good Christmas songs whether they were popular/hits or not" attitude. Those are also the stations that break out "What I Really Want For Christmas" and the like.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 19, 2021 14:15:23 GMT
I think Zooey "rocks" around the Christmas tree even less than the Boys did when singing about Rock and Roll Music. While I like some of She & Him's music (not the majority, if I'm honest), she indeed has some of the most lethargic, least rocking vocal delivery I've ever heard.
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Post by kds on Nov 19, 2021 14:26:36 GMT
So, our local "Lite" FM station apparently switched to Christmas music at some point yesterday. I flipped around in the car, and the first thing I heard was The Eagles Please Come Home for Christmas. I turned the dial 20 seconds it. That's one that I used to love, but I'm definitely burned out on. Then, I go to the grocery store, and hear the She and Him version of Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. I think Zooey "rocks" around the Christmas tree even less than the Boys did when singing about Rock and Roll Music. I'm following this fairly new "Christmas music revival" on the radio with interest. Each year I'm hearing (about) more stations playing Christmas music the day after Halloween and 24/7 until Christmas. Some of the stations are playing it safe by sticking with the Christmas "hits". While there are enough of them (the hits) to please, yes, if you listen enough, the repetition is very noticeable. I like the stations that go one song deeper. For example, the local FM radio where I live will play "Little Saint Nick" AND "Frosty The Snowman". And then there's the ones that go even deeper than that. At Walmart the other night I heard "2000 Miles" by The Pretenders. I like that "I don't care, I'm going to play good Christmas songs whether they were popular/hits or not" attitude Those are also the stations that break out "What I Really Want For Christmas" and the like. Is 2000 Miles really a deeper Christmas cut? It's a song that I've always hear pretty regularly. Our FM station, Lite 102, used to start the day after Thanksgiving. In recent years, they've started the Friday prior to Thanksgiving, and now the Thursday prior apparently. Since I don't have XM / Sirius, I do find myself listening to it a bit this time of year, but I have two problems - the repetition and they've been skewed a little too contemporary for my taste (ie. Kelly Clarkson, Arianna Grande, Michael Buble, etc). They rarely go deep, although they will play The Beach Boys Frosty the Snowman. You might hear one of the not so obvious songs from the Phil Spector Christmas album from time to time, or maybe Snoopy's Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen. But, overall, the variety is very poor IMO. That's why I generally stick to my Christmas CDs and my Spotify playlists when I can. Power metal band Sabaton surprisingly released a Christmas song the Friday before Halloween. They're known for writing songs about history, and they've chosen the WWI Christmas Truce. I know, the already mentioned Royal Guardsmen already covered that territory. I like it, but I feel like they should've gone with another traditional Christmas carol to metal - up in the intro. Carol of the Bells has been done.
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Post by kds on Nov 19, 2021 14:27:21 GMT
I think Zooey "rocks" around the Christmas tree even less than the Boys did when singing about Rock and Roll Music. While I like some of She & Him's music (not the majority, if I'm honest), she indeed has some of the most lethargic, least rocking vocal delivery I've ever heard. I actually liked her contribution to NPP, that's what prompted to check out the She and Him Christmas albums last year. Meh.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Nov 19, 2021 19:48:12 GMT
I started inadvertently singing Christmas songs in my head today. Not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold out before spinning my Christmas playlist. Probably until this weekend if my girlfriend wants to decorate her house.
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Post by kds on Nov 22, 2021 20:30:34 GMT
I started inadvertently singing Christmas songs in my head today. Not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold out before spinning my Christmas playlist. Probably until this weekend if my girlfriend wants to decorate her house. I actually went to the shore for the opening of their Christmas light display this past weekend. I bought down a few Christmas CDs, and we even found an FM Station down there that went all Christmas (despite being an Oldies station, they did play some newer stuff. Bleh). The CDs went unplayed, and we had that radio station on for four songs before finding something else. Just not feeling it yet.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Nov 24, 2021 2:11:15 GMT
I started inadvertently singing Christmas songs in my head today. Not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold out before spinning my Christmas playlist. Probably until this weekend if my girlfriend wants to decorate her house. I actually went to the shore for the opening of their Christmas light display this past weekend. I bought down a few Christmas CDs, and we even found an FM Station down there that went all Christmas (despite being an Oldies station, they did play some newer stuff. Bleh). The CDs went unplayed, and we had that radio station on for four songs before finding something else. Just not feeling it yet. We ended up only setting up the tree and a couple other larger display stuff and didn't even have an urge to listen to anything. I think I'm ready to start listening now, maybe I'll throw something on tomorrow night.
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Post by kds on Nov 24, 2021 13:10:17 GMT
I actually went to the shore for the opening of their Christmas light display this past weekend. I bought down a few Christmas CDs, and we even found an FM Station down there that went all Christmas (despite being an Oldies station, they did play some newer stuff. Bleh). The CDs went unplayed, and we had that radio station on for four songs before finding something else. Just not feeling it yet. We ended up only setting up the tree and a couple other larger display stuff and didn't even have an urge to listen to anything. I think I'm ready to start listening now, maybe I'll throw something on tomorrow night. I'm going to at least set up the tree tonight to get it out of the way, and we'll likely decorate at some point this weekend. I'll probably be ready to hear some Christmas music by then. I also broke down and ordered the Blackmore's Night Winters Carols reissue.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 24, 2021 13:27:37 GMT
We ended up only setting up the tree and a couple other larger display stuff and didn't even have an urge to listen to anything. I think I'm ready to start listening now, maybe I'll throw something on tomorrow night. I'm going to at least set up the tree tonight to get it out of the way, and we'll likely decorate at some point this weekend. I'll probably be ready to hear some Christmas music by then. When I want to listen to some Christmas music, but don't know which Christmasey direction I want to go, I'll pull out some Beach Boys' Christmas music - or The Wilson Family Christmas comp I made. It's the best of both worlds!
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