A Holiday Guide to Christmas Music...(part one)

Post this Thursday(thanksgiving),it will be undeniably Christmastime, and all you naysayers and humbugs will have to bite your tongues till the the new year. Following that line it's time for Christmas music, the most decisive way to spread holiday cheer, i love holiday music because it can epic or romantic or funny or failing at being funny(that's squarely aimed at 12 pains of Christmas) or best yet nostalgic. Nostalgic for a simpler time in your life when shopping wasn't a priority and staying up an finishing your list for Santa was. i want to help you recapture those feelings

Anyway, I've begun work on my holiday seasonal mix which i have dubbed my "chris-mix." i tried Hanukkah jamz but it failed to roll off the tongue the same way. as their are lot of copycats out there this year, i have decided to work on my mix publicly and openly share my thought on holiday music I've been mulling over as I've mowed it over. That being said I'll be sharing my seasonal journey as i traverse the ups and downs of Christmas music i encounter and at the end I'll be sharing my mix with you to pass along to your friends and family as your own... i call it

A Holiday Guide to Christmas Music...(part one)

Brand new- oh holy night
i like brand new a lot... but i hate this song. i think oh holy night requires some expression which mr. Lacey does not exhibit. also some thing i really enjoyed about "deja entendu" doesn't carry over and just annoys me on this track. I'm talking about how you can hear him take deep breaths... it just sounds like he's bored... some parts are peaceful, but their are better versions of this song out there.

(anyone) baby, it's cold outside
probably my favorite seasonal song, it's dripping with romance in the most wholesome way you can be with out being obscene. If you don't know the song, it's about a guy trying to convince a girl not to leave following a date and the girl giving reasons to not stay. originally written by Frank Loesser back in 1944, as a duet for him and his wife, this song has a very old New York feel to it. kind of a metropolitan romantic style if that makes sense. the main issue i have with this song is that it's covered quite a few times now some good like Zooey Dechannel on the elf soundtrack, some bad like Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey and some just plain weird like the star trek yule tide orchestra. my favorite is actually by Skylana and Seth Roberts, it's cover that has a really true to self sound to it, in it's production or rather lack of it.

June- wonderful Christmastime
surprisingly not many covers of this song, well not THAT surprising as i feel McCartney's accent really made this song unique. still though June does it more justice than camp rock's Demi Lavoto does. I'm still not sure which tween sensation is going to have a huge holiday hit this year, probably some sort of Jonas brother. either way i feel the opening synthesized keyboard in the June version strong enough to be unique with out betraying the original.

Belle and Sebastian- O come, O come, Emmanuel
i struggled with this on because there are a few REALLY great versions of this song. Thrice's Dustin Kensrue as well as sixpence none the richer. B&S take it because you get a real religious feel out of their version. it's a downright sanctimonious experience... in a fun way

Low- Just Like Christmas
it's seems like good "new" Christmas songs are few and far between. but low do it right, so good in fact that snow patrol covered this song a couple years back on a California Christmas radio compilation, but as low wrote this song in the span of my lifetime, we won't acknowledge their version, which is decent. Either way this song is great because it's really poppy and understandable, it's somber without detracting from the "jolly" of the season. theres a warm feeling of holiday peace that you get from this song, especially in the snow at night

Eels- every thing's gonna be cool this Christmas
there are TWO really great Eels Christmas originals that i recommend, this is the first. this song is great to shake any holiday blues you might have really for any reason whatsoever. it's hard to focus on sadness when this song is on. I dare you not to smile when he says "baby Jesus, born to rock" this is Christmas party music at it's best.

... part one closes on an upbeat note, check out these songs and check back tomorrow for part two, curl up with someone you love by a warm fire, put on my mix and just enjoy each other's company, thats the best way to spend any holiday

also Merry holidays
Brendan