Here is my
2014 Christmas anthology, comprised of songs that make me joyful in all sorts
of ways. You can be “silly joyful” or “reverent
joyful,” you know.
01. Joy to the World - Anointed (3:46)
02. I Wonder as I Wander - An
Old World Christmas (3:58)
03. Silent Night -
Teja Bell (6:00)
04. Feliz Navidad -
The Rubber Band (2:48)
05. Away in a Manger - Nat
King Cole (2:01)
06. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing - Herb Avery (4:38)
07. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Bing Crosby and Judy Garland (2:46)
08. Feliz Navidad -
Sly's Alter Ego (1:44)
09. Carol Medley -
The Swingle
Singers (3:04)
10. Hark! -
Claymation
Christmas Celebration (3:35)
11. Joy to the World - Classics
for Joy, Carols of Christmas (2:46)
12. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming - Robert Shaw & Atlanta Chorus (2:26)
13. Silent Night -
Robert Fripp &
Apollo 8 (3:03)
14. Welcome Christmas - How
the Grinch Stole Christmas (3:30)
15. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Joy Electric (2:12)
16. Blue Christmas -
Denny Brownlee as
Porky Pig (1:59)
17. The First Noel -
An Old World
Christmas (4:04)
18. Cleaning Man Christmas - The Cleaning Man (4:27)
19. What Child Is This? - The
Rubber Band (4:38)
20. Joy to the World - The
Philadelphia Orchestra (1:54)
21. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Robert Shaw & Atlanta Chorus (4:14)
22. Joy! -
Claymation
Christmas Celebration (2:34)
23. What Christmas Is All About - A Charlie Brown Christmas (1:03)
24. Away in a Manger - Joan
Baez (1:55)
25. Silent Night -
The Swingle
Singers (3:45)
If you
haven’t seen the Claymation
Christmas Celebration, then you have missed a lot of fun. The soundtrack
is full of fun and wonder, too. As you
will hear, it contains some joyous-solemn music, along with some silliness.
The Rubber
Band is a Beatles Tribute Band that’s been around since 1979. I think you’ll like their arrangements on
Tracks 4 and 19.
Track 13 is
an overlaying of spoken broadcasts from Apollo 8 astronauts with a Robert Fripp
"Frippertronics"
version of “Silent Night.”
There used
to be a little radio station in Oklahoma City called KOKF -- site with some
history here. It went off the broadcast airwaves in 2006. You can now hear it online at 91 Online. Anyway, during broadcast days one of the
sponsoring businesses was a janitorial service.
Their tongue-in-cheek mascot was The Cleaning Man (who sounded a lot
like Dudley Do-Right). And, one
Christmas time, we were treated to “A Cleaning Man Christmas,” which I am thrilled
to share with you here.
The Swingle
Singer tracks are from an album unreleased on this side of the pond.
Track 25 is
from a stupendous 1966 album by Joan Baez called Noel. The arrangements were by Peter Schickele of PDQ Bach fame.
The Track
List moves back and forth from solemn to happy to silly and back again, several
times. I hope listening to this compilation
lets you celebrate the greatest gift of all, God’s love, given through his son.
