Here are some of my most favorite Christmas from about 50 or more of my discs that are Christmas-related.
1 - Hark! the Herald Angels Sing The Philadelphia Orchestra
2 - Joy to the World The O.C. Supertones
3 - Exotic Night Martin Denny
4 - Little Drummer Boy Georgia Kelly
5 - Sweet Little Jesus Boy Chris Willis
6 - Happy Birthday Jesus Sparklepop
7 - Cha-Cha All the Way Capitol Studio Orchestra
8 - Carol of the Bells Teja Bell
9 - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Joan Baez
10 - Heaven's Got a Baby Sarah Masen
11 - Away in a Manger The Philadelphia Orchestra
12 - I Need Christmas Erin O'Donnell
13 - We Three Kings Bop Claymation Christmas Celebration
14 - Here Comes Santa Claus Elvis Presley
15 - Jingle Bells Johnny Mercer
16 - Silent Night Twila Paris
17 - Christmas Time Is Here Again The Beatles (VM)
18 - White Christmas The Drifters
19 - Winter Wonderland Fleming and John
20 - Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo Billy May
21 - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree Xmas! The Beatmas
22 - You Gotta Get Up Five Iron Frenzy
23 - Hark, the Herald Angels Sing A Charlie Brown Christmas
24 - Christmastime Is Here Seranova
25 - I Wonder as I Wander Joan Baez
26 - Silent Night, Holy Night The Philadelphia Orchestra
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.
See you Monday!
